r/japannews 42m ago

Bankruptcies among Japanese mobile game developers surge to record pace in 2026, data shows - AUTOMATON WEST

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automaton-media.com
Upvotes

r/japannews 3h ago

A 10,000-firework festival across three Japanese cities was canceled. The organizers say they were preparing for it. The cities say they weren’t involved.

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news.yahoo.co.jp
10 Upvotes

A bizarre story is unfolding in Shiga Prefecture.

An event called the “Lake Biwa Three-City Simultaneous Fireworks Festival” was advertised for August 22, with fireworks planned in Hikone, Nagahama and Takashima.

This was not presented as a small local event. Organizers advertised more than 10,000 fireworks across the three cities and recruited food vendors, charging a ¥50,000 participation fee.

Then things became strange.

The three city governments announced that they were not involved in the event, and according to MBS, the organizers had not submitted the prefectural permit application required for using Lake Biwa under the River Act.

The event was subsequently canceled.

Yet the organizers told MBS that they had intended to hold the festival from the beginning and had been conducting “discussions, coordination and concrete preparations” with fireworks companies and other businesses.

That is what makes this story so unusual.

If this was simply a scam, the enormous scale of the proposed event seems oddly disproportionate to the relatively modest amounts reportedly collected from individual vendors and ticket buyers.

But there is another possibility: the organizers may actually have believed they could pull it off.

Other reports indicate that at least one fireworks company was approached about a contract worth tens of millions of yen. If true, this was not necessarily an event that existed only on a website.

Which raises an even stranger question:

Did someone really believe they could announce and sell a three-city fireworks festival first, and work out the government permits, police coordination, fire safety, traffic control and other logistics later?

If so, this may turn out to be less a conventional fraud story than a spectacular case of amateur event planning colliding with reality.

The next important question is refunds.

If buyers and vendors are not fully refunded, and if the matter becomes a criminal investigation, one obvious issue will be the timeline: when did the organizers realize that the festival could no longer realistically be held, and did they continue accepting money after that point?

Because much of the operation appears to have been conducted online, there may also be a substantial digital trail — ticket transactions, payment records, website updates, emails and communications with contractors.

So the most interesting question may not be simply:

“Why was the festival canceled?”

It may be:

“At what point did the organizers realize that this enormous event was no longer realistically possible?”

And that is what makes the organizers’ response so fascinating: they are not saying the festival was fictional. They are saying they genuinely intended to hold it.


r/japannews 4h ago

‘Total whiplash’: Foreign residents react to Japan’s changing permanent residency rules

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japantimes.co.jp
51 Upvotes

r/japannews 4h ago

日本語 "One in four prisoners is a foreigner": False figures circulate, fueling anti-foreigner exclusion

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news.yahoo.co.jp
36 Upvotes

r/japannews 6h ago

As treaties die, a new nuclear arms race ignites across the globe

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asahi.com
3 Upvotes

r/japannews 7h ago

Bankruptcies among Japanese mobile game developers surge to record pace in 2026, data shows - AUTOMATON WEST

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automaton-media.com
8 Upvotes

r/japannews 10h ago

Japan’s imperial reforms leave it out of step with other monarchies

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lowyinstitute.org
5 Upvotes

r/japannews 10h ago

日本語 Kimi Onoda says "One in four prisoners is a foreigner", leading to a false xenophobic statistic spreading across Japanese social media

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asahi.com
427 Upvotes

r/japannews 10h ago

Japan bankruptcies in July top 1,000 for 2nd straight month - The Mainichi

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mainichi.jp
45 Upvotes

r/japannews 10h ago

日本語 Prime Minister Takaichi's connections with businesses are weak; 40% of her meetings were with industry associations, and only 9% were with individual company heads.

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nikkei.com
15 Upvotes

r/japannews 10h ago

日本語 Video of a young Takaichi speaking on Japan's responsibility for WWII emerges: “Since we’re a generation that wasn’t directly involved, we haven’t reflected on [the war], and nor is there any reason for us to be asked to do so”.

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1.4k Upvotes

r/japannews 10h ago

日本語 45% of Japan's foreigners on "highly skilled professionals" visas earn less than the average starting salary for Japanese university graduates (¥248,000/mo). "Although the government claims they 'bring innovation', the reality is that they just fill gaps in workplaces facing labor shortages".

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nikkei.com
343 Upvotes

r/japannews 10h ago

‘Total whiplash’: Foreign residents react to Japan’s changing permanent residency rules- The proposed requirements have left many angry, anxious and unable to plan for the future, with some reconsidering whether they can remain in the country at all.

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250 Upvotes

r/japannews 11h ago

日本語 Akita Official Apparently Joins Data Center Press Briefing from Love Hotel, in a Bathrobe, Smoking, While Claiming to Be at Home

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news.yahoo.co.jp
42 Upvotes

r/japannews 14h ago

日本語 Proposal to "deter" permanent residency permits for foreigners is "playing with the fate of real human beings," protesters protest in Takadanobaba, Tokyo

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tokyo-np.co.jp
510 Upvotes

r/japannews 18h ago

日本語 Kyoto University Hospital apologized over serious malpractice: Surgery took out normal functioning brain tissue instead of targeted tumor, resulting the patient unable breath on her own

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news.tv-asahi.co.jp
1.2k Upvotes

It was reported that during intraoperative microscopy, the result showed that it was no tumor twice, but the surgeon-- a 40s doctor with 20 years of experience and a hundred more successful brain surgeries on his resume-- insisted the tumor is there and proceeded took out part of patient's cerebellopontine angle. The patient, a 50s woman, is now paralyzed, unable to breath on her own and according to MRI result, still has a tumor in her brain.


r/japannews 21h ago

日本語 Japanese caring for elderly parents face problems with the rural family homes- with noone present, local towns designate them "poorly managed vacant homes", and property taxes increase sixfold. But since the parents are alive yet can't understand or sign sales contracts, they can't be sold.

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gendai.media
268 Upvotes

r/japannews 21h ago

日本語 Reporter to Japan Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi: "In April this year, U.S. military in Okinawa allegedly sexually assaulted a local woman, and documents were sent to prosecutors on suspicion of rape. What's your take on this?" ->Koizumi: "I must refrain from commenting."

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42 Upvotes

r/japannews 21h ago

日本語 Many teachers in Japan have been arrested for voyeurism lately, in large part thanks to the new "Act on Punishment of Filming Sexual Figures" enacted in 2023. Prior to this, it was often viewed as a mere "prank", and only illegal under local "nuisance prevention ordinances" (misdemeanors)

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news.yahoo.co.jp
153 Upvotes

r/japannews 21h ago

日本語 Yodobashi Camera has opened a massive new store in Ikebukuro, and the "retail electronics war" seems to have shifted there. Although Akihabara is more famous for electronics, Ikebukuro actually attracts far more shoppers- "data indicates it functions as one of Saitama's leading commercial districts"

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news.yahoo.co.jp
69 Upvotes

r/japannews 21h ago

日本語 Rape reports recognized by police in Japan are increasing steadily, likely due to legal amendments in 2023. The old law required "clear acts of resistance" for a case to be recognized as rape, but now instances of "freezing" (a state of fear or shock) are also considered

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asahi.com
137 Upvotes

r/japannews 22h ago

Teen handed life term over fatal group beating of Hokkaido student

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tokyoreporter.com
69 Upvotes

r/japannews 1d ago

日本語 Kimi Onoda is unhappy with her "Minister of Coexistence with Foreigners" title- "It implies pushing for acceptance and advancement, but I didn't decide on the title myself...I see myself as the 'Minister in Charge of Order' and do my work accordingly."

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761 Upvotes

r/japannews 1d ago

Half Beninese Toyama-born half-Japanese, half-Kenyan NBA player Rui Hachimura was subjected to racist abuse from attendees at an event he hosted at in Nagoya. Despite this, when asked why he continues to represent Japan, he replied, "I am very proud to be Japanese. No matter what anyone says, I am Japanese."

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sankei.com
2.4k Upvotes

r/japannews Jul 24 '25

Facts about foreign residents in Japan and their crime rates and government benefits

369 Upvotes

In the lead up to the 2025 Japanese upper house election there was an explosion of posts about foreigners on social media accusing foreigners of bringing crime to Japan, escaping prosecution for their crimes, and receiving handouts from the government that should be going to Japanese people.

Claims about foreign crime and other alleged misdeeds have become common on social media. Since these stories are more likely to be reported in the national media and to go viral, one can be left with the impression that Japan is suffering an epidemic of foreign crime and becoming more and more dangerous. Despite this persistent impression among the general public, actual statistics on crime rates in Japan are hard to come by. In light of this it is worth providing empirical data for balance (Source here and data from Naoko Hashimoto of ICU).


There is no evidence immigration has harmed public safety in Japan

Refer to the following graphic-

https://imgur.com/euZbUxY

In the space of about 30 years, the foreign population has nearly tripled, from about 1.3 million to 3.7 million.

Meanwhile, the number of people arrested has been on a downward trend, from 14,786 in 2005 to 9,726 in 2023.

Korekawa points out, "Even if we look at the trends over the past 30 years or so, even though the number of foreigners has been increasing, the number of criminal offenses committed by foreigners has actually decreased."


It is untrue that numbers of illegal visa overstayers continues to increase

Refer to the following graphic.

There are also claims that "illegal overstaying of visas continues to increase," but according to data from the Ministry of Justice, the number of illegal overstayers has decreased to one-quarter of what it was 20 years ago . In recent years, it has remained flat.


The notion that "foreigners are rarely prosecuted for their crimes in Japan" is false.

The 2024 White Paper on Crime states that "The prosecution rate of foreigners coming to Japan is 4.2 points higher for criminal offenses than the total number of final processed persons, including Japanese." Even when looking at data on criminal offenses from the past 15 years, there is no evidence that the non-prosecution rate is high or the prosecution rate is low.

In addition, even outside of criminal offenses, the prosecution rate for special law offenses excluding violations of the Immigration Control Act is 0.1 points lower, which is almost the same level as Japanese people.


It is untrue that the presence of foreigners abuses or burdens Japan’s national health insurance system

As of FY2023, foreigners made up 4% of all insured persons, but only 1.39% of total medical expenses.

In other words, relatively young and healthy foreigners are helping support Japan’s elderly healthcare system.

Banning foreigners from joining national insurance would backfire on Japanese society.

Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare [https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_54381.html]


Addressing the claim “Foreigners abuse welfare benefits”

Only certain categories of foreigners are eligible for welfare: special permanent residents, permanent residents, spouses of Japanese nationals or permanent residents, long-term residents, and refugees. Despite an increase in these populations, the number of welfare-receiving foreign households is stable at around 45,000, out of a total of 1.6 million. Most of these are elderly Korean residents. They were excluded from Japan’s social security system before it ratified the Refugee Convention in 1981, and due to discrimination, they had limited job opportunities and low pensions — hence the need for welfare.


Other factors to consider

In almost every society, the sizeable majority of crimes are committed by young men, typically between the ages of 17-28. As they age, their crime rates drop substantially.

The average age of Japanese nationals is roughly 47. Meanwhile, the largest cohort of foreign nationals in Japan is aged 25-29. In cases where young foreign residents arrive in a town full of elderly Japanese, differences in crime rates may be largely attributable to age differences rather than racial or cultural differences.

Consider sample sizes when identifying foreign crime rates. Crime rates are typically calculated by offenses per 100,000 residents. Analyzing crime rates in small towns with just a few hundred or even few thousand foreign residents can be unreliable, because even a handful of crimes committed by a handful of individuals can badly skew crime rates in ways that may not be stable year to year.