$1.4m for a human life.

Iwao Hakamada , who spent 46 years on death row in Japan, has been awarded $1.4m in compensation. The payout represents 12,500 yen ($83) for each day of the 46 years that Iwao Hakamada spent in detention, most of it on death row when each day could have been his last. 

 The former boxer, now 89, was exonerated in 2024 of a 1966 quadruple murder after a tireless campaign by his sister and others. 

 The Shizuoka District Court, in a decision dated Monday, said that “the claimant shall be granted 217,362,500,000 yen”, a court spokesperson told AFP. The same court ruled in September that Hakamada was not guilty in a retrial and that police had tampered with evidence. 

Continue reading.

 

Japan's creative cooling solutions, Daniel Seifert

As extreme heat hammers the globe, one traveller discovers a wealth of cooling solutions, from high-tech underwear to ancient philosophies, on a journey round Japan.

 

Big Hit in Japan

The Narashika Train, or “Nara Deer Train,” does not look like any ordinary train. 

Each carriage features a green and grass-like floor, and tan-and-spotted seats modeled after the coat of the deer. Even the usual handgrips have been exchanged for special, deer-themed ones. 

And if that weren't enough, there are also banners featuring the friendly creatures hanging every few feet, and illustrations placed on the walls and windows. Altogether, these creative elements create a bucolic atmosphere reminiscent of the city of Nara itself. 

 Though this special train hasn't been in service for long—only since December 2022—it has already amassed an enthusiastic following. It runs on the Kintetsu Line between Kintetsu Nara and Kobe Sannomiya stations; however, since the trains run randomly, it is not always guaranteed you will be able to take a seat on the fuzzy deer seats.

 Still, if you're able to visit Nara, it's well worth a try.

 

Japan's ultimate lesson in gratitude

Despite enduring 150 years of oppression, the Indigenous Ainu people still retain a strong sense of appreciation for the world – and travellers can now experience this in person.

 Read more

 

Japan has launched two new vending machines that unlock automatically in the event of a natural disaster.

Japan has extended its natural disaster preparations to vending machines, which will offer free food and drink in the event of a major earthquake or typhoon. Two machines have been installed in the western coastal city of Ako, located in a region that seismologists say is vulnerable to a powerful earthquake that is expected to hit the country’s central and south-west pacific coast in the next few decades.

 The machines, which contain about 300 bottles and cans of soft drinks and 150 emergency food items, including nutritional supplements, have been installed near buildings that have been designated as evacuation shelters. They are designed to “unlock” and make their contents available free of charge in the event of a heavy rain warning, or an evacuation order after a quake of an upper five or higher on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of seven, according to the Mainichi Shimbun.

 Read more

 

Japan Invents a New Type of Bow

In Japan, a bow conveys a lot of messaging into a brief and sometimes slight movement.

 Using the wrong bow conveys the wrong message.

 For example, the eshaku, which is a 15º bow, is a casual greeting. The keirei, which is 30º, is a more formal bow used in the working environment.

 The saikeirei, which is 45º, expresses deep respect to a social superior.

 

The gentleman pictured above is demonstrating the dogeza, which is an abjectly apologetic bow used to beg for a great favor or forgiveness for a serious wrong.

 Read more

 

Banzai !

The enthronement of Japan’s Emperor Naruhito – in pictures

 

So how did the Japanese become so clean-conscious?

It certainly isn’t a new thing, as mariner Will Adams found when he anchored here in 1600, thus becoming the first Englishman to set foot in Japan.
 In his biography of Adams, Samurai William, Giles Milton notes ‘the nobility were scrupulously clean’, enjoying ‘pristine sewers and latrines’ and steam baths of scented wood at a time when the streets of England ‘often overflowed with excrement’.
The Japanese ‘were appalled’ by the Europeans’ disregard for personal cleanliness.
 In part, this preoccupation is born of practical concerns. In a hot, humid environment like Japan’s, food goes off quickly. Bacteria flourish. Bug life abounds. So good hygiene means good health.
But it goes deeper than that.
 Read more

 

Japan Sees Rise In Crime By The Elderly

Japan has the dubious title of the oldest society in the world, with one in four of its citizens past the age of 65. And while the image of the elderly is typically of sweet grandparents, in Japan, senior citizens are committing petty crimes like shoplifting in bigger numbers than teenagers. Arrests of Japan's elderly for criminal offenses have doubled in the past decade — from an average of 80 per 100,000 residents between 1995 and 2005 to 162 per 100,000 residents between 2005 and 2015, according to the National Police Agency.
 Read more