Tech is going to solve all our problems, right? Tech -- and especially AI -- is the Band-Aid, the panacea. Or so we are led to believe, and so the government certainly seems to believe.
We wrote before that the Japanese government is turning to artificial intelligence to fix the chronically declining birth rate, and that many prefectures are now involved with matchmaking services in a desperate bid to reverse the drop in marriages and, more importantly, babies.
While we personally think the issue is much more about the work culture in Japan and (like in other countries) the dilemma women ...
Japan's public broadcaster has to appeal to a wide section of the nation with its programming. The show Makaizo no yoru (Crazy Modification Night) is primarily aimed at engineer-type guys who love making and customizing stuff.
But did the family-friendly broadcaster sneak a porn subtext into the latest edition?
This one featured three teams of male engineers competing to make fast vehicles made partly out of vibrators.
It's either a bold approach to modifying and making a vehicle in a wildly original way -- or a very cynical attempt to win views and clicks with a crazy concept. Some ...
Yesterday we shared the news about an elementary school teacher suspended (but allowed to keep his job) for downloading child porn.
Now comes a story involving another educator up to no good in Japan.
A male teacher in his forties has been arrested for taking videos up girls' skirts in escalators in Tokyo.
The man is a teacher at a public elementary school in Urayasu, Chiba, according to multiple media reports this week.
Upskirting is a huge fetish in Japan, inspiring a unique word (panchira) to describe the thrill of glimpsing female panties up a skirt. Secret filming (especially in ...
A male teacher at an elementary school in the prefecture of Gifu has been punished for saving and possessing child porn on his phone.
The unnamed 33-year-old educator was suspended for four months, starting May 23, according to Japanese media reports.
The school is located in the small city of Kani in the landlocked prefecture.
The education board gave a press conference in which it attempted to explain the situation, noting that the teacher had downloaded two videos and an image to his phone between October three years ago until September last year "in order to satisfy his sexual ...
The veteran voice actor Toru Furuya may well be 70 years old and something of a legend in the industry, having provided voices for such series as Conan, Gundam, Dragon Ball, and One Piece, but his career and status is currently facing ruin due to a sex scandal.
Furuya married his second wife in 1985 but rumors have long swirled that he is a little too friendly with his fans, including inappropriate touching at meet-and-greet events.
Earlier this week, Furuya issued a public apology in response to a report in the Weekly Bunshun tabloid that he been having an affair for more than four ...
A Japanese refugee. It sounds like an oxymoron, but it's not. In fact, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reports that dozens of Japanese citizens receive refugee status around the world every year.
And one recent case has generated headlines. Two Japanese women have received refugee status in Canada due to discrimination they faced in Japan.
In the hilariously old-fashioned wording of the Asahi Shimbun's English edition, the discrimination they faced was for being "lesbians and members of the weaker sex."
Campaigners and advocates like to the lack of Christian moralism ...
In Japan, female voice performers are incredibly popular as idols and celebrities despite only displaying their oral talents in their work for anime series and movies. Some are able to carve out lucrative sidelines as models, singers, and gravure idols.
If they have the looks and following for this, it is usually apparent pretty quickly and their agencies don't miss a chance to make some extra yen. But others bide their time.
Such is the case with Minori Chihara (茅原実里), the seiyu who has waited until her forties to cement her gravure career.
Great news if you love Minori Chihara. ...
A US Marine corporal has been arrested for filming a female sex worker in Naha, Okinawa.
The 22-year-old was arrested at the scene on May 4 for breaching a little-known law against filming sexual acts.
The Marine is attached to Camp Kinser (Machinato Service Area) in Urasoe on the main island of Okinawa. He told police, "I didn't know it was illegal [to film]." And if we're honest, that's fair enough. While a customer likely knows it's almost always against the brothel's rules and liable to land you in trouble, it might surprise many that you can actually face arrest for filming your ...
When confronted with a scandal, most Japanese politicians rely on a stock phrase: "I don't recall that."
And so it it was refreshing to see that Hiroyuki Miyazawa, the 49-year-old House of Representatives lawmaker, came clean and stated plainly: "I remember that."
A member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Miyazawa recently resigned his seat when Weekly Bunshun reported on his penchant for papakatsu sugar daddy compensated dating and regular use of sex workers.
He is also supposed to have been practically living with a woman in her twenties during the pandemic, despite being ...
More bad news coverage about male hosts as the moral panic over this industry continues.
A Kabukicho host was arrested early last week for allegedly exploiting and prostituting a junior high school student who owed his club around ¥6 million.
The 22-year-old host Renji (Yuya Inaba) works at the appropriately named Worst Over in Kabukicho, central Tokyo. He is also accused of bringing the girl into his club when she was just 15 years old and serving her alcohol, including a very expensive "champagne tower" order.
The student used her mother's credit card and cash from her grandmother to ...
