The top or most interesting stories in Japan for the weekend of January 10.
– New high school textbooks to be published in April by a Tokyo-based textbook publisher will have all references of “comfort women” scrubbed from the pages. The revised books will contain no mention of Imperial Japanese atrocities during World War II and will simply say that South Koreans are seeing aggrievement suits in Japanese courts.
– The Abe government’s controversial new ‘state secrets law’ has seen government bodies designate 382 subjects as state secrets, with little oversight to be given or made public about why (Japan News, The Japan Times).
– The Japanese Cabinet, a administrative body headed by the Prime Minister, is looking to slim downs its powers, moving them to other agencies of scrapping them entirely.
– A new law proposed looks to give the Japanese Self Defence Force more flexible powers to respond to attacks of allies other than the US, for example, being able to come to Australia’s aid in the event of a military flashpoint in Korea.
– The Japanese are enjoying a long weekend today thanks to Coming of Age Day (Seijin no Hi), a day to celebrate for those who have turned 20 since last year’s. For some more information on today’s festivities and how they’re seen in Japan’s current climate, check out these reviews from The Wall Street Journal‘s Japan Real Time blog or The Japan Times.
– Furthermore to Coming of Age Day, a new survey from O-net revealed that 47.8% of Japan’s new adults had never dated a member of the opposite sex, up 4% since 2009. Oddly, this was offset by 83.71% declaring their “love for Japan”, up about 16% from 2007.
