JAPAN: A Missile Test & more – 26th June 2025

Konnichiwa from BA! This is the Rorshok Japan Update from the 26th of June twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Japan.

On Sunday the 22nd, two Air Self-Defense Force transport planes arrived in Djibouti to prepare for the possible evacuation of Japanese nationals from Israel and Iran now that the two countries are actively firing missiles at one another. Currently, the planes can’t fly into either country, which is why they’ll be on standby at the Djibouti base until they get authorization to enter.

The Defense Minister ordered the planes to go out following a Foreign Ministry request. About 120 Self-Defence Force personnel are involved in the mission to make sure the evacuation is as fast and safe as possible.

On a related note, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he was very concerned by the US attacking Iranian nuclear facilities, but didn’t directly say if Japan supported the US or not. Instead, he said the biggest priority should be helping the Middle East find peace while also blocking Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Japan’s desire to block Iran is just a tiny bit funny, considering it conducted its first-ever missile test on Japanese soil on Tuesday the 24th. To be fair, Japan is only against nuclear weapons, not all defense, and the missile test was part of the country’s hopes to deter China in light of its heightened military activity in recent years.

Previously, Japan held such tests abroad because the country has very little spare land, making it difficult to carry out such tests safely. However, this test shows Japan’s determination to make its military more self-sufficient.

While the move was put into question, with many saying it would make international tensions with China worse, most online users praised it, arguing that Japan had to beef up its defenses when nearby countries have been pretty much taunting Japan by firing missiles in its direction (like North Korea) or flying its aircraft into Japanese territory (like China).

In some more positive international news, Belarus released fourteen detainees, including two Japanese nationals, on Saturday the 21st during a visit by Keith Kellogg, a US special envoy for Ukraine. The Japanese embassy confirmed the two are now safe in Lithuania and in good health. One had been imprisoned since twenty twenty for their involvement in election protests, while the other was detained in twenty twenty-four on suspicion of spying.

The embassy thanked the US for its support and has asked Belarus to release another Japanese citizen who remains in detention.

In an update to a story from previous shows, Hyogo police have referred Motohiko Saito, the Hyogo governor, and a PR firm president to prosecutors over alleged violations of the Public Offices Election Law during last year’s gubernatorial campaign. Recall that Saito allegedly paid the firm about 700,000 yen, which is 4,800 dollars, for campaign work, which is illegal under Japanese law.

Police had searched the firm's offices in February, but did not indict at the time. Instead, they are now leaving it up to prosecutors to decide whether to charge the two. Saito said he didn’t break any laws, while the PR firm’s president has not commented.

In other news, the Political Participation Party, known as Sanseito in Japanese, won its first seats in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly, with candidates Masanori Mochizuki and Sanae Ezaki elected on Sunday the 22nd. The conservative party promotes Japanese First policies, such as regulating foreign investment and being harsh on crimes committed by foreigners, and gained support through social media and recent local election wins. It has gotten a lot of criticism from people saying that a lot of the language is anti-immigrant, but the party insists that they’re not against foreigners.

However, another newcomer party called the Path to Rebirth, or Saisei no Michi, led by Shinji Ishimaru, didn’t win any seats even though they had forty-two candidates running, most likely because they didn’t have a clear message that people could latch onto, which just goes to show that political elections are all about catch phrases.

While one political party is rising up, another is on the decline. The former Abe faction of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party or LDP officially dissolved on Wednesday the 25th, months after numerous incidents involving political funds misuse, illegal gift vouchers, and general tax fraud. Many lawmakers who failed to report fundraising income belonged to the Abe faction.

This marked the fifth LDP faction to disband, following the Moriyama, Kishida, Motegi, and Nikai factions. The Aso faction is now the only remaining LDP faction, as it says that it had no part in slush funds or failure to report political funds.

Politicians seem to be slipping up all over the place. On Tuesday the 24th, Yuichiro Tamaki, the leader of the Democratic Party for the People, made a comment in English at a foreign club’s news conference saying the reason his party doesn’t have a lot of female supporters is because their policies are difficult for women to understand.

The implication that women are dumber than men understandably upset a lot of people. Tamaki apologized the next day on Twitter, saying that he did not mean to demean women, but that his poor English skills got in the way. Instead, he meant to say that he was having a difficult time delivering the party’s message to women.

Reactions online were mixed. While some were understanding that English was not his native language and mistakes happened, it highlighted why people in high positions should have an interpreter rather than attempt a language they’re not good at. A few users did not believe his apology at all, saying that he has a low opinion of women.

In health news, whooping cough cases in Japan are nearing record levels, with over 16,000 cases reported in May, close to the twenty nineteen record. A rise in drug-resistant Bordetella pertussis strains is making treatment more difficult, especially for kids who haven’t been vaccinated. In March, a one-month-old girl who was still too young to be vaccinated died despite intensive care. Resistant cases have also been found in Okinawa in southern Japan and Osaka and Tottori in the west.

In fossil fuel-induced weather events, Japan's weather authorities are warning of landslides, flooding, and swollen rivers due to heavy rain across much of the country. Nearly 400 mm or nearly sixteen inches of rain fell in twenty-four hours in Gifu Prefecture, central Japan. Other areas like Tokyo and Kyushu in the south also got hit hard.

The severe weather continued until Thursday the 26th, with some places experiencing thunderstorms. However, the Meteorological Agency said that it would likely clear up by Friday the 27th.

Nature is rebelling in more than one way. Scientists recorded 336 earthquakes near the Tokara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture, southern Japan, from Saturday the 21st to Tuesday the 24th. Six of the quakes registered a four on Japan’s seismic scale, which means that pretty much everyone felt them, though they didn’t cause any real damage. The strongest quake reached magnitude five, which can cause property and road damage.

Hisayoshi Yokose, an associate professor at Kumamoto University who specializes in marine volcanology, said that in that particular region, a series of small earthquakes like this usually signal a big earthquake soon to come.

Residents, including children who now wear helmets to school, remain on alert.

On a sad note, Chiaki Inada, a forty-year-old Japanese mountaineer, died after becoming stranded on Mount Huascaran, Peru’s highest peak. Rescuers found her and Saki Terada, a fellow climber, about thirty-seven hours after they called for help on Tuesday the 24th from about 6,600 meters or 22,000 feet. Severe snow and the high altitude delayed the rescue efforts, with Inada confirmed dead at the scene. Terada survived and is able to walk.

Closing this edition on a brighter note, the Japanese film On Summer Sand, starring Joe Odagiri, won the Jury Grand Prix at the twenty-seventh Shanghai International Film Festival. Directed by Tamada Shinya, judges picked the film from twelve international entries in the main competition.

Odagiri also co-produced and helped with casting and editing. After the award, he said that he felt very uplifted from the international recognition. The film will be released in Japan on the 4th of July.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Mata Ne!