JAPAN: Welfare Cut Ruling & more – 3rd July 2025

Konnichiwa from BA! This is the Rorshok Japan Update from the 3rd of July twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Japan.

In legal news, Japan's Supreme Court ruled on Friday the 27th of June that it was illegal for the government to cut people's welfare benefits between twenty thirteen and twenty fifteen. The court said the government didn’t have proper justification, and the way they decided how much of people’s benefits to cut was flawed. For example, the Health Ministry had reduced welfare payments by up to ten percent, using deflation as an excuse, but the court said the ministry didn't base that decision on expert opinion, but purely on consumer price changes. Despite nullifying the cuts, the court denied compensation to affected recipients.

Around two million people were on welfare between twenty thirteen and twenty fifteen. Thanks to this ruling, there’s a good chance those people will start demanding the government reimburse the lost benefits.

In much darker legal news, police arrested two grade school teachers in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, for sharing indecent images of girls last week. They weren't the only ones, as they were part of a group chat allegedly composed of other teachers sharing illicit photos.

Naturally, many parents and members of the public were outraged by this, especially because the police haven’t yet caught anyone else in the group chat. In response, on Monday the 30th of June, the mayor of Nagoya said that the city will form an expert panel by the end of July to investigate all of the city’s 12,000 school teachers.

A national panel supported using security cameras in schools to prevent sexual crimes, as part of upcoming child protection laws set to take effect in December twenty twenty-six.

In business news, the Japan Fair Trade Commission hit Harley-Davidson Japan, a famous motorcycle company, with a fine and a cease and desist order for violating anti-monopoly laws. The fine is for 200 million yen, which is about one and a half million dollars.

The company gave its car dealers very unrealistic sales quotas, which pressured dealership executives and staff to buy motorcycles, sometimes with their own personal money, to meet targets and avoid losing exclusive contracts. Harley-Davidson is a very famous brand, and losing a contract with them might cost the dealership many clients.

Because of this pressure, dealers registered bikes under staff names and resold them at discounted prices. The commission stated that Harley-Davidson Japan was exploiting its bargaining position, which is against the law.

Meanwhile, in a news interview on Sunday the 29th of June, US President Donald Trump insisted on imposing a twenty-five percent tariff on Japanese-imported cars. During the, he referred to Shigeru Ishiba, the Japanese Prime Minister, as Mr. Japan, apparently having forgotten his name.

While many people in the US media mocked Trump for this gaffe, most Japanese people actually didn’t care that much, mainly for two reasons. One is that Mister anything sounds cool in Japanese, so saying Mr. Japan doesn't sound like an insult to Japanese people. The other reason is that the public opinion of Ishiba is in the trash. He's barely shown any skill at foreign diplomacy, so much so that some might say it's no wonder Trump forgot Ishiba's name.

On that note, politicians in the Upper House, also known as the House of Councillors, will soon be working hard to make sure you don’t forget their names, at least. Campaigning for the next election started on Thursday the 3rd of July, and the election itself will take place on the 20th of July.

Of the 248 total seats, 125 are open for this election, and 522 candidates are running. The biggest issue that the public is worried about is how they’re planning to address high prices, so most will likely talk about that during their campaign. The Liberal Democratic Party will need to win at least fifty seats in order to keep its majority in the Upper House.

In an update to a story from last week's show, the number of earthquakes around Akusekijima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, southern Japan, has gone up from 300 to over 1,000 as of Thursday the 3rd of July since last week.

Fifty of these earthquakes were strong enough to be felt, including two magnitude five earthquakes that struck on Monday the 30th of June and Wednesday the 2nd of July.

Many locals are struggling with sleepless nights, feeling emotionally drained, and fearing a larger quake. With no doctors on the island and limited ferry access, officials are scrambling to prepare for a potential emergency. Some residents are considering evacuation, but others, like farmers, can’t leave because their entire livelihood is there.

Northern prefectures are dealing with their own issues. Bear attacks are on the rise, and on Monday the 30th of June, a bear attacked and injured a man in his seventies in Nasushiobara, Tochigi Prefecture. Earlier that morning, a bear hurt an eighty-one-year-old man in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture. Both men were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

Even more shocking, a bullet train running between Sendai and Morioka hit a bear on Saturday the 28th of June. JR East, the train company, paused bullet train services in that area while they inspected the damage, which took just under an hour. Thankfully, no one was injured… except the bear. Rest in peace.

Speaking of hit and runs, a lot of people in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, have been complaining about reckless and noisy go-kart driving. The go-karts are very popular among tourists since they get the chance to drive them on public roads, but many residents don’t like them. So, ward officials said on Tuesday the 1st of July that go-kart rental companies had to start registering with the ward if they wanted to operate there. The companies will have to inform the ward of things like planned routes and go-kart license plate numbers.

Even though the ward doesn’t have any official penalties for companies that don’t register, it will list any non-registered businesses on the ward’s website. The new rule aims to improve safety and make residents’ lives easier, as current national laws don't say anything about go-karts operating on public roads.

In science, media outlets recently reported that University of Tokyo researchers uncovered five large furnaces in ruins near Mount Vesuvius in southern Italy. They believe the furnaces are part of a massive Roman bathhouse linked to Emperor Augustus, the very first Roman emperor. It’s the first time so many large furnaces have been found altogether, making it a very significant find in uncovering more about Roman history.

In sports, Japan and Wales’ rugby teams will face off in two rugby tests this month in what some are calling the Battle of the Bad. Both have done very poorly in recent years, with Wales ranked twelfth and Japan thirteenth. Japan lost seven of their last eleven games, and Wales failed seventeen tests in a row.

But they haven’t given up yet. As they say in Japan, do your best!

In weather, Japan recorded its hottest June since records began in eighteen ninety-eight, with temperatures averaging over two degrees Celsius, or four degrees Fahrenheit, above the more usual average temperatures of twenty-six degrees Celsius or seventy-eight degrees Fahrenheit. Coastal waters also had record highs.

So, if you need to cool down, Tenjin Matsuri, a water and light festival in Osaka, western Japan, and one of the greatest festivals in the country, will take place over two days starting on the 24th of July.

The event began over 1,000 years ago, dedicated to a scholar who became known as the God of Learning. It involves a unique puppet show on boats that takes place on a nearby river, as well as drum and dance performances, processions with portable shrines or mikoshi, and fireworks.

The festival will be held at the Osaka Tenmangu Shrine, which is a very short walk from Osaka Tenmangu Station.

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

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Mata Ne!