#NHK = national broadcaster

[todayintokyo]

This is the NHK warning about a tsunami following the earthquake in Ishikawa on 1 January 2024. Long-time residents of Japan will know that NHK announcers are famously calm during disasters, even when the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami (which killed more than 18,000 people) struck. It might be my imagination, but this one sounds more urgent than others I've heard. The woman says, "Stop watching TV and run away immediately."

[tigerandbunnyftw]

TIGER & BUNNY has turned 12 years old over in the Japan (3rd April). Happy anniversary to our heroes! 🎊 🎉

TIGER & BUNNY 2 also started its weekly national broadcast over on the NHK channel in Japan, on the 2nd.

Illustrator for the TIGER & BUNNY 2 The Comic manga series, Hiroshi Ueda, and mangaka and illustrator of the TIGER & BUNNY 2 manga, Mizuki Sakakibara, both contributed art to celebrate the syndication!

Sources:

Hiroshi Ueda’s Twitter

Mizuki Sakakibara’s Twitter

[darkmaga-retard]

We have received more than 2000 messages from viewers...

Aussie17

Aug 30, 2024

Japanese citizens were shocked on the morning of August 28 as their largest national broadcaster, NHK, decided to air a special feature on the COVID-19 vaccine relief system. This program highlighted real-life experiences of individuals who have suffered severe side effects, prompting an overwhelming public response with over 2000 messages received.

In a surprising turn of events, NHK's popular Morning Show, Asaichi, has taken a bold step. Once dismissive of doubts about vaccine safety, the show recently focused on the challenges and realities faced by those affected by mRNA experimental vaccine side effects. This change in stance marks a pivotal U-Turn in the ongoing national conversation about the experimental mRNA’s safety and transparency.

The program's new focus was echoed in the unexpected surge of viewer engagement. "We have received more than 2000 messages from viewers today. Thank you very much," the host announced, signaling widespread public interest and concern.

One chilling account came from a viewer who detailed their struggle after the third vaccine dose: "My headaches became severe. Although they have lessened since the beginning, the symptoms have persisted for more than two years. It has been two and a half years of vaccine aftereffects." Frustration with the bureaucratic hurdles in seeking relief was evident: "It's difficult to go collect documents because of my leg pain, so I urgently wish the process to be simplified as soon as possible."

Another viewer recounted a deeply personal tragedy: "Right after vaccination, my mother developed a serious illness and passed away." Their story was not just about personal loss, but also about the social repercussions of questioning vaccine side effects. "During the period when I was collecting application documents after my mother's illness and passing, I've been met repeatedly with heartless comments just for questioning the connection with the vaccine."

[holespoles]

Pre-war match for Osaka Central Broadcasting (JOBK), the Osaka branch of Japan's (now different) national broadcaster, Nippon Houso Kyoukai (abbreviated NHK). JOBK is the call sign of Osaka Chuo Broadcasting Co. The station used to be located on a street corner in Baba-cho, Chuo-ku, Osaka, and was introduced as an acronym for Japan Osaka Bamba Kadokko (street corner). The station has now moved to a new location and is introduced as an abbreviation for 'Japan Osaka Bambacho of Kinjo (neighbourhood)'.

[tomorrowusa]

What Russia can't win on the battlefield it will try to accomplish with disinformation, propaganda, and plain old bribery.

A Russian cabal operated a propaganda site masquerading as a news site called the Voice of Europe. In addition to publishing items designed to undermine confidence in various European governments, it outright made payoffs to various EU politicians.

Investigators claimed it used the popular Voice of Europe website as a vehicle to pay politicians. The Czech Republic and Poland said the network aimed to influence European politics. Voice of Europe did not respond to the BBC's request for comment. Czech media, citing intelligence sources, reported that politicians from Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary were paid by Voice of Europe in order to influence upcoming elections for the European Parliament. The German newspaper Der Spiegel said the money was either handed over in cash in covert meetings in Prague or through cryptocurrency exchanges. Pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk is alleged by the Czech Republic to be behind the network. Mr Medvedchuk was arrested in Ukraine soon after the Russian invasion, but later transferred to Russia with about 50 prisoners of war in exchange for 215 Ukrainians. ' Czech authorities also named Artyom Marchevsky, alleging he managed the day-to-day business of the website. Both men were sanctioned by Czech authorities. Poland's intelligence agency said it had conducted searches in the Warsaw and Tychy regions and seized €48,500 (£41,500) and $36,000 (£28,500).

"Money from Moscow has been used to pay some political actors who spread Russian propaganda," BIS said in a statement. It added that the sums amounted to "millions" of Czech crowns (tens of thousands of pounds).

I went looking for the Voice of Europe site but it is now missing (Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site). So I held my nose and visited their Twitter account and nothing new has been posted since the scandal broke.

We need to be careful when looking at news online. Recently a series of fake sites pretending to be legit US news sources was uncovered.

Russia-Backed ‘Fake News Organizations’ Revealed Across the U.S. in Bombshell New York Times Report

The fake news sites have names that sound like they are legit but aren't. Examples: D.C. Weekly, the New York News Daily, the Chicago Chronicle, and the Miami Chronicle. There is a legit New York Daily News – note the different word order from the fake. There once was a newspaper called the Chicago Chronicle but it folded during the Theodore Roosevelt administration.

Google News searches spew a lot of crap. In a lot of cases the "news" sources on Google are just the proverbial guy in his underwear in his mom's basement posting bullshit. They may not be Russian but they are often dubious.

It's best to create a bookmark folder of known legit news sources. There are still numerous good sources not behind paywalls. And many countries have public broadcasters who post news in English. Just a few: NPR, BBC, DW, CBC, ABC (Australia), RFI, YLE, Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio, NHK-World, and even EER in Estonia.

When running across a news story which sounds peculiar, check to see if it's being reported in known legit media before posting or sharing it.

There are national elections this year in a number of countries including India, the US, and (probably) the UK. Don't inadvertently assist Putin's effort to spread disinformation and sow chaos.

[beardedmrbean]

A Japanese man has been sentenced to death for an arson attack at a Kyoto animation studio in 2019 which killed 36 people and injured dozens more.

The incident, one of Japan's deadliest in recent decades, killed mostly young artists and shocked the anime world.

Shinji Aoba, 45, pleaded guilty to the attack but his lawyers had sought a lighter sentence on grounds of "mental incompetence".

Judges rejected this however, ruling that Aoba knew what he was doing.

"I have determined that the defendant was not mentally insane or weak at the time of the crime," Chief Judge Masuda said on Thursday at Kyoto District Court.

"The death of 36 people is extremely serious and tragic. The fear and pain of the deceased victims was indescribable," Japanese broadcaster NHK reported him saying.

Many of the animation staff - young artists - were killed after being trapped on the upper floors of the studio as the fire spread.

The attack was one of the deadliest cases in recent decades and sparked national mourning in Japan. The country's public and media have followed the case closely.

How many countries still have the death penalty?

Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Aoba, saying he was motivated to attack the studio after believing his work had been stolen. He said Kyoto Animation - known as KyoAni- had plagiarised a novel he entered into their contest.

In July 2019, he burst into the studio during a work day, splashing petrol on the ground floor and setting it alight while repeatedly shouting "Drop dead".

He later said during his guilty plea in September 2023 that he did not think so many people would die.

"I felt I had no other option but to do what I did," he said at the time.

"I feel tremendously sorry and the feeling includes a sense of guilt."

Aoba himself suffered burns to over 90% of his body in the fire, and was only arrested after he had recovered from operations.

"The delusion that KyoAni Studio had plagiarised his work influenced his motivation," prosecutors had told the court.

But they said he was not controlled by such delusions and had full capacity and understanding of his actions.

On Thursday, the judge read out a lengthy reasoning with victim testimonies before announcing the verdict. More than half of the animation studio's 70-strong workforce was killed in the event, and another 32 injured.

"Some of them saw their colleagues engulfed in flames, and some of them are suffering from psychological effects, and they are tormented by feelings of guilt and remorse," said Judge Masuda.

Families of the victims were seen in the court room, with many visibly emotional as the judge read out the details of Aoba's crime, NHK reported.

The outlet reported that Aoba kept his head bowed as the judge read out the death penalty sentence.

Japan retains capital punishment for its most serious crimes, like multiple murders. Those convicted typically remain on death row for years, or even decades. The death penalty is conducted by hanging.

The KyoAni studio in Kyoto is a beloved institution, known for producing films and graphic novels that are well-regarded by fans as well as critics - including K-On! and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

[prfm-multiverse]

A new episode of Nazotoki! Himitsu no Shiho-san titled "National Museum of Science Specimen" will be broadcasted on June 2, 24:00 JST on NHK in 8K.

Mysterious creature over 6 meters long? A human skull, a mysterious animal in a bottle! Perfume, navigated by Naoki Tanaka, unravels the mysteries from selected specimens in the National Museum of Nature and Science's collection.

[yuurei20]

Meet the Seiyuu: Trey Clover

Trey Clover is voiced by Suzuki Ryota, who also voices Lucius in the game.

Suzuki first became interested in voice-work during a track-and-field event when he was in junior high school, after being impressed by the work done by the team on the PA system when the event had to be cancelled due to rain.

After losing a national competition by a single point he quit the track team to focus on broadcasting. He won the competition the next year and made his acting debut in an anime short produced by Japan's only public broadcasting channel, NHK, while still a high school student.

Suzuki's past work includes Ishigami Yu from Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Takamizu Hayato from Hero's Park, Yukimaru from Fena: Pirate Princess, Klaus from Magatsu Wahrheit: Zuerst and Riheet from King's Raid: Successors of the Will.

A photoshoot of Suzuki Ryota modeling for Jade’s voice actor Komada Wataru (who is both a voice actor and professional photographer)

Suzuki Ryota covering Ozaki Yutaka’s “Forget me not”

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 8.20 (1920-1990)

1920 – The first commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), begins operations in Detroit 1920 – The National Football League is organized as the American Professional Football Conference in Canton, Ohio 1926 – Japan's public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) is established. 1938 – Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam, a record that stood for 75 years until it was broken by Alex Rodriguez. 1940 – In Mexico City, exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He dies the next day. 1940 – World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line "Never was so much owed by so many to so few". 1940 – World War II: The Eighth Route Army launches the Hundred Regiments Offensive, a successful campaign to disrupt Japanese war infrastructure and logistics in occupied northern China. 1944 – World War II: One hundred sixty-eight captured allied airmen, including Phil Lamason, accused by the Gestapo of being "terror fliers", arrive at Buchenwald concentration camp. 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet Union offensive. 1948 – Soviet Consul General in New York, Jacob M. Lomakin is expelled by the United States, due to the Kasenkina Case. 1949 – Hungary adopts the Hungarian Constitution of 1949 and becomes a People's Republic. 1955 – Battle of Philippeville: In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals. 1960 – Senegal breaks from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence. 1962 – The NS Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered civilian ship, embarks on its maiden voyage. 1968 – Cold War: Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring. East German participation is limited to a few specialists due to memories of the recent war. Only Albania and Romania refuse to participate. 1975 – Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars. 1975 – ČSA Flight 540 crashes on approach to Damascus International Airport in Damascus, Syria, killing 126 people. 1977 – Voyager program: NASA launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft. 1986 – In Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide. 1988 – "Black Saturday" of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park 1988 – Iran–Iraq War: A ceasefire is agreed after almost eight years of war. 1988 – The Troubles: Eight British soldiers are killed and 28 wounded when their bus is hit by an IRA roadside bomb in Ballygawley, County Tyrone. 1989 – The pleasure boat Marchioness sinks on the River Thames following a collision. Fifty-one people are killed.

[kishigunpla]

Let's Read: A Requiem for Char: The Red Comet of My Youth - Chapter 1

by Shūichi Ikeda

This post will be an overview of the first chapter, Steps to Becoming an Actor.

Please note this isn't a full summary by any means, just a highlight of parts I found interesting. Very long post under the cut!

Shūichi Ikeda was born on December 2, 1949 in Numabukuro in Nakano Ward, Tokyo. Growing up in the years after World War II, Ikeda recalls that although the scars of the war still remained here and there, the entire country was filled with an upwards surging momentum that could be described as "hope after a long period of suffering".

In 1958, he was invited by a friend to join Komadori Theater Company (劇団こまどり). Founded in 1948, it was a prestigious children's theater company that later produced many famous actors, including familiar names like Maaya Sakamoto, Daisuke Namikawa, and Ikeda's wife, Sakiko Tamagawa. He passed the entrance exam and started his career as an actor at only eight years old.

Along with movies, radio had a large presence in popular entertainment in those days. The first experience that Ikeda and the other child actors had was with radio dramas, broadcast on NHK radio. In elementary school, it was his daily routine to go to the NHK studio after school. There he co-starred with popular talents of the time.

In a funny side note, Ikeda recalls fond memories of the bento lunches they had at the studio. The rank of the bento changed depending on the rank of the actor with whom he was working. One particular instance he noted was how when the famous Musei Tokugawa starred in a lead role, lunch was eel bento, a rare delicacy back then.

As time went on, TV dramas became more popular, and Ikeda was offered his first role on television only three months after he joined Komadori. It was a simple role - a child crying in the corner in the background of a shot - but he remembers it fondly as a memorable first step into the world of acting.

In his junior high days, Ikeda starred in Gashintare (がしんたれ), a TV adaptation of the autobiography of playwright Kazuo Kikuta, and the movie Robō no Ishi (路傍の石, "Roadside Stone"), two works that made him seriously consider the job of "actor" for the first time.

In this chapter, Ikeda also talks about his relationship with famed Japanese film actor Yūjirō Ishihara. The two met as co-stars on the TV drama Shi no Hakubutsushi - Chīsaki Tatakai (死の博物誌 – 小さき闘い, The Natural History of Death – A Small Battle). Ikeda says he was immediately struck by his aura the moment he entered the rehearsal room.

Ikeda recalls how on set, Ishihara jokingly addressed him as “Shū-sensei”, as a nod to the fact Ikeda was much more experienced with TV dramas, despite being much younger. 

“Shū-sensei, you're a junior high school student, but you’re more senior than me as a TV actor, aren't you?”

In response, Ikeda replied,

“Well then, I'll call you Yu-sensei. On TV, I may be the sensei, but if I appear in a movie with you, please be the sensei.”

Ikeda fondly remembers him as a star that never faded no matter how much time had passed. Sadly, Ishihara passed away July 17th, 1985, and he never got the chance to film on a movie set with him.

In his words, “Even now, I keep in mind the way of life as an actor that Yujiro-san taught me. And I still call out to him...as Yu-sensei.”

In the spring of 1964, Ikeda began his role as the star of Jiro Monogatari (次郎物語), a TV drama based on the novel of the same name. The story depicts Japan in the early Shōwa period as seen from the perspective of Jiro Honda, a boy of a former samurai family.

The show was a hit among viewers of all ages, and ended up running as a nationally broadcast drama for two years. However, due to the popularity, from that point forward in his childhood acting career, Ikeda was typecast as a similar character - or as he refers to it, the image of “Jiro Shonen”, “a boy in a kasuri kimono”.

Ikeda was around 24 or 25 years old when Kohei Miyauchi asked him if he would be interested in doing voice-over work. The role was in a one-shot overseas drama for NHK about a group of three train robbers. Ikeda remembers struggling to adjust, thinking it might not be the best fit after all.

Soon after he was offered a role in André Cayatte's Mourir d'aimer as the dub voice for Bruno Pradal. At first he was hesitant, but accepted after finding out he would be alongside Tomoko Naraoka (dubbing Annie Girardot), whom he had worked with earlier in his career during his time as a child actor.

Ikeda recalls how this experience helped change his perspective on voice over work.

"Rather than trying to match the voice of the actor on the screen or strictly matching the actual lip-syncing, I felt how the actor and director put together the character, and translated that atmosphere into Japanese-style acting."

After appearing as a voice actor in other overseas dramas, a new opportunity arose. The person who approached him was Kazuya Tatekabe, of Doraemon fame. The two became friends and often went drinking with their fellow co-stars after work.

It was Tatekabe who introduced Ikeda to Noriyoshi Matsuura, who worked as an editor and sound director on various anime. Through some gentle persuading, he convinced Ikeda to give anime a try (while drunk, he admits), specifically the character Radik in Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3.

However, Ikeda found the speed of the process and inability to preview the material beforehand (like he was used to with film voice overs) overwhelming. He remembers thinking, "this is my first and last anime".

Despite this, Matsuura convinced him to give one more audition a try, with the promise they could go for drinks afterwards. Ikeda agreed, though wasn't enthusiastic about it.

...That audition was for the role of Amuro Ray in the upcoming anime Mobile Suit Gundam.

~

That's all for Chapter 1! I'll continue with these posts for each chapter as I go. Of course I recommend checking out the book for yourself if possible as I've left out a lot of content here for brevity.

[astroboyart]

Matsuo Ohno (1930-2022)

Source: AF Plan (Twitter; AF_Plan_info), Forced Exposure

Matsuo Ohno, the sound designer for the 1960s Astro Boy anime and the 1964 Astro Boy movie Hero of Space, passed away on December 19, 2022 at 7:28 AM at the age of 92.

The website Forced Exposure gives a summary of Matsuo Ohno’s life growing up and his formative years:

Matsuo Ohno was responsible for the sound design of a broad range of film, television, and radio soundtracks, most famously the animation series Astro Boy which he began working on in 1963 together with his assistant, Takehisa Kosugi.

Ohno was born in the heavily-populated Kanda district of central Tokyo in 1930 and was heavily affected by the repeated bombing raids on the city enacted in World War II, which took place during his formative years. After the war, deeply motivated by philosophy and surrealism, he was largely unaffected by popular music [...].

Ohno began immersing himself in the realm of sound effects while working with the Bungaku-za modernist theatre troupe and he performed a similar function at NHK, Japan's national broadcasting corporation, but became so frustrated by the rigidity of the restrictions imposed on him there that he quit his prestigious post at the broadcaster, although his skills were such that he remained in high demand as a freelancer, which allowed him to refine his sound effects techniques with evolving analogue synthesizers.

Ohno worked on the sound effects in the 1960s Astro Boy anime, which includes Atom’s squeaky boots.

Ohno was active up until his death in 2022, even working on the sound design for the T0-B1 episode in Star Wars: Visions in 2021 which was heavily influenced by Astro Boy.

[falseandrealultravival]

Dialogue with Gemini (5)　The difference between NHK and BBC

 

My question

Japan's NHK and Britain's BBC are national broadcasters, but they seem quite different. How would it be different?

 

日本のNHKとイギリスのBBCは、同じく国営放送だが、相当違うと思われる。どのように違うだろうか？

 

Gemini’s answer

NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) and BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) are national broadcasting organizations in their countries, but they have some key differences.

Funding: NHK is primarily funded by a viewer and television licence fees. On the other hand, BBC is funded by viewer fees, called television licence fees, as well as government subsidies and revenue from commercial activities.

Organizational structure: NHK is a special corporation established under the Japanese Broadcasting Act, which guarantees its independence from the government. On the other hand, BBC was established by a royal charter, which guarantees its independence from the government more strongly. BBC is run by a board of directors, with the chairman and directors appointed by the government.

Content: NHK offers a wide range of programming for Japanese audiences, ranging from news, documentaries, dramas, and variety shows. On the other hand, BBC also produces programming for international audiences, offering entertainment programming such as dramas and comedies as well as news and documentaries. BBC also focuses on international news and current affairs and has correspondents and bureaus around the world.

Political independence: NHK's political independence is guaranteed by the Japanese Broadcasting Act, but it is not able to eliminate government influence. On the other hand, the BBC's independence from the government is strongly guaranteed by the Royal Charter, and it is structured to be less susceptible to government influence.

Overall, NHK and the BBC are both state-run broadcasting organizations, but there are some differences in funding, organizational structure, content, political independence, etc.

[jackiewepps]

12 Ways to Divide Japan

I'm basing this on the lesson I had today in Japanese culture class. Here is the picture my teacher shared with us. It is accessible on Google images if you search on the title of this post. I'm just sharing it here because I think it's both funny and educational.

Most of it likely goes without explanation. I think my teacher said the picture was from 2011 or something. The political one is probably the one suffering from time the most. LDP still excists (they're the ruling party and have been for years. Anything else would be odd). One or more of the other parties may or may not still exist. As for Hashimoto, he was a well-known Japanese politician back when this picture was made. According to the teacher he should allegedly have told the people from Okinawa who were tired of American military bases that he'd gladlly have them. Then the people from Okinawa back-tracked because it would give them less places of employment. A say-whatever-you-want type of politician that got a lot of media attention.

NHK, for those who don't know, is short for 日本放送協会 (Nippon Housou Kyoukai) Japan Broadcasting Corporation. It is the Japanese national news station. This means, they are supposed to cover all of Japan in their news. The map allegedly tells the truth. In my home country, it is defiinitely true that the national news station only covers the capital area unless something bad, like an environmental catastrophe happens.

I'll also share this one of Kyoto (which I found on the same Google search. I don't know much about Kyoto, despite having been there twice, but I found this funny too.

[mybeingthere]

"Kenji Yoshida’s monumental works consist of ethereal gold, silver and precious metals on canvas which unite a restrained tradition of Japanese applique work with that of an abstract modernist aesthetic. Yoshida first studied art under Kiyoshi Hayashi before the outbreak of World War II. Selected for training as a kamikaze pilot, Yoshida was extremely lucky to survive his teens. It was under the weight of many such memories, that Yoshida returned to his art. 

From that point onwards the majority of Yoshida’s work carried the single, most telling of all titles, Sei-Mei - La Vie - Life. In 1964, Yoshida left Japan permanently and moved to Paris, the acknowledged centre of Modernism. This move brought Yoshida’s work into the great movements of the time. He was confronted by the heady shock of the Abstract Expressionists, in particular Rothko and Motherwell, who both employ similarly abstract forms in striving for the transcendent spirituality that characterises Yoshida’s art.

In 1993, Yoshida became the first living artist ever to be given a solo exhibition at the Japanese Galleries of the British Museum, London, UK. October Gallery has shown regular exhibitions of Yoshida’s work since the late 1980s, the most recent being in 2015. His contribution to the exchange of culture between Japan and the West was acknowledged in a special programme broadcast by NHK (the Japanese National Broadcasting Service) in August 2010, timed to coincide with the commemorative services for the cessation of the Pacific War."

https://octobergallery.co.uk/artists/yoshida

[warningsine]

A new military recruit shot and killed two fellow soldiers and wounded a third at a training range in central Japan on Wednesday, the military said, with the 18-year-old suspect detained at the scene.

“During a live-bullet exercise as part of new personnel training, one Self-Defence Forces candidate fired at three personnel,” the Ground Self-Defence Force (GSDF), Japan’s army, said in a statement.

The shooter was an 18-year-old SDF candidate who joined the military in April, GSDF chief of staff Yasunori Morishita told reporters, adding he was detained on the spot by other soldiers.

“This kind of incident is absolutely unforgivable for an organisation tasked with handling weapons, and I take it very seriously,” Morishita said.

He said the three victims had been tasked with training new recruits, including the attacker, at the range, without further elaborating on their relations.

The suspect, whose identity is being withheld for now, has been charged with the attempted murder of a 25-year-old soldier, a local police spokesman said, declining to be identified.

The cadet “fired a rifle at the victim with the intent to kill”, the spokesman said.

National broadcaster NHK reported the casualties were a man in his fifties and two other men in their twenties.

Details of the casualties’ identities have yet to be officially confirmed.

Aerial footage broadcast by the station showed military and civilians gathered around an emergency vehicle and police blocking nearby roads. Some appeared to be investigators, wearing covers over their shoes and hair.

A local resident told NHK he saw several emergency vehicles rushing to the area at around 9:30am local time but had not heard anything before that.

Morishita said as far as he is aware, gun violence by GSDF personnel that resulted in injuries or fatalities last took place in 1984 at a camp in Yamaguchi.

The training range near Gifu is administered by the region’s Camp Moriyama and is a covered facility of more than 65,000 square metres.

Gun possession tightly controlled in Japan, where violent crime is rare.

But several high-profile incidents have rattled the country over the last year.

In July 2022, former prime minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead on the campaign trail by a man who allegedly targeted him over his links to the Unification Church.

The accused assassin, Tetsuya Yamagami, was due to make his first appearance in court this week, but the session was cancelled after a package sent to the facility set off a metal detector.

It was later found to contain no explosives, but rather a petition signed by thousands calling for a lenient sentence for Yamagami.

He has garnered surprise sympathy from some quarters over the effect his mother’s devotion to the Unification Church had on his family and childhood.

In April, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida escaped unharmed after a man threw an explosive device towards him at a campaign event.

That incident came shortly before Japan hosted the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in Hiroshima and prompted renewed calls for stepped-up security.

Thousands of police were deployed to secure the gathering, which passed without a security incident.

Last month, police in Nagano region west of Tokyo detained a man after an hours-long knife and shooting rampage, followed by an extended stand-off.

The man killed four people, including two police officers, before he was detained. He is reportedly the son of the speaker of the local city assembly.

[denimbex1986]

'What can we learn from a country’s choice of when – or whether – to screen World War II drama Oppenheimer? Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic was released in the US just after the anniversary of the Trinity test, the culmination of the Manhattan Project on July 16, 1945, that paved the way for the postwar Pax Americana. In South Korea, it will hit screens on National Liberation Day, which marks Tokyo’s Aug 15 surrender in World War II – something the bomb is credited with. And in Japan itself, which next month will see 78 years since Little Boy and Fat Man were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, the movie isn’t scheduled for release at all yet. That might reflect the country’s complicated views on the war.

In the US, the movie has reopened the debate on the bomb and whether it was a war crime. These revisionist discussions, which are based on what we know now, aren’t especially helpful. Contrary to some reports, Oppenheimer has absolutely not been banned in Japan – unlike some of its Asian neighbours, the country rarely takes such steps, even for politically insensitive content. But the movie’s distributor has yet to schedule a release date; assuming one comes at all, it will be some time after the Aug 6 and 9 memorials. Even on those anniversaries, Japan tends to avoid discussion of the rights and wrongs. That’s not to say its citizens have a uniform position – far from it. A 2015 poll by public broadcaster NHK found that 40% of the population agreed with the proposition that the US had no choice but to use the bomb. Interestingly, in Hiroshima, that number was 44% – higher than the country at large – and topped those who called it “unforgivable".

But if and when local audiences can have their say on the movie, perhaps it may trigger a discussion instead on Japan’s ambiguous, if not contradictory, stance toward nuclear weapons – a technology it publicly opposes, but simultaneously depends on for its survival in an increasingly hostile neighbourhood. As the country prepares for a historic shift in defense spending, the time for that debate is now. Postwar reality One rather typical headline from Kyodo News on Oppenheimer’s US premiere reads, “Biography of the ‘Father of the Atomic Bomb’ Released; Doesn’t Depict the Devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki". It’s a common sentiment on both sides of the Pacific, but Japan’s own depictions also often lack such historical context, tending instead toward sentimental looks at the rank-and-file caught up in events. The horrors both visited on the country and those Japan committed elsewhere are treated more akin to a natural disaster. Not retreading old arguments might be wiser, of course. While the US is still chewing over decision to use the bomb back then, Japan has largely accepted the postwar reality. In a recent survey, a record 90% praised the US-Japan alliance for helping preserve the country’s peace and safety, a figure that has steadily climbed over the past 40 years.

Last year, Tokyo came close to starting a serious debate on the appropriateness of its three non-nuclear principles, under which the government is committed to not possessing, producing or permitting atomic weapons to be brought into the country. Early in 2022, Shinzo Abe suggested that it was time to discuss hosting US nukes. At the time, Abe was a senior voice in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, one who many then thought could have had a third spin as prime minister. “We should not regard a discussion on how the world’s security is maintained as taboo,” Abe said at the time, referencing a commotion caused in 2006 when then-LDP policy chief Shoichi Nakagawa suggested discussing the building of atomic weapons in response to North Korea’s first nuclear test. Bemusing as it may seem now, concerns ran high at the time over Japanese remilitarisation rather than the rapidly strengthening China, and the comments caused international alarm.

A few years earlier, a deputy vice-minister of defense was forced to resign after making similar remarks. The spectre of a remilitarised Tokyo Many divisions in Japan have moved on since, but this debate isn’t one of them. The idea of weapon sharing was flatly rejected by prime minister Fumio Kishida, whose family hails from Hiroshima and is a lifelong denuclearisation advocate. Abe was assassinated before he could capitalise on Kishida’s relatively weak public support. Lacking a significant voice, the discussion has never really launched. In May, the prime minister took the Group of Seven leaders to view the bomb’s aftermath in Hiroshima, with the premiers pledging to work toward “an ultimate goal of a world without nuclear weapons with undiminished security for all". Contrast that with the alarmism of former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who the same month said Japan was “heading towards becoming a nuclear power in five years". This is a common refrain of Kissinger’s, who for decades fretted over the spectre of a remilitarised Tokyo and pushed for the US to move closer to China to restrain it. Kishida will have no such plans. But he should not be so quick to dismiss the discussion. In a world where conflict between the US and China seems increasingly possible, Japan must not be afraid to have real talks about how it would respond, including what part atomic weapons would play — and what might happen if the US nuclear umbrella (perhaps in the hands of a less reliable White House) was no longer extended over the country.

Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine has powerfully demonstrated that at least some of the post-Cold War assumptions were wrong; Japan can’t afford to be left in a decades-old debate when conflict around Taiwan seems closer than ever. Oppenheimer may have revived an unhelpful reinterpretation of WWII. But assuming viewers in Japan get a chance to experience it, it might trigger a more useful discourse in the country that experienced the horrors firsthand.'