Japan

2014

  
Protesters gather in Tokyo in 2013 to voice concern over the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets Act, which is due to come into force in December. (Reuters/Toru Hanai)

Japan’s state secrets law, a minefield for journalists

On October 14, as Japan prepared to mark Newspaper Week–an event set up to promote the public right to know–Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet publicly announced guidelines on how the country’s security law, which was passed in December 2013, is to be implemented. This date will be remembered as the point at which the public’s…

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Journalists in Japan face threats 3 years after Fukushima

At the end of last month, an evacuation order declared during the 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant power plant meltdown was lifted for residents of a small town in Fukushima Prefecture, the first time an area so close to the site was declared suitable for habitation. Yet, three years after Earthquake Tōhoku killed 15,000 people and triggered…

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2014