This article examines the surge of Iranian migration to Japan in the early 1990s. After Iran and Japan established a mutual visa waiver agreement in 1974, many overstayed, with migration increased notably from 1989. However, stricter rules and the suspension of visa exemptions in 1992 sharply reduced the number of Iranians in Japan by the mid-1990s. The influx represented a unique chapter in the history of the Iranian diaspora—rapid migration, informal social networks, and public gatherings characterized this period. While Japan’s strict immigration policies quickly ended the “coming-to-Japan” boom, Iranian migrants developed a sense of equality and mutual support during their time in Japan.

In an era marked by pervasive political distrust, individuals exhibit a spectrum of responses, ranging from political disengagement to assertive forms of participation, often expressed through populist movements. Drawing on data from the Japanese Electoral Studies (JES) between 2009 and 2024, this study integrates attitudinal and behavioural measures to examine why some individuals retreat from political life while others remain politically engaged under similar conditions of distrust. Focusing on economic insecurity and nationalist sentiment as moderating grievances, the analysis shows that nationalist sentiment is consistently linked to both populist attitudes and electoral participation, whereas economic insecurity displays more limited and context-dependent associations. Overall, the findings indicate that identity-based grievances are more consistently linked to politically engaged responses to distrust than material concerns. This study provides novel insights into how political discontent is expressed in contemporary Japan, demonstrating that its patterns of populist engagement, particularly those associated with nationalism, exhibit important parallels with trends observed in other advanced democracies.

Students’ understanding of Japan’s arrival in Indonesia during the Pacific Wartime (1942–45) sparks a sharp conflict in narratives: was Japan a savior or an invader? This study reveals how official school narratives in Indonesia glorify Japan’s role, clashing with family stories of suffering caused by forced labor (romusha). Using a qualitative approach, the research highlights the ambiguous role of Japan as both victim and perpetrator, shaping students’ complex and diverse national identities. These findings urge curriculum reform for a more inclusive and honest engagement with this controversial historical legacy.

Between the arrival of firearms in Japan in 1543 and the crushing of the Shimabara rebellion in 1638, Japan transformed from a fractured country in a permanent state of war into a centralized, peaceful era. However, this was only possible thanks to several transformations made by the Tokugawa regime, not least the firearm itself. The copious amounts of firearms existing in Japan became a domesticated and common element of the Edo period and were prevalent in the country’s transformation. Rather than being just tools of war that could menace the shogunate, firearms gained a range of roles, from tools to regalia, depending on their owners’ social and political context, which sheds light on their social environment.

Despite extensive research on discrimination, little is known about how disclosing invisible attributes, such as religion, socio-economic class, and sexual orientation, affects others’ discriminatory attitudes. This study examines the case of Zainichi Koreans in Japan, descendants of Korean migrants who remained in Japan after World War II under special permanent residency status. Zainichi Koreans face a dilemma: whether to disclose their ethnic identity by using a Korean name (honmy$\bar o$) or attempt to conceal it with a Japanese pseudonym (ts$\bar u$mei). Using two conjoint experiments with hypothetical job applicants, we find strong discriminatory attitudes against Zainichi Koreans based solely on their names. However, these biases are significantly reduced among individuals with frequent social contact with Zainichi Koreans. Our findings underscore the need to further move beyond visible attributes in research on discrimination and social contact. More broadly, this study provides a framework for examining bias against invisible identities in diverse global contexts.

Public opinion has become an increasingly consequential force in shaping international relations, with perceptions of China standing at the center of debates across East Asia. Notably, while youth in South Korea, Taiwan, and Malaysia tend to hold more negative views of China than their elders, Japan presents a reverse pattern: younger generations display higher affinity toward China compared to older generations. This paper investigates the sources of this divergence using 2023 survey data from the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. Building on generational cohort theory and collective memory, the paper redefines Japanese generational groupings and applies regression analysis to identify the key drivers of affinity toward China. The results show that younger Japanese cohorts, though highly curious and actively consuming China-related information, exhibit limited knowledge of China’s political and social structures and display weaker attentiveness to political dimensions. By contrast, older cohorts anchor their perceptions in political memory and bilateral disputes, leading to increasingly entrenched disillusionment. These findings suggest that Japan’s generational gap reflects internal variations in cognitive socialization rather than an overall warming of bilateral relations, underscoring the need to closely monitor evolving youth perceptions in the years ahead.

This article examines how during the 1970s, state, media, and research institutions transformed bōsōzoku – the contemporaneous label for cohorts of motorcycle-riding youth – into an object of governance. Between 1972 and 1979, national news media, police bureaucracies, and legislative authority aligned to transform scattered riding practices into a unified phenomenon. Drawing on police white papers, newspaper databases, and research archives, the article reconstructs the recognition infrastructure through which bōsōzoku moved from journalistic trope to legally actionable population. Preemptive authority did not arrive as a leap but formed the endpoint of a system that had already taught officials what to see, how to count, and when to intervene. Checklists, roadside predicates, and standardized forms aligned across organizations and persisted even as youth practices shifted. The anxiety surrounding bōsōzoku reflected not merely concerns about traffic safety but alarm at working-class youth visibly rejecting corporate-loyalty paradigms of Japan’s “enterprise society.”

We assessed the association between voluntary polymerase chain reaction testing of travellers and reported infection rates in the Ogasawara Islands compared with those in several other Tokyo islands. The implementation of polymerase chain reaction testing over a 2-year period was evaluated. Between September 2020 and September 2022, 38,943 of 45,900 travellers to the Ogasawara Islands underwent pre-travel polymerase chain reaction testing, with a notable increase in uptake during states of emergency. Ogasawara reported 385 positive coronavirus disease 2019 cases, with no hospitalizations or severe cases among residents, in contrast to the higher infection and hospitalization rates in Tokyo. Pre-boarding polymerase chain reaction tests were associated with lower reported infection rates in this island setting. These findings suggest that combining pre-travel testing with local mitigation measures, including case isolation systems, may help safeguard the communities of small, geographically isolated islands. These results may inform public health preparedness and response strategies for future infectious disease outbreaks.

Thought reform campaigns aimed at the psychological transformation of captives have long been tools to enhance national security and political legitimacy in East Asia. Fusing Soviet concepts of human perfectibility and Confucian ideals of transformation through education, sophisticated systems have evolved to convert political opponents. Whether labelled as tenkō in Japan, ‘self-renovation’ in Nationalist China, or ‘new learning’ in the People’s Republic of China, these programmes shared the fundamental goal of pressuring individuals to renounce previous beliefs and adopt state-sanctioned ideologies. This article examines how Japanese war crimes prisoners, political dissidents, and former Chinese Nationalist officers experienced these campaigns. Despite differences in implementation, each regime used confession, group study, and psychological coercion. This historical perspective is particularly relevant today as China’s leadership continues to weaponise historical narratives – including the ‘correct’ understandings of WWII history – with implications for contemporary tensions between China and Taiwan.

Paleoparasitology has emerged as a discipline situated at the intersection of anthropology, archaeology, public health and medical science. In South Korea, research on mummies over the past few decades has yielded critical insights into historical parasite infections. Parasitological analysis of intestinal contents from well-preserved Joseon-period mummies, largely representing individuals of the upper social classes, has enabled the direct identification of parasite taxa and estimation of infection prevalence in pre-modern Korea. Beyond mummies, parasitological examinations of toilet remains have enabled reconstructions of parasitic infection dynamics in pre-modern Korean society. No toilet structures have been identified from Neolithic sites in Korea, although coprolites recovered from shell middens provide key evidence for this period. With the rise of the Three Kingdoms, archaeological evidence indicates the construction and use of increasingly sophisticated toilet facilities, including cesspit and flush-type systems, which continued to develop in later historical periods. Toilets dating to the late Joseon Dynasty and the early 20th century frequently contain coprolite samples heavily infested with parasite eggs, and their detection has confirmed the presence of toilets at otherwise uncertain archaeological sites. Across both mummy and toilet contexts, commonly identified parasites include soil-transmitted helminths such as Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura, as well as food-borne trematodes, reflecting long-term interactions among sanitation practices, subsistence strategies and human health in Korea.

A global increase in severe group A Streptococcus (GAS) infections has been reported following the COVID-19 pandemic, but data from Asia remain limited. We examined epidemiology and clinical characteristics of severe paediatric GAS infections across 86 Japanese hospitals, focusing on patients under 18 years of age, hospitalized between 1 January 2019 and 31 March 2024. Severe GAS infection was defined by the isolation of GAS from sterile sites, or from non-sterile sites under specific conditions, such as streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS). A total of 83 cases were analysed. Cases increased from the summer of 2023, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. The median age was 4 (interquartile range: 1–8) years, with the highest number among 1-year-olds. No cases were reported in Hokkaido, northern Japan. Only 6% (5/83) of the cases had preceding GAS pharyngitis. Pneumonia was the most prevalent diagnosis (25%), with 76% of these cases being complicated by empyema, often necessitating intensive care or surgical intervention. Only 17% (14/83) of cases were reported as STSS in Japan’s national surveillance system. This study represents the first multicentre nationwide hospital-based investigation of severe paediatric GAS infections in Japan, identifying the recent increase in cases, thereby highlighting limitations of current STSS-based surveillance.