This Week in Japan #34 (November 27th)

Hosts of This Week In Japan

Julian Domanski

Born in England, Julian is a writer, videographer & musician living in Tokyo. When he’s not drinking copious amounts of English Tea, he can be found studying Japanese or trying to master the surprisingly complex basics of the Jiuta Shamisen.

Yasuharu Matsuno

Founder of Japan Insider (Former Ryu Tokyo). Japanese-born entrepreneur. Yasu spent his life around the globe – Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, Australia, and the U.S. He hopes he had more time to play Japanese RPGs. MBA from Columbia University in the City of New York.

Go-To Travel Campaign Revised Due to Rising Corona Numbers

On Saturday, November 21, Prime Minister Suga announced a revision to the Go-To Travel Campaign that has been promoting domestic travel since July of this year. The campaign, which was started as a way to boost the waning economy and support the struggling tourism industry, will be changed to omit areas with high numbers of Corona outbreaks. To read the full article, click the link below:

A U.N. Council Finds Carlos Ghosn’s Arrests “Illegal”

Carlos Ghosn, Nissan Motors former chairman, was arrested along with the former director Greg Kelly in Tokyo back on November 19 of 2018. According to Ghosn, he remained unable to see his wife, friends, or family and was unable to meet with his lawyer during his 130 days in custody. Last December, Ghosn made worldwide headlines when he made a daring escape to his home country of Lebanon by hiding in a large box aboard a private jet.

This week on November 23rd, the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention made a post stating that Ghosn’s multiple arrests to extend his detention and varying charges were “fundamentally unfair.”  To read the full article, click the link below:

Square Enix and Toho Sued for Taking Popular Dragon Quest Characters Name

Game company Square Enix and theatre company Toho Cinemas are being sued by a writer after using the exact name of the main character in her novelization of the popular game Dragon Quest V.  To read the full article, click the link below:

Online Crane Game Company Toreba Faces a Law Suit for Rigging Games

An online crane game service by the name of “Toreba” was recently exposed to have staff working behind the scenes to rig games.

Toreba is a service that allows participants to play crane games remotely via an app. The service has seen extreme success and currently has over 1000 units. In 2020 alone, Toreba managed to receive over 15 million downloads. TV commercials with popular comedians and collaborations with big YouTubers only further increased the popularity of Toreba, but with increased attention came increased scrutiny. To read the full article, click the link below: