Latest news with #HeiseiEra
Tokyo Reported
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Tokyo Reported
‘My mom apparently wore them' – Triumphant return of ‘loose socks'
TOKYO (TR) – The Heisei Era (1989-2019) is all the rage at the moment. From digital cameras to school bag accessories, items from several decades ago are gaining popularity. For fashion, 'loose socks' are making a comeback in a big way with Reiwa school girls — and with some modern touches to boot, reports TBS News (July 30). Recently, the network asked 50 girls of the Reiwa generation, 'What's popular right now?' The most common answer was loose socks, the long, white legging sported by nearly every self-respecting gyaru (slang for gal) in the late 1990s. 'A little over 2 meters long,' a third-year high school girl says. 'The longer they are, the better [loose socks] are!' 'As a gyaru, I can't live without loose socks, so I wear them,' a second-year high school girl says. 'They're hot, though!! Loose socks are my life!' Loose socks are making a comeback (X) Takeshita Street At the Harajuku Takeshita Street branch of Kutsushitaya in Shibuya Ward, over 10 varieties of loose socks are available, ranging from classic white to colorful shades like pink and light blue. 'This product has become extremely popular,' says manager Yuiko Nagai. 'Its popularity has been gradually increasing since around 2023, and it will likely continue to perform well in 2025.' Sales are already 1.5 times higher than usual. This popularity seems to have as much to do with nostalgia as fashion. 'I wear them because I think they make my legs thinner, reduce weight and they're cute,' a second-year high school girl says. A third-year girl comments, 'I thought it was cute to see the Heisei-era gals wearing loose socks.' 'My mom apparently wore them quite a bit, and she recommended them,' says a first-year high school girl. First-year high school girl says: 'My mom apparently wore them quite a bit' Varieties As mentioned before, loose socks in the Heiwa Era were strictly white. Reiwa girls, however, have a choice as various colors are now available. 'I matched my purple T-shirt with my purple loose socks,' an elementary school girl says. 'I wear them because I feel like my feet look empty when wearing a miniskirt,' a first-year high school girl says. Sock Touch (X) 'That product' And then there's 'that product.' Sock Touch is an adhesive that keeps the socks firmly in place above the shoe and below the knees. 'When my socks keep falling off, I put on Sock Touch and they stay in place,' a third-year middle school student says. Available in blue and pink, Sock Touch allows girls to keep their socks in place wherever they like. Short t-shirts, also popular in the 1990s, are also trending, as is the covering of school bags with large lettering and illustrations. 'Y2K fashion, from the late '90s to early 2000s, was all the rage, and everyone admired and imitated the energetic gyaru girls of the time,' says Mai Nagata, who is in charge of marketing to the Reiwa generation at SHIBUYA109 lab., located near JR Shibuya Station. 'It's fun to take inspiration from old fashion and add your own original touch to it.'
Asahi Shimbun
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Asahi Shimbun
Survey: No LDP candidate wants ban on corporate donations
Voters listen to a candidate for the Upper House election making a campaign speech in Tokyo on July 3. (Takayuki Kakuno) An overwhelming percentage of opposition candidates in the Upper House election support a 'total ban' on corporate and group donations, but the rate was zero for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, a survey showed. A possible ban on such donations became a contentious issue in the Diet following a series of financial scandals in the LDP. But debate has been shelved until after the July 20 Upper House election. Corporate and group donations to individual politicians were banned under 'political reforms of the Heisei Era' about 30 years ago. However, a loophole allows individual politicians to continue receiving such donations if the money is sent to political party branches represented by these politicians. According to the survey, 86 percent of candidates of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and 89 percent of those backed by Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) want to close the loophole to completely ban corporate and group donations. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his LDP have insisted that corporations and organizations have the right to 'freedom of political activities.' The LDP submitted a bill to the recently closed ordinary Diet session to 'strengthen disclosure' of donations on the premise that such payments can continue to exist. In response, five opposition parties, including the CDP and Nippon Ishin, submitted a bill to ban these donations. Both bills were put on the agenda for continued deliberation. The survey was jointly conducted by The Asahi Shimbun and a research group led by Masaki Taniguchi, a professor of Japanese politics at the University of Tokyo, from the end of May. Of the 522 Upper House election candidates, 487, or 93.3 percent, responded by the evening of July 3, the day when the official election campaign started. The survey asked respondents to show where they stood on a five-point scale concerning corporate and group political donations. Picking (A) meant they felt that 'corporations and organizations have the freedom to engage in political activities.' On the other end of the scale was (B), support for the idea that 'corporate and group donations should be banned entirely.' According to the results, 94 percent of LDP candidates were in the 'freedom of political activities' camp, including those who said they 'tend to agree' with (A). No LDP candidate fell into the 'total ban on donations' camp. Six percent were 'undecided.' The LDP's junior coalition partner, Komeito, and the opposition Democratic Party for the People had proposed measures to 'strengthen regulations' on such donations but allow for them to continue to exist. The parties did not submit their bills to the Diet. According to the survey, 88 percent of Komeito candidates were in the 'freedom of political activities' camp. Among DPP candidates, 50 percent supported 'freedom of political activities,' while 40 percent were undecided. A scandal over unreported political funds among LDP factions hurt the ruling coalition in the Lower House election in October last year and prompted Diet debate on political reform. The ruling and opposition parties agreed to reach a conclusion by March this year, but they failed to do so by the end of the ordinary Diet session in June. It was also revealed that Ishiba distributed 100,000-yen ($685) gift certificates to 15 of first-time elected Lower House members of the LDP in March. The Political Fund Control Law prohibits donations between politicians that are related to political activities. Ishiba denied any illegality, saying the gifts were like souvenirs from a dinner party and were not related to political activities. Some have criticized the gift certificates as going beyond the scope of socially accepted norms, regardless of whether they were related to a political activity. The survey asked the candidates if they thought 'donations between politicians' other than for political activities are acceptable. It also asked what they believed was an acceptable value level for non-political donations between politicians, excluding wedding gifts and monetary offerings for funerals. They were asked to choose from among five options: No donations between politicians should be made at all; up to 10,000 yen is acceptable; up to 50,000 yen is acceptable; up to 100,000 yen is acceptable; and donations exceeding 100,000 yen may be possible depending on the situation. Among LDP candidates, 58 percent said they would allow such donations, while 42 percent said these donations should never be made. Seventeen percent of LDP candidates said donations would be acceptable 'up to 10,000 yen,' while 19 percent said 'up to 50,000 yen' and 6 percent said 'up to 100,000 yen.' Also, 17 percent picked 'exceeding 100,000 yen is possible depending on the occasion.' For DPP candidates, 43 percent said donations between politicians are acceptable. In contrast, 80 percent of CDP candidates and 91 percent of Komeito candidates said such donations should not be made at all. (This article was written by Daiki Koga and Yuta Ogi.)
Japan Times
21-03-2025
- General
- Japan Times
Natsue Kondo: The female vice admiral who broke the glass ceiling at Japan's SDF
In December 2023, Natsue Kondo became the first woman promoted to top leadership at any of the three branches of the Self-Defense Forces. More than a year on, Maritime Self-Defense Force Vice Adm. Kondo, 59, remains the only female SDF officer holding any of the top ranks — admiral and vice admiral at the MSDF, and general and lieutenant general for the Ground and Air Self-Defense Force. Kondo commands the MSDF's Ominato District, based in Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture. This group is tasked with protecting maritime security in areas north of Aomori, including the Tsugaru and Soya straits, as well as keeping an eye on the Russian and Chinese militaries. "I was initially planning to be a high school teacher," Kondo said in a recent interview. "I didn't really have a lot of knowledge about the SDF or have a strong feeling for national security." One day when she was working as a temporary teacher at a junior high school after graduating from Yamaguchi University, an SDF recruitment pamphlet at a city government office caught her eye. Attracted by the diverse jobs and the global working environment offered by the SDF, Kondo took a test and passed. "I felt that even someone like me was needed by the SDF. This made me want to contribute to this organization," she said. Kondo "hadn't given any thought" about being the first female top-ranking SDF officer, she said. "Of course, I have a sense of mission and responsibility," she said. "But everyone in a similar position to mine has such a resolve regardless of whether they are a man or a woman." She joined the MSDF in 1989, when the Showa Era (1926 to 1989) ended and the Heisei Era (1989 to 2019) began. Although the working environment for female SDF members was far less desirable back then, Kondo said, "I can't really recall any hardships." The only bitter memory so far was being excluded from a long-distance training voyage after she graduated from the Maritime Officer Candidate School because she was a woman. Conducted for around seven months both in and outside Japan, the training was held as an opportunity to learn knowledge necessary for officers and develop a global perspective. "I wanted to be a crew member of an MSDF vessel, but there was no (living) quarter for women on the vessel at the time," she said. It was customary for the school's graduates to board boats from a pier and then get on a training ship docked in a bay. But five female graduates including Kondo had to go back to the pier. "All of us were crying" in disappointment, she said. "I thought that the values I would have developed (through the training) must be more important than I could imagine, such as views on the nation, on the world and on security, and the sense of mission," she said. "I thought I was at a great disadvantage because I lost out on this golden opportunity," she recalled. But she added that such experiences are not necessarily a bad thing, "because (they) can provide the valuable experience of overcoming adversity." "The meaning of advancing in one's career differs depending on what each individual values," she said. "We must not let any opportunities for women to challenge themselves be taken away."
