Latest news with #Tsurugashima
South China Morning Post
06-08-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Meet the woman refusing to be silenced by Japan's far-right
Japanese politician who campaigns against discrimination is refusing to 'shut up' after her local assembly passed a motion requesting that she stop posting on social media with her official title. Advertisement Megumi Fukushima, an independent lawmaker in the city assembly of Tsurugashima, northwest of Tokyo, has denounced prejudice against immigrants and women on social media platforms. This has included criticising the right-wing 'Japanese First' Sanseito party, which did well in last month's upper house elections. She has posted messages such as 'Oppose discrimination against foreigners' and 'I will not tolerate hate against foreigners' on social networking sites. But her comments have prompted dozens of complaints from the public to the assembly, as well as a message on the city's website threatening to kill Fukushima and bomb city hall. The city assembly passed the motion on Monday after she rejected a request from the chairman to stop posting on social media with her official title. Advertisement 'Threats of murder and bombing are unacceptable,' Yoshihiro Uchino, chair of the city assembly, said on Monday. 'It is a given fact that [the resolution] is not intended to limit [Fukushima's] political activities. However, since June, I have asked Fukushima to exercise self-restraint as chairman, and yet she did not comply, so the city assembly decided to make an official statement.'
Al Arabiya
06-08-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Anti-discrimination Japanese politician refuses to ‘shut up'
A Japanese politician who campaigns against discrimination is refusing to 'shut up' after her local assembly passed a motion requesting that she stop posting on social media with her official title. Megumi Fukushima, an independent lawmaker in the city assembly of Tsurugashima, northwest of Tokyo, has denounced prejudice against immigrants and women on X and other platforms. This has included criticizing the right-wing 'Japanese first' Sanseito party, which did well in last month's upper house elections. But her comments have prompted dozens of complaints from the public to the assembly, as well as a message on the city's website threatening to kill Fukushima and bomb city hall. The city assembly passed the motion on Monday after she rejected a request from the chairperson to stop posting on social media with her official title. 'The resolution does not limit her to share her opinions, but asks her not to use her assembly title,' an assembly official told AFP on Wednesday. But Fukushima has kept her title in her posts on X. On Monday, she posted that she would 'not shut up', saying the resolution 'infringes on her freedom of speech.' The anti-immigration Sanseito party's agenda echoes other populist movements such as US President Donald Trump's 'Make America Great Again.' Immigration levels in Japan remain very low compared to other rich economies and surveys put it far down the list of voters' concerns. On Tuesday, Sanseito's leader Sohei Kamiya posted on X a photo of him meeting in Japan with Tino Chrupalla, the co-leader of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party. 'When I explained the policies and stance of Sanseito, he told me 'Please stick to that course',' Kamiya said.
Japan Times
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Hidankyo leader regrets Japan's dodging of upcoming nuclear ban meet
Tsurugashima, Saitama Pref. – A prominent Japanese hibakusha atomic bomb survivor expressed regret Sunday over the Japanese government's decision not to attend as an observer the upcoming third meeting of signatories to a nuclear ban treaty. "The only thing I can say is 'it's regrettable,'" Terumi Tanaka, co-chair of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize-winning Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo, said in a speech at a meeting held in the city of Tsurugashima, Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo. "Were we still not capable of (making the government change its mind)?" he said.
