From the Editor

Justin McCurry

NHK is wrestling with the fallout from a recent radio broadcast in which a Chinese reporter issued an on-air protest over the Senkaku islands and Japan’s wartime conduct – an outburst for which he was fired. In this month’s cover story, David McNeill gives us an inside account of the latest controversy to hit Japan’s public broadcaster. Number 1 Shimbun publication day coincides with the 60th anniversary of the shinkansen, which went into service on October 1, 1964. Mark Schreiber, who rode the train for the first time just a year later, delves into the network’s origins, and Philip Brasor looks at the murky prospects for the next generation of high-speed trains – the maglev. Elsewhere, H.L. Stone explains what Shigeru Ishiba’s victory in the LDP leadership race means for the party’s Abe ideologues, and Dan Sloan celebrates the life and career of pioneering baseball export Masanori Murakami. One year after the 7 October attacks, Dylan O’Brien looks at how the Israel-Hamas conflict is being covered in the Japanese media.

Cover artwork by Julio Shiiki - Senkaku Islands: Wikipedia

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