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Tokyo has created one of the world’s best sewage-management systems but unions warn of the impact of market-driven capitalism and climate change.

Our demand for democracy in Hong Kong has not died, despite the growing risks of raising them in the former British colony since the Chinese government imposed the draconian “National Security Law” in 2020.

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Every year, millions of people around Japan receive packages from Amazon. The packages  arrive day and night and invariably in pristine condition. But few give much thought to the exhausted delivery worker.

Ever wondered why the world’s largest metropolis is so clean? Ask Watanabe Ayumu. One of Tokyo’s small army of waste collectors, Watanabe’s day can start as early as 6 a.m., to beat traffic. From 8 a.m. he and his colleagues collects paper, PET plastic bottles, non-burnable waste such as metals, ceramics, and electronics, or, the most common by weight, so-called burnable waste, from homes and businesses across the 23 wards that make up Tokyo.

Shibata Akari is one of a small number of female slaughterhouse workers in an industry steeped in discrimination and where workers were not even paid until the 1970s.

The pandemic has pushed women even further to the margins in Japan, exposing the systemic discrimination, as well as the lack of appropriate public services, especially for struggling women.

Last October, Japan helped launch the Asia Carbon Capture, Storage, and Utilization (CCUS) Network, its latest strategy for combating climate change. But the project, heavily backed by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), has been criticized for providing cover for Japanese fossil fuel companies.