Japan Watching: Society, Politics, Culture, Economy, Environment, And the World

The OECD has just issued a scathing report on Japan's efforts to fight bribery and corruption.  This is striking in many respects -- most notably the stark contrast with the recent glowing report for Japan's little Asian brother, Korea.

So what's wrong with Japan?  It may all be summed up in the title, "The Japan That Can't Decide", of a new book by Kevin Maher.  This work distills the wisdom of his 30 years' experience working for the US State Department, most recently as its Director of the Office of Japanese Affairs.

Every country has a sex industry.  Japan’s is unique by its size, cultural acceptance and links with the Japanese mafia.  It is also unique by the scale of human trafficking for sexual exploitation which the government has never been sufficiently serious about tackling.