this post was submitted on 04 May 2025
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Japan placed 66th in the 2025 press freedom rankings announced by Reporters Without Borders on Friday, the lowest among the Group of Seven major countries.

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[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 57 points 7 months ago (7 children)

I think the two things that negatively surprised me the most about Japan when I moved there and started talking to people:

First are that the press has less freedom than you'd expect for a democracy. I learned this after becoming friends with a local member of the Communist party.

Second, that although the police on the street are incredibly kind and helpful, often going out of their way for people, if you do get arrested, the treatment of prisoners is pretty bad. They are very good at getting confessions, even out of innocent people.

[–] wewbull@feddit.uk 5 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Japan being a democracy is somewhat debatable. The LDP is so entrenched that the people really have very little say in what happens. All discussion is within the party. The party is the ruling class.

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

In the last election, the LDP lost 68 seats for a total of 191 seats where 233 seats are needed for a majority, meaning it at least needs to make a coalition.

The CDP, which is described as center-left gained 52 seats for a total of 148 seats, and is the second largest party.

[–] wewbull@feddit.uk 2 points 7 months ago

Yes, it was a big shift relative to what they're used to, but the fact that even then the LDP is still the largest party must have been soul crushing for some.

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