Latest news with #Aizawa
The Mainichi
18-07-2025
- Politics
- The Mainichi
3rd gen Japanese Peruvian questions election policies on foreign nationals
ISESAKI, Gunma -- With the population of foreign residents in Japan now reaching more than 3.76 million, policies on foreigners have emerged as a key issue in the looming House of Councillors election. What sentiment are people with foreign roots harboring about this development? A man who came to Japan from Peru 27 years ago considers the July 20 election a "golden opportunity" to ponder the course of this nation. "Is it aiming to become a xenophobic nation or a country that will build a future together (with foreigners)?" he asks. Language barrier at elementary school Masao Aizawa, 34, a third-generation Japanese Peruvian, runs an auto dealership and other businesses in Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture. His father has roots in Miyagi Prefecture and his mother in Okinawa Prefecture. Aizawa arrived in Japan in 1998 from Lima, the Peruvian capital, at the age of 8, alongside his mother and grandmother. They were reunited with his father, who had already been working in Japan, and started living in Isesaki. At elementary school, Aizawa hit a language barrier. Aside from him, there was just one other student with foreign roots -- a girl from Brazil. Being only able to speak Spanish, Aizawa learned Japanese from her. In math tests, he could solve addition and multiplication problems, but found it difficult to tackle written problems. His teacher spared him from some questions, but this led other students to grow jealous of him. He studied Japanese and worked diligently when it came to cleaning and other group work, chipping away at the walls between him and those around him. It took him a full year to make friends. Unaware of social insurance system When he was in junior high school, he started accompanying his family members and acquaintances as an interpreter when they visited the hospital and government agencies. While assisting them, he realized how little he and other foreigners around him knew about health and other social insurance systems in Japan. While businesses are required to enroll workers in social insurance, companies at the time would refuse to do so even when requested by non-Japanese employees. Some foreign workers chose not to join insurance, fearing their take-home pay would drop. Consequently, some foreign nationals had to see doctors without insurance or were ineligible for pension benefits. Not knowing about the system made their lives even more difficult. After graduating from a private high school in Gunma Prefecture and gaining some work experience, Aizawa launched his auto dealership in 2015. Currently, he hires some 25 staff members, of which around 20 are foreign nationals including Peruvians and Vietnamese. "When people with different cultures and senses of value work together it helps generate flexible ideas. Diversity enriches society as a whole," he stressed. Japan accepting more foreigners due to labor shortage The Japanese government has promoted the acceptance of foreign workers primarily to make up for labor shortages among companies. Under the revised immigration control law that went into effect in 1990, second- and third-generation individuals of Japanese descent who held foreign citizenship became eligible for long-term residency with no work restrictions, spurring the arrival of many Japanese Brazilians and Peruvians. In 2019, the government established the "specified skills" residency status, accepting laborers from broader countries including Vietnam, China and Indonesia. In June 2024, a package of legal revisions was enacted to abolish the controversial technical trainee system and establish the "employment for skill development" framework for training inexperienced foreign workers. It is estimated that foreign nationals will account for more than 10% of Japan's population in 2070 amid the declining birth rate. In the upper house race, the minor opposition party Sanseito, which advocates "Japanese first" policies, is calling to restrict the acceptance of menial workers, while Nippon Ishin (the Japan Innovation Party) is promoting a population strategy including regulating the total number of foreigners accepted into Japan. The Democratic Party for the People's campaign promise includes legislating restrictions on land acquisition by foreign nationals. The government has also established what is dubbed the "office for promoting a society of orderly coexistence with foreigners" to address cross-sectional policies on foreign residents. These moves illustrate that Japan's policies on foreign nationals have come to the crossroads. Appeals on Facebook spark feedback On July 4, Aizawa posted on Facebook; "Japan is facing a population crisis. Amid this, who is playing an indispensable role? Many foreign workers are. They provide care for elderly people, clean up the streets, and support agriculture and industries on the verge of collapse." The post, titled "Who really is supporting the Japanese economy?" discussed how foreign nationals have made up for Japan's labor shortages and how children with foreign roots are suffering from discrimination, language barriers and a lack of support at schools. The post garnered over 1,000 "likes." Aizawa has also promoted exchange among people in the community, including by organizing a film festival joined by some 300 people including locals and Peruvian residents. "It is important for people to mutually accept each other. I want to build a multicultural inclusive society together," he says. (Japanese original by Shu Hatakeyama, Political News Department, and Haruna Okuyama, Maebashi Bureau)
Hypebeast
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
White Mountaineering SS26 Explores Retro-Tech Fusion in 'Evolution Theory' Collection
Summary White Mountaineeringrecently unveiled itsSpring/Summer 2026collection atParis Fashion Week, titled 'Evolution Theory.' Designed byYosuke Aizawa, the show blends retro influences with technical innovation, tracing the evolution of outdoor gear from its functional roots to its contemporary high-fashion form. Aizawa describes this collection as a tribute to his father, commemorating early outdoor gear while reimagining it with a modern, stylistic twist. The show opened with distinctly retro-inspired color palettes: bold shades like shocking pink, orange and purple tones contrasted with vintage-style muted hues. Each look was styled with scaffolding-style backpacks designed to correspond with the outfit, adding structure and nostalgia. Gingham prints and intricate patterns were paired with bold colors, creating statement pieces that offered a fresh take on traditional outdoor apparel. These nostalgic elements were reinterpreted through contemporary innovation — seen in the use of materials such as polyester mesh and technical knits. While the collection leans into high fashion, it retains functionality with garments that range from structured silhouettes to loose, breathable pieces suited for actual outdoor wear. Aizawa also noted inspiration from sculptors likeJames TurrellandRichard Serra, both known for large-scale works that engage with natural elements like light and space. That influence surfaced through sky-printed shirts and shorts, as well as earth-toned knits, merging natural art with elevated design. The latter half of the show shifted from vibrant colors to deeper blacks and earth tones, embracing a gorp-core aesthetic with lightweight windbreakers, oversized shirts and breezy silhouettes. Altogether, the SS26 presentation stands as one of White Mountaineering's most expansive and stylistically adventurous collections to date — signaling a new and possibly more vibrant chapter for the brand.
Business Mayor
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
Shadow Labyrinth might just pull off its oddball elevator pitch
45 years after the release of Pac-Man, Bandai Namco is finally answering the age-old question: 'How would it play as a 2D Metroidvania?' Surely you've all been wondering that, right? Well, ask no more because we'll soon have an answer to that head-scratching question with Shadow Labyrinth on July 18. At PAX East 2025, Digital Trends went hands-on with the upcoming game and chatted with Seigo Aizawa, producer at Bandai Namco, about Pac-Man's new look. Aizawa showed us how the oddball game is more true to Pac-Man's core tenets than it looks at first glance. It may be a gritty Metroidvania with intense boss fights, but this is still the same maze-navigating eat-em-up you've been playing for decades, albeit in a very different light. In Shadow Labyrinth , players wake up in a strange world where everything is trying to kill them. The only thing aiding their survival is a Pac-Man-like creature that gives them abilities and guides them through a savage planet. Amazon's Secret Level episode starring Pac-Man serves as a prequel to Shadow Labyrinth , and watching it will give players a better understanding of what to expect. 'To expand our audience, we wanted to make something new,' Aizawa tells Digital Trends. 'We wanted to get people who never played a Pac-Man game to play [ Shadow Labyrinth ]. When we thought about the concept of the game, 'Dark Pac-Man' came up. When you think about a dark atmosphere and a maze concept, [the] Metroidvania [genre] matches it perfectly.' Shadow Labyrinth is especially fast-paced for the genre. Every attack must be executed with a plan in mind. But that's not to say Shadow Labyrinth isn't a Pac-Man game at its heart still. There's still a maze for players to run through, you just won't see it from a bird's eye view. Instead, players navigate 2D environments and you have to figure out where they're going as they explore. Pac-Man's tendency to eat everything in sight plays a role here too, though in much more sinister fashion. After players are done chopping up your enemies, they can perform an action that essentially turns you into a Pac-Man Kiju that lets them eat their foes to gain abilities. Aizawa revealed that this was by design, as the game needed three key pillars for which Pac-Man is known for: eating, mazes, and power ups. That's not the only thing my Pac-Man companion can do. As I was making my way through mazes, I was presented with paths that had rails on them. The only way to cross them was to turn into that iconic yellow sphere from the arcade classic. The catch was that the rails were packed with all sorts of traps that were trying to kill me. If I wanted to make it through alive, I needed to evade them. While the Shadow Labyrinth itself is a new location, it still connects to a familiar universe. Bandai Namco decided to toy around with the UGSF (Universal Gaming Simulation Framework), a narrative device that the company uses to connect many of its games. A clear example of this appeared towards the end of my demo. After defeating the main boss, I uncovered a Dig-Dug easter egg that played a bit of the game's music. Bandai Namco Aizawa says that this is just one example of how all of the games are connected thanks to the UGSF. Shadow Labyrinth takes place in a distant future, whereas Dig Dug took place 3,000 years before this game. As players progress through the story, they'll find remnants of other beloved Bandai Namco properties. Sometimes these will be simple winks and nods to other games, and other times they'll play a bigger role in the story. The overall gameplay doesn't disappoint based on what I've played so far. There's a clear sense of Metroidvania progression that gives players plenty of new abilities to unlock, changing their tool set. The boss fights are engaging clashes against larger than life monsters and the platforming almost feels like a game of its own. Every aspect of it is working for me so far, which is a pleasant surprise considering how left-field the pitch is. Shadow Labyrinth is dark, edgy, and grim, but still very much a Pac-Man game at its core. As different as it is from anything else in the series history, I'm still having fun exploring mazes and eating enemies at the end of the day. Shadow Labyrinth is taking a big swing and hopes to capture a new audience with its latest iteration of Pac-Man. From what I played, Bandai Namco may just pull that off with something entirely new. Shadow Labyrinth launches on July 18 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.
