In societies governed by the rule of law, what limitations should apply to police surveillance? What protections should be accorded to religious and ethnic minorities who may be subject to police profiling? Does police profiling of members of minority groups unfairly discriminate against them or violate fundamental rights such as the right to privacy or to practice religion? Questions like these are at the heart of ongoing litigation in Tokyo concerning police surveillance of Japan's Muslim community.

Hayao Miyazaki, who in November, 2013 announced his decision to retire from active film-making, is a name well-known to serious film lovers all over the world. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in August, 2014 announced that he will be awarded an Honorary Oscar (Lifetime Achievement Award) at the Academy's 6th Annual Governors Awards on November 8, 2014. The only other Japanese director to have received this prestigious award was the legendary Akira Kurosawa (in 1990). He will now be in the same league of filmmakers that includes the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Satyajit Ray and the world renowned animator Walt Disney. As a result of his untiring work, he had earlier received several prestigious awards. His Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001; Spirited Away) got the Golden Berlin Bear award at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival, and claimed the Best Animated Feature category at the Oscars in 2003. It was the first ‘anime’ film, a distinct film genre of Japanese origin, to win an Academy Award. He created numerous films besides this one that deserve recognition and critical acclaim. They are not just simply films of aesthetic and generic (‘anime’) novelty; they contain the depth of creativity, philosophy and values relevant to modern times as well. It is because of this that we need to look back and consider his achievements in the context of the forthcoming honor to be given to him. This article will specifically try to understand why Miyazaki's films are not just a part of the ‘anime’ phenomenon but also are works of astounding creativity that carry deep social, environmental and aesthetic undercurrents.

The great earthquake that struck off the Pacific coast of Japan's northeast region on March 11, 2011, and the tsunami it created, destroyed wide swaths of the coastal regions, killing 16,000 people, with more than 2,600 people missing. The tsunami also disabled a nuclear power plant in Fukushima and forced large numbers of people to evacuate or flee the affected areas. Three years later, more than a quarter million people still live in temporary housing or elsewhere not in their own homes. Nearly 50,000 Fukushima residents continue to live outside the prefecture.

Much has been written on this site on recent developments in the long-running saga over the U.S. and Japanese governments' plan to construct a U.S. military air base, the Futenma Replacement Facility (FRF), in Henoko, Okinawa, Japan (Henoko plan). On July 1, 2014, 17 years after the plan was first conceived, the Okinawa Defense Bureau (the government of Japan) started the “construction phase” amid protest from local citizens and municipal governments. Just over a month later, on August 14, the U.S. Congressional Research Service released a report, The U.S. Military Presence in Okinawa and the Futenma Base Controversy (the CRS Report). The CRS Report provides a useful and up-to-date (though, as noted below, in one major respect incomplete) file of information, paying for the most part due attention to local, national, and international factors.