Yutaka

Friendly reminder: the AIPV 2026 workshop contribution deadline is March 15, 2026 (23:59 AoE) and is approaching quickly.

We look forward to your submissions.

aipv2026.github.io

The keynote speakers for AIPV include:
- Prof. Conrad Watt (NTU), known for his work on the formalisation of WebAssembly
-Prof. Nobuko Yoshida ( Oxford), well known for her contributions to programming languages theory
-Dr. Christian Szegedy known for his work on neural networks.
aipv2026.github.io

We are delighted to welcome Kensho Tsurusaki (The University of Tokyo and NII) as a member of our local organising team. 🤗

aipv2026.github.io

📢 Tenure-track opening in Computer Science at the Institute of Computer Science, Czech Academy of Sciences (Prague 🇨🇿).

Details + official contact (Adéla Lepšíková):
www.cs.cas.cz/job-offer/te...

Happy to share informal comments if helpful.

How Many Foreigners in Japan Actually Commit Crimes? - Unseen Japan Some online allege that foreigners in Japan commit more crimes than Japanese citizens. But what do the statistics say?

False information alert ⚠️
This article by Unseen Japan is based on factually incorrect claims.

unseen-japan.com/japan-foreig...

False information alert! ⚠️
Your article is based on factually incorrect claims.

@unseenjapan.com — if accuracy is your goal, I’m happy to share the relevant primary sources.

Can Japan Escape Its Two-Party Electoral Trap? Japan is preparing for yet another national election. I feel slightly more concerned this time than I was during the previous election last summer. This time we are voting for the House of Represen…

Japan is voting again.
Some politicians deserve to be replaced.
So does our system.

unitedreasoning.wordpress.com/2026/01/25/c...

The Need for Transparency and Religious Neutrality in Japanese Academia This article follows “War on Misinformation Surrounding Japanese Academia (Update).” While the previous piece focused on concrete cases of false information, the underlying institutional …

The Need for Transparency and Religious Neutrality in Japanese Academia.
Time is running out!⌛️

unitedreasoning.wordpress.com/2026/01/18/t...

War on Misinformation Surrounding Japanese Academia (Update) Another small win against false information! 🎉🥳🎉 The Japan Fact-check Center (JFC) has informed me that they plan to correct their article and retract their fact-check decision that was circulated…

War on False Information about Crime Statistics Disseminated by Academics (Update) 🔥

unitedreasoning.wordpress.com/2026/01/18/w...

Another small win against false information!

The Japan Fact-check Center (JFC) informed me that they plan to correct their article and retract their fact-check decision that was circulated in July 2025 during the previous House of Councillors election.

For details, let’s wait for their correction.

CDP, Komeito to form new party for snap Japan election | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News Two opposition parties in Japan have agreed to form a new party in the Lower House ahead of a possible snap election next month.

Yet another seismic shift in Japanese politics is unfolding.
It seems this was planned well in advance, and the wirepuller behind the maneuver seems to be a well-seasoned politician whom we thought had already lost his influence years ago.
What a dramatic turn! 🤯

www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/...

Happy New Year! 🎉
In Japan, 2026 is said to be the Year of the Horse.
But for computer scientists, let’s make it the year of AI × Proof × Verification!

aipv2026.github.io

I discuss other cases where I believe posts from this X account present Japanese politics in a potentially misleading way on my blog.

unitedreasoning.com/2025/07/31/j...

The X account is blue-verified, but I have not independently confirmed whether it is operated by Dr. Hall of Kanda University of International Studies.

that could give the impression that Ms. Umemura asserted cremation is traditionally Japanese, despite Japan’s historically mixed practices of both burial and cremation.

Caveat: It is possible that Ms. Umemura made such a claim in contexts not shown in this clip.

x.com/mrjeffu/stat...

In other words, she suggests that burial holds cultural significance for some Japanese people, while acknowledging contemporary norms around cremation. In my view, the account claiming to represent Dr. Jeffrey James Hall presents the clip in a way ...

⚠️ Potential False Information Alert!

In the video clip, Ms. Umemura does not argue "cremation is Japanese culture.” Rather, she states that some Japanese nationals may prefer burial in order to “return” to Japanese soil, but choose cremation out of respect for social harmony and public hygiene.

ah, "emailing to" -> "email to" 🙈

Excited to host Dr. Andreas Lööw (Royal Holloway, UoL) at CIIRC CTU Prague for AI & Reasoning Winter Seminar.

Talk: Verilog verification & semantics for interactive theorem proving
Hosted by Yutaka Nagashima (ICS, Czech Academy of Sciences).

Suspected Disinformation About Crimes by Foreigners in Japan This TV news segment and Prof. Shunsuke Tanabe (田辺俊介) of Waseda University appear to have taken advantage of the Covid pandemic to promote the myth that the crime rates among Japanese and non-Japan…

Do you want to know how Japan "achieved" parity in crime rates between Japanese and non-Japanese by using COVID-19?

What happened there may surprise you. 🙄

unitedreasoning.wordpress.com/2025/11/23/s...

⚠️ Warning: False information!

The account @VNiquet, which claims to represent Dr. Valérie Niquet at the Foundation for Strategic Research, misreads the article and contains remarks that could be seen as defamatory toward Mr. Shigematsu and disparaging toward Japanese people.

x.com/VNiquet/stat...

Now, however, Western outlets readily explain that Japan fears becoming like Europe, as if Japan's fear of "becoming like Europe" is natural or unsurprising. 😮

Time flies indeed, and society is changing at a pace far exceeding my expectations. 🥲

Just a decade ago, some Europeans were still ridiculing Japanese people for "Paris Syndrome," laughing at our impossibly high expectations for Europe with confidence.

Isn't it shocking to hear Japanese people declare, loud and clear, that they do not want Japan to become like Europe? This sentiment is pervasive; I even hear this narrative from a suspicious academic who distorts government statistics to establish a favourable view on immigrants.

A seismic shift in Japanese politics.
The new PM is dubbed “Japan’s Thatcher.” I’m hoping for “Japan’s Lee Kuan Yew.”
In the end, though, it’s up to us: we need to be more productive. 😅🗾

Still, I stop short of calling it outright disinformation since intent is hard to prove and defamation claims are a risk.

First spread in Japanese, these claims are now echoed in English on YouTube by foreign outlets—originating from scholars at reputable Japanese universities. What a mess. 😭

Aww... Lately I’ve seen a wave of false or misleading claims about foreigners’ crime rates in Japan.

The statistical manipulations are so blatant it’s hard to see them as innocent mistakes.

What do you think about this string of characters: "ヨ!"?
It's actually a very casual greeting in Japanese: "Yo!"

😜

Japan has strongly condemned Israel’s strike on Qatari soil in Doha and has expressed its solidarity with Qatar.

www.mofa.go.jp/press/releas...

Globe-Trotter Travel Guidebook JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Globe-Trotter Travel Guidebook (地球の歩き方 JOJO ジョジョの奇妙な冒険, Chikyū no Arukikata JOJO JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken) is a book created in commemoration of the 35th Anniversary of the…

Since the pandemic, the series has expanded to feature non-standard travel destinations such as parallel worlds (Isekai) and Disney World. It even published a travel guide for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.
jojowiki.com/Globe-Trotte...