Each week here at Osaka.com we bring you a selection of some of the top stories about Osaka making the local and national news here in Japan. Sometimes it’s serious, sometimes it’s funny, but it’s always direct to you, from Osaka.
A possible data leak at one of Japan’s biggest delivery companies has raised concerns for customers across Osaka this week. There was better news for retailers, as overseas shoppers helped department stores achieve record September duty-free sales. Meanwhile, changes to imperial law have reignited debate over who can inherit the throne. And finally, a new political group hopes to bring neighbours from different backgrounds together.
Sagawa warns of possible customer data leak
For many Osaka residents, receiving a parcel involves little more than answering the door and signing for a delivery. This week, however, Sagawa Express customers learned that the personal information accompanying those deliveries may have fallen into the wrong hands.
The company announced on October 23 that unauthorised access to its online parcel tracking service may have compromised information associated with up to 53.23 million shipments.
The records include names, addresses and telephone numbers belonging to people who sent or received parcels between June 21 and September 30. Sagawa said the incident did not expose credit card information or passwords for its tracking service.
The scale is considerable, although the figure refers to shipments rather than individual customers. Someone who received several deliveries could appear in the records more than once.
Sagawa discovered the unauthorised access on September 30 and suspended some online services to prevent further damage. Some of those services resumed on October 23.
For Osaka’s businesses, the concern extends beyond their own contact details. Shops and suppliers routinely pass customer information to delivery companies as part of fulfilling orders. Recipients may therefore have information in Sagawa’s systems even if they never directly booked a delivery.
The company has not provided a breakdown showing how many Osaka shipments may be involved.
For now, customers face uncertainty over whether their information was affected. The incident also serves as a reminder to treat unexpected delivery messages carefully. A correct name, address or telephone number can make a fraudulent message look convincing.
In a city where businesses depend on reliable deliveries, customers will want reassurance that their personal details receive the same care as their parcels.
Overseas shoppers boost department store sales
There was more encouraging news for Osaka’s shopping districts as national figures showed another strong month for department stores.
Duty-free sales reached approximately ¥49.64 billion in September, up 25.3% from a year earlier, according to the Japan Department Stores Association. Both sales and tax-free shopper numbers set September records.
Around 491,000 customers made tax-free purchases, an increase of 5.9%. Average spending rose even faster, climbing 18.3% to roughly ¥101,000 per shopper.
The association credited the weaker yen and increased visitor numbers from South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, with public holidays helping to encourage travel.
The figures cover Japan as a whole, rather than Osaka alone. Even so, they offer a promising backdrop for department stores and surrounding businesses in Umeda, Shinsaibashi and Namba.
One particularly interesting detail concerns Chinese shoppers. Their numbers fell roughly 15% amid continuing diplomatic tensions, but their spending increased around 7%. Those who did visit spent enough to outweigh the decline in customer numbers.
Domestic shoppers also contributed to growth. Excluding duty-free purchases, sales rose 2.1%, helped by demand for autumn clothing as cooler weather arrived earlier than usual. Total sales across the surveyed stores increased 4.2% to ¥443.42 billion.
For Osaka, the encouraging point is that growth came from both visitors and domestic customers. Tourists bring valuable spending, but local shoppers give businesses reasons to look beyond the next busy holiday period.
Keeping both groups coming back will matter more than any single month’s record.
Imperial reforms leave succession debate unresolved
Changes to Japan’s Imperial House Law took effect on October 24, but they have done little to settle the argument over the monarchy’s future.
The revisions allow princesses to retain their royal status after marrying commoners. They also permit the adoption of unmarried men aged 15 or older from the paternal lines of former imperial branches.
However, women still cannot inherit the throne. Emperor Naruhito’s daughter, Princess Aiko, remains excluded from the succession, while the future husbands and children of princesses will not receive royal status.
Allowing princesses to remain in the family could help an ageing imperial household maintain its public duties. Yet the arrangements raise awkward questions about family life, including where couples would live and whether husbands and children could accompany princesses on official engagements.
Critics argue that the changes preserve discrimination based on gender and ancestry. Media surveys show that a large majority of the public supports female monarchs or succession through the maternal line.
Earlier this month, hundreds of campaigners marched through central Tokyo calling for Aiko to receive succession rights.
The decisions may centre on the imperial household in Tokyo, but the debate reaches well beyond the capital. For people in Osaka, as elsewhere, it raises questions about what they expect from a national institution and how it should reflect the society it represents.
Tradition carries considerable weight in this discussion. So does the question of whether the monarchy can secure its future while continuing to exclude women from its highest role.
The new rules have taken effect. The disagreement over them looks likely to continue.
And finally…
After a week of concerns about data security and arguments over inherited status, our final story offers a more hopeful look at how people can shape their communities.
Two Japanese citizens with foreign roots have established a political group that puts working together at the centre of its plans.
Orzugul Babakhodjaeva, a Setagaya Ward Assembly member originally from Uzbekistan, and Akira Tei, originally from South Korea, founded Shinseito in August. They hope to field candidates in next spring’s nationwide unified local elections.
Both came to politics through personal experience. Babakhodjaeva faced repeated job rejections and discrimination when trying to rent business premises. Tei spent years helping improve neighbourhood relations in Shinjuku’s Shin-Okubo district through cleanups and other volunteer activities.
Their priorities include multilingual disaster information, support for entrepreneurs and help keeping festivals and neighbourhood associations going.
These are familiar concerns for Osaka, too. In communities such as Ikuno and Tsuruhashi, neighbours with different backgrounds share the same streets, shops and everyday responsibilities.
Shinseito’s founders want residents to have more opportunities to contribute, whether that means running a business, helping at a festival or preparing their neighbourhood for an emergency.
The group’s immediate plans focus on Tokyo. But the idea behind it travels well: give people a practical way to get involved, and they may discover they have more in common with their neighbours than they expected.
That’s all for now, but be sure to check back again same time next week for another round of This Week in Osaka!
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