Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

In the reader-voted ranking for “World’s Most Fascinating Countries 2026,” published by major U.S. travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler, Japan was named the number one country. It was followed by Italy at #2 and France at #7, with Vietnam at #10 and South Korea at #11. On 5ch, threads raised questions about Cambodia’s #4 ranking and noted that the magazine is a travel publication aimed at high-income readers with a circulation of 720,000 copies. Meanwhile, many posters pointed to great food, excellent infrastructure, and low medical costs as reasons why Japanese people who go abroad end up coming back home.

U.S. magazine’s “World’s Most Fascinating Countries 2026”: Vietnam ranks 10th, Japan ranks 1st

Major U.S. travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler (CN Traveller) released its reader-voted “Readers’ Choice Awards 2026,” covering both the U.S. and U.K. editions, and announced the ranking of “World’s Most Fascinating Countries.” Vietnam was ranked 10th in the U.S. edition, with a score of 92.99 points.

The top 10 “World’s Most Fascinating Countries” in the U.S. edition are as follows.

Source: viet-jo.com / Original article here

140AnonymousOct 11, 2026 21:13

Re: #1
"Condé Nast Traveler"
Also, being selected in the country category is the most prestigious award

Founded in 1987, Condé Nast Traveler is one of the major travel magazines with a readership centered on high-income earners.
It features the latest information on high-quality travel, hotels, restaurants, shopping, and more, and is published worldwide including in the U.S. and U.K., with a circulation of about 720,000 copies in the U.S. and about 70,000 in the U.K.

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[Breaking] Major U.S. magazine’s “World’s Most Fascinating Countries 2026”: #1 Japan, #2 Italy, #7 France, #10 Vietnam, #11 South Korea.”

Japan’s 2025 “National Student Survey” by the Ministry of Education found that 60% of university sophomores spend five hours or less per week on study time such as preparation and review for classes. University establishment standards assume about two hours of outside-class study per class session, but the reality falls far short. The survey covered 734 schools nationwide and received responses from roughly 320,000 students. On 5ch, the results sparked debate over whether the cause lies in the quality of teaching or in students’ attitudes, with many also pointing to the spread of generative AI as a factor cutting into study time, as well as the fact that job hunting in Japan tends to prioritize university prestige and extracurricular “gakuchika” stories over academic grades.

Japan’s Ministry of Education’s 2025 “National Student Survey” found that 60% of university sophomores spend five hours or less per week on study time such as class preparation, review, and assignments.

The government’s university establishment standards assume about two hours of outside-class study for every class session (roughly one hour long), but the survey revealed a stark gap between that assumption and students’ actual lives.

The survey aims to clarify the real state of student life and university education in order to drive improvements. More than 90% of Japan’s national, public, and private universities — 734 schools in total — participated, and online responses were collected from about 320,000 students, representing 25% of second-year undergraduates and final-year students (fourth- or sixth-years).

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “60% of university sophomores study “5 hours or less a week” for class prep and review — little self-study outside class.”

A former employee of Hiroshima Prefecture sued the prefecture for damages, saying she developed an adjustment disorder after being forced to listen to her boss badmouth her coworkers almost every single day. The Hiroshima High Court overturned the lower court’s ruling and ordered the prefecture to pay her 220,000 yen. The Hiroshima District Court had dismissed her claim at first instance, but the High Court found that the boss’s conduct amounted to harassment that “drew on a position of superiority and continued over a long period in a manner that grossly exceeded what is socially acceptable.” On the forum, reactions split between shock (“just listening to badmouthing is enough to break someone?”) and sympathy (“of course you’d get sick if it happened every day and you had nowhere to escape”), with plenty of attention also going to how the claimed 3.3 million yen shrank all the way down to 220,000 yen.

The Hiroshima High Court recently issued its appellate ruling in a lawsuit in which a former Hiroshima Prefecture employee sought 3.3 million yen in damages from the prefecture, claiming she suffered psychological distress from being continually forced to listen to her boss badmouth her coworkers.

Presiding Judge Masayuki Suenaga ruled that the badmouthing “constitutes unlawful workplace harassment.” He overturned the Hiroshima District Court’s first-instance ruling, which had dismissed the woman’s claim, and ordered the prefecture to pay her 220,000 yen.

Judge Suenaga noted that the boss’s badmouthing “must be described as unilaterally venting frustration and anger of the moment onto a subordinate close at hand.” He concluded it amounted to workplace harassment because the boss, “drawing on a position of superiority, continued for a long period to voice criticism and complaints that served no business purpose, in a manner that grossly exceeded what is socially acceptable, inflicting significant psychological burden.”

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “[Hiroshima High Court] Forced to listen to her boss badmouth coworkers almost daily, she developed an adjustment disorder… Woman who argued “badmouthing others is still harassment” wins reversal in court.”