# 石田英司「『仏が燃えている』トランプ氏、移民規制強化を要求」「東京都、23区に小規模火葬場新設を検討」「米で『ウーバー』配達ロボの進路をふさいだ女性を逮捕」10月21日

- Show: 上泉雄一のええなぁ！
- Published: 2026-10-20
- Canonical: https://podc.club/en/episode/1588682529_ea7db6dd6c2c.html
- Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/MBSINC2003024794.mp3
- Source: Edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. Not an official summary.

Commentator Hideji Ishida (石田英司) pushes back on Donald Trump's claim that France's mass protests are the fault of immigrants, arguing that fiscal austerity and soaring prices — gasoline at ¥390 per liter — are the real drivers. The episode also covers Tokyo's looming 2035 cremation shortage, where a single private company controls six of the capital's nine crematoria, and the arrest of a University of Pennsylvania emeritus professor who repeatedly blocked an Uber delivery robot in Philadelphia.

## What this episode answers

### What is the real cause behind the protests and riots that drew 550,000 people in France?

The protests were ignited by high-school students furious about crumbling facilities — cracked walls, mice, broken toilets, and teacher shortages — all caused by a budget squeeze from fiscal austerity, and were then swelled by anger over the cost of living, with gasoline at ¥390 per liter. The movement merged with echoes of the 2018 Yellow Vest protests to reach 550,000 participants; viral footage of looting and arson represents only a small fraction of the whole.

### What is Trump's motive for blaming France's unrest on immigration?

Ishida argues that Trump wants to shift focus away from his own indictments by steering the narrative toward immigration and border control, and that with far-right candidate Le Pen leading polls ahead of France's presidential election next April, the riot footage is being exploited to scapegoat the roughly 20–30 percent of France's population with immigrant roots.

### Why is Tokyo's cremation capacity expected to reach a crisis point around 2035?

The baby-boom generation, currently aged 76–79, will reach the peak mortality bracket (85–89) around 2035, causing a sharp spike in cremation demand; Japan already crossed into a 'mass-death society' in 2022 with over 1.5 million deaths per year, and last January a Tokyo-area city saw waiting times exceed two weeks.

### What structural factors explain why private crematoria in Tokyo charge nearly twice the public rate?

Six of the nine crematoria in the 23 special wards are operated by a single private company that must cover its own maintenance costs, justifying a fee of roughly ¥87,000 versus about ¥44,000 for the top public-rate tier; because demand far exceeds supply, users have almost no choice of provider.

### What happened when a woman blocked a delivery robot in the United States, and what is the situation in Japan?

A University of Pennsylvania emeritus professor was arrested for repeatedly obstructing an Uber delivery robot in Philadelphia, arguing the act was protected expression against robots taking delivery workers' jobs; in Japan, a law enacted in April 2023 allows remotely operated compact vehicles to travel on sidewalks at up to 6 km/h under a pedestrian-first rule, and the technology is already in limited commercial use in parts of Tokyo.

## Article

## France's Riots: Austerity and Inflation, Not Immigration

On October 18, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that "France is burning" and that people who "came from a totally different world, carrying hatred in their hearts" had "broken" the once-great nation, calling on France to tighten immigration controls. Commentator Hideji Ishida is blunt in his rebuttal: "Trump wants to reframe this as an immigration story. The root cause is something else entirely."

The protests began with public high-school students. Their schools have crumbling walls, mice running through classrooms, broken toilets, and chronic teacher shortages — all because local government cannot find repair budgets in a fiscally constrained environment. That spark of student anger grew into a broader movement as cost-of-living grievances piled on. Gasoline stands at ¥390 per liter and diesel costs even more; the pricing structure is propped up by fuel taxes used to fund generous public pensions for older generations. The movement merged with calls to revive the 2018 Yellow Vest protests — a rebellion by low-income suburban workers — and swelled to an estimated 550,000 participants. Ishida cautions against reading too much into viral clips of looting and arson: "That's a tiny fraction. Footage cropped for views creates the impression that the whole country looks like that."

## Could France Be the Next Greece? Euro Constraints and Fiscal Risk

The point Ishida hammers hardest is France's public finances. Eurozone rules cap member-state debt as a share of GDP, and France is currently the only member in breach. Unlike Japan, which can ultimately print yen, France has no national currency and no option other than further austerity. Japanese government bonds are held almost entirely domestically — by the Bank of Japan, life insurers, and pension funds — whereas most of France's debt is held abroad, leaving it structurally exposed. "The next country to go the way of Greece is France," Ishida says flatly.

With far-right leader Marine Le Pen the front-runner ahead of France's presidential election next April, Ishida sees economic desperation as the engine behind growing hostility toward the roughly 20–30 percent of the French population with immigrant roots. On Trump himself, Ishida is equally pointed: "His approval rating is around 30 percent and I don't think he can win majorities in both chambers — but the only thing on his mind is escaping his indictments."

## Tokyo's Cremation Shortage: The 2035 Problem and a Private Monopoly

The association of Tokyo's 23 special ward mayors has decided to build roughly five small public crematoria distributed across the wards. The urgency stems from Japan's emerging "mass-death society": annual deaths exceeded 1.5 million in 2022 while births fell into the 700,000s, producing a natural population decline of more than 800,000 a year. When the baby-boom generation — currently 76–79 years old — reaches the peak mortality bracket of 85–89 around 2035, cremation demand is projected to surge sharply. Last January, one Tokyo-area city saw waiting times of more than two weeks, and even Osaka, which has relatively more facilities, recorded nine-day waits.

Tokyo's situation is unusual. Of the nine crematoria in the 23 wards, seven are privately run — and a single company operates six of those seven. Private facilities charge around ¥87,000; the top tier at a public facility costs about ¥44,000, a difference of more than ¥40,000. The private operator points to the cost of funding its own facility maintenance, a rationale that has some logic, but with demand so far outstripping supply, users have virtually no choice. The company is a subsidiary of a listed holding company whose largest shareholder is a Chinese-affiliated firm, which has added to public debate. Critics call it "turning death into a money game," while the holding company itself reportedly wants to divest the stake; one option under discussion is a buyout by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

## The Professor Who Blocked a Delivery Robot — and Japan's Rules of the Road

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, an emeritus professor at the University of Pennsylvania was arrested on suspicion of disturbing public order after repeatedly stepping in front of an Uber delivery robot — the latest in a series of incidents that began in September. The professor contends the acts were protected free expression, a protest against robots displacing human delivery workers.

Japan has its own framework for this technology. A law that took effect in April 2023 permits "remotely operated compact vehicles" to use sidewalks at a maximum speed of 6 km/h. Pedestrians always have the right of way, and remote operators monitoring multiple units simultaneously bear legal responsibility for safety. Ishida describes the machines as looking like "a big cooler box fitted with wheels and lunar-rover-style sensors." Limited commercial deployments have already begun in parts of Tokyo.

## Takeaways

- France's 550,000-strong protests are rooted in fiscal austerity and a cost-of-living crisis — not immigration — and Ishida warns that France risks becoming the next Greece given its euro-zone debt constraints.
- A single private company controls six of Tokyo's nine crematoria, and with the baby-boom generation approaching peak mortality age, the city faces a severe capacity crunch by 2035 that has already produced two-week waiting periods.
- A Philadelphia professor's arrest for blocking an Uber delivery robot highlights growing friction over autonomous delivery, while Japan's 2023 legislation has put sidewalk delivery robots into limited real-world use in Tokyo.