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Andy Sharp
For Andy Sharp's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 19, 2016
Abe wooed Trump with golf, just like his grandfather did with Eisenhower
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has taken a page from his grandfather's playbook in using golf to form ties with an American leader.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 10, 2016
BOJ should ease further, says Abe adviser Honda
The Bank of Japan should use a combination of a more-negative benchmark rate and enlarged asset purchases "sometime, before long" to help the economy, according to Etsuro Honda, an adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2016
Face of government in Fukushima aftermath blasts Abe push for nuclear power
In his trademark blue jumpsuit, the bleary-eyed Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano became the government's face of the Fukushima nuclear crisis as he faced the press every few hours. Five years later, he has stern words for Japan's atomic watchdog, the plant's operator and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's nuclear restart policy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 8, 2016
Abenomics losing support with economists and voters alike
Abenomics has not had much impact reviving the fits-and-starts Japanese economy. That is the verdict of nearly two dozen economists canvassed in a new Bloomberg News survey.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 14, 2015
Abe's tax compromise raises odds of twin summer polls
Abe may now be able to persuade his ally Komeito to agree to a snap Lower House election on the same day as an upper chamber poll.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 7, 2015
South Korea protesters plan third nationwide rally on Dec. 19 over contentious history textbooks
South Korean protesters plan to hold another rally in two weeks after tens of thousands took to the streets of Seoul on Saturday to protest against President Park Geun-hye's plan to reform the labor market and adopt a state-approved history textbook for high schools.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Feb 20, 2015
Gay marriage push in Japan faces constitutional barrier
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has fought to alter the Constitution on matters of security, is less eager to oppose its principles when it comes to same-sex marriage.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 14, 2015
Youthful Hosono says he will unite DPJ if he wins leadership race
A portrait of John F. Kennedy stands in Goshi Hosono's office as a reminder to the prospective leader of the opposition of the need to be ready for a crisis.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2014
Atonement for World War II actions insufficient, LDP veteran Kono says
Japan has failed to atone sufficiently for its actions in World War II, former Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, who wrote Japan's official apology for the use of wartime "comfort women, said recently.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 20, 2014
Abe taps Shiller insights on breaking 'shrunken mindset'
Three weeks before the consumption tax was increased last month for the first time in 17 years, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe turned to Nobel laureate Robert Shiller to try to restore a vital ingredient of his economic revolution: optimism.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2014
As games loom, barriers for foreign workers show cracks
Japan's barriers to foreign labor are showing signs of cracking as preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics threaten to exacerbate the worst shortage of construction workers in almost 20 years.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 23, 2013
No. 1 plant leak clouds Abe nuke spiel
Radiation spreading from the Fukushima No. 1 plant threatens to derail Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to revive nuclear power and deliver the lower energy prices needed to power his economic reforms.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 8, 2013
Politicians unwilling to revisit tax hike law: adviser
Lawmakers are reluctant to reopen legislation on the sales tax rise, raising the bar for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should he seek a shallower path of increases, according to one of his advisers.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2013
Silver shoplifters steal food as Abe cuts welfare to trim debt
Fumio Kageyama was 67 when he first turned to crime, making an unsuccessful attempt to rob a drunken passenger on a train in March 2008.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Jun 15, 2013
Yen's slump fails to stem corporate exodus overseas
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promises that his growth policies will revive the nation's industrial might. For Takumi Tanaka at auto parts maker Uchida Co., times are worse than after the 2011 quake-tsunami catastrophe.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2012
BOJ has done too little, says contender
The Bank of Japan has failed to end more than a decade of deflation by being too cautious, according to Takatoshi Ito, a former Finance Ministry official who is a contender to become the central bank's next governor.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2012
Consumers batten down their wallets
Consumers are closing their wallets as the economy's outlook darkens, making it harder for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to stave off the nation's third recession in four years.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2012
Reverse imports on the rise thanks to strong yen
Japan Inc. has found a new export market: Japan.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on