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 Eric Johnston

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Eric Johnston
For Eric Johnston's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Hakubun Shimomura attends a Lower House ethics committee meeting in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 18, 2024
Shimomura testimony fails to shed light on LDP funds scandal
Former Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Hakubun Shimomura had hinted that he would finally provide some answers to key questions.
There are growing calls within the LDP to query former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori (left) over his possible involvement in the scandal. While Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said that the party would discuss hearing directly from those involved, he did not offer specific examples of who he had in mind.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 15, 2024
Shimomura to testify amid growing calls to query Mori over funds scandal
The former LDP policy chief's testimony before an ethics committee could pressure the ex-PM to disclose what he knows about the kickback scheme.
Relations between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi (left) and LDP Vice President Taro Aso (right) have been strained since January, when the prime minister announced that he was dissolving his own faction, which took both of them by surprise.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 15, 2024
How can Kishida punish lawmakers involved in the slush funds scandal?
Next month's by-elections and party polls later this year put the prime minister in a tough spot.
LDP Youth Division leaders Takashi Fujiwara (left) and Yasutaka Nakasone submitted their resignations to the party headquarters last Friday over an event hosted by the party's Wakayama chapter last November that featured female dancers in revealing outfits.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 11, 2024
After slush funds, LDP now faces fresh scandals
An event that featured dancers in revealing outfits and an affair with a Canadian saxophone player have resulted in three resignations in the past week.
Located in Ehime Prefecture at the base of the Cape Sada Peninsula, the Ikata Nuclear Power Plant lies about 45 kilometers from the town of Saganoseki within the city of Oita.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2024
Court rejects class action suit opposing nuclear plant in Ehime
Local residents in Oita, less than 50 kilometers from the facility, had called into question the safety of the plant during natural disasters.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives for a meeting of a parliamentary ethics committee at the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo on Feb. 29.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 7, 2024
Kishida's three challenges: Discipline, by-elections and Motegi
How the prime minister handles these matters could impact his political future as well as that of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida tells reporters that he plans to attend a Lower House ethics committee hearing, in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 28, 2024
Kishida says he will attend ethics committee hearing on funds scandal
In addition to Kishida, five senior LDP members will face the committee in front of a fully-open session of the Lower House on Thursday and Friday.
In principle, political ethics committee meetings are not open to either the media or other lawmakers. But the committee can open them to both at its discretion.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 27, 2024
What to know about the ethics committee probing the LDP funds scandal
When the committee convenes later this week, at least five senior ruling party officials are expected to testify on what they knew about the scandal.
Eleven portraits of Ainu chieftains, completed in 1790, are now held by the Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology in Besancon, France. There were originally 12 paintings in the original set, collectively known as the “Ishu Retsuzo,” but one has disappeared.
JAPAN / History / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Feb 26, 2024
The ongoing mystery of the Ainu portraits in France
A former Hokkaido journalist is hoping to find out how portraits of Ainu chieftains from 1790 made it to Europe.
Former Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 21, 2024
Senior LDP members likely to appear before ethics committee next week
While the opposition said the willingness of additional LDP figures to answer questions was an improvement, they called for more to step up.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Kazunori Yamanoi shows a Liberal Democratic Party survey about a slush funds scandal to reporters in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 16, 2024
LDP survey doesn't quell demand from opposition for ethics hearing
The scandal, and the demand to convene a meeting of the ethics committee, have Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a political bind.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida replies to a question from CDP lawmaker Kazunori Yamanoi at a Lower House budget committee session in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 14, 2024
Kishida calls ethics committee hearing 'a matter for parliament to decide'
The prime minister declined to voice support for a political ethics committee investigation into LDP members caught up in a slush-fund scandal.
A Lower House budget session discusses the political fund scandal in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 13, 2024
LDP survey shows 85 members failed to report political funds
The survey’s results are unlikely to bring an end to the scandal, with its methods criticized by opposition parties as inadequate and lacking objectivity.
A statue of Myaku-Myaku, the official mascot of the 2025 Expo, in Osaka. Organizers expect the six-month expo to draw some 28 million people, including 3.5 million from abroad.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2024
Osaka Expo budget expected to rise again by ¥200 million
The latest request would raise the total amount of money directly spent by the national government on all expo-related activities to ¥164.9 billion.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends a Lower House budget committee session in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 6, 2024
Kishida insists corporate donations have no effect on LDP policy
The responses came during Lower House budget committee questions from Akira Nagatsuma, policy chief of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party.
Newly elected Kyoto Mayor Koji Matsui receives a sea bream as a congratulatory gift in Kyoto on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 5, 2024
New Kyoto mayor aims to tackle over-tourism with higher fares
Koji Matsui faces many hurdles, and he takes over at a time when the demerits of over-tourism have become a particular topic of concern for residents.
Akira Ogawa (center) celebrates her win in the Maebashi mayoral election in Gunma Prefecture on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 5, 2024
Opposition-backed candidate wins in Maebashi mayoral election
Akira Ogawa will become the first female mayor in Maebashi after defeating incumbent Ryu Yamamoto.
Ryu Shionoya, who headed the faction’s leadership committee but was never formally appointed chairman after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated in July 2022, announced that the faction was done on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 1, 2024
Curtain falls on Abe faction's 45-year history but scrutiny to continue
Unanswered questions over members' involvement in the LDP's political funds scandal mean the dissolution may not be the end of the story.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a Lower House plenary session in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2024
Kishida faces heat from all sides over political funds scandal
The prime minister finds himself in hot water not only with the main opposition party, but also with his own ruling party.
In the 2022 fiscal year, which ended in March 2023, Hokkaido's Niseko resort area saw a cumulative total of more than 1.4 million visitors, including day-trippers and those who spent at least one night.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jan 29, 2024
Ski season surge tests limits of Niseko’s infrastructure
The return of tourists to the Hokkaido resort area is putting pressure on food retailers and transportation.

Longform

A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world