Aug 22, 2012

Aichi boss woos Hashimoto with policy platform

In a move expected to accelerate tieup talks with his ally, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, Aichi Gov. Hideaki Omura’s political group Chukyo Ishin no Kai has announced a like-minded policy platform for the next Lower House election. Like Hashimoto’s Osaka Ishin no Kai (One ...

Latest DPJ defectors to join Nagoya force

Aug 18, 2012

Latest DPJ defectors to join Nagoya force

Two more Diet members bolted Friday from the Democratic Party of Japan and announced they were joining Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura’s local Genzei Nippon (Tax Reduction Japan) group with the aim of taking it national and vying for seats in the next Lower House ...

Hashimoto reeling after students’ names leaked

Aug 9, 2012

Hashimoto reeling after students’ names leaked

Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka) officials were reeling with embarrassment and threatening to file a police complaint this week after a weekly tabloid magazine published the names of the 888 students studying at an academy set up by the local political group and ...

SOFA a source of sovereign conflicts

| Jul 31, 2012

SOFA a source of sovereign conflicts

The July 23 arrival of MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture and plans to deploy them this fall to Okinawa have fueled stiff opposition from local governments nationwide. Washington and Tokyo see the deployment of ...

Ospreys add to Okinawa grievances

Jun 14, 2012

Ospreys add to Okinawa grievances

For nearly 30 years, Ginowan resident Eisho Nakandakari has had periodic trouble sleeping at night. It’s not insomnia that keeps him up, but the roar of jets from U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, just a few hundred meters from his home. “Lots of ...

May 29, 2012

Hashimoto school grads prep for run

With the first stage of Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto’s Ishin Seiji Juku school for aspiring politicians concluding Saturday, the 2,000 students who entered in March will be whittled down to between 800 and 1,000 by the end of June. From there, they begin up ...

May 25, 2012

Tattoo flap escalates as dissenters face penalty

The Osaka Municipal Government was preparing Thursday to take disciplinary action against civil servants who refused to answer a survey on whether they have tattoos, as concern in and out of the city was growing that the questionnaire constituted a human rights violation. Mayor ...

May 20, 2012

Ishihara eyes tieup with Hashimoto

The growing populist political movement has taken another step forward after Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara announced he will create a school for aspiring lawmakers and hopes to link it with Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto’s Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka) group in time for ...