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The consumption tax increase next April will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people's financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the impact of the hike, experts say.
Every parent is all too familiar with The Tantrum. The screaming, the flailing arms, the angry head butting — and the timing (normally in the most inconvenient public place possible).
International events undermine Japan's democracy. Shame on the International Olympic Committee for being a party to it.
Tucked away behind the main museums in Ueno, the Tokyo University Art Museum may not be on most people’s radar, but it is definitely one of the city’s top museums in terms of curatorial quality. Whenever I go there, I am always delighted by ...
Francisco Liriano showed up at PNC Park on Tuesday afternoon in a suit with his suitcase packed for a trip St. Louis. The message reverberated through the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse. After 21 years away from the playoffs, it was time for the best story ...
Jun Hongo graduated from Boston University and joined The Japan Times in 2006. He covers a wide range of domestic news, including politics and business. He is an avid Red Sox fan.
For Jun Hongo's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
In what figured to be the final push for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to go ahead with raising the consumption tax to 8 percent in April, the Bank of Japan's "tankan" report shows a sharp increase in business sentiment among manufacturers.
Negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership remain strenuous as countries seek to protect feeble domestic industries, but the framework will have a major impact on the global economy once finalized, Ira Shapiro, a former general counsel to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, said ...
Creating a credit-card friendly market, providing round-the-clock public transportation and supporting travelers in multiple languages would go a long way toward increasing overseas visitors to Japan, international students advised the tourism ministry Wednesday. Speaking at the ministry’s first roundtable meeting of its kind, 12 ...
Upgrading Tokyo's dense infrastructure for the 2020 Games may be tricky, but a new subway line and an expansion for Haneda airport are on the drawing board.
A study on how opera may prolong one’s life and research into the complex mechanism of how chopping onions causes tears have earned two Japanese groups an Ig Nobel prize. The award, organized by the magazine Annals of Improbable Research as a parody of ...
Tokyo’s victory for the right to host the 2020 Olympic Games is a reassurance to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent go-to catchphrase, “Japan is Back,” with the slogan having appeared as the subtitle of the government’s growth strategy and even as the title in ...
Last summer at age 66, Seiichi Kondo climbed Mount Fuji for the first time in his life. Friends warned it wouldn’t be an easy expedition, and it wasn’t. But conquering Japan’s highest mountain was essential for what he was about to do next. “There ...
An upward revision to Japan's gross domestic product gives the government yet another favorable signal for raising the sales tax next April.
Damage to people and property by tornadoes made headlines over the past week, with the latest in Tochigi Prefecture injuring three people while destroying houses and other buildings. Here are some questions and answers regarding twisters: Are twisters common in Japan? About 17 were ...
The decision by the board of education of Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, to limit students’ access to the manga series “Hadashi no Gen” (“Barefoot Gen”) at school libraries continues to cause a stir. While some support the move, others say it disrespects the best-selling anti-war ...
A chart-topping song by the Southern All Stars is stirring talk over its political content as Japan experiences heightened tensions with both China and South Korea over historical and territorial disputes. “Peace and Hi-lite” debuted at No. 1, selling 207,000 copies in its first ...
Real gross domestic product rose an annualized 2.6 percent in the three months to June, bolstering the Abe administration's claim its economic policies are succeeding.