DPJ-backed unknown's victory bodes ill for LDP

Mar 3, 2009

DPJ-backed unknown's victory bodes ill for LDP

YAMAGATA (Kyodo) Speculation continues to mount that Prime Minister Taro Aso’s days are numbered, as his political foes step up their attacks following the recent resignation of one of his closest Cabinet allies, but signs of his administration’s decline were already evident weeks ago ...

North not priority of summiteers, Obama

Jan 13, 2009

North not priority of summiteers, Obama

SEOUL — Despite their frequent meetings, Prime Minister Taro Aso and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak have produced no substantial results on issues linked to North Korea, dashing hopes that the two leaders may achieve a breakthrough in the deadlock on the Korean ...

Film 'Grandpa' looks at fate of Brazilians here

Oct 22, 2008

Film 'Grandpa' looks at fate of Brazilians here

Kenichi Konno, 96, flew 26 hours to Japan every year for 15 years until he turned 94, all for concern about the fate of Japanese-Brazilian emigrants. “Away from Brazil, I would like to find out what Brazilians of Japanese ancestry should become and what ...

Aug 23, 2008

Language, not labor, key for Japanese-Brazilians

Cinthia Nagashima, 24, has been unemployed since she lost her factory job in May and is now aware of the need to study Japanese more strongly than before. Japanese fluency was a requirement for her previous job, too, but Nagashima, who is from Brazil ...

Japanese-Brazilian families: a failure to communicate

Aug 1, 2008

Japanese-Brazilian families: a failure to communicate

Monica Omura was at a loss when her son, Masashi, 7, began ignoring her. It’s not that he became rebellious. He just couldn’t understand what his mother said to him in Portuguese — their native language. “I got freaked out when I realized he ...

War-separated aged seek nationality

Jul 26, 2008

War-separated aged seek nationality

Gloria Fuji Mangao could not stop crying when her father told her to take good care of her mother and get along with her siblings. It was the last time she saw him before he was deported to Japan soon after the end of ...

Mother reforesting in China to fulfill late son's wish

Jun 26, 2008

Mother reforesting in China to fulfill late son's wish

Every spring, Yi Jiefang plants trees in China’s Inner Mongolia in the hope of holding back the spreading deserts and sandstorms, because greening the area was the wish of her only beloved, late child. Yi’s son, Yang Ruizhe, died in a traffic accident in ...

Japanese-Filipino kids await fate

Jun 4, 2008

Japanese-Filipino kids await fate

The dream of Masami, 10, is to one day become a police officer to protect the people. But a major obstacle lies in her way — she doesn’t hold Japanese citizenship, one of the requirements for the job. Masami Tapiru’s father is Japanese and ...

Widow fights on to clear tortured reporter's name

Mar 13, 2008

Widow fights on to clear tortured reporter's name

Maki Kimura’s inexhaustible energy in seeking justice in the Yokohama Incident — a still ongoing case of repression of free speech dating back over 60 years — is a reflection of the strong bond she built with her husband during their six years of ...

Unclaimed bicycles here are saving lives in other countries

Jan 15, 2008

Unclaimed bicycles here are saving lives in other countries

Albertina Muloongo, a health-care service provider, had seen many people in Zambia suffering from malaria forced to walk or even stagger hours to see a doctor, as neither public transportation nor private vehicle ownership is very common in the country. But their lives have ...