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Izumi Nakagawa
For Izumi Nakagawa's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2021
Pandemic puts pressure on Japan to open up rice stockpile to charities
As job losses have surged due to the impact of the spread of the novel coronavirus, demand for food handouts has skyrocketed in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2020
Japan government set to stop buying Chinese drones
It must also navigate increasingly choppy waters between China and Japan's closest ally, the U.S., which is at odds with Beijing over a range of issues.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 9, 2020
With apps and remote medicine, Japan offers glimpse of doctor visits in post-virus era
As virus cases spiked in April, Japan temporarily eased restrictions on remote medical care, allowing doctors to conduct first-time visits online or by telephone.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Feb 12, 2020
Japan's efforts to raise wages wane as firms embrace merit-based pay
More Japanese companies are shifting to merit-based pay as competition for workers heats up, but the change risks holding back the sort of blanket wage hikes the prime minister says are needed to inflate the economy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 6, 2019
Labor shortages in Japan's construction sector provide unexpected economic boost
As Japan's construction firms are squeezed by the tightest labor market since the 1970s and a rapidly aging population, they are pouring investment into technology — and providing unexpected support to an economy reeling from the bitter U.S.-China trade war.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2019
Despite Japan’s quest to go cashless, nation’s growing elderly population proves reluctant
Cash is king in Japan, and more so for the country's fast-aging population who are still deeply reluctant to give it up.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 14, 2017
Abe's sinking popularity may thwart quest to revise Constitution's Article 9
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cherished goal of revising Japan's pacifist Constitution has become more difficult to achieve after a plunge in his popularity and the erosion of public trust, a ruling party lawmaker said on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 24, 2017
Japan manufacturers' mood slips despite economic recovery, survey finds
Confidence among Japanese manufacturers receded in May for the first time in nine months after hitting a decade-high level April, a Reuters survey has found, showing guarded optimism in a nascent export-led economic recovery.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 22, 2016
Abe's maglev decision reflects political calculus over economics
Few doubt Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision to invest public funds in a $90 billion high-tech maglev railway makes political sense. Whether it makes equally good economic sense is less clear.

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