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A sit-in by visa violators and their families entered its second day Tuesday in front of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau with protesters seeking government good will. The action at the bureau in Minato Ward is being organized by the Asian People’s Friendship Society, ...
Kazuhiro Shiraishi, 66, is a guest-house manager in the Izu-kogen Highlands, a famous resort area on the Izu Peninsula of Shizuoka Prefecture. Looking out onto the Pacific Ocean, and just 90 minutes by train from Tokyo, Izu has a warm climate all year round ...
“I was stopped by two men in a government-registered vehicle, blindfolded and dragged off the street. They took me away to a house in a place I did not know. I was forced into a room with blood all over the walls and floor, ...
Takashi Miike's blood-soaked vengeance tale, one of two Japanese films being shown in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, draws the biggest boos so far, with critics savaging it as overacted and cliched.
Have you ever given your best effort while striving to achieve something but felt like what you were doing was futile? That’s the feeling I’m getting about Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics. With just over three months to go until the IOC ...
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and former Democratic Party of Japan chief Ichiro Ozawa met on Wednesday to discuss Mr. Noda’s plan to raise the consumption tax from the current 5 percent to 8 percent from April 2014, and to 10 percent from October 2015. ...
There remains less than a month before the current Diet session is scheduled to end on June 21. Deliberations have started in a Lower House special committee on the tax and social welfare reform. Among the bills before the committee are two related to ...
A discussion group to push for administrative reform was set up under Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada, whose jurisdiction includes administrative reform along with policies to cope with the nation’s low birthrate, promotion of equal social participation by men and women and creation of ...
The leaders of Japan, China and South Korea, meeting in Beijing on Sunday, agreed to strengthen cooperation toward preventing a nuclear explosion test by North Korea and to launch talks this year on a trilateral free trade deal. But their joint statement, issued one ...
The Diet has started deliberations on bills to raise the consumption tax rate and reform the social welfare system. Two bills deal with pension-related issues such as beefing up benefits for low-income people and improving pension coverage for irregular workers. Another two bills are ...
Former Democratic Party of Japan chief Ichiro Ozawa is likely to strengthen his political activities after his April 26 acquittal by the Tokyo District Court of a charge of conspiring with his secretaries to falsify reports of Rikuzankai, his political funds management body. Allthough ...
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on April 30 and later issued a joint statement underlining the importance of “the U.S.-Japan Alliance” as “the cornerstone of peace, security and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.” Clearly an ...
Japan’s economic prospects are not very bright due to the effects of the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami and the stronger yen. But it is not that the prospects are completely gloomy. The government’s monthly assessment of the economy for April released in mid-April by ...
A special committee was set up in the Lower House on April 26 to mainly discuss tax and social welfare reform bills, including a bill to raise the consumption tax. The political parties should have careful discussions in the committee because the bills will ...
The Tokyo District Court on Thursday acquitted former Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa of charges he violated the Political Funds Control Law. But the ruling shows that it is a bittersweet victory for Ozawa. He needs to pay careful attention to his ...
The Upper House on Friday passed censure motions against Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka and infrastructure and transport Minister Takeshi Maeda. The nonbinding motions were submitted by the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito and two smaller parties. The LDP at first said it would boycott all ...
Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara announced in Washington last Monday that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is in the final stage of negotiations to buy most of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea from the landowner Mr. Kunioki Kurihara, a resident of Saitama. Prime ...