Tag - fyi

 
 

FYI

Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 11, 2018
U.S. base relocation top issue in Okinawa gubernatorial election
Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga's death last month at age 67 from pancreatic cancer came just over three months before the originally scheduled gubernatorial election and just days after he announced the prefectural government would take steps toward retracting permission for landfill work related to a new U.S. military base in Henoko, in northern Okinawa Island.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 31, 2016
LDP weighs leader's term limits as Abe angles to stay in power
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is expected to kick off discussions as soon as next month over whether to revise internal rules to allow Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to run for a third term in the next LDP presidential race to be held by September 2018.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Mar 14, 2016
How a U.N. committee riled Japan with its criticism of women's rights
Recent recommendations issued to Japan by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women sparked a sharp response from Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 18, 2016
Rescues point to dangers of searching out backcountry powder
Backcountry skiing and snowboarding have come under scrutiny after the recent rescue of two groups of skiers stranded in mountains in Nagano and Fukushima prefectures.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 12, 2015
Residences left empty posing problems across the nation
The population keeps aging and shrinking, but new housing keeps getting built even though Japan has a glut of unused dwellings.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 2, 2013
Legislation bureau chief Abe's window to collective defense
The appointment of Ichiro Komatsu as director general of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau is a step toward Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's goal of reinterpreting the Constitution so Japan can engage in collective self-defense.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 18, 2013
'Big data' — a digital sea of personal info ripe for the taking?
Shop at Amazon.com and one automatically receives recommendations on books and other items based on previous queries and purchases. Similarly, checking a Facebook entry causes ads for local products and services to pop up.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 11, 2013
New ID system for keeping tax tabs, finding cheats
The Diet passed the "common number" bill May 24, paving the way for every resident, including foreigners, to be assigned a personal identification number.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 4, 2013
A term for Abe's ilk? Well, nonliberal
Foreign media and overseas Japan experts largely use 19th- and 20th-century labels to describe Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and current Japanese politics led by his Liberal Democratic Party — "right-wing," "hawkish," "conservative" and "nationalist."
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 14, 2013
New thugs on block sidestep the usual suspects
Japan's underworld, namely the "boryokudan" (gangster organizations) better known as yakuza, have been targeted with crackdowns in recent years focused on cutting their funding and expanding their criminal liability. But a new type of thug appears to be acting with impunity by operating in a legal void.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 9, 2013
Japan's foreign trainee system said still plagued by rights abuses
Last month, a Chinese trainee went on a stabbing rampage at a Hiroshima Prefecture seafood company where he worked, killing the president and an employee and wounding six others.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 26, 2013
Curse or cash cow: Japan ready for casinos?
Lawmakers are seriously considering legalizing casinos so Japanese can roll the dice without having to travel to gambling houses in the United States, East and Southeast Asia.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 13, 2013
In Abe's future, a nationalist rewrite of the past?
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has kept a diplomatically low profile, particularly over historical issues, focusing instead on economic and other domestic matters ahead of the July Upper House election.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 5, 2013
Down syndrome blood test draws interest and ire
Last summer, news that Japan was getting ready to introduce a new type of prenatal examination that requires only a simple blood test to detect whether a fetus has Down syndrome made headlines. News reports suggested hospitals were ready to start using the test in September.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 22, 2013
The blunt, blue-blooded Aso is back
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may be the face of the new government led by Liberal Democratic Party, but Finance Minister Taro Aso is also a force in the LDP to be reckoned with.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 8, 2013
Xenophobia finds fertile soil in web anonymity
As diplomatic strains with China and South Korea worsen over territorial disputes, more and more Japanese are using the relative anonymity of cyberspace to vent their political spleens online.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 4, 2012
Mismatch: Universities on rise but students in decline
Education minister Makiko Tanaka drew immediate flak in early November when she outright refused her advisory panel's recommendation to approve three new universities.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 20, 2012
Ishiharas — family ties with a twist
The Ishiharas trail the Hatoyamas 2-0 in prime ministers. But when it comes to the variety, prominence and celebrity of each individual member, not many families in Japan today can compete with the Ishihara bunch.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 4, 2012
Part of aging process: Preparing for the end
When young people say "shukatsu," they mean job-hunting. But nowadays, older people are grimly playing on the word by changing the kanji for "shu" to convey a different kind of activity: preparing for "the end."
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 28, 2012
Revival eludes nation's birthrate
It sounds like a broken record: Japan is beset by a low birthrate and an aging society.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores