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May 15, 2024
 

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Jun Hongo

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Jun Hongo
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:
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 12, 2013
Cabinet OKs ¥20 trillion stimulus plan
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet on Friday approved a mammoth ¥20.2 trillion economic stimulus package, hoping to kick-start a recovery through public works spending, monetary easing and new growth strategies.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 9, 2013
Foreign nurse success story has message for Japan: Open up
The success story of Dewi Rachmawati may hold the key to coping with Japan's declining population and quickly aging society. The struggles the Indonesian nurse has endured during her four years living in the country are what the government must rapidly remedy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2013
Mac who would be governor says: Smile
Makoto Tonami was born in 1948 in Aichi Prefecture and graduated from the prestigious Kyoto University with a degree in agriculture. Upon graduation he went to work for trading house Itochu Corp., a job that would take him on business trips around the globe.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2013
Abe hoopla aside, key economic challenges loom
Stocks are up, the yen is easing and there is a new prime minister pledging to splash trillions of yen to breathe life into the country's moribund economy: Last year ended on a high note for Japan Inc., and 2013 looks even more promising for some.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Dec 29, 2012
Aso slams DPJ predecessors, talks of keeping BOJ close
The new government will continue working closely with the Bank of Japan, at least more frequently than the previous administration did, in order to fend off deflation, newly appointed Finance Minister Taro Aso said Friday.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Dec 27, 2012
'Abenomics' gets off to a flying start
The very idea of big-spender Shinzo Abe's reappointment as prime minister was enough to send the yen falling against the dollar and spurred the Nikkei above the 10,000 mark for the first time in months.
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2012
BOJ will ease more, denies Abe pressed
The Bank of Japan on Thursday boosted its asset-purchasing program from ¥91 trillion to about ¥101 trillion and promised to review its medium- to long-term price stability goals next month.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2012
Plan for replacement market at new Tsukiji site calls for 100 more shops
Tokyo's Chuo Ward and local merchants have unveiled their plan to create a new marketplace near the site of the soon-to-be-relocated Tsukiji fish market.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2012
AIJ founder admits fraud, denies greed
AIJ Investment Advisors Co. President Kazuhiko Asakawa on Wednesday pleaded guilty to charges of defrauding pension fund clients out of ¥24.8 billion while concealing trading losses, but denied intending to line his own pockets.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 5, 2012
Parties posture with grand pronouncements, few details
Privatization of Japan Post was the focal point in the 2005 general election. The 2009 election ended in a lopsided victory for the Democratic Party of Japan and the ouster of the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party. This Dec. 16, voters will go to the polls to cast their judgment on nuclear power in light of the Fukushima meltdown crisis, whether to open up Japan's trade and proceed with the consumption tax hike, among other issues.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2012
Key artery's closure blow to transport, bus firms
Travel agencies and transport companies scrambled to deal with cancellations and rerouting Monday after the deadly Sasago Tunnel accident closed off the Chuo Expressway in Yamanashi Prefecture — a major east-west artery.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2012
Tokyo gubernatorial election a three-horse race
The Tokyo gubernatorial election campaign kicked off Thursday, with three main contenders vying for the post:
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 23, 2012
Abe economic policy raises serious questions
Not satisfied with bending Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to its will for a snap election, the Liberal Democratic Party has set its sights on Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa, at No. 36 the highest-ranked Japanese on Forbes magazine's 2011 list of the world's most powerful people. (Noda was ranked 62nd.)
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2012
'Alien' Hatoyama left wacky legacy
Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who announced Wednesday he is retiring from politics, is leaving behind a series of quotes that at times hindered bilateral ties with the U.S. and other remarks that were borderline wacky.
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
Nov 14, 2012
Red-back spider found in Kawasaki
A poisonous red-back spider was found in the garden of a home in Kawasaki, suggesting the invasive alien arachnid is creeping closer to Tokyo.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 23, 2012
IMF-World Bank meet was weak: co-op head
The annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Tokyo earlier this month saw strong messages delivered on ending poverty and food scarcity, but the gathering failed to map out a solution to these issues, the president of the International Cooperative Alliance said.
BUSINESS
Oct 13, 2012
Lagarde warns of 'wartime level' debt
Cutting public debt while encouraging economic growth will be vital in stabilizing the global economy, which is showing a slower than expected recovery, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Friday.
JAPAN / IMF-WORLD BANK IN TOKYO
Oct 12, 2012
Sovereign debt, strong yen among tough topics at meetings
When Japan last hosted the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in September 1964, Tokyo was in the midst of preparing for the Summer Olympic Games which were to kick off a month later.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 12, 2012
Lagarde raises alarm over debt, job ills
Reining in high debt, reforming financial sectors and lowering unemployment rates are some of the key challenges facing the global economy as it recovers at a slower-than-predicted pace, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Thursday in Tokyo.
Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
Yen’s fragility raises specter of a new currency war in Asia
Suspected intervention to drag the yen off a 34-year low against the dollar is already seen as unlikely to have a lasting effect if Japan continues alone.
Online booking for Mount Fuji climb to open on May 20
Visitors climb the slopes of Mount Fuji, Japan's highest peak at 3,776 meters. From May 20, climbers will have access to a new online booking system for Mount Fuji's most popular Yoshida trail in Yamanashi Prefecture.
In Japan, 68,000 people over 65 projected to die alone at home this year
As Japan grapples with its population's rapid aging, supporting people who live and age alone is looming larger on the policy agenda.
Ex-METI bureaucrat given 10-year sentence for drugging and raping women
The Tokyo District Court on Monday sentenced a former industry ministry bureaucrat to 10 years in prison for drugging six women with sleeping pills and then raping or groping them in 2022.
Ishin struggles to set itself apart from other parties
Nippon Ishin no Kai Secretary-General Fumitake Fujita (right) speaks beside Yui Kanazawa, the party's candidate in the Tokyo 15th district by-election on April 28. Nippon Ishin lost in this by-election as well as another in Nagasaki held on the same day.
In a rare event, the Northern Lights show up in Hokkaido
The Northern Lights in Nayoro, Hokkaido, on Saturday
Is black the new green for Japan’s flagging tea farmers?
George Guttridge-Smith brews tea at Kyoto Obubu Tea Farm in Wazuka, Kyoto Prefecture, where he serves as head of international development.
Japan's logistics firms seek partnerships to cope with driver shortage
Japan Post CEO Tetsuya Senda (right) and his Seino Transportation counterpart Satoshi Takahashi announce their companies' agreement on joint long-haul truck operations, in Tokyo on Thursday.
How the discovery of a giant sword in Nara offers clues into ancient Japan
Archaeologists say a 1,600-year-old wooden coffin at the Tomio Maruyama tumulus in the city of Nara was kept in good condition probably because it was protected by a layer of clay and copper ions that had seeped out of the mirrors that were buried together.

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