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Ayako Mie

Ayako Mie covers Japanese politics and policies for the Japan Times. She started her career as a reporter at Tokyo Broadcasting System in 2001. In 2008, she went to journalism school at University of California, Berkeley as a Fulbright scholar. On returning to Japan in December 2010, she worked for the Washington Post as a special correspondent.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Apr 4, 2014

Japan's image hurt by Abe's militarist facade: Nye

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's nationalistic views on history are hurting Japan's chances in an increasingly public PR battle with China and South Korea, a Harvard professor says.

Japan Times

JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS

Mar 27, 2014

Abe ready for full-on military drive

With the launch next Monday of a special intraparty panel directly under his lead, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party are ready to kick off their full-fledged drive to reinterpret the Constitution to allow Japan to help defend its allies.

JAPAN / Politics

Mar 12, 2014

Abe rushing to revise ban on arms exports but Komeito remains wary

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration is in a hurry to lift Japan's self-imposed arms export ban, but political ally New Komeito is reluctant to play along.

JAPAN

Mar 11, 2014

Ruling bloc readies bill to bolster cybersecurity amid growing attacks

Lawmakers in the ruling camp are preparing to submit a bill to the Diet next fall aimed at strengthening the government's cybersecurity to more quickly counter an increasing number of attacks.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Mar 9, 2014

New map shines light on Tokyo air raid horrors

In an attempt to preserve people's fading memories of the World War II air raids on Tokyo, scholars and citizens have drawn up what is considered the most comprehensive map so far of their efforts to escape from U.S. bombs.

Japan Times

BUSINESS

Mar 4, 2014

Firms seek to tap into Israeli startups

More Japanese companies are looking at the Israeli startup market in search of innovative technologies and investments to beef up their businesses, although they lag far behind the buyout sprees of global tech giants such as Google Inc. and Apple Inc.

JAPAN / Politics

Mar 4, 2014

Nationalists press Abe to revisit Kono apology

Right-wing lawmakers are leaning harder on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to re-evaluate the government's 1993 apology for the enslavement of women to serve as prostitutes for Japan's wartime forces, in the face of international criticism against such an effort.

JAPAN

Feb 28, 2014

Kono sex slave statement to be scrutinized

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga says the Abe administration will launch a study team to re-examine the 1993 Kono statement apologizing for the wartime sex slave system.

Japan Times

JAPAN / Politics

Feb 28, 2014

Abe looks to instill politics in education

Conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is cranking out policies to strengthen the political grip on education, turning the postwar notion on its head that instruction of the nation's young people should be free of political influence.

JAPAN / Politics

Feb 28, 2014

Record budget clears Lower House

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gets his draft budget for fiscal 2014, worth a record ¥95.88 trillion, through the Lower House, giving him more time to focus on the contentious issue of collective self-defense.

Japan Times

JAPAN / Politics

Feb 27, 2014

Murayama raps Abe over sex slaves

Ex-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama blasts Shinu00adzo Abe for considering revising the 1993 Kono statement, the first official acknowledgment that the Imperial Japanese Army forced women into sexual servitude at wartime brothels.

JAPAN / Politics

Feb 26, 2014

Komeito hits Cabinet defense ploy

Differences between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito are surfacing over collective self-defense, in which conservative Prime Minister Shinu00adzo Abe aims to reverse a long-held pacifist principle by Cabinet decision only.

JAPAN / Politics

Feb 22, 2014

Report says allies under attack must request Japan's assistance

Japan can defend its allies and friendly nations under attack but only at their request, a prominent member of a government panel mulling collective security says in an apparent bid to ease concern that the government may act on its own.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Feb 20, 2014

'Generation Resignation' youngsters defy stereotypes

While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hopes the momentum of his economic policies raises the spirits of the Japanese people and buoys the stock market as well, decadeslong economic malaise has already crushed the hopes and dreams of many young people, who will be leading the nation in the years to come.

Japan Times

JAPAN / Politics

Feb 20, 2014

Cabinet will decide defense role: Abe

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that Cabinet approval is enough to change the government's interpretation of war-renouncing Article 9 and allow Japan to help defend allied nations.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Feb 19, 2014

NHK chief tells board 'comfort women' remarks no big deal

The controversy swirling around NHK shows no sign of simmering down, with Chairman Katsuto Momii reportedly playing down the explosive nature of the remarks he made at his first news conference in January over the wartime brothels used by the Imperial Japanese military.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Feb 14, 2014

Drift rightward has been building for years

Fashion model Junko Amo made headlines on Aug. 15, 2002, when she initiated a visit to controversial Yasukuni Shrine with a group of some 180 people she met via 2channel, Japan's biggest Internet forum.

JAPAN / ANALYSIS

Feb 7, 2014

NHK governors' impartiality doubted

Shocking remarks like "there was no Nanjing Massacre" and "the gender equality law triggered Japan's low birthrate" by NHK governors appointed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have called into question the qualifications and neutrality of the public broadcaster's board and the biased way its members are...

Japan Times

JAPAN / Politics

Feb 5, 2014

Tamogami finds right-wing niche

Last Sunday, a week before Tokyo residents go to the polls and choose a new governor, prominent candidates were campaigning hard in Ginza, showcasing their ability to manage a ¥13 trillion annual budget that almost equals Indonesia's national budget.

Japan Times

JAPAN / Politics

Feb 5, 2014

Amendment not needed for collective defense: Abe

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterates his administration's position that the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution on its own gives Japan the right to collective self-defense.

Toshihiro Kinjo (center), a research support technician at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, inspects an audio recording device in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on April 3 as Masako Ogasawara, a research support specialist at OIST, looks on.

What does climate change sound like in Okinawa?

The Japanese government updated its English education guidelines in 2017 to emphasize communication over grammar and memorization. Public school teachers are incredibly busy, however, which means schools haven’t been able to implement changes uniformly. Private and alternative schools are attempting to remedy this.

The language of opportunity: Bilingual education is on the rise in Japan

By Eric Margolis

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