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May 02, 2024
 

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Hiroshi Matsubara
For Hiroshi Matsubara's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2004
Takei pleads guilty to wiretap
Former Takefuji Corp. Chairman Yasuo Takei pleaded guilty Tuesday to ordering a subordinate to wiretap two journalists -- one who wrote an article critical of the lending company and one who probed the firm's overseas activities.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2004
Follower couldn't shake Aum's allure till its 1999 apology
When Aum Shinrikyo officially acknowledged for the first time in December 1999 that it was behind a spate of heinous crimes and apologized to the survivors, Hiroyuki Miyaguchi said he was relieved that suspicions he and other rank-and-file cultists harbored for years had finally been cleared up.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2004
Web site lets locals rat on foreigners
The Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau has introduced a section on its Web site that allows people to submit information on the identity, address or workplace of undocumented foreigners in a bid to track them down.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2004
Special night classes bridging language gap
Since April, 35-year-old Rika Osada of Malaysia has been studying nightly side by side with four Japanese much older than her at Shinsei Junior High School in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2004
Whistle-blower law in the pipeline
Three decades after Hiroaki Kushioka exposed a price-fixing cartel involving his employer in the trucking industry, the government is working on what would become Japan's first-ever law to protect whistle-blowers in private-sector firms and government organizations.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2004
Asylum seeker holds onto hope
On Jan. 23, the day after his book came out, 21-year-old Ali Jane received a surprise phone call from his mother back home in Afghanistan, telling him she and his two older sisters were safe in Kabul.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2004
Metro teachers sue over 'Kimigayo' rule
More than 200 teachers filed a lawsuit Friday against their employer -- the Tokyo Metropolitan Government -- and the metro board of education over being ordered to stand and sing the national anthem in school.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2004
Takefuji sorry for suing reporters over wiretaps
Leading consumer lender Takefuji Corp. has apologized for suing freelance journalists and magazine publishers over their reports on the company's use of wiretaps to gather information.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2004
'Citizen judge' system close to reality
After more than a month of heated debate, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito agreed earlier this week that three professional judges and six "lay judges" should occupy the bench in trials under a new "citizen judge" system.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2004
Plan for privately funded prison unveiled
The Justice Ministry unveiled plans Tuesday for the country's first prison built and operated in large part with private-sector funds and expertise.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2004
Protests over homeless shelter in vain: mayor
Kawasaki Mayor Takao Abe declared Monday that the city is committed to building a short-term shelter for homeless people despite opposition from local residents.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2004
Risky North Korea rescue left unfinished
Desperate to save his sons and other relatives, a 56-year-old escapee from North Korea hatched a bold plan to free them by smuggling himself back into the country.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2004
Protest halts work on homeless shelter
KAWASAKI -- A protest rally by local residents forced the postponement Monday of the start of construction of a publicly run shelter for homeless people.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2004
Asylum-seeker can stay with family
The Justice Ministry Immigration Bureau said Friday it will allow a 46-year-old Myanmarese asylum-seeker to continue to live with his family, with his provisional release from a detention facility for visaless foreigners having expired the same day.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2004
Koreans bring Christ to people
A rooftop chapel in Tokyo is on an evangelical mission, spreading the word with fire, brimstone, levity -- and food -- to a flock of 200 homeless people every Sunday morning.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2004
Just contemplating crime may soon be punishable
In the near future, it may become illegal for people to openly conspire to commit murder -- let alone follow through with the act or set the wheels in motion.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2003
Visaless foreigners easy scapegoats
One night in December, Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa and Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara got together to "inspect" the Kabukicho entertainment district in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, as dozens of government officials, reporters and spectators dogged their steps.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2003
High-profile lawyer cleared of obstruction
Lawyer Yoshihiro Yasuda, chief attorney of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara and the country's leading crusader against the death penalty, was acquitted Wednesday of obstructing the compulsory seizure of rent income used by clients as collateral.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2003
Petition lodged on sex education for disabled kids
More than 1,500 people filed a petition Monday with the Tokyo Bar Association demanding that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government return sex education materials to a local school for mentally disabled children.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2003
Ministry vows immediate steps to improve correctional system
The Justice Ministry announced Monday it will act immediately to improve the correctional system and prison conditions, including taking steps to reduce inmates' mandatory work hours, allow outsiders to visit prisons and revamp all padded cells.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Number of vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

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