Keiji Hirano - The Japan Times

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Keiji Hirano

For Keiji Hirano's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

JAPAN

Jul 11, 2007

Film on accused gropers reflects judiciary flaws: lawyers

Criminal trials involving accused "chikan" — men who use the anonymity of crowded trains to grope women — represent the dark side of Japan's judicial system, according to their defense lawyers.

Japan Times

JAPAN

May 29, 2007

Lawyers laud U.N. slam of Japan's legal, sexual abuses

Domestic lawyers and human rights groups have welcomed the firm stance of the U.N. Committee against Torture expressing grave concern over major human rights topics in Japan, including the "daiyo kangoku" substitute prisons, capital punishment and wartime sex slavery.

JAPAN

May 19, 2007

Teigin Incident artist exhibition tour starts

A traveling exhibition of paintings by the late Sadamichi Hirasawa, convicted for the 1948 "Teigin Incident" mass poisoning, opened at a Tokyo art gallery this week and his adopted son hopes it will stir interest in his request of for a retrial.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Mar 9, 2007

Sex-slave fund's work is done -- or not?

The Asian Women's Fund, set up to pay redress to former wartime sex slaves, is disbanding after years of criticism and after having only compensated about 360 women.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Feb 22, 2007

Japanese journalist's movie on Iraq war screened in U.S.

A Japanese documentary presenting the war in Iraq from the viewpoint of people in Baghdad was screened in major U.S. cities recently, showing Americans not only the casualties among U.S. soldiers but also those among ordinary Iraqis.

JAPAN

Jan 30, 2007

Amnesty condemns execution of four on Christmas Day

Amnesty International has sent a letter to Justice Minister Jinen Nagase expressing "grave concern" over the executions of four inmates Dec. 25, the international human rights group said.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Jan 23, 2007

Tanka anthology by death-row inmate published

In summer 2004, Keiko Mitsumoto, who presides over a group devoted to tanka poetry, received an anonymous, but curious, inquiry seeking to join up.

JAPAN

Dec 29, 2006

Haves and have-nots finding their way into the nation's classrooms, too

Japanese society may become increasingly polarized between a small elite and the rest of the population, if indications in a recent survey of schoolchildren's study habits hold up.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Dec 21, 2006

Minamata disease by those who lived it

A book published to mark the 50th anniversary of Minamata disease's official recognition offers compelling accounts of the initial outbreak, the long years of suffering, and how -- after half a century -- problems caused by the industrial mercury-poisoning are still not resolved.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Nov 23, 2006

Art of 'Teigin Incident' convict to be exhibited

An exhibition of paintings by a man who died of natural causes while on death row for almost 40 years will open Monday in Tokyo.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Nov 16, 2006

Courts ignore reasonable doubt: lawyers

Lawyers involved in two famous murder cases say the courts have abandoned the basic legal principle that a person must be acquitted unless their guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt, with the result that some people are being wrongly convicted.

JAPAN

Nov 7, 2006

Minamata disease relief is still elusive

, while keeping a cool head as administrators," Kunio Yanagida, a nonfiction writer, told a public meeting Saturday in Tokyo. Yanagida was on the nine-member advisory panel to former Environment Minister Yuriko Koike that proposed in September that the government develop a new relief framework to help people who have not been officially recognized as patients under the current standards.

JAPAN

Nov 2, 2006

Income seen impacting kids' test scores

It may not be a popular notion, but family finances appear to be one of the most important factors in determining a child's academic capabilities.

JAPAN

Sep 19, 2006

Tokyo's Wako University staging exhibition on Minamata disease

Wako University is holding an exhibition through Sept. 24 on Minamata disease at its campus in Machida, western Tokyo, aiming to show how the mercury-poisoning disease has affected Japan's postwar society.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Sep 1, 2006

Small island confronts the future

When he retired from his job at a cement maker in 2000, Yukio Ebisuzaki had no strong attachments to any of the eight cities he had lived in over his 40-year career, so he decided to return to his childhood home on a small island in the Seto Inland Sea and live in his parents' house.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Aug 1, 2006

Photographer captures essence of elderly full of life, near death

As a freelance photo journalist, Munesuke Yamamoto has witnessed numerous deaths in war zones around the world, but he is now focusing on the living, specifically elderly people in Japan.

JAPAN

Jul 22, 2006

Activists worry free speech being eroded

fliers on my days off for more than 30 years. "I was told when I became a central government employee in 1972 that engaging in political activities may result in punishment," he admitted.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Mar 8, 2006

Film gives rare look at Palestinian women

In July 1988, Mizue Furui was in the Gaza Strip and West Bank with her camera as a rookie freelance journalist.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Feb 21, 2006

Minamata disease turns 50, still taking toll

MINAMATA, Kumamoto Pref. (Kyodo) Sumiko Kaneko, 74, hopes to outlive, even by a day, her 50-year-old son, Yuji, who has been in a wheelchair the past nine years.

JAPAN

Jan 31, 2006

Fruits of famous researcher's work on S.E. Asia to go online

Records of a 30-year journey by a well-known researcher on Southeast Asia will soon be available to the public on a Web site operated by a research center at Saitama University. Until his death in 1994 at age 68, Yoshiyuki Tsurumi observed the social and economic structure of the region from a grassroots viewpoint. He walked the beaches of Asia to meet people who freely crossed borders for production and trade, and to follow the distribution of local products, including bananas, shrimp and sea cucumbers.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.

How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan

By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Cultural properties:A Fujiya Hotel insider’s view

Cultural properties:A Fujiya Hotel insider’s view

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