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August 26, 2025

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Kazuaki Nagata

Japan Times

JAPAN / EXPLAINER

Mar 10, 2009

Nintendo secret: It's all in the game

It's a common belief that the video game industry is recession-proof.

JAPAN

Mar 5, 2009

Handouts passed; Aso wins breather

The Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc rammed an unpopular bill needed to finance the fiscal 2008 second extra budget through the powerful Lower House on Wednesday after it was rejected earlier by the opposition-controlled Upper House.

JAPAN

Feb 28, 2009

Lower House passes ¥88 trillion budget

The Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc passed the ¥88 trillion fiscal 2009 budget bill and related legislation Friday through the Lower House, paving the way for implementing the biggest initial budget ever by the March 31 end of the fiscal year.

JAPAN

Feb 21, 2009

Opposition bill lowers hepatitis patients' costs

Four opposition parties jointly submitted a bill Friday to the Lower House that would greatly reduce medical costs that hepatitis B and C patients need to shoulder for expensive interferon treatment and antiviral medication.

JAPAN

Feb 20, 2009

As LDP closes ranks, most stay silent on Koizumi gambit

Despite Prime Minister Taro Aso's plummeting poll numbers, the majority of his party's top decision-making body apparently backed his contentious cash handout program at a closed meeting Thursday, one participant said.

JAPAN

Feb 18, 2009

Clinton meets with Ozawa, other DPJ leaders

Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met Tuesday in Tokyo in a rare encounter between a Japanese opposition party president and the top U.S. diplomat.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Feb 15, 2009

Tokyo orchid extravaganza wows flower lovers

A myriad of orchids enchanted visitors at Tokyo Dome in Bunkyo Ward on Saturday, kicking off a nine-day floral event crowned with prizewinning orchid works.

JAPAN

Feb 14, 2009

Aso's handout foes face trump card: poll

Prime Minister Taro Aso's ¥2 trillion cash handout program, his key stimulus plan, is under threat after former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, arguably Japan's most popular lawmaker, openly dismissed its importance.

JAPAN

Feb 14, 2009

Ozawa-Clinton meeting can't be scheduled

Democratic Party of Japan executives failed Friday to arrange a meeting between DPJ chief Ichiro Ozawa and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton when she visits Japan next week.

JAPAN

Feb 13, 2009

Waffling Aso roasted on public griddle

If there is one thing contributing to Prime Minister Taro Aso's sagging approval rate, it's his flip-flopping on the issues.

JAPAN

Feb 13, 2009

Koizumi enters postal fray, fires shot at Aso

Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi stuck his head into a political brouhaha Thursday to rap Prime Minister Taro Aso for his imprudent remarks on postal privatization, threatening to stir up even more anti-Aso sentiment.

JAPAN

Feb 10, 2009

The uphill battle against 'descent from heaven'

"Amakudari," the custom of setting up retired senior bureaucrats in cushy jobs in industries they previously oversaw, has no shortage of critics, who lambaste the practice as an abuse of power and a source of corruption.

JAPAN

Feb 10, 2009

Watanabe expects poll will be held before fall

Prime Minister Taro Aso will probably not be able to delay a general election until September, when the current term of Lower House members expires, former administrative reform minister Yoshimi Watanabe said Monday in Tokyo.

JAPAN

Feb 7, 2009

Aso riles LDP over postal stance

Liberal Democratic Party members expressed dismay Friday at Prime Minister Taro Aso's remarks the previous day that he originally opposed postal privatization and was willing to review the splitup of the service.

JAPAN

Jan 31, 2009

Opposition split on naval antipiracy dispatch off Somalia

The government plan to submit a bill in March to send Maritime Self-Defense Force ships off Somalia to join the fight against pirates is splitting the ranks of the Democratic Party of Japan and the rest of the opposition camp.

JAPAN

Jan 30, 2009

Ruling bloc, opposition resume Diet squabbling

Key ruling bloc and opposition lawmakers exchanged barbs Thursday in the Diet, opening a new round of squabbling following the enactment of a contentious secondary budget just two days earlier.

JAPAN

Jan 29, 2009

Women still largely absent from politics

When it comes to female participation in politics, Japan lags far behind other nations.

JAPAN

Jan 28, 2009

Extra budget with cash handouts passed

Political wrangling in the Diet over the controversial second supplementary budget for fiscal 2008 ended Tuesday when the ruling bloc's legislation effectively prevailed by default.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Jan 24, 2009

Reformist Koike loyal to LDP, waits in wings

While last year's Liberal Democratic Party presidential race ended in a landside victory for Prime Minister Taro Aso, there were signs that the old guard's grip on power is slipping.

JAPAN

Jan 23, 2009

LDP panel dilutes tax hike proposal as peers rebel against setting a date

A key Liberal Democratic Party panel barely managed to contain a rebellion Thursday as debate on a proposal to schedule a consumption tax hike forced it to toss in vague wording that provides more wiggle room in picking a date for the increase.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.

From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past

By Alex K.T. Martin

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