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August 26, 2025

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Kazuaki Nagata

JAPAN

Jan 20, 2009

Temp support groups call for urgent steps

Support groups proposed several steps to the government and opposition on Monday to strengthen the safety net for laid-off temp workers ahead of an expected increase in their number at the end of March.

JAPAN

Jan 19, 2009

Ozawa tells convention DPJ will win

Democratic Party of Japan members gathered at their annual convention Sunday to show their resolution to defeat the LDP-New Komeito coalition's government in this year's general election.

JAPAN

Jan 19, 2009

Bureaucratic reform on the line

Former administrative reform minister Yoshimi Watanabe's resignation from the Liberal Democratic Party highlights a growing rebellion against Prime Minister Aso Taro, who has been struggling to steer the nation amid sagging public support.

Japan Times

BUSINESS

Jan 15, 2009

Toy makers concentrate on robots that can soothe a harried populace

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, people need some relaxation, and that's what the Japanese toy industry will be selling this year.

JAPAN

Jan 14, 2009

Watanabe resigns from LDP, cites rejected reform proposals

Making good on his threats, former administrative reform minister Yoshimi Watanabe resigned Tuesday from the Liberal Democratic Party.

JAPAN

Jan 11, 2009

Activists hold Gaza peace rally in Tokyo

As the number of victims continues to climb in Gaza, a crowd of more than 1,500 people rallied in Tokyo on Saturday to call for an immediate ceasefire in the war-torn area.

JAPAN

Jan 10, 2009

Rebuffed, Watanabe set to quit LDP

With all his policy proposals effectively snubbed by Prime Minister Taro Aso, Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Yoshimi Watanabe's exit from the ruling party became almost certain Friday.

JAPAN

Jan 9, 2009

Aso partially bans 'watari' perk for ex-bureaucrats

Under pressure from the opposition camp, Prime Minister Taro Aso said Thursday that he will immediately ban the little-known custom of "watari," in which ministries can arrange new jobs multiple times at related corporations for retiring bureaucrats.

JAPAN

Jan 6, 2009

Watanabe set to quit LDP as Aso rejects policies

Former administrative reform minister Yoshimi Watanabe said Monday he will leave the ruling Liberal Democratic Party if his policy proposals are not seriously considered, including calling an early general election and cancelling a cash payout program.

JAPAN

Jan 6, 2009

Diet reopens; relief package main focus

Diet convened Monday for a regular 150-day session, with debate to focus on immediate economic relief measures mapped out in the second extra budget bill for fiscal 2008.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Jan 3, 2009

Small parties play up 'big' role in national politics

Political parties with fewer than 20 Diet seats face an identity crisis as the legislature moves closer to a two-party system following the huge gains made by the Democratic Party of Japan in the July 2007 Upper House election.

JAPAN

Jan 1, 2009

Ozawa bids to win over young on Aso's 'otaku' turf

On the last day of 2008, Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa showed up at an event held in Tokyo's Akihabara district — home to Prime Minister Taro Aso's "otaku" geeks fan base — apparently to steal some of Aso's thunder.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Dec 25, 2008

Watanabe vies for change

A snap election is the most effective way to clear the "sense of stagnation" prevailing in Japan, Lower House reformist Yoshimi Watanabe of the Liberal Democratic Party told The Japan Times after voting Wednesday for an opposition resolution to this end.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Dec 25, 2008

Aso failing to lead LDP to promised land

When Taro Aso became prime minister in September, he was chosen by his peers in the Liberal Democratic Party as the man who would reverse their declining ratings. But after three months of the extraordinary Diet session, which closes Thursday, Aso's Cabinet already seems to be in trouble.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Dec 21, 2008

Toy company CEOs dress up to play Santa

To help boost the sagging toy market, toy company executives transformed themselves into one-day Santa Clauses on Saturday to promote their products for Christmas.

Japan Times

JAPAN / EXPLAINER

Dec 16, 2008

A highway system that ever exacts toll

Expressways have been a prominent feature of postwar Japan's infrastructure-building efforts.

BUSINESS

Dec 13, 2008

Timing of sales tax hike unspecified

Faced with a Lower House election that must come by September, the struggling Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc said Friday the timing of a consumption tax hike will not be specified in its guideline for fiscal 2009 tax reforms.

JAPAN

Dec 6, 2008

Revised law removes barrier to nationality

The revised Nationality Law cleared the Diet Friday but only after lawmakers at the last minute managed to have a clause inserted to prevent what they claimed would be a surge in bogus paternal recognition cases.

JAPAN

Dec 5, 2008

Pension funding expansion faces delay

The increase in the state's funding of the basic pension system to half from one-third doesn't necessarily have to happen next April, Prime Minister Taro Aso said Thursday, indicating the hike will probably be delayed.

JAPAN

Dec 5, 2008

Politicians failing to engage youth

One of the oldest rules in politics the world over is that young people stay away in droves.

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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