author

 
Menu
Search
 
August 20, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
Kanako Takahara

Meta

Twitter

@jt_takahara

Kanako Takahara
Kanako Takahara is a staff writer who has covered national politics, diplomacy, business and the economy at The Japan Times. A graduate of Sophia University, she is currently a national news editor.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2004
'Paradise' emigrant back for lawsuit
Toru Takegama's spirits were high when he left Japan in July 1956 for the Dominican Republic under a government-backed emigration project.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2004
Extradition bid for Fujimori falls on deaf ears here
Japan and Peru remained divided Friday over Lima's request that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori be extradited, making no headway in a diplomatic dispute that has lingered for nearly a year.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2004
LDP panels endorse bill on North Korea ship ban
Three Liberal Democratic Party panels jointly approved Tuesday an outline of a bill to enable the government to ban North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2004
Returnees' families urge pressure on Pyongyang
The families of Japanese abducted to North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s urged the government Monday to step up its pressure on Pyongyang.
Japan Times
JAPAN / POLITICS IN FOCUS
Feb 17, 2004
Koizumi, Kan warm to unicameral system
Whenever a Diet session convenes, the Emperor gives a short speech at the House of Councilors' opening ceremony -- a tradition that should demonstrate the chamber's status.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2004
Don't forget Afghanistan: ADB official
The international community, including Japan, should demonstrate further commitment toward rebuilding Afghanistan at the donors conference next month in Berlin, according to a senior official of the Asian Development Bank.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2004
Returnees may collect relatives in Pyongyang
Japan would be willing to allow the five Japanese who returned to their homeland after being abducted to North Korea decades ago to fly to Pyongyang airport to collect their relatives, as long as they do not get off the plane, a senior government official said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2004
Officials play down Pyongyang meeting
Wednesday's surprise visit by two senior Foreign Ministry officials to Pyongyang has fueled speculation -- or, to be more precise, expectation -- among the public that there will be developments on the abduction issue.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2004
Yasukuni remark annoys China
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi voiced displeasure Wednesday over remarks made by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi about the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2004
Diet clears bill to hit North Korea with sanctions
The Diet cleared a bill Monday that will allow the government to impose unilateral economic sanctions on North Korea to "maintain Japan's peace and security."
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2004
Officials flee embassy amid terror fears
Officials at the Japanese Embassy in Baghdad have been evacuated from the compound to a separate site in the city amid fears of a terrorist attack, government sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2004
Japan, China will meet ahead of six-party talks
Japan and China will hold a vice-ministerial security dialogue in Tokyo ahead of the Feb. 25 six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear threat, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2004
Visiting Serb hopes western Balkan economic parley boosts investments
Japan will host a two-day ministerial meeting in April in Tokyo to promote stability and boost the economy of the western Balkans, according to Zlatan Milosevic, visiting director of the Serbian Investment and Export Promotion Agency.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2004
Japan to bring up abductions issue
Japan will take up the issue of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s during six-party talks later this month in Beijing, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2004
U.S. will assist SDF in Iraq, Armitage pledges to Ishiba
The United States will do its utmost to assist the Self-Defense Forces in Iraq, including providing information to Japan concerning possible terrorist attacks, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba on Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2004
Japan turns up heat on North Korea as sanctions bill clears Lower House
The House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that will allow Japan to unilaterally impose economic sanctions on North Korea, paving the way for its endorsement by the full Diet by the end of next week.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2004
Experts say act now, stop Pyongyang
Japan, South Korea and the U.S. should swiftly map out a game plan aimed at freezing North Korea's nuclear activities, a senior researcher at a British military think tank said Tuesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004
China relays Pyongyang overture
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has told a senior Chinese official that there are "positive movements" in the relationship between Pyongyang and Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2004
Pyongyang facing sanctions
Diet lawmakers who have adopted a hardline stance on North Korea agreed Tuesday to submit bills during this legislative session that would allow the government to slap economic and other sanctions on Pyongyang.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2004
Pyongyang trip yields no progress on abduction issue
Japan and North Korea remained at odds over the abductions issue when a group of Japanese diplomats visited Pyongyang last week for the first official contact between the two countries in several months, the Foreign Ministry says.
JICA to designate four Japanese cities as 'hometowns' for African nations
The Japanese flag (left) with the flag of the African Union
Osaka fire kills two firefighters and leaves four injured
Firefighters work at the scene of a fire in the Dotonbori district in the city of Osaka on Monday.
Winning warship bid gives Japan confidence boost as Tokyo eyes more exports
Australia’s decision to select Japan's upgraded Mogami-class warship, seen in this computer-generated image, has been “well received across Japanese industry," a Defense Ministry official said.
Two Japanese nationals shot dead in Manila
Commuters cross the street through traffic in Manila.
A factory town in crisis shows Japan’s fading manufacturing era
Nissan workers walk outside its Oppama plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. Nissan plans to shut the plant by the end of fiscal 2027.
Candidates preparing to make final pitches for Sawamura Award
Hawks pitcher Livan Moinelo has a 1.13 ERA in 19 starts this season.
Winning warship bid gives Japan confidence boost as Tokyo eyes more exports
Australia’s decision to select Japan's upgraded Mogami-class warship, seen in this computer-generated image, has been “well received across Japanese industry," a Defense Ministry official said.
In Paris, chefs Chizuko Kimura and Kei Kobayashi make their mark
Chef Kei Kobayashi is France's only Japanese chef with three Michelin stars.
In preserving Japanese hospitality, ‘details are everything’
Beniya Mukayu, a traditional "ryokan" inn located in Ishikawa Prefecture, considers itself at "the heart of onsen towns, local residents, farmers, fishermen, sake brewers and artisans" — all of which need new, sustainable methods of serving visitors to survive into the future.
A seaside hotel built on competitive Japanese cycling
In a region more associated with art, Keirin Hotel 10 takes a decidedly more athletic approach to attracting tourists.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER