author

 
Menu
Search
 
September 02, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
Eric Johnston

Meta

Eric Johnston
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2024
Osaka Expo budget expected to rise again by ¥200 million
The latest request would raise the total amount of money directly spent by the national government on all expo-related activities to ¥164.9 billion.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 6, 2024
Kishida insists corporate donations have no effect on LDP policy
The responses came during Lower House budget committee questions from Akira Nagatsuma, policy chief of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 5, 2024
New Kyoto mayor aims to tackle over-tourism with higher fares
Koji Matsui faces many hurdles, and he takes over at a time when the demerits of over-tourism have become a particular topic of concern for residents.
Akira Ogawa (center) celebrates her win in the Maebashi mayoral election in Gunma Prefecture on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 5, 2024
Opposition-backed candidate wins in Maebashi mayoral election
Akira Ogawa will become the first female mayor in Maebashi after defeating incumbent Ryu Yamamoto.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 1, 2024
Curtain falls on Abe faction's 45-year history but scrutiny to continue
Unanswered questions over members' involvement in the LDP's political funds scandal mean the dissolution may not be the end of the story.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2024
Kishida faces heat from all sides over political funds scandal
The prime minister finds himself in hot water not only with the main opposition party, but also with his own ruling party.
In the 2022 fiscal year, which ended in March 2023, Hokkaido's Niseko resort area saw a cumulative total of more than 1.4 million visitors, including day-trippers and those who spent at least one night.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jan 29, 2024
Ski season surge tests limits of Niseko’s infrastructure
The return of tourists to the Hokkaido resort area is putting pressure on food retailers and transportation.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 26, 2024
LDP faction shake-up damages prospects of Kishida rivals
Numerous LDP lawmakers have announced they will leave their factions, weakening faction leaders who had been seen as possible Kishida successors.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2024
Kishida's new aid package aims to help recovery of quake-hit areas
It will offer subsidies to small and medium-sized firms in Ishikawa Prefecture, as well as those in neighboring Niigata, Toyama, and Fukui prefectures.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 22, 2024
Kishida's LDP factions gamble fails to improve his popularity
A Yomiuri Shimbun poll conducted over the weekend found the Kishida Cabinet’s approval rating was 24%, the lowest since the LDP returned to power in 2012.
An offshore wind turbine off the coast of Naraha, Fukushima Prefecture, in 2013. Japan aims to increase its offshore wind power capacity to 10 GW by 2030.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET
Jan 21, 2024
As Japan makes major investments in wind power, some residents are pushing back
In a sense, the city of Ishikari represents the idealized, natural version of Hokkaido for many Japanese. Some residents say massive wind turbines will destroy that image.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 19, 2024
LDP turmoil continues as three major factions announce dissolution
Lawmakers from the 98-member political faction that was previously led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the decision during a meeting Friday night.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 19, 2024
Debate grows over whether expo funding should go to Ishikawa recovery
It has been suggested it would be better to postpone, or even cancel, the troubled 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 18, 2024
Japanese Communist Party picks first-ever female leader
Upper House member Tomoka Tamura takes over the chair of the 102-year-old political party — Japan’s oldest — from Kazuo Shii, who held the post since 2000.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 16, 2024
Abe faction's seven senior members won't be prosecuted, reports say
Proving a criminal conspiracy between them and the group's treasurer to not report excess income from fundraising parties has been deemed too difficult by investigators.
JAPAN
Jan 2, 2024
Japan's nuclear power plants largely undamaged following quake
While the plants escaped serious damage, the tremor could once again spark public concern about the safety of nuclear energy.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 2, 2024
Who might succeed Fumio Kishida in 2024?
Several names have emerged as potential candidates for prime minister in the wake of a political funds scandal enveloping the LDP.
Reporters gather in front of the Upper House parliamentary building on Thursday in Tokyo. Prosecutors raided LDP lawmaker Yasutada Ono's office, which is located in the building, the same day.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 28, 2023
Second LDP member’s office raided over political funds scandal
Upper House member Yasutada Ono became the second lawmaker to have his offices searched by prosecutors in connection with the scandal.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 27, 2023
Prosecutors raid LDP lawmaker's home and offices over unreported funds
Prosecutors entered Yoshitaka Ikeda's Tokyo and Nagoya offices on suspicion that he violated the Political Funds Control Law.
Former education minister Kisaburo Tokai, who has been tapped as Liberal Democratic Party policy chief, speaks to reporters Thursday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 21, 2023
Kishida makes more LDP leadership changes in bid to restore trust
The changes come a week after he dismissed four key members of his Cabinet who were also Abe faction members suspected of receiving unreported funds.
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
Woman dies after possible knife attack in Setagaya
Police investigate the scene where a woman was found bleeding on a street in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward on Monday.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
More sweltering days forecast for September after hottest summer on record
By the end of August, 8,341 people had been transported by ambulance for heatstroke in Tokyo alone.
How Tokyo's Ueno Zoo helps their animals cope with extreme heat
A polar bear at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on Thursday. The Arctic animals are among the most vulnerable species to Japan's scorching summer heat and zookeepers have to take a number of precautions in order to keep them safe.
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
How Tokyo's Ueno Zoo helps their animals cope with extreme heat
A polar bear at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on Thursday. The Arctic animals are among the most vulnerable species to Japan's scorching summer heat and zookeepers have to take a number of precautions in order to keep them safe.
Japan is warming up to tattoos — just not permanent ones
Tattoos have a complex history in Japan, but new types of temporary ink are letting locals curious about body art experiment without the commitment.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
Japan looks to build drone ‘shield’ in record defense budget request
A group of Ground Self-Defense Force service members discuss drone operations and capabilities at a joint static display during the Orient Shield 24 opening ceremony at the Yausubetsu Training Area in Hokkaido in July last year.

Podcast

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

Longform

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo
Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER