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Tomohiro Osaki

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Tomohiro Osaki

Tomohiro Osaki is a staff writer in the Domestic News Division. A graduate of Sophia University in Tokyo, he likes to explore under-reported realities of Japanese youth, with a tendency toward the taboo.

JAPAN

Feb 26, 2014

Defacing of Anne Frank diaries stirs public

The news that hundreds of copies of Anne Frank's “A Diary of a Young Girl” and books about her had been vandalized in libraries across Tokyo still spur swidespread concern, with people scrambling to help with generous donations.

JAPAN / EXPLAINER

Feb 24, 2014

Should young criminals face harsher penalties?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet approved a bill this month to bolster punishments issued under the juvenile law. This is partly in response to growing calls by people victimized by juvenile offenders to reduce their apparent impunity.

JAPAN / Crime & Legal

Feb 21, 2014

Notary's son confronts cultist in court, asks why Aum abducted him

Minoru Kariya, whose father was believed tortured to death by Aum Shinrikyo in 1995, asks ex-cult fugitive Makoto Hirata why his father had to die and whether the defendant is prepared to atone for the role he played in his death.

JAPAN / Crime & Legal

Feb 17, 2014

Provide details on hangings or halt them: ex-lay judges

Former lay judges demand that the Justice Ministry halt hangings until it is ready to disclose more details on how it conducts them.

JAPAN / Crime & Legal

Feb 17, 2014

Aum cultist Hirata reiterates plea of ignorance

Aum Shinrikyo ex-fugitive Makoto Hirata repeated Monday that he had no prior knowledge about the cult's 1995 plans to kidnap and confine Tokyo notary Kiyoshi Kariya as he testified for the first time in his ongoing trial.

JAPAN / Crime & Legal

Feb 12, 2014

Accused hacker: 'I'm innocent'

The man accused of hacking other people's computers to make a series of violent threats in 2012 maintains his “absolute innocence” as his trial opens at the Tokyo District Court.

JAPAN / Crime & Legal

Feb 10, 2014

Hirata feared arrest in police chief shooting: girlfriend

Ex-Aum fugitive Makoto Hirata hid for 17 years because he feared being blamed for the 1995 shooting of the national police chief if he surrendered, his girlfriend testifies.

JAPAN

Feb 7, 2014

Health minister looks to bolster hospital translation services

To make Japan's medical facilities more accessible to foreigners ahead of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, the health ministry is looking to bolster multilingual services at hospitals, an official said Friday.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Feb 6, 2014

Tokyu launches Shibuya info page

Private railway Tokyu Corp. has opened a new Facebook page in five different languages to cash in on foreign interest in Shibuya, the soul of Japanese entertainment and youth fashion.

Japan Times

JAPAN / Crime & Legal

Feb 5, 2014

Cultist says Hirata unaware of bomb

A condemned Aum Shinrikyo member testifies in the Tokyo District Court that fellow cultist Mau00adkou00adto Hiu00adrau00adta had no foreknowledge of the 1995 bombing of a professor's condominium.

JAPAN / Crime & Legal

Feb 3, 2014

Death-row cultist puts Hirata in kidnap frame

A condemned Aum Shinrikyo killer testified Monday against ex-fugitive cultist Makoto Hirata, contradicting the defendant's claim that he was not aware before the fact that he was going to help in the 1995 abduction and confinement of a Tokyo notary.

JAPAN

Jan 29, 2014

Zushi looks to tame its unruly summer beach

Fed up with what it considers deteriorating moral standards among young beachgoers, the city of Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, is scrambling to purge its popular beach of disorderly and intimidating visitors, typically out-of-control drunks and people with tattoos associated with yakuza.

Japan Times

JAPAN / Politics

Jan 23, 2014

Tokyo voters unhappy with nuclear focus

Campaigning for the Tokyo gubernatorial race starts and voters express bewilderment over how fast the focus seems to have turned to nuclear energy.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Jan 23, 2014

Shut-in's Net persona turns promotional hard sell

Job hunting can be challenging for university students. After attending a couple of employment seminars last year, Toyo University student Ryo Kikuchi knew he didn't stand a chance of outdoing his competitors if he went the usual route.

JAPAN / Crime & Legal

Jan 21, 2014

Aum convict corroborates Hirata's claims

A senior Aum Shinrikyo member on death row appears in the Tokyo District Court and downplays the involvement of Makoto Hirata in the 1995 abduction and confinement of a Tokyo notary.

JAPAN / Crime & Legal

Jan 17, 2014

Cultist testifies Hirata knew of kidnap plan

Aum Shinrikyo killer Noboru Nakamura testifies against ex-fugitive cultist Makoto Hirata, saying the defendant, despite his denial, had prior knowledge that he would be involved in the 1995 abduction of a Tokyo notary.

Japan Times

JAPAN / Crime & Legal

Jan 16, 2014

Cultist downplays guilt as trial opens

Makoto Hirata, one of the last Aum Shinrikyo cultists yet to be tried, on Thursday played down his involvement in the 1995 kidnapping of a Tokyo notary, telling the Tokyo District Court in his first trial session that he only drove the getaway car and had no inkling of what was to unfold.

Japan Times

JAPAN / Crime & Legal

Jan 15, 2014

'Missing' U.K. man turns up safe in Britain

Running in fear for his life or just to escape it? A British businessman who mysteriously disappeared from Tokyo last year, sparking speculation of misadventure, has turned up back in England, safe and sound, according to a British media report.

JAPAN

Jan 8, 2014

Kobe neighborhood gets spicy with 'kimchi town' moniker

A Kobe neighborhood densely populated with Korean residents is now touting itself as the "town of kimchi," having created brochures that have proved more popular than expected.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Jan 8, 2014

Foreign delinquency presents special challenges

Sitting in a dimly lit room at a training school for juvenile delinquents in Tokyo, an 18-year-old Brazilian-Japanese boy reflects on his misdeeds.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.

Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.

By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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