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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 / Politics
May 31, 2016
Aso falls into line on Abe's tax hike delay
Finance Minister Taro Aso says he will support the expected decision to delay the increase in the consumption tax, backpedaling from earlier criticism that doing so would renege on an election pledge.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 30, 2016
LDP grandees fall into line on postponing second-stage tax hike
Despite their earlier opposition, top executives in the Liberal Democratic Party effectively endorse Abe's plan to shelve the planned second-stage hike of the unpopular consumption tax.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
May 27, 2016
G-7 broadly agrees on ways to spur growth
Leaders agree to better cooperate on fiscal measures, but they remain sharply divided on how much each country should spend.
JAPAN / Politics
May 27, 2016
G-7 leaders reaffirm commitment to adopting Paris Agreement
Meanwhile, Japan managed to keep the Fukushima nuclear disaster from taking center stage.
JAPAN / History / OBAMA VISITS HIROSHIMA
May 26, 2016
Obama's Hiroshima visit reveals progress of reconciliation, disagreements over history
When it comes to hibakusha and the victorious Americans, one can expect a portrait of contrasts.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
May 26, 2016
NGOs pressure G-7 to take action on Paris climate deal
Nongovernmental organizations fighting climate change on Thursday urged leaders of the Group of Seven countries to swiftly implement the ambitious pledges they made in Paris in December and criticized Japan for thwarting efforts to reduce fossil fuels.
JAPAN / OBAMA VISITS HIROSHIMA
May 26, 2016
Hibakusha recalls horror of bombing, pain of stigmatization and road to healing
It took Tamiko Shiraishi nearly seven decades before she could come to terms with her experience surviving the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
May 25, 2016
Tokyo highlights hospitality for media at G-7 summit while restricting access
As part of the government's plan to boost Japan's reputation among the world's journalists, it has opened an International Media Center (IMC) in Ise, Mie Prefecture, for media members covering the Group of Seven summit.
JAPAN
May 24, 2016
Diet passes legislation to revamp Japan's criminal justice system
New legislation increases video recording of interrogations, expands the reach of the wiretap law and introduces plea bargains.
Japan Times
JAPAN / OBAMA VISITS HIROSHIMA
May 24, 2016
Hiroshima A-bomb museum chief hopes Obama will visit displays 'as a father'
Should U.S. President Barack Obama opt to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum later this week, Kenji Shiga, its director, is adamant that he wouldn't ask too much.
JAPAN / Society
May 24, 2016
Diet passes Japan's first law to curb hate speech
Japan's first anti-hate speech law passed the Diet on Tuesday, marking a step forward in the nation's long-stalled efforts to curb racial discrimination.
JAPAN / Politics
May 19, 2016
Japan's Democratic Party reveals new logo to cries of plagiarism and indecency
The main opposition Democratic Party on Thursday unveiled what it calls a “vibrant” new logo that was then assailed by renewed claims of plagiarism and cries of obscenity.
JAPAN
May 16, 2016
Head of Japan Olympic Committee defends payment to consulting firm
The president of the Japanese Olympic Committee tells the Diet that payments made by the Tokyo Olympic bid team to a consulting firm in Singapore were clean and legitimate.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 12, 2016
Japan's foreign workers policy riddled with contradictions, says lawmaker
As the government tells it, Japan doesn't accept unskilled foreign labor. Except it does.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
May 9, 2016
Anti-poverty advocates launch petition for state-backed scholarship program
Anti-poverty advocates kick off a petition drive to lobby the government to establish a scholarship program for financially challenged students who want a university education.
JAPAN / Politics
May 9, 2016
Constitutional scholar Kobayashi announces plan for anti-Abe party, Upper House bid
A constitutional scholar inspired by U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders jumps into the Upper House race to stop the 'uncontrollable' government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 9, 2016
JCP uniting with other parties, tries to lose chains of Soviet-era stigma
The Japanese Communist Party is riding high.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
May 6, 2016
Bullying of LGBT students at 'epidemic' levels in Japan: Human Rights Watch
The bullying of sexual minorities is reaching “epidemic” levels in Japan because of a lack of effective policies and training, Human Rights Watch says in a report.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
May 3, 2016
Abe's revisionist agenda subject of opposing rallies on Constitution Day
Marking the 69th anniversary of the postwar pacifist Constitution, supporters and opponents of constitutional revision held rallies in Tokyo on Tuesday to speak out on their respective causes.
JAPAN / Politics
May 2, 2016
Systemic avoidance of political issues by schools keeps youth vote in the dark
Although 2.4 million teens will have a chance to vote in one of Japan's most pivotal elections ever, most are indifferent because politics is widely ignored in class.

Longform

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.