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August 31, 2025
 

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Sakura Murakami
Reuters
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2019
Haruno Yoshida, leading businesswoman and adviser to Keidanren, dies at 55
She was a longtime proponent of improving workplace diversity and was featured regularly in international forums as a role model for working women.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 3, 2019
Abe squares off with opposition leaders ahead of Upper House election
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said during a debate with opposition leaders on Wednesday that he will go ahead with the planned sales tax hike in October but vehemently denied there will be further increases while he remains in power.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 30, 2019
Japan's return to commercial whaling brings criticism from conservationists and praise from industry players
Following its withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission, Japan will resume commercial whaling within the country's exclusive economic zone.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 26, 2019
Women Political Leaders summit opens ahead of G20 as Abe pushes to improve gender parity
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe renewed his commitment to empower women and improve gender parity around the globe at the Women Political Leaders (WPL) Summit 2019 in Tokyo on Wednesday, ahead of the Group of 20 summit due to start Friday in Osaka.
JAPAN / Politics
May 28, 2019
In symbolic first, Abe and Trump jointly address military personnel aboard Japan's Kaga carrier
Peppered with pomp and decorum, Trump's four-day visit to Japan ended with a gesture highlighting the long-standing military ties between the two countries.
JAPAN
May 24, 2019
Meet, greet, but don't talk politics: How foreign dignitaries should act when visiting a Japanese emperor
What should you do when you meet the emperor?
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 23, 2019
Double Japanese general election looks more realistic as unpopular tax hike approaches
For the ruling coalition, a snap election would be a major gamble because it would put its current supermajority in both chambers at risk.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 10, 2019
Japan struggles to ditch 'vaccine backwater' image due to policy gaps
Earlier this year, a quiet outbreak of rubella began to sweep Japan.
JAPAN / Politics
May 3, 2019
On Constitution Day, Abe again vows to revise Japan's top law, aiming for enactment in 2020
The prime minister's lifelong drive to rewrite pacifist Article 9 will hinge on the Upper House election in July, political observers say.
JAPAN
May 1, 2019
In first speech, Japan's new emperor vows to emulate father and fulfill duties as 'symbol of the state'
Delivering his first speech since ascending to the Chrysanthemum Throne, Japan's new emperor vowed to “act according to the Constitution” and fulfill his role as the symbol of the state.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2019
Emperor Akihito: A unifying figure who carved out a role as Japan's 'symbol of the state'
He and Empress Michiko have spent the last three decades comforting disaster victims and mourning the war dead, Japanese and non-Japanese alike.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 22, 2019
Cosplaying eccentric Mac Akasaka of the Smile Party snags seat in Tokyo ward assembly
He clambers out from under the table, wearing a pink Hooter's tank top while sporting fluffy angel wings and a halo, before bowing deeply toward the camera and taking a seat.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Apr 17, 2019
Episode 12: Out with the old Emperor, in with the new
With Emperor Akihito's son, Crown Prince Naruhito, set to become the country's 126th emperor, Deep Dive asks: What does it mean to be emperor, and what can we expect from the next one?
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 1, 2019
Reiwa: Japan reveals name of new era ahead of Emperor's abdication
In a much-awaited moment that heralded the approach of a new chapter in Japan's history, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announced Monday that the new Imperial era will be named Reiwa, in one of the final steps toward initiating the nation's first Imperial succession in three decades.
JAPAN / Help Wanted?
Mar 31, 2019
Bumpy ride feared in Japan as new visa types issued to ease labor crunch
Japan will open its doors wider to workers from abroad when the revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act takes effect. However, with it comes a host of other issues.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2019
WAW/W20 talks close with a call for men to be more involved in women's issues
Key to empowering women is changing people's mindsets and involving men in dealing more with women's issues, participants at the joint World Assembly for Women and Women 20 summit hear.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2019
At Tokyo summit, Malala Yousafzai urges world leaders to expand educational opportunities for women
At a Tokyo summit, 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai urges world leaders to further promote the empowerment of women through education and financial support.
JAPAN
Mar 22, 2019
Malala urges Abe to take up education for young women at G20 summit this summer
Malala Yousafzai, an advocate for women's education and the youngest person to become a Nobel Laureate, urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday to take the initiative in expanding educational opportunities for female youth at the Group of 20 summit this summer.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 13, 2019
Journalists get tour of Japan's Izumo amid debate over equipping ship with aircraft carrier capabilities
Journalists on Wednesday were given a guided tour of the Izumo — Japan's largest flat-topped helicopter carrier — for the first time since the Defense Ministry revealed a controversial plan late last year to convert it so that it could handle fixed-wing aircraft — which critics and some opposition...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 25, 2019
Japan's Ainu recognition bill: What does it mean for Hokkaido's indigenous people?
In a first for Japan, a bill to legally recognize the Ainu as the indigenous people of Japan is about to be submitted to the Diet.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
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.
Top Japan trade negotiator canceled U.S. trip over rice, report says
Ryosei Akazawa
Most Japanese teens struggling with school find end of summer ‘painful’
Some 93.1% of Japanese teenagers who struggle with school life said they felt like they “wanted to disappear from the world" at the end of summer vacation ahead of the start of a new term, according to a recent survey released by Yokohama-based nonprofit Daisan Kazoku.
Most Trump tariffs are not legal, U.S. appeals court rules
Workers hang a large poster of U.S. President Donald Trump on the facade of the Department of Labor headquarters building in Washington on Wednesday.
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.
YouTube Music Weekend is where Japan’s internet-born performers go global
Headlining the second day of YouTube Music Weekend is Vocaloid artist Kikuo, who, with 1.46 million YouTube subscribers, is one of the most popular artists in the genre.
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.
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.
Jesse Kirkwood: ‘Languages are entire cultural universes with all sorts of baggage’
Jesse Kirkwood is part of a vibrant field of translators who have nurtured what might be called a “post-Murakami era of Japanese literature and translation,” one book at a time.

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

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