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April 29, 2024
 

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Yoshiaki Nohara
For Yoshiaki Nohara's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Feb 23, 2016
Forced labor allegations and abuses continue to dog Japan's foreign trainee program
Tang Xili came to Japan in 2013, hoping to earn enough in three years to build a new home for her daughter. Instead, she ended up in a labor union shelter after leaving an employer she says owes her about ¥3.5 million in unpaid wages.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Dec 16, 2015
As jobs-for-life fade, mobility key as workers face a survival reality check
Shuhei Takebe graduated from a prestigious university in Japan. It qualified him to become a day laborer.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 15, 2015
In Japan, the rise of the machines solves a labor problem
The rise of the machines in the workplace has U.S. and European experts predicting massive unemployment and tumbling wages.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Sep 10, 2015
What Japan's next stimulus may look like as Abe runs on fumes
The anemic economy is prompting calls for another fiscal boost. If history and the government's strained finances are any guide, a package is likely to redirect cash already on the books.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 7, 2015
If 1960s Japan is a guide, recent China turmoil could be just a blip
China's economic slowdown and market crash often evoke comparisons with Japan's bust in the 1990s, a period that saw the world's second-largest economy of the time tip into prolonged stagnation.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2015
As Tokyo shrinks, Olympics may be last blast
Half a century ago, the Tokyo Olympics ushered in a golden age for Japan's capital, as industrial prowess made it the largest urban complex in history. Now the games are returning to mark the end of that growth.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jun 24, 2015
Women in Okinawa have Japan's best recipe for liberty, fertility and longevity
Women in Okinawa have more babies and live longer than women from almost anywhere else in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2015
Tokyo's heaving subway system girds for 2020 Olympics
It's Monday morning and Tokyo is going back to work. By 8:16 at Shinjuku Station, the world's busiest, lines of waiting commuters overlap with the people looking to go in the opposite direction. The smell of pastries from a bakery wafts over the stream of people.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
May 11, 2015
A woman's job in Japan: watch kids, care for parents, work late
Hiromi Nakasaki remembers working past midnight on New Year's Eve and during holidays as a business systems consultant in Japan's notoriously harsh work environment. Last summer, at the height of her career, she quit.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 15, 2015
From immigration to zoning, reforms need central guidance to succeed: adviser
The central government must exert control over the regions to push through regulatory reforms needed for economic revival, said the head of a council on special economic zones.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 20, 2015
Why Japan's factories, jobs aren't coming back despite the weak yen
Crows circle around the tract of cleared land that was once Hoya Corp.'s Pentax camera plant in Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture. All that's left is a sign directing employees to a dormitory and gymnasium, both pulled down years ago when a strong yen was driving manufacturers abroad.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 10, 2015
'Red purge' during MacArthur era hurt unions now pushing on wages
As annual wage talks climax this month, one of the obstacles to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's campaign for outsize pay raises has its roots in the 1940s: a stunted union movement.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2015
Ishiba tells rural communities to compete or lose funding
The Abe administration's czar for regional regeneration believes it is a case of sink or swim: Enterprising communities will maintain their grip on state funding and flourish, and stragglers will be cut loose.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Feb 4, 2015
In shrinking villages, abandoned graves are a sign of generational flight
In the nation's declining provinces, it is not only the living who are neglected.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 30, 2015
December output gain hints at end to latest recession
Industrial production snapped two quarters of decline in December, signaling the economy may have limped out of recession.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2015
Improved 'competitiveness' key to wage hikes, labor chief says
Restoring industrial competitiveness is the key to fueling wage gains that the Abe government and the central bank are counting on to ensure inflation takes hold, according to labor minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 24, 2014
Mitani sidelined by Abe as GPIF pension fund enters new era
When Takahiro Mitani's term as head of the world's largest retirement fund finishes in March, so too will the old era of Japanese pension management.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 1, 2014
Investors still waiting for stock binge from GPIF
The world's largest retirement fund held back from plowing into Japanese equities last quarter, its investment results signaled, even as the market rebounded in anticipation of purchases.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 26, 2014
Younger Japanese staying away from stocks despite NISA tax lure
History is working against the Abe administration as it seeks to convince a new generation of investors that equities are the best bet for funding retirement.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 5, 2014
Pension clones with $500 billion await GPIF's asset switch
Where the world's biggest pension fund goes, half a trillion dollars is set to follow.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Ukraine is far from doomed
When comparing Ukraine’s military situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible.
When will Japan intervene to support the yen?
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki has reiterated the government's readiness to take an appropriate action as the yen continues to slide against the U.S. dollar.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Kyotographie's strong 12th edition shines light into the margins
Yassine Alaoui Ismaili, who goes by Yoriyas, turned to photography, shooting motion while in motion himself, after an injury forced him to give up his career as a professional breakdancer.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

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