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Isabel Reynolds
For Isabel Reynolds's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2015
Abe breaking arms taboo with Japan's first defense trade show
Japan will host its first international defense trade show next month as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe elbows the pacifist Constitution aside to tap the lucrative arms industry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 18, 2015
In development bank battle, surge to China rattles Japan, U.S.
Tokyo is expressing doubts over the credibility of China's planned development bank, as European nations seek to join the new institution.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FOCUS
Mar 7, 2015
Chasing Chinese planes 400 times a year stretches Japan's top guns
Fighter pilot Jun Fukuda sits edgily on the couch in his flight suit, waiting for the call that sends him sprinting to his jet. On any given day, he will chase and warn off Chinese military planes nearing Japanese airspace.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 17, 2015
How two small rocks stop Japan and South Korea from getting along
They were once a source of fortune for Japanese fishermen hunting sea lions and abalone, but now the pair of remote rocks in the Sea of Japan are preventing Japan and South Korea from getting along.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 20, 2015
Abe using overseas trips to test waters in preparation for WWII 70th anniversary statement
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is promoting Japan as a postwar peace-builder as he tests the waters for a statement marking the 70th anniversary of its World War II defeat that risks irritating China and South Korea.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 20, 2015
LDP lawmaker says he wants inflation targets fixed in law
A lawmaker who has advised Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on economic policy said he will urge the government to enshrine its inflation-targeting agreements with the Bank of Japan in law as early as next year.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 23, 2014
Still haunted by WWII, Asia looks for Abe atonement in 2015
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's election victory means he will helm Japan into the 70th anniversary of its World War II defeat in 2015, a watershed year that will set the tone for Tokyo's fraught ties with Beijing and Seoul.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 19, 2014
Australia gingerly mulls Japanese submarine offer
Australia is considering buying top-secret technology from Japan to build a fleet of next-generation submarines, a move that would risk reigniting diplomatic tensions with China that have only recently died down.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / DECISION 2014
Dec 8, 2014
As opposition dithers, voters mull four more years of Abe
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's chances for becoming the nation's longest-serving leader in more than four decades are increasing as the opposition finds itself hobbled by factionalism, shifting policies and funding shortages.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 28, 2014
Voting disparity to help LDP stay in charge amid Supreme Court inaction
In Japanese elections, it can take five city dwellers to match the voting power of a single farmer.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 27, 2014
Vote-value disparity ensures rural few maintain clout over urban masses
In the nation's elections, it can take five city dwellers to match the voting power of a single farmer.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2014
North Korean schools in Japan soldiering on despite tough times
Like many students in Japan, Kim Yang Sun cycles to school each morning. Unlike most, she then changes into a traditional Korean outfit and studies under portraits of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Oct 27, 2014
Japan holds separate military drills with Russia, U.S.
Japan begins exercises with the U.S. Army in Hokkaido, a day after it started naval maneuvers with Russia 800 km away off the coast of Vladivostok.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2014
Casino bill likely to pass Lower House: Abe aide
A Japanese lawmaker backing a bill to legalize casinos said he expects it to win Lower House approval this month and that the gambling resorts would be in major cities and charge local residents an entry fee.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 22, 2014
North Korea dashes hopes of Japanese parents over abductees' fate
Three times a day, 88-year-old Kayoko Arimoto makes a ritual offering of food to the daughter she hasn't seen for 31 years. On her birthday, it's rice with red beans followed by cake.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 4, 2014
'Daddy's girl' Obuchi to oversee nuclear industry
Yuko Obuchi, the 40-year-old daughter of the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, was Wednesday appointed as the first female trade and industry minister, one of five women Prime Minister Shinzo Abe named to his new Cabinet.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2014
Tokyo governor takes on big tobacco to push smoke-free games
Half a century after making $1 million off an official Olympics-branded cigarette, Tokyo's chief wants to put stricter curbs on smoking before the 2020 Summer Games.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2014
Aging Yokotas pine for daughter's return from North Korea as abductee talks begin
Shigeru and Sakie Yokota may have their best chance yet of being reunited with their daughter, Megumi, 37 years after she was abducted by North Korean agents at age 13.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 25, 2014
Casino legislation? Abe says you bet
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his ruling party will seek to pass a law in the next Diet session to legalize casinos as part of a plan to boost tourism before the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 20, 2014
Foreign domestics seen as aiding working mothers
Noriko Hitotsumatsu, a bilingual research pharmacologist with a master's from Cambridge University, considers herself lucky to have a part-time job in a Tokyo pharmacy after shelving her career to raise two daughters in one of the world's most work-oriented countries.

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