David McNeill - The Japan Times

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David McNeill

David McNeill is a Tokyo-based writer from Ireland. He writes for several international publications and teaches political science at Sophia University. His new co-authored book is "Strong in the Rain: Surviving Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster."

For David McNeill's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

JAPAN / Politics

Nov 23, 2013

Back to the future: Shinto's growing influence in politics

Immaculate and ramrod straight in a crisp, black suit, Japan's education minister, Hakubun Shimomura, speaks like a schoolteacher — slowly and deliberately.

Japan Times

JAPAN / Politics

Nov 23, 2013

Resisting the historical deniers

Shin Kawashima recalls his heart sinking with the reelection of Shinzo Abe. A specialist in Asian diplomatic history at the University of Tokyo, Kawashima has spent years trying to narrow the gap between Japan and China's strikingly different interpretations of wartime history. The election could undo much of this work, he fears. "If we think about what could happen over the next few years," he says, "it's frightening."

JAPAN / Politics

Nov 23, 2013

Re-engineering Shinto

Japan's ancient, indigenous religion, premodern Shinto, was considered one of the world's least dogmatic, laidback belief systems. Many of its earthy, animist rituals were tied to a love of nature and tradition, anchored around festivals and ceremonies honoring kami (gods) found in all aspects of life.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Nov 21, 2013

U.S. sailor's rape victim wins case

A woman raped by an American serviceman near the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 2002 wins a landmark judgment against her attacker.

Japan Times

BUSINESS / Companies

Jun 9, 2013

Imperial Family's car woes sparked Toyota whistleblower

In 2008, Toyota faced an embarrassing problem: The Imperial Family's luxury Century Royal, used to carry Crown Prince Naruhito around Japan, was a dud.

Japan Times

BUSINESS / Companies

Jun 9, 2013

Dark sides of Toyota's drive to be No. 1

Like most corporate giants, Toyota isn't all squeaky clean. Yet in their book 'Toyota no Shotai' ('The True Colors of Toyota') published in Japanese in 2006, Hajime Yokota and Makoto Sataka catalog the Japanese media's timidity when it comes to covering the nation's top advertiser.

BUSINESS / Companies

Jun 9, 2013

How even the mightiest can sometimes succumb to their own success

Toyota was famously slow to respond to the glut of claims of sudden acceleration problems afflicting some of its vehicles — at least until a now-notorious recording of an emergency 911 call made from one of the passengers stuck in 45-year-old California Highway Patrolman Mark Saylor's speeding Lexus on Aug. 28, 2009.

Japan Times

BUSINESS / Companies

Jun 9, 2013

'Lurching' Lexus fortunately just ran into a wall

Tanya Spotts, a real estate agent from Hamilton, Virginia, bought a new Lexus E350 in 2011. This is her story.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

May 14, 2013

Inose's slurs anger, bemuse Turks in Tokyo but may boost Istanbul's Olympic bid

It's prayer time at Tokyo's biggest mosque and the congregation is pondering God, community and Naoki Inose, the city's governor, who many here say has revealed himself to be, well, a bit of a bigot.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Mar 26, 2013

'The day my mum looked after the Beatles'

In rock mythology, John Lennon was the cynical, acid-tongued Beatle, Paul McCartney was friendly and open, George Harrison was the quiet one and drummer Ringo Starr was the group's clown, always joking around. Satoko Condon remembers it a bit differently.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Mar 19, 2013

A violent death, some justice, few answers in Furlong case

Bad guys rarely live up to their reputation, and so it was with James Blackston. Portrayed in the Irish media as a fearsome, muscle-bound rapper, in court he was a diminutive, baby-faced figure, his tattoos covered up by a cheap prison suit, mumbling his way through an incomprehensible defense for sexual assault.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Mar 19, 2013

Furlong's mother: 'I don't expect to ever, ever learn the truth'

Angela Furlong is trying to recall her darkest point in the trial of the man accused of murdering her daughter. Was it the moment she faced him in court after months of living in dread?

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LIGHT GIST

Dec 25, 2012

The year in quotes: 25 windows on the way things were in 2012

It was a year dominated by Japan's spats with its most powerful neighbors, China and South Korea, over tiny specks in the sea, and by national soul-searching over nuclear power and the calamity that struck Japan in March 2011. It ended with the stunning political resurrection of the Liberal Democratic Party. In between, there were memorable faux pas on homosexuality, welfare and official sexism.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Sep 18, 2012

Shilling for our side over the Senkakus

Akihiro Suzuki does not think war will come, but if it does, he believes Japan will prevail.

Japan Times

JAPAN / Media

Sep 16, 2012

'The government could still save lives'

In the immediate aftermath of last year's Fukushima triple meltdown, Japan's government and pronuclear experts scrambled to dampen public concern. Experts waved away fears about radiation, cabinet ministers scoffed at comparisons to Chernobyl, and the word "meltdown" itself was effectively scoured from the media.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Jun 5, 2012

Rumors, lies fill void left by police in Furlong case

It is one of the more ugly tasks in journalism: trying to extract a quote from a bereaved family after a violent death. By the time I called Nicola Furlong's mother on May 25, she had learned that her 21-year-old daughter had been sexually assaulted and probably throttled by a stranger in a city 10,000 km away.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Apr 10, 2012

Rape victim marks 10 years on lonely crusade for justice

It surely isn't very often that elite Japanese bureaucrats hear the words to the national anthem quoted at them — by a foreigner. Earlier this year, Australian national Catherine Fisher says she pulled the words of "Kimigayo" from her head during a frustrating meeting with officials from the ministries of defense, justice and foreign affairs.

Japan Times

LIFE

Jan 8, 2012

Fukushima lays bare Japanese media's ties to top

Is the ongoing crisis surrounding the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant being accurately reported in the Japanese media?

Japan Times

LIFE

Jan 8, 2012

Stories spiked despite journalism's mission to inform

Olympus isn't the only story that has been or is being ignored or squashed by powerful forces in Japan. Here are three more gems from that rich vein.

Japan Times

LIFE

Jan 8, 2012

Stop the presses and hold the front page

It was perhaps the biggest financial story of postwar Japan — or it should have been.Yamaichi Securities, one of the nation's four top brokerages, which was among the world's six largest in the 1980s, had in 1992 started to illegally bury millions of dollars in red ink off the books, setting up dummy foreign companies to absorb the losses. For good measure, its bosses were paying off sōkaiya (corporate extortionists) to stop them blowing the whistle on this practice.

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

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.

The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces

By Stephen Mansfield

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Spotlighting a Niigata castle town through sushi

Spotlighting a Niigata castle town through sushi

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