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May 02, 2024
 

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Linda Sieg
For Linda Sieg's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Mar 6, 2016
Aging, indebted Japan debates right to 'die with dignity'
Retired airline employee Tarou Tanzawa said he hadn't thought much about his own death until his 84-year-old mother was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma and decided against costly and invasive life-prolonging treatment.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 23, 2015
Forceful defense posture shift could lay Japan open to attack, LDP's Seiko Noda warns
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's defense policy shift to allow the military to fight abroad for the first time since 1945 could be used by militants as an excuse to attack Japan, a ruling party lawmaker who hopes one day to succeed Abe said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 17, 2015
Putting politics over economics, Abe may stall sales tax hike, call for double Diet poll next summer
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may put off a sales tax rise and call a snap Lower House election next summer, in tandem with a poll for the upper chamber, imitating a winning strategy he used a year ago, some advisers and political sources say.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 16, 2015
Protesters rally as contentious security bills near passage
Crowds of protesters rallied on Wednesday as the Diet moved closer to passing bills for a defense policy change that could allow troops to fight abroad for the first time since World War II, despite opposition by many ordinary voters.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 7, 2015
Abe unlikely to tackle hard reforms in next term: economists
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will stick to the politically palatable policies of government spending and easy money, the first and second 'arrows' of his 'Abenomics' recipe, economists say in a recent survey.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 29, 2015
SEALDs student group reinvigorates Japan's anti-war protest movement
Wearing shorts and a baggy T-shirt and clutching a microphone, Aki Okuda stands before a crowd, the pyramid-shaped roof of the Diet building lit up against the night sky behind him.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Aug 5, 2015
A-bomb survivors speak out against nuclear power, decry Abe's view of war
When Atsushi Hoshino set out to revive a group representing atomic bomb survivors in the Fukushima Prefecture 30 years ago, one topic was taboo — criticizing the nuclear power industry upon which many relied for jobs.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 14, 2015
Debate over security bills masks clash of views on pacifist Constitution
Is Japan's Constitution a symbol of peace and respect for universal values or a reminder of humiliating defeat?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 13, 2015
DPJ's Okada says Abe on slippery slope with push to enact security legislation
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be taking a big risk if he pushes through a dramatic change in security policy despite objections from most citizens, who want a better explanation for why the change is needed, a top opposition figure has said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2015
Japanese play survival games to blow off steam but have no stomach for real conflict
Dressed in camouflage fatigues and sweating in the summer heat, Kento Atari and his comrades sneak through the woods trying to outfox their enemies in a mock military exercise.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 2, 2015
Abe looks to craft war history comments with eye on U.S.
When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addresses Japan's wartime past in a statement marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, the reaction of ally Washington will likely be as much, if not more, on his mind than that of Asian nations that suffered from Japanese military aggression.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2015
Battle of Iwojima forgotten, except toll
When Yoshitaka Shindo was a boy, he did not hear much from his family about his grandfather, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, commander of the Japanese troops who fought and died in the bloody Battle of Iwojima.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 18, 2015
Kono urges Abe to erase doubts over war history
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe must erase doubts — sparked by his own words and deeds — that he wants to water down accounts of Japan's wartime wrongs, according to a former leader of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Feb 25, 2015
Under Abe's reign, media self-censorship in Japan is rising
Worries are growing in Japan about a trend toward media self-censorship as journalists and experts say news organizations are toning down criticism of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government for fear of sparking ire and losing access to sources.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 11, 2015
With focus on wartime past, Japan's global PR message could misfire
A campaign to correct perceived bias in accounts of Japan's wartime past risks muddling the positive message in a mammoth public relations drive to win friends abroad.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 21, 2015
Abe could ease doubts by apologizing over WWII, says former leader Fukuda
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could help remove international doubts about Japan's stance toward its wartime past by apologizing over World War II in a statement he is planning to help mark the 70th anniversary of the war's end, said Yasuo Fukuda, one of Abe's predecessors.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 12, 2014
Abe's base aims to restore past religious, patriotic values
As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promises voters a bright future for Japan's economy, key parts of his conservative base want him to steer the nation back toward a traditional ethos mixing Shinto myth, patriotism and pride in the ancient Imperial line.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2014
In rural Akita, skeptics doubt 'Abenomics' will cure ills
Mihoko Asaka wants to know how candidates in this month's election will create jobs and halt the drastic population decline that is bleeding her home region of youth and vitality, but she has little hope they will offer real solutions.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 24, 2014
Baffled by snap election, voters may stay home and erode the mandate Abe seeks
Voters, puzzled as to why Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is calling an election now and unimpressed by opposition alternatives, may shun the Dec. 14 election in record numbers.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 3, 2014
Wounded Abe grapples with tax jinx after BOJ easing move
Back in April when Shinzo Abe raised the consumption tax, he was betting he could break a jinx that has doomed prime ministers to losing their jobs.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
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.
Number of vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
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.

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