For Mari Yamaguchi's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Once Japan's leaky nuclear complex stops spewing radiation and its reactors cool down, making the site safe and removing the ruined equipment is going to be a messy ordeal that could take decades and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Radiation has covered the area ...
ONOMICHI, Hiroshima Pref. — Handrails run down the middle of the hallway to help prisoners make their way from one end to the other. Adult diapers are neatly stacked in a corner. When an inmate chokes on his rice and coughs, a supervisor rushes ...
Happily for Yoko Sakamoto, she didn't have to argue with her husband — also a Sakamoto — about whose last name they'd use when they married. Not that the 47-year-old civil rights activist would have had much of an option: The law allows only one ...
Despite the criticism leveled against Toyota over car safety, Japanese still largely view the world's largest automaker with pride — so much so that some wonder whether pressure on Toyota in the U.S. is a ploy to boost American automakers and undermine Japan Inc. "I ...
On Christmas Eve two years ago, Masahiro Yoshida returned to his home to find it empty. His wife had fled with their 2-year-old daughter and was seeking a divorce. Since then, he's rarely seen his child because law grants custody to only one parent — ...
The next prime minister is known for being bland in his speeches. His wife, however, is anything but. Miyuki Hatoyama, a former actress and wife of Yukio Hatoyama — who is expected to be sworn in as prime minister on Sept. 16 — promises to ...
The next prime minister faces a possible showdown with Washington over a plan to relocate a U.S. air base in Okinawa and in the process move thousands of U.S. Marines from the prefecture to Guam, as he tries to remake his country's relationship with ...
Reading Japanese isn't easy — even for Japanese. Take Prime Minister Taro Aso. He's made so many public blunders that an opposition lawmaker tried to give him a reading test during a televised session of the Diet. The leader bungled the word for "frequent," calling Japan-China ...
In corporate Japan, losing your job can mean losing your home as well. As major companies cut their workforces in the economic downturn, many workers are finding themselves out on the street because they have to move out of company-run dormitories. Sadanori Suzuki was one of ...
As the United States welcomes its first African-American president, Japan is still struggling with prejudices that are preventing it from breaking ancient taboos and installing a minority as its leader, some say. Nearly a decade ago, seasoned politician Hiromu Nonaka was on the verge of ...
