“All politics is local.” — former U.S. House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill “Local councilors, in practice, are accountable to nobody. Half of them are self-important busybodies on an ego trip and the other half are in it for what they can get out of it.” — Jim Hacker, minister for ...
In a controversial column by 83-year-old author Ayako Sono that appeared in the Feb. 11 issue of the Sankei Shimbun under the headline “Maintain a ‘suitable distance,’” Sono suggested that when and if Japan changes its immigration policies to accept more foreign workers, they ...
On Feb. 13, Asahi Shimbun’s daily Vox Populi, Vox Dei column mentioned Morizo and Kiccoro, the official mascots of the 2005 World Expo held in Aichi Prefecture. These two “woodland fairies” supposedly hailed from Seto, which issued them the same resident cards (jūminhyō) held ...
Britain’s Prince William visited Fukushima on Saturday with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to attempt to allay safety concerns in the prefecture due to the nuclear disaster. The 32-year-old Duke of Cambridge, who arrived Thursday on his first visit to Japan, ate Japanese cuisine made ...
100 YEARS AGO Tuesday, March 30, 1915 Japanese sword sent to English teacher Mr. J. M. McGregor, once a popular teacher of English in Waseda University, went to England, it may be recalled, some years ago, to follow up a new line of work ...
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it has reached a settlement with a former Japanese stockbroker over his role in the massive accounting fraud at Olympus Corp. Hajime Sagawa, a former employee of a major Japanese securities company and now a U.S. resident, ...
Two U.S. Marines were arrested Saturday for allegedly trespassing the previous day in Okinawa Prefecture, police said. The two suspects, Sgt. Richard Hart and Lance Cpl. Justinkainoa Kealanahele, are suspected of entering the balcony of an apartment in the town of Kin around 10:45 ...
Yuri Kageyama Britain’s Prince William, on his second day of a four-day trip to Japan, had tea Friday with Crown Prince Naruhito. Both princes may be equally charming, but it is no contest which one is seen as more approachable. Members of the Imperial ...
We are familiar with the carrot-and-stick approach in the West, but the phrase in Japan is “ame to muchi” — literally, the candy and the whip. For journalists in Japan, there’s been a lot of whip in recent times and not much candy. How ...
The venues for three events will be changed for the 2020 Tokyo Games as part of efforts by the IOC to streamline tournaments and rein in vast budgets, the director of Tokyo's organizing committee says.
A top U.S. diplomat expressed hope Friday that an upcoming meeting of the foreign ministers of Japan, South Korea and China could lead to their first trilateral summit despite icy relations in the region. “Plans are afoot for a three-way ministerial to be held ...
The European Union, Japan and other nations hunting for eastern Atlantic Bluefin tuna are fearful that Turkey's unilateral decision to exceed catch limits is threatening the stock's recovery.
Four young elephants donated last year by Laos went on public display at Kyoto City zoo on Saturday ahead of Laotian Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong’s visit to Japan from Wednesday. The three female and one male Asian elephants, ages 3 to 7, were delivered ...
