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Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 17, 2018

Robert Mueller said ready to deliver key findings in Trump probe

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is expected to issue findings on core aspects of his Russia probe soon after the November midterm elections as he faces intensifying pressure to produce more indictments or shut down his investigation, according to two U.S. officials.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Apr 23, 2017

The poverty of politics and tobacco policy

The government is caught in a trap of its own making — how does it stay in the business of selling tobacco while promoting public health?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Feb 5, 2017

No country for old emperors

Brushing over precedents and kicking looming threats down the line, a government-appointed panel has dutifully paved the way for a politically convenient one-off abdication.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2014

Identical twin clings to hope that sister is alive in North Korea

Misa Morimoto spoke to no one for 18 years about her identical twin sister who vanished when they were 20, not even to her own children. On the rare occasions when asked, she lied and said her sister was studying overseas.
EDITORIALS
Jun 27, 2011

Go-ahead for reconstruction

The Upper House on June 20 enacted a basic law for reconstruction of Tohoku-Pacific coastal areas devastated by the March 11 quake and tsunami. Besides the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito and other opposition parties supported the bill, while the Japan Communist...
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2011

Bond bill failure fiscal coup de grace

If the Democratic Party of Japan-led government fails to gain passage of a special bill to issue deficit-covering Japanese government bonds, suspicions that the country is unable to ward off a looming fiscal crisis will only deepen, two economists interviewed by The Japan Times warn.
EDITORIALS
Oct 5, 2010

Clarifying the betrayal of trust

The public prosecutors offices for the Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka districts have special investigation squads — elite teams that specialize in the investigation of corruption involving politicians and bureaucrats and large-scale crimes involving enterprises. Unlike other prosecutors, they make arrests...
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2009

Lower House passes bill revising foreign residency rules

The Lower House passed bills Friday making it easier for the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau to keep tabs on foreigners who have overstayed their visas as well as others residing legally in the country.
COMMENTARY
Nov 14, 2005

Enhanced order of security

Japan and the United States on Oct. 29 issued an interim report agreeing to expand military cooperation in connection with the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. The agreement is intended to adapt the bilateral alliance to better deal with changes in the security environment in the Asia-Pacific region....
EDITORIALS
Sep 30, 2005

Extending the SDF missions

The government has opted to extend by one year the Maritime Self-Defense Force mission to supply fuel in the Indian Ocean to ships of the U.S. Navy and allied nations engaged in antiterrorist activities related to security in Afghanistan. A law specifying a duration of two years -- enacted after the...
COMMENTARY
May 3, 2004

Koizumi's open-ended legac

On April 26 the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi entered its fourth year in power. Following his three-year rule under the slogan "No growth without reform," the Japanese economy is finally on a recovery track.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2004

Kan tells Koizumi to resign over Iraq

Democratic Party of Japan leader Naoto Kan urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Wednesday to step down, claiming he has violated the Constitution by dispatching the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2001

Full text of Koizumi's policy speech to Diet

Following is a provisional translation of the policy speech delivered by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to an extraordinary Diet session that opened Thursday for a 72-day session.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 5, 2001

Terrors, real and imagined

August means hot weather and ghost stories to add a little chill to the muggy air. Tonight, on TV Tokyo's "Sunday Big Special" (7 p.m.), host Tsurutaro Kataoka will explore various occultish phenomena for either your terrified delectation or your nonbelieving derision.
Efforts to hold the Kremlin accountable for the war in Ukraine have begun, with the International Criminal Court already issuing arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and others for unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children to Russia.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2024

The rule of law is coming for Putin

Though the ICC has jurisdiction over war crimes and genocide in Ukraine, it can't prosecute Russian leaders for aggression.
Canadian Ambassador to Japan Ian McKay, who is also his country's special envoy for the Indo-Pacific, takes part in an interview with The Japan Times last week.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 6, 2024

Canada eyes joint coast guard patrols with more Asian partners, envoy says

Canada is recognized as a leader in terms of its "Dark Vessel Detection" technology designed to identify vessels fishing illegally in protected maritime areas.
Asako Osaki attends the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, in New York in March.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Nov 3, 2024

How global lessons can improve prospects for women in rural Japan

Through motherhood, education and work, Asako Osaki worked to bring global standards to the front lines of gender issues.
The Moscow skyline. Heavy recruitment by the armed forces and defense industries has drawn workers away from civilian enterprises, as has emigration, pushing unemployment to a record low of 2.3%, data showed Wednesday.
WORLD / Society / ANALYSIS
Nov 29, 2024

Russia's labor shortage spreads as defense sector poaches staff

A growing labor shortage is affecting all areas of life since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming (left), U.S. President-elect Donald Trump (center) and Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, speak to members of the media following a meeting with Republican senators in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 9, 2025

U.S. veterans and officials urge Trump to continue resettling at-risk Afghans

There is concern that the incoming U.S. president will curtail visa and resettlement programs as part of his promised crackdown on immigration.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan in the criminal case in which he was convicted in 2024 on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, at New York Criminal Court in Manhattan on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

A sentence with no penalty assures Trump will take office as a felon

Justice Juan Merchan gave Donald Trump a symbolic punishment. The judge said that leniency was due the office of the president, not the man who will soon hold the title.
Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, in China's Jiangsu province, in October 2010.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 14, 2025

China halts critical rare earth exports as trade war intensifies

The official crackdown is part of Beijing’s retaliation for President Donald Trump’s sharp increase in tariffs that started April 2.
Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, poses with a "Make America Great Again" cap at the White House in Washington on April 16.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 23, 2025

Japan wants to 'separate' tariff and security issues. That may be tough.

Disentangling the two will prove a challenge as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to voice long-held complaints about the alliance’s fairness.
Fuji TV headquarters in Tokyo's Minato Ward.  Fuji TV came under fire over the manner in which it handled a case of “sexual trouble” involving former boy band member Masahiro Nakai and a female announcer.
JAPAN / Media / FOCUS
Jul 30, 2025

How the Japanese TV industry is changing

After a series of major scandals in recent years, Japan’s TV industry appears to be growing more sensitive to issues of harassment and misconduct.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and  Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shake hands at joint press announcement after summit talks in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 24, 2025

At meeting rich in symbolism, Ishiba and South Korea's Lee agree to steadily build ties

In the two countries' first joint document in 17 years, the leaders agreed to work together "to advance future-oriented and mutually beneficial common interests."
Hours before talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, South Korean leader Lee Jae Myung has signaled that reaching a deal with Washington on its demand to have U.S. forces in South Korea play a larger role in countering China will prove difficult.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 25, 2025

Lee signals resistance to shifting U.S. Forces Korea’s focus to China

President Lee Jae Myung’s remarks come just hours before he meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in talks that are expected to be dominated by defense and security issues.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greet one another at the start of a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington in February.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 31, 2025

The Nobel Prize and a testy phone call: How the Trump-Modi relationship unraveled

The fallout of a disputed between the two leaders risks pushing India closer to American adversaries in Beijing and Moscow.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (left) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak in Kyiv on Aug. 24.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 24, 2025

Carney and Zelenskyy put stolen Ukraine children in focus at U.N.

Russia faces accusations of abducting Ukrainian children since 2014 and ramping up the practice after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.