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COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Oct 19, 2014

Abe's inner circle sprouting horns over next tax bump

A major battle appears to be brewing between the office of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Finance Ministry — the most powerful bureaucracy in Japan — over whether to raise the consumption tax from the current 8 percent to 10 percent next fall.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Aug 25, 2014

Japan awaits North Korean report on fate of abductees

It may soon become clear whether the Japanese government's decision to bet on the power and ability of North Korea's State Security Department to resolve the fate of past Japanese abductees was justified.
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2011

Draft for reconstruction

On June 11, just three months after a massive quake of magnitude 9.1 and a mega-tsunami devastated the Tohoku-Pacific coastal areas, the Reconstruction Design Council, a government panel responsible for drawing up a blueprint for reconstruction of the areas, made public a draft of its first proposal,...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2011

U.N. envoy vows to press North on abductions

A special rapporteur for the United Nations on human rights in North Korea urged Pyongyang on Friday to resolve the long-standing abduction issue and deal with wider matters relating to humanitarian and human rights regarding its people.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2007

Fukuda carries political baggage to Washington

With Tuesday's passage of a new special antiterrorism bill by the Lower House, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda can breathe a sigh of relief before he meets Friday with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington in their first bilateral summit.
EDITORIALS
Sep 12, 2007

Mr. Abe tones down rhetoric

In his policy speech in the Diet on Monday, the first day of the extraordinary Diet session following his Liberal Democratic Party's devastating defeat in the July 29 Upper House election, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe toned down rhetoric on his conservative political agenda and touched more on issues closely...
COMMENTARY
May 8, 2007

Groom Japan's gifted students

On April 11, the public broadcaster NHK's program "Close-up Gendai (Current Affairs)" took up the issue of the International Science Olympiads (ISOs) for middle- and high-school students. The competition tests knowledge in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, informatics, astronomy and other areas...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 3, 2005

Ryu Murakami: Straight-talking wordsmith wields his pen like a sword

For nearly three decades since his seismic debut with "Almost Transparent Blue," which delved into the sex- and drug-fueled lives of Japanese youths in a town hosting a huge U.S. military base, author Ryu Murakami has often used his trademark explicit, offensive and guiltlessly cheerful language to dig...
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2000

Hospitals overcharging for rooms

OSAKA -- Hiromi Hase, 58, and her husband, Michio, were shocked last August when they found out they might have overpaid about 4 million yen when she was hospitalized for leukemia in 1996 and 1997.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2023

Twelve years after 3/11, dispute grows over Fukushima’s radioactive soil

The central government has pledged to — and is legally obliged to — move all of the soil out of Fukushima Prefecture by 2045.
SUMO
Jul 1, 2021

Nagoya Basho could have significant impact on sport

Sumo lovers in central Japan will see their sport return with a bang, as the upcoming tournament is primed to be one of the most significant in recent memory.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 23, 2021

Saudi operatives who killed Jamal Khashoggi received paramilitary training in U.S.

The training, approved by the State Department, underscores the perils of military partnerships with repressive governments.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2020

U.K. has advantage in trade talks with EU

The EU member governments and commission bureaucrats will learn a hard lesson if they consider Britain easy to deal with.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 3, 2019

Wanted: U.S. leadership in Tokyo-Seoul feud

Quelling tensions between Japan and South Korea is critical for the U.S.' broader strategic objectives in the Indo-Pacific.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 8, 2019

Setsubun: Killing two birds with one bean

Changing food consumption patterns takes time, and weighing the significance of Setsubun can trigger the first step forward.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / Deep Dive
Oct 5, 2018

Tokyo's famed Tsukiji fish market, opened in the wake of Kanto quake, reaches an end

Old-fashioned and full of nostalgia, the renowned Tsukiji fish market is at its busiest before dawn.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 29, 2018

Trump attorney discussed pardons for Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort with lawyers: report

An attorney for President Donald Trump raised the idea of the U.S. leader pardoning two of his former top advisers last year as the special counsel in the Russia probe was building a case against them, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 10, 2018

U.S. seeks 'concrete actions' from North Korea before talks

The White House said Friday that President Donald Trump will not meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un unless Pyongyang takes "concrete and verifiable actions," stoking confusion as the administration faced criticism for agreeing to talks while receiving few, if any, tangible benefits in return.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 29, 2017

Here comes the sun: Recommended hatsuhinode spots

The first sunrise of the new year represents a chance for a new beginning and so it's hardly surprising that some once viewed the first rays of the sun on Jan. 1 with special reverence. It was believed to be the moment that Toshigami, god of the new year, descends from heaven and bestows happiness on...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Oct 15, 2016

Is Japan leaving the Rohingya out in the cold?

As violence flares around the world's largest group of stateless people in Myanmar, an exile is pleading with Tokyo to come to their aid.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 23, 2015

Any attempt to scale Japan's mountain of rules is doomed

In England of the distant past, the word "doom" was a legal term, referring to a judgment imposing a punishment. Some etymological sources suggest it has common roots with the Sanskrit "dharma," a deeply complex word that can refer to customary social duties or divine law, depending upon the religious...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 11, 2014

Abe's astute Aussie diplomacy needs to be repeated in Asia

The recent joint declaration by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Australian counterpart, Tony Abbott, affirms that both countries have made great strides toward realizing a late 19th-century dream of closer ties.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 8, 2014

How vulnerable is Japan to severe weather?

The deadly mudslides in Hiroshima and other parts of western Japan last month caused by torrential rains have raised concerns about how vulnerable Japan is to such natural disasters, especially given severe weather events due to climate change.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 30, 2014

North's missiles may have sent different message

As Japanese and North Korean envoys prepared to hold talks Tuesday, Tokyo faced the difficulty of assessing Pyongyang's seriousness in its promised inquiry into the fates of abducted citizens while apparently snubbing Japan and other neighbors Sunday with a pair of missiles fired into the ocean.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past