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JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 30, 2016

Is society on the cusp of massive change?

Philosopher Tatsuru Uchida, interviewed earlier this month by the Asahi Shimbun, merely confirms what we all know, or sense, when he says: "This is an age of transition. We're going through the confusion characteristic of bedrock change."
EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 2016

Amari still has much to answer for

Even though he has stepped down as economic and fiscal policy minister, Akira Amari still owes an explanation of his acts to a public weary of the repeated money scandals involving key members of the Abe administration.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 27, 2016

Abe weathers minister graft claim as Amari readies defense

Support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has so far withstood graft allegations against the chief engineer of his Abenomics policies. His ability to ride out the storm before summer elections may hinge on how convincing an explanation Economy Minister Akira Amari offers this week.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 27, 2016

Abe stands by Amari but expects embattled minister to explain cash for favors allegation

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stands by embattled economy minister Akira Amari, but says Amari has a duty to account for allegations of graft.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 26, 2016

DPJ chief blasts Abe over Amari's money scandal

With allegations of corruption against economic minister Akira Amari showing no signs of abating, opposition leader Katsuya Okada accuses Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of sharing 'grave responsibility' over the scandal.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 20, 2016

Japan's economic minister hit with bribery allegations, vows response

Akira Amari swears to answer accusations of a money scandal leveled against him by a weekly tabloid after conducting an investigation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 9, 2016

Publisher Takarajima-sha bets on shock therapy to revive its fortunes

With the temporary demise of its flagship publication, Takarajima looks to Showa nostalgia and shock ads in a bid to stay relevant.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 10, 2015

Reconstruction minister denies misuse of political funds, underwear theft

Reconstruction minister Tsuyoshi Takagi on Tuesday dismissed any notion he will step down and denied separate allegations that he misused political funds and stole a young woman's underwear.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 7, 2015

Aomori's moving castle and other architectural tales

Once every century, Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture experiences an unusual event — the Hirosaki Moving Castle Project — when the city relocates an entire castle using manpower only.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 24, 2015

Water, water everywhere in Japan, but fewer people to pay for it

Water is relatively abundant in Japan, but there are less people around to pay for the infrastructure that processes it and delivers it to homes.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 17, 2015

Councilors get loud on library revamps

As testimony to their characteristically low profile, Japan's public libraries seldom make the news, although two recent exceptions come to mind.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 10, 2015

Child serial killer Sakakibara believed to have launched vanity website

A notorious serial killer whose murders of two children in 1997 revolted the nation has apparently set up a website on which he says he will post updates about his life.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 5, 2015

TV sexism comes from a problematic place

At the World Assembly for Women held in Tokyo last week, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, lauded the social achievements of women worldwide but added that "we are not there yet." Sirleaf didn't say where exactly "there" is, but during the same week, two media-related...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 22, 2015

Abe catches heat from the weeklies in the dog days of summer

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces such a constant stream of stumbles and irritants, it's hard to identify which of them is causing his biggest headache.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 20, 2015

LDP lawmaker Takaya Muto quits party over money scandal

A Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker who has been accused over an alleged money scandal quit the party on Wednesday after apologizing for "causing great trouble" to the LDP.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / 70 YEARS AFTER THE WAR'S END
Aug 14, 2015

Abe's nationalism reflected in conservative political movement, but polls show voter dissent

The hot political season is back as the nation observes Aug. 15, which is always an emotional date as it marks Japan's surrender in World War II — and this year is the 70th anniversary of that fateful event.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 1, 2015

Going for gold in the stadium blame game

Yoshiro Mori, former rugby player and prime minister, and current head of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics' organizing committee, is not a man of few words. When the current prime minister, Shinzo Abe, took it upon himself to discard the design for the new National Stadium because cost estimates had gotten out...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 25, 2015

Shizuka Kamei and Shintaro Ishihara have the security debate the Diet should have had

When Shintaro Ishihara retired from politics after failing to get re-elected last December, it seemed we wouldn't have the right-wing firebrand to kick around any more, but last week there he was in Shukan Asahi talking to former Liberal Democratic Party comrade Shizuka Kamei about various topics, including...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 6, 2015

'Bottakuri' scams put the squeeze on the unwary

"On any given evening, you can see noisy quarrels between club staff and customers outside the local police box," attorney Katsuyuki Aoshima tells Asahi Geino (May 2), adding, "The police treat these as civil claims between the shop and the customer, and won't get involved, adopting the position of neutral...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 6, 2015

Blame batted about for stadium blunder

The media is still very positive about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but its ardor has cooled significantly with regard to the way the central government is holding up its end of the bargain.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Jun 6, 2015

Law still a long way behind fertility boom

As the population declines, the number of domestic businesses involved in fertility is growing, giving birth to a slew of additional problems.
JAPAN / Society
May 23, 2015

Shifting the scales of juvenile justice

In light of 13-year-old Ryota Uemura's recent murder in Kawasaki, the country is once again split over whether or not to revise the law governing crimes committed by minors.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 23, 2015

The changing face of Tokyo's 'red-light' district

"How would I describe Kabukicho? Frankly, I'm not sure," popular author Hirokatsu Azuma was quoted as saying in the now-defunct monthly Gendai magazine back in January 1999. "If you say it's a scary place, you could be right; and if you say it's a place where you can have fun, well, that's right too."...

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight