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EDITORIALS
Nov 19, 2017

New rules for managing official documents

Draft guidelines for managing official documents mark a step forward.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2017

Opposition rips Abe's reported drive to slash time for grilling top officials in the Diet

Six parties, including the Constitutional Democratic Party and Kibo no To, called the LDP's bid to limit their chance to question the government 'unacceptable.'
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 16, 2017

British minister says U.K. government sees need for phased Brexit

Senior members of the British government are becoming convinced of the need for a phased departure from the European Union to help protect the economy, Finance Minister Philip Hammond said Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 30, 2017

Defense Minister Inada's campaign blunder

A careless gaffe by Tomomi Inada's gaffe calls into question her qualifications to be a lawmaker and minister of defense.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2017

Another confirmed Kake document adds to pile suggesting Abe favoritism

Document confirmed by the education ministry appears to show that Abe favored Kake Gakuen for a special deregulation zone project before panel review and approval.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2017

After intense media pressure, education ministry moves to reopen Kake Gakuen probe

After weeks of denials and media pressure, the education minister announces that the investigation into alleged favoritism involving a friend of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be reopened.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 2, 2017

Email verifies document behind Kake-Abe scandal: Democratic Party

Democratic Party lawmakers say email messages sent to senior education officials suggest the document implicating Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Kake Gakuen scandal is authentic.
JAPAN / Politics
May 25, 2017

Ex-education official vouches for Kake papers, says he has copies

The education ministry's former top bureaucrat says the documents behind Prime Minister Abe's latest scandal are real and that he's willing to testify about it in the Diet.
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2017

Clear up Kake Gakuen suspicions

Instead of merely dismissing the credibility of the documents, the administration should fulfill its duty of accountability by clearing up any suspicions surrounding the project.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2017

Asahi and government at odds over removed link to report on 1923 massacre of Koreans in Japan

The Asahi Shimbun and the Cabinet Office tell a different story about the removal of a link from a government website to a report detailing the massacre.
EDITORIALS
Feb 1, 2017

Elusive primary balance goals

The government should not rely solely on unrealistic economic growth forecasts in its bid to achieve its promary balance surplus goals.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 20, 2016

With deft political move, Japan's Emperor seeks to cement the role he created

Could the Emperor's raising of the issue of possible abdication be a move designed to stave off constitutional revision?
EDITORIALS
Apr 9, 2016

Diet oversight of state secrets

The Diet boards trying to oversee the designation of state secrets under Shinzo Abe's new laws are running into significant problems — as expected.
EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2016

Security legislation takes effect

Japan's postwar defense posture underwent a major change this week as new security legislation took effect, but how the government plans to implement the laws remains unclear.
EDITORIALS
Jan 18, 2016

Public access to government records

The principle of sovereignty resting with the people must be reinforced by improving public access to official documents.
JAPAN / Politics / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Dec 27, 2015

Hashimoto factor keeps political pundits on edge of their seats

Well, that didn't take long. Less than 24 hours after finishing as Osaka mayor, Toru Hashimoto met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Dec. 19.
EDITORIALS
Dec 7, 2015

State secrets law still deeply flawed

A year after it took effect, the serious flaws of the state secrets law remain unaddressed.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 24, 2015

Asia's $89 billion sexism issue

Japan is one of the worst offenders when it comes to sexism. Shinzo Abe needs to prove 'womenomics' is more than tokenism.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 15, 2015

Ruling bloc, three small opposition parties agree on security bills

The ruling bloc and three small opposition parties have basically agreed to have Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's national security bills accompanied by a resolution to ensure a greater role for the Diet in approving Self-Defense Forces dispatches abroad, and to vote on them, according to informed sources....
JAPAN / History
Aug 14, 2015

Emperor's WWII surrender aired amid turmoil in wartime regime

It was a hot day in Tokyo with a daytime high of 32.3 degrees Celsius 70 years ago when Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, declared Japan's surrender in World War II.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 10, 2015

Japan's military that isn't: a short primer in self-defense doublespeak

Article 9 of Japan's Constitution, which renounces war, has been interpreted as permitting the maintenance and use of military force for self-defense, but this has led to some interesting linguistic gymnastics.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 17, 2015

Ishin no To leader lashes Abe over security bills

The ruling bloc had hoped Ishin no To would help the Cabinet enact controversial national security bills, but the party's leader flatly denied that.
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...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami