Support act: Behind every Japanese prime minister is a fascinating first lady
When Chizuko Obuchi's husband, Keizo, became prime minister of Japan in July 1998 and the couple moved into the official residence, she was taken aback by what she found. "People from overseas might be surprised to hear it, but there was absolutely no one and ...
WAW/W20 talks close with a call for men to be more involved in women's issues
Key to empowering women is changing people’s mindsets and involving men in dealing more with women’s issues, participants at the joint World Assembly for Women and Women 20 summit hear.
As Diet wraps up, Abe re-emerges as front-runner for LDP election
As recently as spring, the Abe administration was in disarray, weakened by what appeared to be an unstoppable flow of scandals and missteps.
Moritomo chief Yasunori Kagoike freed on bail, dares Abe to ‘tell the truth’ about Osaka land deal
Former Moritomo Gakuen President Yasunori Kagoike and his wife have spent about 10 months behind bars since they were arrested on suspicion of subsidy fraud.
Scandal-hit Cabinet's support rate rebounds to 42.4% in latest poll
The public support rate for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe climbed 3.7 points to 42.4 percent in a weekend opinion poll despite a document-tampering scandal at the Finance Ministry that has rocked his government in recent weeks. In the meantime, 47.5 percent of ...
A day after Sagawa's testimony, where do things stand on Japan's Moritomo scandal?
Following the high-profile Diet testimony by a key former Finance Ministry official, ruling lawmakers are trying to bring an end to the Moritomo Gakuen scandal, which allegedly involved Akie Abe, the wife of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. But Nobuhisa Sagawa's testimony revealed little, answering few ...
Abe's best chance for survival as LDP chief lies in his diplomatic skills
The passage of a record-high 2018 spending budget brings to closure a first half year in the Diet that saw the prime minister’s approval rating nosedive.
Abe 'wasn't involved' in doctoring documents, key Moritomo witness Nobuhisa Sagawa tells Diet
In sworn testimony, the former Finance Ministry official categorically denies any involvement of Abe, his wife or his top allies in a document falsification scandal.
Wife of Japan's prime minister finds herself in scandal spotlight
First lady Akie Abe, once known mainly for embracing progressive causes that put her at odds with her conservative spouse, is now in the hot seat as doubts revive about the murky land sale to nationalist school operator Moritomo Gakuen to which she had ...
Japan's powerful government personnel body blamed amid cronyism scandals
The powerful new Cabinet Bureau of Personnel Affairs is drawing attention as a factor behind the cronyism scandals dogging Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose team set it up.
The much-anticipated Diet appearance of Nobuhisa Sagawa, who resigned earlier this month to take responsibility for the scandal, was arranged to take place next Tuesday.
The Cabinet's plunge in the opinion polls prompts the opposition camp to bolster its calls for Akie Abe and others to testify in the Diet on the Moritomo scandal.
