Tag - bureaucracy

 
Menu
Search
 
September 05, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

BUREAUCRACY

EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2018
Padding the data on hiring people with disabilities
The revelation of government malpractice in the mandatory employment of people with disabilities should trigger more discussions on what's needed to promote hiring of these people so they can give full play to their potential in the nation's workforce.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Aug 5, 2018
The Kanpo: Where everything in Japan goes to happen (officially)
Read all about it in the government's daily gazette, from laws and notices of naughtiness to deaths and even poetry.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 21, 2018
White House to propose merging Labor and Education departments: report
The White House plans to propose on Thursday to merge the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Oct 15, 2017
Duck and cover: Regulation by and for the state, through the Japanese people
Bureaucrats rustle up policies that require citizens to do their duty, however irrationally.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Sep 3, 2017
How Japan got new contract law it neither wants nor needs
One possible explanation for the inexplicable change in contract law: It is a giant experiment driven by academic hubris and bureaucratic ambition.
EDITORIALS
Aug 13, 2017
Enhancing government accountability
A series of scandals has exposed the inadequacies of a guideline that governs the management of official documents by government ministries and agencies.
EDITORIALS
Jul 9, 2017
Poor handling of government documents
The government must come up with a better way to maintain official documents and make them available to the public.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 28, 2017
Toshiba deal repeats Japan Inc.'s old mistakes
With their persistent interference, the bureaucrats are hurting, not helping Japan's prospects.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2017
The sin of engineering without a license
Bureaucrats buttress their power by making the exercise of a constitutional right contingent on government approval.
EDITORIALS
Apr 6, 2017
'Amakudari' remains an issue
Bureaucrats landing jobs in the private sector on the basis of the powers of government ministries and agencies sows the seeds of corruption.
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2017
Dig up all the 'amakudari' dirt
Revelations of 'amakudari' at the education ministry underline the need for all ministries and agencies to undergo strict investigations to root out the practice across the government.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2017
'Amakudari' scheme at ministry systemized by '13, education chief reveals
The education ministry had established a systematic practice for seeking new jobs for retiring bureaucrats via a retired official by around 2013, the education minister disclosed Monday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 25, 2017
Get to the bottom of 'amakudari'
The practice of 'amakudari' remains widespread despite regulations tightened to prevent collusive ties between the bureaucracy and industries.
COMMUNITY / Issues
Dec 4, 2016
Japan's Board of Audit: unlikely guardians of the Constitution?
On Nov. 7, an annual ritual of government occurred: The Board of Audit delivered its report on the results of its audit of government accounts for the previous fiscal year (April 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016) to the Cabinet. The 1,123-page paper brick handed over to His Abe-ness identified billions of...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 1, 2016
Bureaucratic blockage in Japanese society
Japan has kept the external appearances of social dialogue, but politicians and managers have failed to adapt institutions to the new social realities.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Apr 4, 2016
Let's discuss relocating government agencies out of Tokyo
The Cultural Affairs Agency will be moving to Kyoto as part of a policy to revitalize regional economies and address the over-concentration of government offices in Tokyo.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Jan 20, 2016
Hatoyama dreams of a Japan anchored within a united Asia
Former leader apologizes for his failures as PM and shares his views on Fukushima, Tokyo 2020 and his hopes for Okinawa, Japan and the wider region.
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2015
Valid concerns over My Number
Public worry is high over the coming My Number system, and with good reason.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Jun 7, 2015
Hey bureaucrats, leave those kids — and teachers — alone
To look at Japan's educational policy in action, you can't help but wonder if insularity and mediocrity might actually be the goal.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2015
Aiming for more than medals
The Sports Agency, due to be created in October, needs to do much more than push up Japan's medal count at the Tokyo Olympics.
Surrounded by Chinese bases, a tiny Philippine island stands firm
A Philippine Navy sailor looks at a China Coast Guard vessel just off the coast of Pag-asa Island in the disputed South China Sea last month.
Anger in Japan after Instagrammer drinks burial site offering
Foreign tourists visit a park near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo in August.
Tamagotchi hatches 100 million shipments worldwide thanks to ’90s nostalgia
The latest version of Tamagotchi, called Tamagotchi Paradise, is awarded the best digital toy at Tokyo Toy Show on Aug. 28.
Tropical Storm Peipah forms off southwestern Japan
Tropical Storm Peipah, which formed off southeastern Japan, is expected to travel east off the Tokai area and the Kanto region.
What we know about the supplements scandal linked to Suntory’s ex-CEO
Takeshi Niinami, the former chairman and CEO of Suntory Holdings, at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday
London’s calling and sumo’s top division — along with Hello Kitty — are ready to answer
Yokozuna Hoshoryu and Hello Kitty, an ambassador for sumo's upcoming tour to London, at Tokyo's Kokugikan on Tuesday
Resonac creates 27-member consortium to pursue advanced chip developments
Representatives from member companies of JOINT3, a consortium working together on semiconductor-related developments announced by Resonac, pose for a photo in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Haru Nemuri’s radical new album refuses easy listening
Musician Haruna Kimishima, better known as Haru Nemuri, confronts Japan’s politics, nationalism and censorship on her recent output.
Overseas sluggers step up to bat in small-town Hokkaido
The Betsukai Pilot Spirits welcomed new players (left to right) Yuta Yamanaka, Roman Guthrie, Scott Bellina and Leo Jiminian this year, pictured here with Yassir Lachkar of the Ishikari Red Phoenix.
Xi — joined by Kim and Putin — delivers stark warning at military parade
Chinese leader Xi Jinping walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Tokyo Gas lights the way to carbon neutrality
Tokyo Gas lights the way to carbon neutrality

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER