Silent heroes: Sign language interpreters give voice to Japan's top government spokesman
Kohei Ehara sits quietly in the far corner of the spacious conference room in the Prime Minister's Office, largely unnoticed by a group of reporters waiting for Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga to start his daily briefing. When he is told of Suga's imminent arrival, ...
Japanese government to give budget priority to municipal anti-disaster projects
The government plans to introduce a system in fiscal 2020 to provide subsidies on a priority basis for projects included in municipal anti-disaster plans adopted under a basic law on developing resilient infrastructure, sources have said. The system is aimed at encouraging municipal governments to ...
Shinjiro Koizumi is ready for Cabinet and qualified to succeed Abe as Japan PM, says Suga
Shinjiro Koizumi, a rising star in the Liberal Democratic Party, is ready to become a Cabinet minister and is qualified to run as a successor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has said. Speaking with Koizumi, 38, in an interview to ...
Abe's top lieutenants set to retain slots in post-election Cabinet reshuffle
Key members close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, including Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, are likely to retain their posts in a Cabinet reshuffle that is planned for September, according to ruling lawmakers. Abe sees the contributions of Aso, ...
Abe considering Cabinet reshuffle in September if LDP wins Upper House election
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering reshuffling his Cabinet and senior executives in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in mid-September if his party wins the Upper House election this weekend, senior administration officials said Thursday. Arrangements are also being made to convene an extraordinary parliamentary ...
Abe Cabinet survives no-confidence motion in Lower House over handling of pension report
Opposition parties launched a last-ditch offensive before the Diet session ends, taking aim at what they say is a failure to address concerns about the nation’s pension system.
Japan to support creation of 300,000 jobs for long-term unemployed
The government plans to support the creation of 300,000 jobs over the next three years for people who have failed to secure permanent employment since the collapse of Japan's economic bubble in the early 1990s, a draft policy guideline showed Tuesday. The support will include ...
In U.N. speech, Japan's spokesman Yoshihide Suga reframes abduction issue as 'global challenge'
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga calls North Korea’s abduction of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s a “global challenge” and seeks an early resolution to the issue.
Among Asian countries, Japan is least satisfied with its democracy, survey finds
More people across the globe are unhappy with the state of democracy in their countries than are content, according to a new poll that showed 56 percent of people in Japan voicing dissatisfaction. The survey, released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, found that 56 ...
NPO seeking open government finds that some Japan ministers' schedules were swiftly binned
Records of Cabinet ministers' schedules, including details of their meetings, were discarded a very short period of time after or even on the day they were created, it has been learned. The revelation came after Access-Info Clearinghouse Japan, a nonprofit organization based in Tokyo, made ...
