National / Science & Health Mar 23, 2020
Five people are reported to have passed away from complications related to COVID-19.
National / Science & Health Mar 21, 2020
Infections in Osaka and Hyogo projected to hit 3,300 by April 3
The health ministry sees coronavirus patients in the two neighboring prefectures spiking to 3,374 between March 28 and April 3.
National Mar 19, 2020
Governors advise halt to weekend trips between Osaka and Hyogo amid virus fears
Nonessential travel between Osaka and Hyogo prefectures should be avoided during the long weekend amid the spread of the new coronavirus, their governors said Thursday. Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura told reporters the request is based on emergency steps proposed by state health experts to prevent ...
National / Crime & Legal Feb 18, 2020
A total of 6,000 surgical masks have been lost at a hospital in Kobe, it was learned Tuesday. The Hyogo Prefectural Police is investigating the incident as a case of theft. The masks, worth ¥40,000, had been kept at a machine room on the third ...
National Feb 11, 2020
Itami airport to be first in Japan to offer toilets for dogs
Itami airport is set to become the first in Japan to offer toilets for exclusive use by dogs. The regional airport, which is also known as Osaka International Airport but straddles Osaka and Hyogo prefectures, decided to introduce the canine facility after receiving requests not ...
Business Feb 7, 2020
While the government is trying to help people in the employment "ice age" generation find jobs, applicants are primarily being drawn to only a small number of public-sector job positions. The ice age generation refers to those who graduated from school between around 1993 and ...
National / History | JAPAN TIMES GONE BY Feb 1, 2020
Japan Times 1970: NHK broadcasts first sex education show
by Elliott Samuels
100 YEARS AGO Wednesday, Feb. 11 1920 Great enthusiasm for universal suffrage THE JAPAN TIMES A demonstration demanding universal suffrage immediately to be held on Kigensetsu, the great national holiday, under the leadership of the Kenseikai, Kokuminto and the Universal Suffrage Society, promises to be one of the ...
National / Crime & Legal Jan 27, 2020
High court throws out lay judge death sentence over murders of five in 2015
A high court scrapped on Monday a lower court ruling that had sentenced a man to death for killing five people on Awaji Island in 2015, sentencing him instead to life in prison after reviewing his mental state at the time. The Osaka High Court ...
National | Regional voices: Chubu Jan 24, 2020
Shaken by Kobe quake, Peruvian works to help Hyogo's Spanish speakers in times of disaster
Roxana Oshiro, a Peruvian of Japanese descent, came to Japan in 1991 and was living in a dormitory in Kobe with her husband and child when the Great Hanshin Earthquake hit the region in 1995. After a violent jolt, she desperately kicked the door open ...
National Jan 22, 2020
Toyooka promotes short-hour jobs for prospective workers with child care concerns
The city of Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture, is attempting to solve the dilemma facing mothers with child care time constraints who still want to work. By promoting the introduction of jobs with working hours as short as two hours per day, two days per week, ...
National Jan 17, 2020
Kobe marks quarter century since Great Hanshin Earthquake killed thousands
by Eric Johnston
Kobe and the surrounding area on Friday morning marked a quarter century since the Great Hanshin Earthquake devastated the region, killing 6,434 people in what was then Japan's worst postwar natural disaster. Survivors, their family members — including many who were born long after the ...
National Jan 16, 2020
25 years after Kobe quake, SDF respected and volunteerism still strong
by Eric Johnston
As Kobe commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Great Hanshin Earthquake that took the lives of more than 6,400 people, the city and region are working to remind younger generations of the past devastation — and the importance of disaster-preparedness — even as they ...