Tag - local government

 
Menu
Search
 
July 20, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Japan Times
JAPAN
May 6, 2021
Japanese town builds giant squid statue with COVID-19 relief funds
The town of Noto used u00a525 million of a government grant to part-fund the u00a530 million, nine-meter-long statue, news reports said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
May 2, 2021
Japan Times 1921: Crown Prince urges peace for world
While on tour in Europe a century ago, the man who would become Emperor Hirohito delivers a speech on world peace.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2021
Japan's local governments get creative to incentivize vaccinations
From free bath salt giveaways to discounted taxi rides, municipalities are coming up with an array of programs, but the central government remains wary.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 3, 2021
The legal conundrum surrounding same-sex marriage in Japan
Are such relationships better guaranteed by judicial protection or constitutional reform?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 28, 2021
Record sales of dollar bonds by Japanese prefectures gather steam
In the latest example, Kyushu's Saga Prefecture sold its first note in the U.S. currency on Tuesday, following last week's issuance of such debt by neighboring Fukuoka Prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 2, 2020
Osaka referendum defeat raises questions about future of city's politics
The focus for many in local political party Osaka Ishin no Kai is now on how — or even if — they can continue under a new generation of leadership.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 1, 2020
Osaka voters say no to merger. Again.
The referendum defeat dealt a heavy blow to the Osaka Ishin no Kai local political group, with Mayor Ichiro Matsui vowing to retire at the end of his term.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 24, 2020
Hokkaido municipalities gamble on a nuclear future, but at what cost?
Nuclear waste site survey applications reflect muddled official policy about what to do with the country's spent nuclear fuel
JAPAN / Politics / View from Osaka
Oct 17, 2020
Osaka merger would affect residents and outsiders alike
The planned move to merge the city's administrative wards could give officials more freedom to attract tourists and businesses.
JAPAN / Society / EXPLAINER
Oct 13, 2020
Controversy over bids to host nuclear waste highlights disposal issue
Two municipalities in Hokkaido have applied to the first stage of the process to build final disposal sites for nuclear waste, but the moves have prompted opposition.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 13, 2020
Referendum a pivotal moment for Osaka and its politicians
On Nov. 1, the city's residents will be asked whether to merge Osaka's 24 wards into just four.
JAPAN / Politics / View from Osaka
Sep 19, 2020
Let the Suga-Nippon Ishin bromance begin
Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui and his supporters are breathing easy, knowing their favorite LDP politician is now the prime minister.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 22, 2020
Political documentaries in Japan struggle to inspire
Japanese documentaries analyze entrenched political power with largely unsurprising results.
JAPAN / Politics / View from Osaka
Aug 15, 2020
Under cloud of pandemic, Osaka referendum remains a key issue for Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura
More in Osaka are asking whether the vote should be postponed until after the coronavirus crisis has passed.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Aug 7, 2020
Travel during the Bon holiday? Japan can’t get a straight answer
With national and local officials giving conflicting signals over the risk of making trips, the holiday threatens to boost the spread of the pandemic.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jul 17, 2020
Fukushima localities speak out against dumping radioactive water in sea
The resolutions and statements described measures taken by the central government as inadequate to combat reputational damage to produce from the prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 20, 2020
Osaka's second merger push faces pitfalls from pandemic, Abe's poll woes
Osaka voters will once again face a referendum on merging the city's 24 wards following a decision on a plan that would create four large, semiautonomous wards.
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 10, 2020
Japan governors face balancing act in reopening businesses amid pandemic
Governors are moving to lift emergency restrictions to get their prefectures up and running again, but can they strike the right balance between public safety and commerce?
JAPAN
May 9, 2020
Japan's hotels in a bind as mild and asymptomatic coronavirus patients opt to heal at home instead
Despite legislative attempts to persuade mild and asymptomatic patients to isolate in hotels, most cooperating facilities are nearly empty.
BUSINESS
May 5, 2020
Japan to launch model project for land banks to manage plots left unused
The land ministry will begin a model project for so-called land banks this fiscal year, aiming to appropriately manage land plots that are left unused and find new ways to utilize them through regional cooperation.
Japanese markets brace for triple whammy if opposition wins big
A Sanseito campaign van in Shinjuku. The populist party is gaining ground and challenging the more centrist parties.
Sunken WWII Japanese warship Teruzuki found off Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands. A team from the U.S. nonprofit Ocean Exploration Trust has discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki on the deep seabed off the Solomon Islands as the 80th anniversary of the war's end approaches.
Living conditions index hits lowest level in 15 years in Japan
The share of respondents to a Bank of Japan quarterly survey in June who said they have become worse off came to 61.0%, up 5.1 percentage points from the previous survey.
In Upper House race, younger voters in Tokyo turn to DPP for new direction
The Tokyo district has the highest number of candidates in the 2025 Upper House election with 32 people in the running for seven seats.
Concerns grow in Japan over possible Russian interference in Sunday’s election
A think tank researcher said anti-government propaganda by Russian bot accounts was what has made the small far-right party Sanseito so popular leading up to the Upper House election.
Japan's rice farmers are confounded by Shinjiro Koizumi’s policies
Kiyoshi Shibata stands in front of one of the rice paddies in Murayama, Yamagata Prefecture, where he produces the prefecture's signature rice brand Tsuyahime.
From stalking to death threats, female candidates still face harassment
Mayu Ushida, a former NHK newscaster running for election in the Tokyo electoral district on the Democratic Party for the People ticket, signs an autograph for a voter after a public rally at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Kawaii Lab redefines idol pop for the TikTok generation
Misa Kimura is the main producer for Kawaii Lab, a project by entertainment agency Asobisystem whose groups have found success by pairing a social media-first strategy with a fresh perspective on traditional idol-pop tropes.
Craig Mod's life in motion in a disappearing Japan
Mod's memoir “Things Become Other Things” chronicles his walking trips across the Kii Peninsula, surveying “a graceful end to a certain life cycle.”
With China and Trump, Japan defense report says world entering ‘new era of crisis’
A senior member of a Self-Defense Forces honor guard inspects a formation before the arrival of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for a visit to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on June 30.

Podcast

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

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan
By Megha Wadhwa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy
Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER