Tag - matsushima

 
 

MATSUSHIMA

JAPAN / Politics
Oct 17, 2014
Justice minister draws opposition flak over paper fans for constituents
Justice Minister Midori Matsushima had more than 20,000 "uchiwa" paper fans bearing her name made between 2012 and this year that she distributed to residents in her constituency in Tokyo, it was learned Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 20, 2014
Abe's female Cabinet picks warrant a closer look
In a Sept. 5 Twitter post, university instructor Akiko Orita pointed out that four of the five women appointed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to his new Cabinet do not use their legal names. Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Sanae Takaichi, state minister in charge of abduction issues Eriko Yamatani, state minister in charge of female empowerment Haruko Arimura and Justice Minister Midori Matsushima all go by the names they were born with rather than their husbands'.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 12, 2014
Matsushima stays course on death penalty but targets rape
Newly appointed Justice Minister Midori Matsushima on Thursday backed the death penalty as a deterrent against crime and said she planned to stiffen the penalty for rape and bolster immigration staff.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 23, 2014
Cheap train to the north with Basho
On July 19, the Yamagata Shinkansen debuted a luxury ashiya (foot bath) service. A ticket from Tokyo to Yamagata City, in Tohoku Prefecture, costs around ¥11,000, but 15 minutes in the foot bath car is extra. If Matsuo Basho, Japan's most well-known poet, were to retrace his 156-day-long trek through Tohoku in 1689 — described in his masterwork "Oku no Hosomichi" ("The Narrow Road to the Deep North") — he probably wouldn't spring for the shinkansen, much less the foot bath. He'd likely opt for the comparatively spartan Seishun 18 (seishun jūhachi kippu, literally, the youthful 18 ticket), which gets you five nonconsecutive days of travel on all local and rapid Japan Railway trains for ¥11,850. This five-day ticket lets you bend "your steps in whatever direction" you wish — to quote Basho in "Utatsu Kiko" ("The Records of a Travel-Worn Satchel").
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 20, 2014
Cabinet may top record for women
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to have at least five female ministers in his Cabinet following a reshuffle that will take place in the first week of September, according to government and ruling party sources.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jul 6, 2013
'Water of life' helps to keep spirits up
Back in 1980, when I first settled in Kurohime, up in the hills of northern Nagano Prefecture, I often had to go to Tokyo to meet editors. They were good times, as those office-wallahs would take pity on young struggling authors and use them as an excuse to visit bars.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
May 5, 2013
Our tree dragon fires new hopes for tsunami survivors
Ever since the massive Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, and the catastrophic tsunami it triggered, badly hit villages, towns and cities in the Tohoku region of northeastern Honshu have been struggling to recover and rebuild.

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree