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 Jun Hongo

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Jun Hongo
Jun Hongo graduated from Boston University and joined The Japan Times in 2006. He covers a wide range of domestic news, including politics and business. He is an avid Red Sox fan.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2008
Three decades of peace with China celebrated
The 30-year-old peace treaty between Japan and China plays a key role in Asian and global stability and development, Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cui Tiankai said Tuesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2008
N. Korea stays on list for now, Rice tells Komura
Washington has no immediate plan to remove North Korea from its list of terrorism-sponsoring nations, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice assured Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura over the phone Monday.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 12, 2008
It's ghost season in Japan — who you gonna call?
If there are eerie goings-on in the neighborhood — and Halloween is still two months off — it could be because Japan's traditional "ghost season" maxes out at this time of the year.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 12, 2008
It's ghost season in Japan — who you gonna call?
If there are eerie goings-on in the neighborhood — and Halloween is still two months off — it could be because Japan's traditional "ghost season" maxes out at this time of the year.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2008
U.S. won't interfere with Japan's antiterrorism policy, Boucher says
The ball is in Japan's court when it comes to deciding the contribution it can make to antiterrorism efforts in Afghanistan, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said Friday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Aug 8, 2008
China wanted poisonings hushed up, Komura admits
At Beijing's request, Japan refrained from divulging that China suffered a food poisoning outbreak from pesticide-tainted "gyoza" dumplings made by the same firm whose frozen gyoza sickened people in Japan, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura admitted Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2008
U.S. details sub Houston's radiation leaks
The U.S. government notified Japan Thursday that trace amounts of radioactivity leaked from the nuclear submarine USS Houston at a port in Kanagawa Prefecture and one in Okinawa between July 2006 and this April.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2008
Horie's 30-month prison term upheld
The Tokyo High Court rejected Livedoor Co. founder Takafumi Horie's appeal Friday and upheld his 2 1/2-year prison term for falsifying financial statements and violating the Securities and Exchange Law, describing the defendant as "lacking dignity."
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2008
Major asbestos suit kicks off in Tokyo
What is believed to be the biggest asbestos-related litigation in Japan opened Wednesday at the Tokyo District Court with construction workers and relatives of deceased workers taking the stand to describe years of health problems that could have been prevented.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2008
Supreme Court acquits LTCB trio
The Supreme Court on Friday reversed a lower court ruling and acquitted three former executives of the now-defunct Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan who were charged with window-dressing the bank's earnings reports for fiscal 1997.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2008
Redress again doled out over Yokota base noise
The Tokyo High Court ordered the government Thursday to pay about ¥194 million in compensation to 210 people who suffered from noise pollution generated at the U.S. Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2008
Are young people ready, willing to be adults at 18?
Kids just don't wanna grow up.
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2008
MMC, trio fined over false report on defects
The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling and fined Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and three former executives ¥200,000 each for falsifying documents on its defective truck hubs, which caused a fatal accident in 2002.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 10, 2008
Summit outcome belies high expectations
TOYAKO, Hokkaido — The drive for economic prosperity by the major nations still outweighs the urgent need to save an ailing planet.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 10, 2008
Media flummoxed: Did summit succeed, fail, what?
The masterfully crafted jargon and haziness in a statement issued Wednesday by the Group of Eight leaders and their counterparts from eight other major greenhouse gas emitters left even newspapers bamboozled on what actually took place in Toyako, Hokkaido.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 9, 2008
Japan sees quiet jets, frigid cars, water-saving toilets in near future
RUSUTSU, Hokkaido — Japan's advanced technology may come in handy in the face of the world's growing environmental challenges and the Group of Eight's slow progress on diplomacy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 9, 2008
Summit aiming to offset all its CO2 emissions
TOYAKO, Hokkaido — Debate on global warming can heat up sometimes, but the Group of Eight summit shouldn't be contributing to climate change.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 8, 2008
Souvenir press kits aim to drive environmentalism theme home
TOYAKO, Hokkaido — A resolution against global warming may not be issued at the Group of Eight summit, but journalists covering the Toyako gathering will at least head home with eco-friendly wristwatches and rechargeable batteries.
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2008
No backing down on whaling, official says
Japan has no intention of curbing its scientific whale hunts, a Fisheries Agency official said Wednesday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jul 2, 2008
Talks may heat up and go nowhere but global warming isn't waiting
Eleven of the 12 years between 1995 and 2006 ranked among the 12 warmest years since 1850, and since 1993 the global sea level has risen by an annual rate of 3.1 mm.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?