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November 22, 2024
 

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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 Times
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2011
Aum may be gone in name but guru still has following
Judicial proceedings for Aum Shinrikyo figures effectively came to an end Monday as Seiichi Endo became the 13th member of the doomsday cult to have his death sentence finalized by the Supreme Court.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2011
BOJ board maintains ultralow interest rate
The Bank of Japan Policy Board said Wednesday it will maintain its virtually zero interest rate policy while putting off additional monetary easing to cope with the impact of Europe's debt crisis and the yen's sharp rise.
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2011
Quarter's GDP hits 6% annual rate
Japan's gross domestic product grew in the July-September period for the first time in three quarters, marking annualized growth of 6 percent, the Cabinet Office said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2011
No chain reaction in reactor 2, expert says
The discovery of xenon in the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant's reactor 2 earlier this week was likely a result of "spontaneous fission," a nuclear expert said Friday, agreeing with an earlier conclusion by Tokyo Electric Power Co. that some of the melted fuel did not reach the condition of "criticality,"...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2011
TPP bandwagons play tunes not all find pleasing to the ear
The question of whether Japan should join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks has taken center stage in the Diet as the chasm grows between TPP advocates, mainly on the side of businesses, and opponents, representing long-protected farming and fishing constituencies.
BUSINESS
Oct 28, 2011
BOJ ups asset purchase program by ¥5 trillion
The Bank of Japan on Thursday eased its monetary policy, boosting the size of its asset purchase program by another ¥5 trillion, raising its total funds to ¥55 trillion, citing the current instability in global financial markets and economies, as well as the yen's relentless rise.
BUSINESS
Oct 21, 2011
Market braces for EU debt crisis blow
As Europe continues to walk a tightrope over Greece's bloated debt and a continental sovereign crisis, money men in Japan are advising the public to buckle up before any shock waves reach domestic soil and damage the economy.
BUSINESS
Oct 8, 2011
BOJ board sticks with interest rate policy
The Bank of Japan Policy Board said Friday it will maintain its virtually zero-interest rate policy while putting off additional monetary easing to cope with impact from Europe's debt crisis and the yen's sharp rise.
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2011
Biz confidence up but small firms lag: 'tankan'
The nation's large manufacturers are more confident about business conditions but have yet to recover their prequake optimism, the Bank of Japan's quarterly "tankan" sentiment index said Monday.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Sep 29, 2011
Plenty of problems in tax hike plan
The government and the Democratic Party of Japan have finalized their temporary tax hike plan and will ask the public to cough up ¥11.2 trillion to help reconstruct the disaster-hit Tohoku region, but experts Wednesday were quick to point out flaws in the hastily prepared blueprint.
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2011
Plans to buy rescue bonds eyed: Azumi
The government may purchase additional rescue bonds to be issued by Europe's bailout fund to help cure the volatile situation triggered by the Greek crisis, Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2011
Energy imports snuff out export recovery
Exports in August rose for the first time since the March 11 earthquake, up 2.8 percent from a year earlier, but an increase in energy resource imports resulted in a trade deficit of ¥775.3 billion for the month, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2011
Cabinet approves 10% cap on budget requests for '12
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a plan to cap budget requests for fiscal 2012 and keep total general account spending — excluding debt-servicing costs — to less than ¥71 trillion, while allocating about ¥700 billion for special policy measures to boost economic growth.
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2011
Commission unveils three tax-hike options
The Tax Commission on Friday unveiled three provisional tax hike proposals centered on increasing income and corporate taxes to secure funds for reconstruction from the March 11 disasters.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2011
Discussions on tax hike go into full swing
Government discussions over a looming tax hike hit full throttle Tuesday as the Democratic Party of Japan's tax panel kicked off its first meeting to discuss how to gather financial resources to reconstruct the Tohoku region.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 13, 2011
Despite mounting debt, yen still a safe haven
The yen climbed to and has remained at a historic high since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster. On Aug. 19 it hit a postwar high of 75.95 to the dollar, an event that has led the government to intervene in the foreign exchange market twice.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 9, 2011
Furukawa says he's set to tackle high yen
Economic and fiscal policy minister Motohisa Furukawa said Thursday he and other economy-related ministers stand united on tackling the yen's excessive surge, with an eye on both maximizing the merits of a strong currency and helping small and midsize companies suffering from the high exchange rate....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 8, 2011
BOJ to maintain 'zero' rate, sees second-half recovery
The Bank of Japan's Policy Board unanimously agreed Wednesday to maintain the current virtually zero-interest rate policy while shunning additional monetary easing to cope with impacts from the recent sharp rise in the yen.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Q&A
Sep 7, 2011
Prestigious school seen as ticket to rise to the top of political ladder
Newly appointed Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda may compare himself to a "dojo" (loach), but in reality he is an elite politician with a diploma from the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, better known as Matsushita Seikei Juku.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 6, 2011
Azumi enters fray with tax-hike talk
New Finance Minister Jun Azumi repeated Monday that he may ask the public to pay higher taxes to shoulder the burden of reconstructing the disaster-hit Tohoku region, saying he is ready to do his utmost to secure the fiscal resources.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.

Podcast

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

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