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Kanako Takahara

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Kanako Takahara
Kanako Takahara is a staff writer who has covered national politics, diplomacy, business and the economy at The Japan Times. A graduate of Sophia University, she is currently a national news editor.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2011
Kan pledges full rescue response
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the government is doing its utmost to ensure the public's safety and minimize the damage, including dispatching the Self-Defense Forces for rescue operations, following the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2011
DPJ veteran signed petition to drop Takeshima claim
A senior Democratic Party of Japan member close to Prime Minister Naoto Kan signed a declaration last month that Tokyo should immediately give up its claim to sovereignty over the two South Korea-controlled islets, it was learned Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2011
LDP putting recovery at risk, Kan says
Prime Minister Naoto Kan called again Wednesday for the opposition camp to support the budget and related bills in the Diet, saying failure to do so will put the economic recovery at risk.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2011
Kan vows to repatriate all dead soldiers from Battle of Iwojima
Prime Minister Naoto Kan pledged Tuesday to recover the remains of Japanese soldiers who died in the Battle of Iwojima, the majority of which remain unretrieved after more than 65 years.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 15, 2011
Secret funds shadowed by abuse
Paying ransom to win the release of kidnapped Japanese, buying off foreign dignitaries to reach backdoor deals and giving cash in exchange for secrets.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2011
Edano to hold weekly press briefings for all reporters
The top government spokesman's news conferences will be open once a week to reporters outside members of the press club for Prime Minister Naoto Kan's office, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2011
Poll to precede any tax hike
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Wednesday he has no plans to dissolve the Lower House for a snap election anytime soon but will do so before the government raises the consumption tax.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2011
Preschool, day care integration plan eases
The Democratic of Japan-led government backed off a bit Monday from a push to integrate the operations of day care facilities with kindergartens and instead offered them financial incentives to merge.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2011
Onus on all in Diet to fix system: Kan
Prime Minister Naoto Kan invited the opposition camp Monday to join a debate on social welfare and tax reforms as the 150-day Diet session opened, saying it is the responsibility of every lawmaker to address these pressing issues.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2011
Opposition sees red over Yosano
Prime Minister Naoto Kan kicked off the year by sacking his right-hand man, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, and appointing a one-time critic of him in Kaoru Yosano to the Cabinet, reaching out to the opposition to gain support for the fiscal 2011 budget.
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Jan 22, 2011
Edano: Hike sales tax after the next election
The consumption tax should be raised after the next general election, which must be held before summer 2013, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano suggested Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2011
Eda coy on executions; Edano diplomatic on China
Justice Minister Satsuki Eda, an opponent of capital punishment, remained noncommittal Friday about whether he will sign off on executions when a prisoner's time to hang comes.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2011
Kan to reveal new Cabinet lineup Friday
Prime Minister Naoto Kan is preparing to reshuffle his Cabinet and the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's executive lineup Friday, DPJ sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2011
Online, Kan commiserates with short-lived predecessors
During a live Internet interview Friday, Prime Minister Naoto Kan lamented over little his tireless efforts are appreciated by the public.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2011
Sengoku thrust into reshuffle speculation spotlight
All eyes were fixed Thursday on the fate of Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku after Prime Minister Naoto Kan hinted that his right-hand man might have to leave the Cabinet to break an impasse with the opposition camp.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2011
Seniors' wisdom recorded
Surrounded by record players and speakers that he designed and built on his own, Takeshi Teragaki, 86, a renowned sound system engineer, began to talk about how he first became intrigued by audio players.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2011
Sengoku tries to get opposition to back off
Opposition parties shouldn't boycott Diet deliberations attended by two key ministers targeted by nonbinding censure motions in the Upper House in November, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, one of those singled out, said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2011
Even tougher year may lie ahead for Kan
In the seven months Prime Minister Naoto Kan has been in office he has defeated Democratic Party of Japan heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa in the party's presidential election, dealt with an aggressive and confrontational China over the Senkaku Islands row and repaired ties with the United States that were damaged...
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2010
Kan taps Tachiagare as an ally
Prime Minister Naoto Kan has unofficially asked Tachiagare Nippon (Sunrise Party of Japan), a minor opposition force, to join the ruling bloc, a Tachiagare Nippon executive said Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2010
Kan will let stand ruling to open Isahaya floodgates
Reversing the government's stance on a decades-old reclamation project, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Wednesday he won't appeal a court order to open two floodgates in the Isahaya Bay dike in Nagasaki Prefecture for five years.
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
3D printer used to construct train station building in Japan
A train station building (front) is assembled from parts printed using 3D printer technology, in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
Japan’s leader didn’t read the job description
Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba is facing a political funding scandal that has damaged his reputation and sparked speculation that internal efforts to remove him are underway.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Tokyo’s KK Line to close for decadelong overhaul as public greenway
People enjoy running and yoga on Tokyo Expressway’s KK Line, a 2-kilometer elevated expressway cutting through the capital’s commercial Ginza district, when it was opened as a pedestrian space in May last year.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.

Podcast

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

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

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