Kanako Takahara - The Japan Times

April 12, 2025

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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

Oct 28, 2005

Vow to 'fully execute' leaves Tokyo in Futenma dilemma

, head of the Naha Defense Facilities Administration Bureau, sits with Okinawan Gov. Keiichi Inamine at the start of their meeting to discuss the new plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station.

JAPAN

Oct 27, 2005

Japan, U.S. agree on new Futenma site

relocation (plan) because of a lot of opposition," Koizumi said. "We need to carry out (the new plan) as soon as possible." The defense chief called for cooperation from Okinawans, saying Japan had done its best to protect the environment.

JAPAN

Oct 25, 2005

Issues involved in U.S.-Japan base talks

The following questions and answers deal with the deadlock between Japan and the United States over the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture -- the main topic of bilateral working-level talks that began Monday in Tokyo.

JAPAN

Oct 22, 2005

U.S. realignment talks in danger

Defense Agency chief Yoshinori Ono said Friday that Japan and the United States might not hold realignment talks next week if the two sides fail to agree on where to move the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa.

JAPAN

Oct 20, 2005

Suzuki spars with Foreign Ministry

cases," he said. At the time, Suzuki was said to wield considerable influence over the Foreign Ministry's policymaking process. He was also attacked for allegedly manipulating bids for government-backed construction projects on Kunashiri, on of the Russian-held islands.

JAPAN

Oct 19, 2005

Envoys overseas get 2.9 million yen for housing; here they get 200,000 yen

Foreign Ministry officials stationed overseas are granted an average of 2.9 million yen in housing benefits a year while ministry officials in Tokyo get only 200,000, yen according to a document endorsed Tuesday by the Cabinet.

JAPAN

Oct 14, 2005

Japan pitches new Futenma plan

than the U.S. proposal," Nukaga said. However, according to Nukaga, the U.S. side was reluctant to accept the plan since it was proposed in the final stages of negotiations.

JAPAN

Oct 5, 2005

Bill OK'd to extend MSDF's mission

The administration Tuesday endorsed a bill that would extend for one more year the antiterrorism law allowing the Maritime Self-Defense Force to refuel U.S.-led coalition vessels in the Indian Ocean.

JAPAN

Oct 4, 2005

Shortwave eyed to reach out to abductees

will begin broadcasting the names and ages in Japanese of people it believes were abducted for about 30 minutes a day possibly starting this month. "If the Japanese in North Korea listen to the broadcasts, they will know we are still trying to bring them home," said Sadaki Manabe, a senior member of...

JAPAN

Oct 1, 2005

U.S. eight years behind on rent for embassy

The United States hasn't paid the rent for its embassy in Tokyo since 1998, according to a government document released by the Cabinet on Friday.

JAPAN

Oct 1, 2005

Officials need manual to deal with Muneo

The Foreign Ministry has drawn up an instruction manual detailing how bureaucrats should deal with corrupt Lower House member Muneo Suzuki, notorious for his past meddling in ministry affairs, officials said Friday.

BUSINESS

Oct 1, 2005

Japan, China grope for way to share drilling for gas

Japan and China kicked off a two-day working-level meeting Friday on contentious gas projects in the East China Sea with hopes that they can agree to jointly tap the resources.

JAPAN

Sep 29, 2005

Desertification in China, Mongolia a problem for Japan

The spreading desertification in China and Mongolia is no longer just someone else's concern; it's posing a health risk in this country and affecting Japanese businesses, a senior U.N. official in charge of efforts to curb the problem said Wednesday.

Sep 22, 2005

Firms betting on Russia amid political poker

A screen up front read "Welcome to St. Petersburg!" as top officials of Russia's second-largest city gave a presentation in Tokyo to lure Japanese investment.

JAPAN

Sep 21, 2005

Japan seeks abduction sincerity in renewed talks

Tokyo and Pyongyang have agreed to resume bilateral talks -- stalled since last November -- to resolve various issues, including the abductions of Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday.

JAPAN

Sep 13, 2005

Reform mandate may help boost diplomacy, experts say

The sweeping victory by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party may have given the reformist leader a strong mandate for reform, but political experts are hoping the decisive gains will also give him the power needed to resolve sensitive issues on the diplomatic front.

JAPAN

Sep 2, 2005

Election to bring diplomacy headaches

Kasumigaseki, Tokyo's bureaucratic hub, has been in a political vacuum since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dissolved the House of Representatives on Aug. 8 -- and diplomacy is no exception.

Sep 1, 2005

Defense Agency wants 5 trillion yen

The Defense Agency on Wednesday requested 4.89 trillion yen in the fiscal 2006 budget to increase the capabilities of the Self-Defense Forces to counter threats to national security, including acts of terrorism, missile attacks and natural disasters.

JAPAN

Aug 26, 2005

Camp Zama buildup feared inevitable

U.S. military brass in Japan reportedly contacted about 20 real estate agencies in Kanagawa Prefecture between late last year and early this year to ask them if they could build about 500 housing units near Camp Zama.

JAPAN

Aug 26, 2005

Kanagawa eyes base reductions in return for hosting U.S. Army

Kanagawa Gov. Shigefumi Matsuzawa has hinted he may accept a U.S. military realignment plan to transfer the Army's First Corps headquarters to Camp Zama if other U.S. military facilities in the prefecture are returned or reduced.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.

Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.

By Tomoko Otake

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