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 Eric Johnston

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Eric Johnston
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
May 3, 2020
Necessary or not? The LDP's proposed emergency powers clause for the Constitution
73 years since the Constitution took effect, arguments on revising it have focused on the war-renouncing Article 9. But the coronavirus has prompted a different proposal.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 30, 2020
LDP secretary-general: The power behind the PM
Those in the position are de facto the most powerful person within the party after its president.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 28, 2020
Odd couple: LDP-Komeito political marriage faces testing times
Power struggles in Abe's party could further strain the two-decades-old coalition in the weeks to come
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2020
Lack of aid guarantees divides prefectures over emergency business closures
The possibility of closures has prompted concerns that without financial guarantees from the central government, the impact could devastate local economies.
Japan Times
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Apr 18, 2020
Pandemic forces organizers to mull options for 2025 Osaka Expo
Organizers of the quinquennial event are confident it will go ahead as planned, but what are their options if the pandemic forces a change?
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 17, 2020
Coronavirus and LDP politics loom large over Shizuoka by-election
A Lower House by-election in Shizuoka Prefecture, the race for which officially kicked off Tuesday, is gaining attention nationwide, and not only for its possible national political impact.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 16, 2020
Japan's governors under the spotlight as coronavirus pandemic rages
The coronavirus pandemic has prompted the national government to declare an emergency in seven prefectures. This, in turn, has put the spotlight on the powers and responsibilities of prefectural governors. Though often compared to state governors elsewhere, there are key differences.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Apr 8, 2020
What changes under Japan's state of emergency declaration?
After weeks of intense pressure Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has declared a state of emergency in seven urban areas, but what does that change?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Apr 7, 2020
Local officials and residents fear influx from Japan's virus hot spots
With the number of novel coronavirus infections rising in Tokyo and other major urban centers, some concerned residents are fleeing to nearby prefectures where the number of cases is minimal.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 2, 2020
With suicide note and lawsuit, Moritomo scandal back to haunt Abe
With the publication of a suicide note by a former Finance Ministry official and subsequent lawsuit by his widow, the Moritomo Gakuen scandal has returned to haunt Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. But with Abe saying the issue has been settled and Japan finding itself in the midst of the coronavirus crisis,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 2, 2020
Coronavirus casts shadow over Japan's timeline for casino resorts
With the Diet focused on responding to the worsening spread of COVID-19, the timeline for the central government to approve the nation’s first casino resorts has been thrown into doubt.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / EXPLAINER
Mar 29, 2020
A closer look at Kansai Electric and its gift-giving scandal
Earlier this month, Kansai Electric Power Co. concluded that scores of its employees had received cash and gifts worth hundreds of millions of yen from an influential politician in a Fukui Prefecture town where the utility operates a nuclear power plant. The revelations by Kepco's investigative panel...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2020
Kansai leaders call for those who returned from abroad to self-quarantine
With over 340 cases of novel coronavirus in six Kansai area prefectures as of Friday, local leaders want all residents who have just returned from overseas to self-quarantine.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 25, 2020
25 years after Tokyo subway attack, Aum is a shadow of its former self
Doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo's sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway trains shocked Japan and the world, raising concerns over nonstate organizations obtaining weapons of mass destruction.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2020
Free school lunches to start year early in Osaka due to coronavirus
Osaka city approved a plan Wednesday that will make it the first major city in Japan to offer free school lunches to all students at municipal elementary and junior high schools, as part of its economic measures to ease the burden on parents in the wake of the spread of COVID-19.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Mar 14, 2020
The 1970 Osaka Expo: Looking back at the past to gauge where Japan sits in the present
The 1970 Osaka Expo laid down a bold statement about Japan's future. Fifty years later, has the country been able to live up to its promises?
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Mar 14, 2020
Outbreak turns Kyoto's overtourism into 'undertourism'
A mild winter in many parts of Japan means the cherry blossoms are expected to arrive earlier than usual. By the time we hit April — the start of the fiscal year, the school term, and when new employees begin their first day on the job — the cherry blossoms are likely to be almost finished in the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 11, 2020
Spreading clusters of coronavirus cases worry Japan's local governments
While the national government drive forward legal revisions to allow the declaration of a national emergency over the COVID-19 virus as early as this week, local governments are growing increasingly concerned about the spread of the novel coronavirus in so-called clusters.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 10, 2020
What will Abe's amended law for a national emergency mean in practice?
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government aims to pass by week's end controversial revisions to a 2012 law governing national actions to be taken in the event of new types of influenza.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 6, 2020
Women in Japanese politics: Why so few after so very long?
To mark International Women's Day on March 8, there will be worldwide marches, parades, protests and public awareness activities on the contributions of women and the barriers and discrimination they still face.

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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?