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March 31, 2025
 

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Eric Johnston

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Eric Johnston
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 4, 2024
Horse-trading continues ahead of next week's prime minister vote
In the absence of a majority by any single party or coalition, every lawmaker's vote will count in a widely expected runoff election when parliament reconvenes.
Democratic Party for the People Secretary-General Kazuya Shimba (left) and Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama meet in the Diet building in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2024
LDP and DPP inch closer together on economic policy cooperation
If their arrangement is successful, it would mean a majority of parliamentary votes for issues especially important to the DPP.
Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Sunday. Tamaki has not taken sides at the moment, saying only that his party will cooperate with those who are willing to cooperate with it to implement its policies.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 28, 2024
DPP's quadrupling of seats burnishes its potential as a coalition partner
The question now is whether it will join a battered Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition or work with a strengthened Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
Hokkaido Gov. Naomichi Suzuki helped mark the first seven decades of the America-Japan Society of Hokkaido on Sept. 19.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Oct 28, 2024
America-Japan Society of Hokkaido celebrates 70th anniversary
The society is poised for further growth, with more firms from the U.S. and elsewhere looking to set up shop in Hokkaido.
Komeito chief Keiichi Ishii leaves the party's headquarters in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on Sunday. Ishii, who was elected party president just one month ago, failed to secure a seat in the Upper House election.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 28, 2024
Komeito chief's Lower House loss raises questions about party's future
Keiichi Ishii, who was elected party leader last month and did not stand for proportional representation, fell short in his bid to win a Saitama district seat.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba arrives to deliver a campaign speech in Osaka on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 23, 2024
Polls show Japan's ruling bloc could lose its majority. What would happen then?
Depending on the final count, one option for the LDP and Komeito might be to invite another party into a coalition.
Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi stumps in the city of Nara on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 22, 2024
With her sights set on Ishiba's throne, will Takaichi take over the LDP?
Anything less than a comfortable victory in Sunday's general election will put the prime minister in a vulnerable position.
Komeito leader Keiichi Ishii shakes hands with a voter in his district in Saitama Prefecture on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 21, 2024
Komeito's new leader faces trial by fire in general election
Once local allies, Komeito and Nippon Ishin no Kai are going head-to-head for the first time ever, adding to the challenge facing Keiichi Ishii.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (center right) makes a speech Sunday in Soka, Saitama Prefecture, along with Komeito leader Keiichi Ishii (center left).
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 14, 2024
General election campaigning to kick off Tuesday
Rocked by a political funds scandal that engulfed the party and led to the dissolution of most of its factions, the LDP faces its toughest election since 2012.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba chairs an Asia Zero Emission Community meeting in Vientiane, Laos, on Friday.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Oct 13, 2024
Where does Shigeru Ishiba stand on the climate issue?
Ishiba appears to be charting a new course on renewable energy, especially with a nascent effort to tap Japan's bountiful geothermal potential.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 9, 2024
LDP pulls endorsements of 12 'slush fund' lawmakers for Oct. 27 election
Former LDP policy chief Koichi Hagiuda, ex-party Diet affairs chief Tsuyoshi Takagi and former education minister Hakubun Shimomura are among those not endorsed.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a Lower House session on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 7, 2024
Ishiba fends off questions on endorsement of scandal-tainted LDP members
The prime minister was grilled in parliament on the extent of support the ruling party will give those implicated in a recent slush funds scandal in upcoming polls.
Nippon Ishin no Kai head Nobuyuki Baba (back left) and Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan head Yoshihiko Noda (back right) discuss cooperation during the upcoming general election in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 4, 2024
Opposition parties have little time to form united front ahead of polls
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s surprise announcement of an Oct. 27 general election has left others scrambling to coordinate in order to avoid multi-cornered fights.
New Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (front center) and other Cabinet ministers pose for a commemorative photo after an appointment and certification ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 1, 2024
New Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba unveils Cabinet as LDP divide emerges
His Cabinet, made up of lawmakers largely untainted by an LDP political funds scandal, has appeared to open up a rift in the ruling party.
Shigeru Ishiba, the new head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, speaks during a news conference at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 30, 2024
Incoming PM Ishiba sets Oct. 27 as date for snap election
The newly elected Liberal Democratic Party president's announcement is highly unusual and not without controversy.
Shigeru Ishiba holds a news conference in Tokyo on Friday after winning the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 29, 2024
Ishiba hints at general election in late October as he starts to form Cabinet
Media reports said that preparations were underway for a snap general election to be held on Oct. 27.
Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves after he was elected as the new head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party during a leadership vote on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 27, 2024
Fifth time's a charm: Shigeru Ishiba set to be Japan PM after LDP poll win
Ishiba, who has also served as party secretary-general, won the LDP presidential election on Friday, defeating economic security minister Sanae Takaichi in a runoff vote.
A poster showing portraits of candidates for the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election at the party headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 27, 2024
Takaichi and Ishiba head to runoff in LDP leadership election
Ishiba, 67, and Takaichi, 63, emerged as the top picks in a crowded field of nine in the race that will decide the country’s next prime minister
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan President Yoshihiko Noda (right) and Nippon Ishin no Kai leader Nobuyuki Baba in Tokyo on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 26, 2024
CDP's Noda wants to court Nippon Ishin and DPP, but will he succeed?
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan's new leader faces an uphill task of bridging the differences of its peers in the opposition ahead of a general election.
Former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda attends a news conference after being elected as the new leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan on Monday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 23, 2024
Former PM Yoshihiko Noda elected new leader of main opposition CDP
The win puts him on track for a showdown with a new leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a general election likely to be held sooner rather than later.
Japan's biggest beef bowl chain Sukiya to shut nearly 2,000 stores after rat and bug contamination
Zensho Holdings, operator of fast-food chain Sukiya, said it will close all of its stores in Japan, except for a small number in shopping centers, between Monday and Friday following recent contamination incidents.
School-age suicides in Japan hit all-time high
A volunteer handles an incoming call at the Tokyo Befrienders call center, a suicide hotline center in Japan's capital.
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
In Tokyo, Pentagon chief provides assurances that Japan-U.S. alliance remains robust
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (left) and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo ahead of their talks Sunday.
Alert raised for volcano in southwestern Japan
Shinmoedake, a volcano located between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, in November 2019
Tokyo tech failures lean into misfortune, mistakes and missteps
Tsuyoshi Domoto in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on March 28. As an entrepreneur, Domoto experienced plenty of setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and continues to pursue his dreams.
Traveling the Three-Star Road, the tourist route made from thin air
Scenes like this snow-covered bridge leading to the village of Shirakawa-go are what make the Three-Star Road worth traveling — its name notwithstanding.
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.
Hanami season to have record ¥1.39 trillion economic impact on Japan
Cherry blossoms along a road in Tokyo on Tuesday. The 2025 cherry blossom season is expected to have an economic impact of around ¥1.39 trillion on Japan.
Rise and shine with ‘The Wakey Show’
“The Wakey Show” is NHK’s first new daily children’s program in three years, and it carries on the station’s storied past in youth-centric educational entertainment.

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
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