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April 06, 2025
 

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Eric Johnston

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Eric Johnston
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 6, 2019
Sakai voters poised to decide key mayoral race for Osaka Ishin and LDP ahead of Upper House poll
Voters in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, will head to the polls Sunday to elect a new mayor in a key local race ahead of next month's Upper House election, with an Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka) candidate reportedly the frontrunner in a closely contested campaign.
JAPAN / Politics
May 27, 2019
Concern grows over how G20 security preparations will impact Osaka
Tokyo had a reported 25,000 police on the streets for Tump's visit. How many will Osaka need — and how distruptive will they be?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Beyond Tokyo
May 26, 2019
IT services touted as key to future of Japan's farming sector
Self-driving tractors, tomato-picking robots, camera-mounted drones to survey fields and spot crop damage, and satellite data from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to help farms keep track of climate and weather data.
JAPAN / View from Osaka
May 18, 2019
Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito flip-flop on Osaka merger
Just over a month after local elections in which Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka) surprised even itself with resounding victories, the established parties' local chapters appear to be on the ropes.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 15, 2019
Japan IR Expo opens in Osaka as candidates step up efforts to win integrated casino resort licenses
With the cities of Osaka and Wakayama stepping up their efforts to win a legalized integrated casino resort, the Japan IR Expo opened Wednesday in Osaka.
JAPAN / Politics
May 12, 2019
G20 farm ministers urge high-tech push, cross-sector cooperation to feed world's hungry
The Group of Twenty Agriculture Ministers Meeting concluded Sunday with calls to feed a growing global population and promote sustainable agriculture through new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robotics and drones, and to increase cooperation among farmers, nonfarm businesses and academia....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 12, 2019
OECD report recommends Japan embrace technological innovation, entrepreneurship to expand agricultural productivity
With Japanese food products becoming increasingly popular with foreign tourists, especially those from Asia, the country's agricultural sector has a bright future if it can change its policies to embrace technological innovation and entrepreneurship, an OECD report on the country's agricultural productivity...
JAPAN
May 8, 2019
A century later, Spanish flu pandemic still holds valuable lessons for Japanese and global health experts
On Oct. 26, 1918, just over two weeks before the end of World War I, readers of The Japan Advertiser, as The Japan Times was named at the time, woke up to the headline "Thousands Dying From Influenza Throughout the World," and an accompanying article detailing the havoc it was wreaking in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Beyond Tokyo
Apr 26, 2019
MICE work if you can get it: Kansai cities vie for a bigger slice of Japan's 'meetings industry' pie
About 20 minutes by car from Wakayamashi Station, across a bridge to a reclaimed island, lies Wakayama Marina City and the Porto Europa theme park. Its faux Spanish, Italian, and French buildings and European-style street designs give visitors the impression of being on a slightly dilapidated film set....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2019
At Tokyo C20, civil society leaders from around the world press to be heard at Osaka G20
Participants from 40 countries concluded a gathering in Tokyo calling for inclusion at the Group of 20 leaders' summit set to be hosted by Osaka this year.
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Apr 20, 2019
Osaka Ishin's success could have impact on regional politics elsewhere in Japan
History shows cities that flourish due to maritime trade have a reputation for some of the world's most colorful, complex, and corrupt local politics. That includes the port of Osaka, which was trading with China and the Korean Peninsula more than 1,000 years ago.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Apr 10, 2019
Japanese group ACE works to end child labor and foster education across developing world
In 1998, a march to protest child labor involving people in 107 countries made Yuka Iwatsuki realize that the issue, which she had been interested in since college, was a global movement. She also realized that there were no organizations in Japan leading the global fight.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 8, 2019
Osaka Ishin now firmly in control across prefecture, piling pressure on Komeito to back merger
Osaka Ishin has long championed the reform plan while Komeito, along with the LDP, have opposed it.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 8, 2019
Osaka leaders win in elections to swap roles, but merger prospects unclear
Osaka voters appear to have done little to shift the political landscape from where it was before polls opened Sunday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2019
G20 in Osaka offers chance for health and financial policymakers to stop fighting and join hands
To effectively tackle global health issues it's crucial that the Group of 20 nations use their June summit to overcome the barriers that have traditionally separated health experts and policymakers from financial and economic leaders.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 3, 2019
From casinos to nuclear power, local issues with national significance to play out at polls across Japan
Municipal mergers, integrated casino resorts, bullet trains and the future of nuclear power plants — local issues with national political repercussions — are expected to be taken up by candidates from Hokkaido to Kyushu in the coming weeks as the country prepares for a series of elections on April...
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 29, 2019
Campaigns kick off across Japan for prefectural and metropolitan assembly elections
Campaigning began Friday across Japan for prefectural and major metropolitan assembly elections set for April 7, with economic policies, aging, population decline and assistance for the elderly and working mothers the broad issues of concern for voters and candidates.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / Beyond Tokyo
Mar 24, 2019
Base-laden Okinawa vies to become tourism magnet
Just a couple minutes from the Okinawa Prefectural Government building and the busy shopping street Kokusai-dori, Sora Shokudo offers jerk chicken on the menu — a Caribbean cuisine that goes well with rum — which is now also produced in Okinawa and attracting interest from domestic and overseas tourists....
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 21, 2019
Osaka wrestles with merger plan as campaign for governor kicks off
To merge or not to merge? That is the question Osaka hopes to finally answer as the campaign for Osaka governor kicked off Thursday morning.
JAPAN / Politics / View from Osaka
Mar 16, 2019
In Osaka, leaders' bid to swap seats could spell trouble as region faces global spotlight
When Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui and his sidekick, Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura, announced they would resign their positions to run for each other's seats next month, local reactions ranged from disbelief to exasperation.
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.
Nissan says it will not take new U.S. orders for Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs
A Nissan manufacturing complex in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Nissan says it will not take new orders from the United States for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs following new auto tariffs levied by the U.S.
Japan digs deep to address 'national crisis' caused by Trump tariffs
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on April 1. He has said that Japan is facing a "national crisis" following the introduction of new tariffs by the United States.
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.
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.
Tottori takes a bold leap forward in the arts
The city of Kurayoshi in Tottori Prefecture celebrated the opening of its public art museum with festivities such as a parade that drew 1,000 revelers.
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.
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
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