author

 
 
 Eric Johnston

Meta

Eric Johnston
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 10, 2017
Nara Mayor Gen Nakagawa snares third term in close race; LDP-backed candidate crushed
Nara Mayor Gen Nakagawa, 41, was declared the winner of Sunday's mayoral election by just 2,000 votes Monday morning, a narrow difference that election officials say was caused by voter confusion.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 7, 2017
Depopulation, tourism on voters' minds as Nara gears up for mayoral election
Nara voters head to the polls Sunday for a mayoral election that has been dominated by concerns over a shrinking population and an expanding tourist industry.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 4, 2017
Success of Koike's Tomin First echoes Ishin no Kai movement
A popular, media-savvy figure originally from the Kansai region wins the governorship by running as a reformer, then forming a political party to take on the Liberal Democratic Party in the local assembly election. Upon winning a plurality of votes, the party teams up with Komeito to form a majority,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 2, 2017
Hyogo Gov. Toshizo Ido returned for fifth term as voters take experience over change
While Tokyo voters took a new direction with Gov. Yuriko Koike's Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First) on Sunday, Hyogo voters opted for more of the same by giving 71-year-old Gov. Toshizo Ido a fifth term on his promises to deal with the prefecture's ailing finances and falling population.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 1, 2017
'Comfort women' statue in Georgia latest to irk Japan
A new “comfort women” statue pops up in a suburb just northeast of Atlanta as the movement to commemorate the victims continues to frustrate Japanese diplomats.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2017
Hokkaido salmon catch seen dropping due to colder waters: research institute
A Hokkaido research institute predicts about a 4 percent drop in the catch of salmon in prefectural waters this autumn due to colder waters that make it harder for fry to survive.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2017
Canceled flight leaves former residents of Russian-held isles stranded
...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 26, 2017
Osaka sets sights on 2025 World Expo, but formidable challenges remain
Earlier this month, Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui led a delegation of local politicians and business leaders to Paris, where they formally announced at a general assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions that the prefecture was bidding to host the 2025 World Expo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Jun 25, 2017
Taking a look back at Kobe's opening to the West nearly 150 years ago
On Jan. 1, 1868, foreign merchants, who had spent the preceding days on ships offshore waiting for the official opening of the Port of Kobe, finally received permission to land on the beach of what had been a sleepy village well known locally for its thriving sake and fishing industries.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Jun 25, 2017
Wakayama seeks to lift itself out of obscurity with fruit and gambling
In the Kansai region, known mostly for the cities of Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Kobe, Wakayama Prefecture rarely tops the destination list of most tourists.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 24, 2017
Watch what you do and say: Broader ramifications of the new conspiracy law cause concern
"Big Brother in the form of an increasingly powerful government and in an increasingly powerful private sector will pile the records high with reasons why privacy should give way to national security, to law and order ... and the like." — U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Douglas, 1970
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2017
First visitation flight to disputed isles off Hokkaido canceled over poor weather
Two days of bad weather forced the cancellation Monday of what was to have been the first chartered flight by former residents to visit Kunashiri and Etorofu, two of the four Russia-held islands off northeastern Hokkaido claimed by Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2017
Kyoto lobbies for Emperor to live in former Imperial capital after abdication
A petition drive by a small Kyoto-based political group requesting that Emperor Akihito move to Kyoto upon his abdication had drawn over 10,000 signatures as of Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Jun 17, 2017
Kansai takes measured view on missile drills
Over the past two months, hardly a week has passed without news of another North Korean missile launch. It's become routine: An early morning South Korean media report, based on government sources, says that "an object has been launched," forcing politicians, bureaucrats, and journalists in Tokyo out...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Jun 9, 2017
Declassified papers reveal U.S. held debate on Japan's nuclear ambitions in 1970s
Japan's push to establish a nuclear fuel recycling program and use the plutonium created in the process was the center of an intense debate in the U.S. government four decades ago, pitting those who wanted smooth relations with Tokyo against those who worried the plan might lead to the proliferation...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2017
Local leaders question effectiveness of evacuation drills amid North Korea threat
As Japan plays up evacuation drills to prepare for North Korean missile strikes, people begin to question their practicality.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2017
Kepco restarts second Takahama reactor as Greenpeace warns of French MOX fuel shipment
Kansai Electric Power Co. restarted its Takahama No. 3 reactor Tuesday afternoon, bringing to five the number of nuclear reactors nationwide that have come back online since the March 11, 2011, triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2017
Japan disappointed by Trump's decision to quit Paris agreement
Let down by President Donald Trump's decision to exit the Paris climate accord, Japanese officials, business leaders and environmental groups vow to work with Washington on climate change anyway.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 30, 2017
North Korea's missile launches stoke concern for Japan's anglers
With North Korea launching three missiles in May, including one early Monday morning that landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone, concern is intensifying among fishermen whose boats ply the waters in the Sea of Japan that they could find themselves in the path of an incoming projectile.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 28, 2017
Nuclear storage crisis grows as reactor restarts continue
More than six years after the March 11, 2011, Tohoku quake, tsunami, and triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Japan is accelerating efforts to restart as many reactors as it possibly can. Four have been revived so far, and Kansai Electric Power Co. plans to restart the Takahama...

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'