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Eric Johnston

Japan Times

JAPAN

Feb 6, 2007

Osaka officials forcefully evict park's homeless, supporters

OSAKA -- About 260 officials, backed by 300 private security guards, evicted nine homeless people and about 150 of their supporters from Osaka's Nagai Park on Monday amid protests.

JAPAN

Feb 3, 2007

Osaka plans another homeless eviction

OSAKA -- The Osaka Municipal Government is once again cracking down on the homeless, preparing to clear out a small group next week from a park that will be the site of a major international sporting event in August.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Jan 23, 2007

North Korea talks should also discuss escapees, forum told

OSAKA -- The plight of Japanese citizens and Japanese-born Koreans who voluntarily went to North Korea in the 1960s but escaped to return to Japan is a human rights issue that needs to be included in the six-party talks on denuclearizing North Korea, a symposium in Osaka concluded Sunday.

Japan Times

LIFE / WEEK 3

Jan 21, 2007

Dig in at this genuine cantina

Japan Times

JAPAN

Jan 18, 2007

Cost of Kobe memorials irks some critics

KOBE -- A dozen years after the Great Hanshin Earthquake, debate is growing over how best to remember the disaster and its aftermath in a city where only 70 percent of current residents were here when the temblor struck.

JAPAN

Dec 19, 2006

One bad apple set to spoil Osaka's 'buraku' aid barrel

projects because the system of distributing funds could easily be abused," he said. "Local political leaders at that time bear much of the blame for Osaka's current scandals." Osaka pumped billions of yen into social welfare projects run by Konishi for more than three decades in line with its policy...

JAPAN

Dec 19, 2006

One bad apple set to spoil Osaka's 'buraku' aid barrel

More than six months after mobster Kunihiko Konishi was arrested for decades of embezzlement, Osaka is set to scrap two dozen city projects to aid the plight of the local 'buraku" community of descendents of the feudal outcast class.

Japan Times

LIFE

Dec 10, 2006

Politics at the grass roots

Judging by the society pages of certain publications in Japan, politicians at both the local and national levels seem to spend a lot of their time being photographed with ambassadors, captains of industry, assorted aristocrats, passing film stars and all manner of other folk.

JAPAN

Dec 1, 2006

JNFL's MOX-benignity claim hit

KYOTO -- Six Japan-based peace and antinuclear groups Thursday called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to clarify comments made by the head of Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. that it is impossible to remove plutonium from MOX fuel, a claim that runs counter to IAEA assertions and the consensus of international...

JAPAN

Nov 21, 2006

Okinawa economic woes trump base ills for voters

V-shaped runway plan. In other words, nearly 658,000 Okinawan voters voted against the plan. In addition, unlike the election in 2002, where (Keiichi) Inamine won by nearly 170,000 votes, this time the margin of victory for Nakaima and the conservatives was only 37,000 votes, which suggests the base...

Japan Times

JAPAN

Nov 20, 2006

Voters weighed both base issue and local economy

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- It was more than just the U.S. military bases. As Okinawans went to the polls Sunday to vote in the gubernatorial election, the local economy was also on their minds.

JAPAN

Nov 20, 2006

Nakaima wins Okinawa race

Hirokazu Nakaima, a ruling coalition-backed former vice governor and chairman of a power utility, was elected Sunday governor of Okinawa in a campaign closely watched for its impact on the proposed realignment of U.S. military bases in Japan.

Japan Times

JAPAN / ACCORD STILL IN LIMBO

Nov 10, 2006

Back to square one after Okinawa poll?

OSAKA -- In early 2005, senior U.S. officials had become fed up with Okinawa.

Japan Times

JAPAN / ACCORD STILL IN LIMBO

Nov 9, 2006

Okinawa race again base-centric

First in a series on the Nov. 19 Okinawa gubernatorial election

JAPAN

Nov 2, 2006

Son of ex-Burma leader speaks at asylum trial

OSAKA -- The son of Burma's first prime minister testified Wednesday in Osaka District Court on behalf of a male relative fighting for political asylum in Japan, saying if the government forces him to return to the country now called Myanmar he will be executed.

CULTURE / Books

Oct 15, 2006

From the center of Korean conflict

KOREA WITNESS: 135 Years of War, Crisis and News in the Land of the Morning Calm, edited by Donald Kirk, Choe Sang-Hun. Seoul: EunHaeng NaMu, 2006, 13,000 won/$13.83 (paper). To adventurous Western writers and journalists in the late 19th century, the opening of Japan in 1868 was an opportunity too good...

Japan Times

BUSINESS

Oct 11, 2006

Sanctions seen having little impact

OSAKA -- Although calls in Japan for tough economic sanctions against North Korea will no doubt grow following Monday's nuclear test, economists say stopping the flow of goods between the two countries would have more political meaning than economic.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Sep 28, 2006

Japan Times staffer gets award for rescuing boy

KYOTO -- Simon Bartz, an employee of The Japan Times, was one of four people honored by Kyoto police and rescue officials Wednesday for his role in saving the lives of two 7-year-old boys on Sept. 20.

JAPAN

Sep 27, 2006

Foes fear Monju accident, natural or otherwise

. But they remain both expensive and less than 100 percent reliable, and will continue to be for some time. You'll still need a backup energy source. With Monju, not only will Japan have such a source, but also one that will help the country reduce greenhouse gases caused by the burning of coal and gas,"...

JAPAN

Sep 22, 2006

Tougher financial sanctions on North being sought

have testified that billions of yen in cash have been sent to North Korea in this manner. One Japanese man living in Osaka, who worked for two decades at a North Korean-funded trading company in Japan, said Tuesday's ban will have only a short-term effect.

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.

Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

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'

By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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