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 Reiji Yoshida

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Reiji Yoshida
Reiji Yoshida is a staff writer and deputy manager of the Domestic News Division. Since joining The Japan Times in 1993, he has intensively covered domestic politics, diplomacy and defense issues as well as the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 26, 2013
Abe's visit to Yasukuni to further incite hard-liners in China, South Korea
Although the U.S. had effectively urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to refrain from visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, he goes anyway, ensuring Japan's relations with China and South Korea will further sour.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2013
Abe visits Yasukuni, angering Beijing and Seoul
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's unannounced visit to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine triggers immediate censure from China and South Korea.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2013
Nakaima cuts deal with Abe
Tokyo agrees to launch negotiations with Washington on a new pact that would effectively revise the framework for keeping U.S. forces in Okinawa.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Dec 24, 2013
Debt-issuance levels point to lack of concern for debt: experts
Experts say the draft fiscal 2014 budget doesn't show that the Abe team is serious about revising the debt-driven fiscal structure as more than 40 percent of the budget will be paid for through new debt issuance.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2013
Defense spending hike covers pay: ministry
The Abe administration's draft budget adopted Tuesday includes ¥4.88 trillion in defense spending in fiscal 2014, a 2.8 percent increase from this year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 24, 2013
Impact of bigger public works budget unclear
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's fiscal 2014 draft budget has sparked debate over whether he has significantly increased the public works budget in a major policy shift from his predecessor administrations led by the Democratic Party of Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 16, 2013
Radioactive waste: a now and forever threat?
In recent months, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has rekindled the public debate on atomic power, drawing attention to perhaps the most critical question about its future: Is there a safe place and way to dispose of high-level radioactive waste?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2013
Deceptive rice price reforms viewed as too late for industry
Toru Wakui has defied the government's “gentan” rice production controls since the 1970s, but the farm ministry's plans to abolish them haven't made him any happier.
Japan Times
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Dec 15, 2013
No country for small-time rice farmers
In the suburbs of Tokyo, rice farmer Koichi Yuge is weighing how the government's change of heart on controlling rice prices will impact his 300-year-old family business.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Dec 14, 2013
China's ADIZ steals show at Japan-ASEAN celebratory summit
The special session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that took place in Tokyo on Saturday was designed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Japan's diplomatic relations with the Southeast Asian countries.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 13, 2013
Abe rubs elbows with ASEAN chiefs
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets with the top leaders from Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and Singapore, expressing concerns about China's setting of a new air defense zone over the East China Sea.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2013
Malaysia's Najib, Abe discuss China air zone
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, during talks Thursday with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, showed his "understanding" of Japan's deep concern over China's newly declared air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, a Japanese official who attended the meeting said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 11, 2013
Higashikokubaru opts out of Nippon Ishin, Diet
Lower House member and ex-Miyazaki Gov. Hiu00addeo Hiu00adgau00adshiu00adkou00adkuu00adbau00adru exits Nippon Ishin no Kai and will quit as a Diet member, raising speculation that he might try to run for governor of Tokyo or seek his old job in Miyazaki.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2013
Tokyo has no gripe with Seoul's expanded ADIZ
Tokyo has accepted Seoul's expanded air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, Japanese officials said Monday, noting that unlike China's abruptly declared ADIZ, South Korea's won't infringe on the freedom of flight in airspace over the high seas under international law.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 9, 2013
Secrets law bruises Abe's ratings
The Cabinet's sharp drop in the opinion polls shows that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might have expended too much of his political capital on enacting the state secrets law.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 5, 2013
Amari admits he has early-stage tongue cancer, vows to stay on
Economic and fiscal policy minister Akira Amari, a key policymaker and trade negotiator of the Cabinet, confessed Thursday that he has early-stage tongue cancer but vowed to stay at his post.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 1, 2013
No change in China air zone airline policy
Defense Minister Itsunori Onou00addeu00adra indicates that Tokyo won't change its stance on urging Japanese airlines not to submit their flight plans as requested by China for its new air defense identification zone over the East China Sea.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2013
No Chinese jets scrambled: Japan
Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera denies China's claim it scrambled fighter jets in response to Self-Defense Forces aircraft entering its new air defense zone.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 29, 2013
Bureaucrat to be first female aide to leader
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appoints senior bureaucrat Makiko Yamada as his official secretary, the first time in history a woman as ever held the post.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2013
SDF, Coast Guard planes defy new Chinese air zone
Defying China's recently declared air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, Self-Defense Forces and Japan Coast Guard aircraft continue flying into the zone without informing Beijing ahead of time.

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