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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
Feb 27, 2015
Two more Cabinet ministers ensnared in money scandals
The Abe administration's money scandals snowball as two more Cabinet ministers admit their chapters accepted donations in 2013 from a company that was set to receive state subsides.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 25, 2015
Abe gives advisory panel topics to discuss on WWII anniversary statement
The topics include what Japan has learned from its experiences in the previous century, and what contributions the country ought to make to Asia and the world.
JAPAN / History
Feb 19, 2015
Panel named to advise Abe on WWII statement
The 16-member advisory body will consider what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should say in his planned statement to mark 70 years since World War II's end.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 19, 2015
DPJ lawmakers grill Momii over his performance as NHK chairman
The nation's largest opposition party has identified a new target for attack: the gaffe-prone, apparently pro-government chairman of public broadcaster NHK.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 18, 2015
Abe's JA reforms no salve for core problems, experts say
Takashi Tomita, who heads an agricultural cooperative in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, is considered a ray of hope for a farming sector on the brink of collapse.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2015
63% of senior high school students spend at least two hours a day on a smartphone
Nearly two-thirds of senior high school students spend at least two hours a day tapping their smartphones, messaging buddies, reading news or just aimlessly surfing.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 12, 2015
Abe sidesteps expanded SDF role in Diet policy speech
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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 9, 2015
JA-Zenchu accepts drastic farm cooperative reforms
The main agricultural lobby approves a dramatic reform plan that will deprive it of the legal right to audit group cooperatives, thereby weakening its influence over how they operate.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 6, 2015
Tokyo, Okinawa stuck in cold war over U.S. base
The central government and the Okinawa Prefectural Government are now in an apparent cold war.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 5, 2015
Hostage crisis over, Abe looks to 2016 to launch constitutional amendment drive
With the Islamic State hostage crisis over, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says his long-sought goal of revising the Constitution should be chased in summer 2016.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2015
Abe condemns Islamic State's slaying of Jordanian pilot
The apparent execution of Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh, a Jordanian air force pilot captured by the Islamic State, is “inhumane” and “despicable,” the prime minister said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2015
Goto beheaded by Islamic State militants
Despite an unusual lull that had raised hopes hostage Kenji Goto might be freed, many in Japan were shocked Sunday to learn the Islamic State group had apparently executed him.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 1, 2015
Crisis awakens Japanese to shortcomings, realities
The hostage crisis that ended so tragically has taught Japan about the reality of life in a strife-filled part of the world.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2015
Hostage talks deadlocked
Jordan and Japan tensely wait as Amman's request for proof of life is answered only by a mysterious silence from the Islamic State hostage-takers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 30, 2015
Fate of hostages unclear as swap founders
Japan and Jordan await word on Kenji Goto and pilot Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh as the Islamic State group fails to provide proof of life for the hostage swap.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2015
Goto’s wife breaks silence as Jordan demands proof that pilot is alive
Speaking for the first time since the outbreak of the hostage crisis last week, the wife of Kenji Goto, the Japanese journalist now being held by the Islamic State group, released an audio statement Thursday begging the Jordanian and Japanese governments to save her husband.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2015
Goto gets sunset deadline extension
A new audio message purportedly from hostage Kenji Goto on Thursday morning declared that Jordan must present female prisoner Sajida al-Rishawi at the Turkish border by sunset on Thursday, or Jordanian air force pilot Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh would be executed immediately.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2015
Jordan reportedly offers to swap would-be bomber for captured pilot; no mention of Goto
Jordanian state-run television reported Wednesday that Amman was ready to release an Iraqi failed suicide bomber on death row if the Islamic State group freed a captured Jordanian pilot, citing a government minister in the Middle East country.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 27, 2015
Goto swap gets more complex
Jordan is demanding that the Islamic State group release both Japanese journalist Kenu00adji Gou00adto and a captured Jordanian air force pilot, according to Kyodo News.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2015
Radio report, voiceprints muddy waters as officials deliberate over hostage crisis
After the Islamic State group reportedly confirmed via radio that it had killed Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa, both Japan and Jordan were saying little Monday about how they might respond to its demand that a suicide bomber jailed in Jordan be exchanged for the second hostage, Kenji Goto.

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