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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
Nov 27, 2013
Inose in denial mode as cash cloud hangs heavier
Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose's failure to declare a whopping u00a550 million he received from a shady hospital tycoon sees his political career take a pounding.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2013
Tokyo cries foul over China's declaration of air defense zone
Beijing's setting up an air defense identification zone over a section of the East China Sea violates a basic rule under international law and is a 'very dangerous' move that could lead to 'an unexpected event,' a high-ranking Japanese official warns.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 20, 2013
Abe touts women in first Kennedy meeting
New U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy met Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for the first time Wednesday in a courtesy visit, and Abe took the opportunity to highlight one pet initiative — promoting the status of women in male-dominated Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Nov 17, 2013
BOJ's money mountain growing but debt may explode
Critics say BOJ. Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda's radical monetary scheme isn't working, but six months on, how has it changed the outlook for Japan?
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2013
Massive SDF dispatch set for Philippine relief mission
The Self-Defense Forces are planning what may be their largest overseas relief operation ever to help survivors of the Philippines' Typhoon Haiyan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 8, 2013
Yamamoto gets Imperial ban for letter; Inoki faces discipline
The Upper House Steering Committee will no longer allow Taro Yamamoto, the anti-nuclear lawmaker who made a public stir by handing a letter to Emperor Akihito, to participate in any event hosted by the Imperial family.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 6, 2013
Abe team seeks to kill rice program by 2018
The Abe administration proposed Wednesday abolishing in 2018 the decades-old government program of limiting paddy usage to keep rice prices high, a landmark policy shift that would increase competition among domestic farmers.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2013
Lawmaker under fire for letter to Emperor
The repercussions continued Friday after independent Upper House lawmaker Taro Yamamoto the previous evening handed an apparently politically inspired letter to Emperor Akihito.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2013
Pro-base pair may split Nago mayoral poll vote
The coming mayoral election in Nago, Okinawa, is posing a problem for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his LDP because two conservative candidates who favor its policies in the prefecture want to run, which could split the vote.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2013
Anti-nuclear lawmaker tries to get Emperor's attention
Upper House lawmaker Taro Yamamoto, an anti-nuclear activist who was formerly an actor, creates a public stir when he apparently approaches Emperor Akihito for political purposes at a garden party hosted by the Imperial Couple.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 30, 2013
Anti-nuclear Koizumi agitating for comeback?
Long out of the public eye, ex-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's recent rumblings against nuclear power are causing many to wonder if the most popular leader of recent decades seeks a political comeback.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 29, 2013
SDP woos Koizumi to lend clout to anti-nuclear drive
Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi raises hopes he will stage a comeback as an anti-nuclear crusader.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2013
Suga downplays LDP loss in Kawasaki poll
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Monday downplayed the significance of an independent candidate winning the Kawasaki mayoral election the previous day after boasting no affiliation to the political machine, and the defeat of the presumed front-runner, a Liberal Democratic Party pick he campaigned...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2013
Required English from third grade eyed
The education ministry is considering moving up the starting year of obligatory English-language education in elementary schools to the third grade from the current fifth grade by around 2020.
Japan Times
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Oct 20, 2013
Experts play down fish radiation fear
Given the flood of radioactive water gushing into the Pacific from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 complex, how safe, or dangerous, are fish caught off northeast Japan?
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2013
Japan P.M. sends offering to war-linked shrine
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has dedicated a "masakaki" decorated wooden stick offering used in Shinto rituals to Yasukuni Shrine, but did not visit the war-related shrine for the major autumn ceremony that began Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 15, 2013
Abe opens Diet session focused on the economy
A 53-day extraordinary Diet session opens with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressing the need for deregulation.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 8, 2013
With 8% hurdle cleared, Aso eyes 10% sales tax
Just a week after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced his intention to raise the 5 percent consumption tax to 8 percent next April, Finance Minister Taro Aso said he was upbeat about raising the levy further to 10 percent.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2013
New spill at No. 1 laid to typhoon miscalculation
An apparent miscalculation amid a typhoon caused a storage tank to overflow at the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 power plant, releasing about 430 liters of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, Tokyo Electric Power Co. reveals.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2013
Madrid leader visits Abe; pair mark 400 years of bilateral ties
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his visiting Spanish counterpart, Mariano Rajoy, meet to mark 400 years of bilateral relations.

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