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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
Jun 18, 2018
Residents voice fear amid chaos of Osaka quake
Sushi chef Soshu Yoshiyama got a rude awakening at 7:58 a.m. Monday when his home in the town of Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, was buffeted by strong, vertical jolts the likes of which he had never experienced before.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / Deep Dive
Jun 17, 2018
As tourism numbers spike, Japan's hospitals face payment and language challenges
For a Filipino man visiting Tokyo in May last year, the tour of the capital was supposed to be a fun sightseeing trip.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Jun 15, 2018
Abe-led panel adopts new visa plan to accept 500,000 low-skilled laborers by 2025
Japan has long officially banned the entry of unskilled foreign workers despite its rapidly shrinking working-age population.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2018
Japan adopts steps to support hospitals in treating foreign tourists
In recent years emergency hospitals in Japan have suffered financial losses after foreign tourists without insurance coverage found it difficult to pay fees for medical care.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 1, 2018
Breaking down the Kake Gakuen scandal: Who's lying, Abe or his political opponents?
Opposition camp lawmakers roared in anger. Stenographers were ordered to stop transcribing. The prime minister accused an opposition leader of lying.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
May 30, 2018
Abe looks beyond factions, courting LDP's rank and file for support as presidential election nears
This is the first of a two-part series on the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election slated for September.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
May 25, 2018
Tokyo shows united front on Trump-Kim summit cancellation, calling for cooperation with U.S. and South Korea
Japanese officials take the development in stride, saying meeting for meeting's sake should not be a priority with the nuclear-armed hermit state.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 20, 2018
Royal wedding seen as impetus for change in Japan's rigid Imperial system
Saturday's wedding of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle represents a sign of shifting royal traditions, given the bride's unprecedented profile: The former actress is American, biracial and once divorced.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
May 7, 2018
Rock bottom in opinion polls, Japanese opposition parties Kibo no To and Democratic Party decide to merge
Only 62 of their combined 107 members plan to join the new entity.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Apr 30, 2018
Banning women from the sumo ring: centuries-old tradition, straight-up sexism or something more complex?
In a life-threatening moment, Maizuru Mayor Ryozo Tatami suddenly collapsed while delivering a speech during a sumo exhibition in Kyoto.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 20, 2018
Education chief reveals email challenging ex-Abe aide's account in Kake vet school scandal
The Kake Gakuen scandal takes another twist as education minister Yoshimasa Hayashi reveals an old email that undermines the testimony of a former Abe aide.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2018
Opposition parties abstain from Diet deliberations over alleged sexual harassment by Finance Ministry official
The parties stepped up political pressure on Finance Minister Taro Aso to resign immediately, after the official implicated in the allegations quit abruptly over the claims the day before.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 19, 2018
Finance Ministry's top bureaucrat quits over sex harassment claims, dealing another blow to Abe government
In a fresh blow to the scandal-hit Abe administration, the Finance Ministry's top bureaucrat, Administrative Vice Minister Junichi Fukuda, was forced to step down Wednesday after a weekly magazine publicized last week a voice recording of what it claimed was him sexually harassing a female journalist....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2018
Finance Ministry's top official Junichi Fukuda to sue Japanese weekly over report accusing him of sexually harassing journalists
The ministry says it will ask an independent lawyer to continue investigating the bureaucrat's denials and the allegations made by Shukan Shincho magazine.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2018
Afghan Embassy plans to deploy mascots
If a public entity wants to promote itself in Japan, one of the most effective ways may be to create a yuru-kyara — a lovable mascot that catches people's hearts. And that's exactly what the Afghanistan Embassy in Tokyo is doing.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 13, 2018
Fresh document linked to Kake Gakuen facility turns up at Japan's agriculture ministry
Suspicion about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's alleged favoritism toward school operator Kake Gakuen deepens further after a potentially compromising document emerges at the farm ministry.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 12, 2018
Abe under threat as Kake Gakuen scandal roars back to life
A scandal centered on allegations that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe improperly wielded his influence to help a close friend cut through government red tape has roared back to life after seeming to have died down last year.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 9, 2018
Financial Bureau head admits official asked Moritomo Gakuen to lie about waste removal
A Finance Ministry official asked Osaka-based school operator Moritomo Gakuen last year to lie about how waste was removed from property it had purchased from the ministry in a controversial deal.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 6, 2018
Japan's Fujifilm to end sales of black-and-white photo film due to falling demand
Fujifilm Imaging Systems Co. announced Friday it will terminate sales of monochrome photographic film, with the last shipment expected to be in October, due to falling demands in the digital age.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2018
Amid uproar over gender discrimination in sumo, female mayor barred from speaking from the ring
Request to give speech from inside a dohyu014d was denied Friday as the sport's rules on gender gain international spotlight.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
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