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 Tomohiro Osaki

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Tomohiro Osaki
Tomohiro Osaki is a staff writer in the Domestic News Division. A graduate of Sophia University in Tokyo, he likes to explore under-reported realities of Japanese youth, with a tendency toward the taboo.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2013
'Skilled foreigner' invite too rigid a bar
More than a year after its much-hyped introduction, a government-led initiative to lure "highly skilled" foreign professionals to Japan is making lackluster progress, with the number of those applying for visas under the new system much smaller than initially envisioned.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 2, 2013
Artist Hibino drums up Olympic bid support with five-colored 'mikoshi'
About 140 people parade through Tokyo's Ueno Park Saturday with handmade portable shrines as part of the events designed to support the city's to host the 2020 Olympics.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2013
Animation master Miyazaki to retire; fans in disbelief
The abrupt announcement about film director Hayao Miyazaki's decision to retire triggers tributes and disbelief.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2013
Troubled youths find friend, ally in student
Waseda University student Kazunari Takabe, 21, has devoted much of his time over the past three years to a rather unusual philanthropic activity: to make friends with teenagers fresh out of juvenile detention centers.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2013
Volunteer probation officers face uphill battle
Kenjiro Osawa has spent the past 15 years inviting parolees to his Tokyo home every other week for a brief chit-chat to make sure they are managing their lives outside the walls of prison.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 27, 2013
Girl-recruiting teacher in hot water
Police have handed prosecutors their case against a 59-year-old Iwate University professor who arranged for four foreign students to work as part-time nightclub hostesses.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 26, 2013
Teens held in mugging needed cash for AKB48 garb
Four teenage boys were arrested earlier this month for allegedly robbing and injuring a man on a Tokyo street because they needed cash to buy custom-made outfits to sport in a handshaking event involving the pop idol group AKB48, police said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2013
NPO helps parents help child victims of crime by altering mind-set
A nonprofit group assisting people victimized by crime held an unprecedented series of workshops nationwide this summer on what parents should and shouldn't do if their children fall prey to criminals.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2013
Tepco caused suicide, wife tells court
A suit opens against Tepco, with a Filipino woman from Fukushima Prefecture seeking about ¥126 million over the death of her Japanese husband, who committed suicide when his business faltered amid the nuclear plant crisis.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2013
Bigger Sakurajima eruption not in cards despite outburst
Despite its violent outburst over the weekend, experts are guardedly optimistic that Mount Sakurajima is not due for a life-threatening eruption soon.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 15, 2013
Abe proxy, Cabinet trio visit Yasukuni
Three Cabinet ministers went to war-related Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday to mark the 68th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II, while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instead made a ritual offering in an apparent effort to avoid more diplomatic friction with China and South Korea.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2013
Shimanto strikes while the iron is hot
The city of Shimanto, Kochi Prefecture, which on Monday became Japan's hottest city with a record-setting temperature of 41.0 degrees, is now rushing to capitalize on its new title with a string of unique projects.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2013
Radioactive hot spots found in seabed as far away as Miyagi
A research team led by the University of Tokyo has found more than 30 concentrations of radioactive cesium in the first full-fledged study of the isotope's accumulation on the seabed near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, scientists said Wednesday.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 5, 2013
U.S.-style class action? Unlikely for Tepco suits
About 1,700 people from various prefectures filed four separate lawsuits against Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the government last March 11, exactly two years after the start of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2013
Court to warn lay judges of possible gore
The Tokyo District Court will now inform lay judge candidates in advance that they may be exposed to gruesome photographs of crime scenes and will allow them to be excused if they fear they could be traumatized.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2013
Abe seen set to squeeze the poor
Mammoth cuts in welfare benefits starting next month point to the government's desire to skimp on social security and instead boost military capabilities in hopes of fighting alongside the United States, according to veteran lawyer Kenji Utsunomiya.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2013
Poor slam anti-poverty law as hollow
For Yoshino Azuma, life changed forever when her husband, Yoshitaro, suddenly died of a brain hemorrhage two years ago.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 23, 2013
Four admit role in fatal Roppongi attack
Four men charged in connection with the fatal beating of a 31-year-old bar owner in a Roppongi nightclub last September pleaded guilty Tuesday in their Tokyo District Court trial.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 22, 2013
Tokyo voters mixed but most seem to want LDP in charge
Many voters appear to be putting their faith in the Liberal Democratic Party despite the lack of 'Abenomics' evidence in their lives, The Japan Times finds.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2013
Pluralism Japan's answer: immigration expert
Japan's leaders need to confront the reality of the rapidly thinning labor force and acknowledge that a more ethnically pluralistic society can help ward off the looming demographic crisis, a British expert on immigration policy says.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan