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April 04, 2025
 

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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
Jun 19, 2018
Different disaster, same story: Osaka quake prompts online hate speech targeting foreigners
Monday's deadly quake in Osaka Prefecture has led to the resurgence of what has become a familiar — if disconcerting — post-disaster trend on the internet: a slew of hate speech-driven tweets warning of "crimes" committed by foreign residents.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 15, 2018
Ruling coalition drives casino bill through Lower House panel as opposition protests
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition on Friday pushed through a Lower House panel a contentious bill that specifies rules about the planned structure of integrated resorts (IRs), which will incorporate casino facilities, further intensifying political tensions with the opposition.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 13, 2018
Japan's Diet OKs law lowering age of adulthood to 18
The Diet passes a package of amendments that — for the first time in 140 years — includes a measure lowering adulthood to 18 years old from the current 20.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 12, 2018
Is Tokyo's commitment to abduction issue a diplomatic stumbling block?
As the world waited for Trump and Kim to emerge from their summit, Japan looked for signs that the two had addressed its top priority: abductees.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 9, 2018
Japan uneasy on prospects for Trump-Kim summit
With just days to go, Japan remains nervous its interests will get lost in the shuffle as the U.S. and North Korean leaders try to score quick diplomatic points.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 8, 2018
Ruling coalition holds back on casino bill ahead of Niigata gubernatorial election
The powerful ruling coalition can simply force the fiercely contested bill through the Lower House panel, but that might have been unwise ahead of Niigata's gubernatorial election Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2018
Panel balks at proposing the killing of Japan's political fairness clause
The proposal had drawn criticism for potentially opening up the nation's airwaves to a deluge of politically charged programs and internet-driven 'fake news.'
JAPAN / Politics
May 31, 2018
Japan's ruling bloc pushes labor bill through the Lower House amid worries over karōshi
The government says the comprehensive legal package will represent the biggest shake-up of labor laws in Japan's postwar history, but some believe it could make problems worse.
JAPAN / Politics
May 31, 2018
Rising LDP star Shinjiro Koizumi, like his charismatic dad, finds growing fan base
Young, debonair and eloquent, Shinjiro Koizumi has, in a way, become the political equivalent of a pop idol.
JAPAN / Politics
May 30, 2018
Abe slams U.S. vehicle tariff hikes as 'unacceptable' during Diet leaders' debate
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemns U.S. President Donald Trump's reported move to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on imported vehicles as unwarranted and offensive.
JAPAN / Politics
May 30, 2018
'Military geek' Shigeru Ishiba not afraid to criticize Abe but election math eludes
Upon attending the opening ceremony of a museum in April in Tottori Prefecture, veteran Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Shigeru Ishiba made a sidesplitting appearance by dressing up as Majin Boo — the pudgy, baby-like villain in the popular anime "Dragon Ball."
JAPAN / Politics
May 29, 2018
Diet group drafts bill that aims to promote Japanese language learning at home and abroad
A bipartisan group of lawmakers unveils a draft version of what might become Japan's first-ever law defining the government's responsibility to systematically promote Japanese language education.
JAPAN / Politics
May 22, 2018
Abe denies 2015 meeting with Kotaro Kake as opposition pressure mounts over cronyism claims
The prime minister again denied having met with his longtime confidant in February 2015, challenging an account revealed in a newly surfaced document.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
May 16, 2018
Diet passes nonbinding legislation aimed at increasing women in politics
The Diet passed a bill Wednesday seeking to boost the number of female lawmakers and assembly members in a nation where women have long been underrepresented in politics.
JAPAN / Politics
May 14, 2018
Abe shrugs off Tadao Yanase's 2015 Kake Gakuen meetings, claims aide never updated him on pal's project
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday he has no problem with his former aide's 2015 meeting with officials from Kake Gakuen, the school chain run by his friend, and repeated that he never intervened in the government process for approving the rare veterinary project launched by his longtime confidant....
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 14, 2018
Top U.S. diplomat Pompeo stokes concern over North Korea as Abe seeks to avoid being shut out of diplomatic process
Worries are running high in Tokyo that the mercurial Trump will leave Japan in the lurch.
JAPAN / Politics
May 10, 2018
Former Abe aide admits to meeting with Kake Gakuen officials
Last month Tadao Yanase flatly denied a report that he had met the officials in April 2015, “as far as my memory goes.”
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
May 9, 2018
Japan and China agree on aerial and maritime mechanism to avoid military clashes
The creation of the hotline is aimed at averting unintended conflict and represents the latest sign of improving bilateral ties between the Asian powers.
JAPAN / Politics
May 9, 2018
Japan, China and South Korea are 'in sync' on North Korea, Japanese official says
At a trilateral summit in Tokyo, leaders from the three countries also advocated the promotion of free trade in an apparent dig at Donald Trump's protectionist agenda.
JAPAN / Politics
May 7, 2018
China's presence at trilateral summit likely to limit Japan's say in Korean affairs
Wednesday's trilateral summit with China and South Korea will afford Japan something it has craved for weeks.
As ‘Buy Canadian’ grows, more U.S. firms say retailers turning away products
Empty shelves with "Buy Canadian Instead" signs are seen in the American Whiskey section of the BC Liquor in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 10.
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
Trump unveils 10% global tariff, with Japan levy set at 24%
Trump tosses a MAGA hat to the crowd during an event in which he unveiled new tariffs in the White House on Wednesday.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
On defense, Japan may avoid Trump's worst impulses — for now
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth chat after reviewing an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Sunday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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
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