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April 18, 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 / Politics
Jan 1, 2017
Abe has no reason to rock the boat by calling early-2017 snap election
After weeks of speculation that 2017 may start with a snap election in late January, the prime minister said on NHK that it will not happen.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 19, 2016
New law to fight bias against 'burakumin' seen falling short
Overshadowed by the 11th-hour furor over casino legalization and other legislation forced through the Diet by the ruling bloc last week was the enactment of a lesser-known law that has significant implications for Japan's minority burakumin.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 15, 2016
Diet enacts contentious casino legislation
The Diet enacted a law to legalize casinos Thursday morning amid ongoing public concerns over a raft of potential social ills, including surges in gambling addiction and organized crime.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 13, 2016
Ruling bloc rams casino bill through committee
The ruling bloc rams a divisive casino legalization bill through an Upper House committee, opening the door to its likely passage on Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Dec 13, 2016
Japan's bosozoku bikers: a vanishing rebel breed
Shotaro Nagasawa knows about living on the edge.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2016
Tax reform proposal targets spousal income credit, irregular beer tax structure
Abe's government is expected to rubber-stamp the proposal and submit amendments to the ordinary Diet session slated for January.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 7, 2016
Abe defends policies as Renho launches scathing attack
The prime minister defends the controversial casino legalization bill as vital to increasing jobs and boosting the tourism industry.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 6, 2016
Casino bill clears Lower House amid LDP discord, opposition protest
The Lower House on Tuesday passed a controversial bill that would legalize modern casinos for the first time in Japan, despite mounting criticism within the ruling and opposition blocs over the Diet's slapdash handling of the legislation.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 2, 2016
Lower House panel clears casino bill; opposition walks out in protest
The Lower House committee debating the casino legalization bill votes to send it to the Upper House as opposition lawmakers storm out in protest.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 29, 2016
Abe's war against agriculture juggernaut found wanting in watered-down plan
Abe on Tuesday approved the new plan to shake up Zen-Noh, a juggernaut that boasts u00a56 trillion in annual operating revenues.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2016
Abe's 'made-in-Japan' gift for Trump produced by China-owned firm
The gold-colored golf driver was manufactured by Tokyo-based Honma Golf Co., which went bankrupt in 2005 is now owned by a Chinese company.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2016
Trump to dump TPP on first day in office
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says he will withdraw his country from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact on the day he takes office, dealing another blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 21, 2016
Powerful Japanese lawmaker urges re-evaluation of U.S. relationship with Trump taking office
Japan must undertake a major review of the way its decades-long alliance with the United States works and adopt a more proactive approach toward its top ally after Donald Trump takes office in January, a veteran Diet member says.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 17, 2016
Diet panel resumes talks on amending Constitution
Thursday's debate by the panel zeroed in on the long-standing assertion by conservative forces that Japan's supreme law was “imposed” by the Allied Powers.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 14, 2016
Ahead of U.S. visit, Abe says he hopes to build 'relationship of mutual trust' with Trump
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vows to the Diet that he will forge a strong relationship with the incoming president.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 4, 2016
Ruling bloc rams TPP bill through committee
The ruling coalition steamrolls a TPP ratification bill through the Lower House Trans-Pacific Partnership panel, infuriating opposition lawmakers and sparking chaos in the Diet.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 2, 2016
Ruling coalition gives up trying to pass TPP-ratifying bill after minister's gaffe
After a round of fresh calls for the resignation of the agriculture minister, the coalition decides to throw in the towel.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2016
Officials who changed plans at Tsukiji market replacement site tracked down
The Tokyo government identifies eight current and former officials believed responsible for the ever-spiraling safety woes complicating the relocation plan for the Tsukiji fish market.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 26, 2016
In boon for Abe, LDP officially signs off on extending president's term
The Liberal Democratic Party changes its rules to extend the maximum tenure of its president, Shinzo Abe, to nine years.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 24, 2016
LDP wins big, but is it enough for Abe to call snap election?
With Sunday's double victory in Tokyo and Fukuoka by-elections, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might be feeling relieved — but not exactly over the moon.
In a first, Japan issues cease-and-desist order against Google
The Google logo is seen at the company's Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Japanese authorities on Tuesday issued a cease-and-desist order to Google over an alleged violation of the country's anti-monopoly law.
Japan and the U.S. begin tariff talks on good terms, but without breakthroughs
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, speaks to reporters in Washington on Wednesday.
Trump calls the U.S.-Japan alliance ‘one-sided.’ Tokyo says otherwise.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday in Washington.
Tokyo hotel operators face possible warnings over suspected price cartel
Foreign tourists gather on a platform at Kyoto Station on Wednesday.
China executes man over Japanese school bus stop murder
The bus stop in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, where a Japanese mother, her child, and a Chinese woman were attacked in June 2024
Privacy and transparency clash in debate over bill on artificial insemination
Sachiko Ishizuka, who was born via artificial insemination by donor (AID), tells her story to lawmakers from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan on April 9.
Why Ishiba became the first prime minister to hold talks with Rengo in 16 years
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Japanese Trade Union Confederation chief Tomoko Yoshino in a meeting Tuesday at the Prime Minister's Office
In a first, Japan issues cease-and-desist order against Google
The Google logo is seen at the company's Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Japanese authorities on Tuesday issued a cease-and-desist order to Google over an alleged violation of the country's anti-monopoly law.
Sumo's throwback regional tours offer glimpse into sport's heart and history
Kirishima (behind) battles Atamifuji during a regional tour event in Hyogo Prefecture in 2023.
China’s new bridge-forming barges offer new options for Taiwan invasion
This satellite image taken on March 25 shows three Chinese barges connected via extendable bridges in waters off Zhanjiang, in southern China's Guangdong province. Experts say the new barges could be used to land heavy equipment and thousands of personnel in a possible invasion of Taiwan.

Podcast

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

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
By Tomoko Otake

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