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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 Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 11, 2016
Election strengthens LDP as opposition flounders; Abe says talks to begin on constitutional revision
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was all smiles Sunday night after being asked to put flower symbols next to the names of his party’s numerous successful candidates, in a post-election appearance at Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 8, 2016
TV star Ishida announces intention to run for Tokyo governor
Ishida said he wouldn't go out of his way to seek endorsement from the opposition but wanted to stand against “Abe's monolithic administration.”
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / DECISION 2016
Jul 8, 2016
Young voters hope to reform Japan's 'silver democracy'
A revised law has expanded the electorate by 2.4 million voters aged 18 and 19 and is designed to give more political say to younger generations.
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2016
Wakayama youth group urges teens to 'end voting virginity'
End your virginity while you are still a teenager.
JAPAN / Politics / DECISION 2016
Jul 7, 2016
Showdown in apathetic Fukushima finds justice minister scrambling for survival
Justice Minister Mitsuhide Iwaki is feeling threatened.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 5, 2016
LDP's Tokyo chapter puts off anointing gubernatorial pick until after Upper House election
The Tokyo branch of the Liberal Democratic Party won't choose its candidate for the July 31 gubernatorial race until after Sunday's Upper House election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 29, 2016
Former LDP defense chief Koike goes rogue, announces bid to be Tokyo's first female governor
The LDP veteran bucks her party, throwing her hat into the ring for the gubernatorial election slated for next month.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2016
Kanto region facing serious summer drought, possible water restrictions
The Tokyo area may experience a crippling drought this summer, possibly triggering a raft of restrictions, due to an 'unprecedented' shortage of water in lakes and reservoirs.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 27, 2016
DP's Okada challenges Abe to TV debate ahead of Upper House election in open letter
The president of the biggest opposition party on Monday dared Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to face him in a televised debate over the next two weeks leading up to the Upper House election, calling his refusal to do so unheard-of in recent years.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / LEADERS SPEAK
Jun 27, 2016
DP's Okada warns Abe is distracting voters from his goal to rewrite Constitution
A strong victory for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party in next month's Upper House election would spell an end to postwar pacifism and "completely change the way Japan is," according to Democratic Party leader Katsuya Okada.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / LEADERS SPEAK
Jun 23, 2016
Upper House poll a chance to preserve pacifist Constitution, says JCP's Shii
As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe steers the nation away from pacifism, the coming Upper House election is a chance to voice opposition to this new course, according to Kazuo Shii, who heads the Japanese Communist Party.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / DECISION 2016
Jun 22, 2016
Abe plays economic card but opposition targets his 'hidden' agenda in Upper House election battle
The poll could pave the way for Abe to revise the U.S.-drafted Constitution nationalists see as a humiliating remnant of WWII.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 21, 2016
Abe to 'take responsibility' if ruling bloc fails to win 61 seats in Upper House election
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he will take the blame if the Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito ruling bloc fails to win more than a majority in the Upper House election.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / LEADERS SPEAK
Jun 21, 2016
Constitutional revision, security laws shouldn't be election issues: Komeito chief
Neither the Constitution nor the contentious security laws enacted last year should become key issues in the Upper House election, said Natsuo Yamaguchi, president of Komeito, the junior partner in the ruling coalition.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / LEADERS SPEAK
Jun 17, 2016
LDP vows all-out effort to boost Abenomics if it wins election
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party will launch an all-out effort to boost Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Abenomics policy if it wins big in the Upper House election next month, LDP Secretary-General Sadakazu Tanigaki vowed Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 15, 2016
Masuzoe's departure will cost Tokyo residents ¥5 billion for new election
An election committee official says choosing a successor may cost Tokyo taxpayers as much as u00a55 billion.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2016
TV presenter Kobayashi has advanced cancer, says actor husband Ebizo
Popular television presenter Mao Kobayashi, 33, has been battling "serious" breast cancer for the past 20 months and is undergoing treatment, her kabuki actor husband, Ichikawa Ebizo, said Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 3, 2016
Japanese court issues first-ever injunction against hate-speech rally
A Kanagawa Prefecture bench prevents an anti-Korean activist from holding rallies near a group that supports ethnic Koreans.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 1, 2016
Diet scraps dated marriage-ban law as session wraps up
An amendment ending a six-month ban on remarriage for newly divorced women passes, nixing a century-old tradition.
JAPAN / Politics
May 31, 2016
Aso falls into line on Abe's tax hike delay
Finance Minister Taro Aso says he will support the expected decision to delay the increase in the consumption tax, backpedaling from earlier criticism that doing so would renege on an election pledge.

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