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April 08, 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 / Society
Sep 15, 2015
Justice Ministry unveils eased refugee-recognition criteria but critics quick to cry foul
A wide-ranging review will cover everything from accepting more highly skilled non-Japanese workers and revising the foreign trainee program to cracking down harder on visa overstayers.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 9, 2015
Plan to use My Number for tax rebates is flawed, some experts say
The system is set to streamline tax collection and social welfare benefits, but critics warn of privacy issues by using it to also provide sales tax rebates.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 8, 2015
Supreme Court rules hibakusha overseas are entitled to full medical expenses
A landmark decision means thousands of atomic bomb survivors living outside of Japan will get full health coverage.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2015
Ministry proposes overhaul of immigration, asylum policies
The nation will try to lure additional highly skilled foreign professionals and exchange students as part of a drive to stimulate the stagnant economy, according to the latest draft of an immigration policy review compiled by the Justice Ministry.
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2015
Thousands protest Abe, security bills at Diet rally
In one of the strongest signs of public frustration over controversial security bills likely to be passed by lawmakers next month, thousands of people surrounded the Diet building Sunday afternoon to protest their enactment and call for the resignation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2015
Students launch hunger strike to protest security bills
Sitting upright across from the Diet building, the protesters say they know their fight against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is going to take a heavy toll on them. But they say they have to do it nonetheless.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2015
Low-cost retailer Shimamura pulls pendant bearing Nazi symbol
Low-cost apparel retailer Shimamura Co., has removed necklaces that resemble a swastika, which was the notorious symbol of the Nazi Party, amid a growing online backlash over the design.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 19, 2015
Immigration crackdown seen as paving the way for state to expel valid visa-holders
After successfully expelling visa overstayers over the past decade, Japan is now shifting its immigration control focus to a new target: people in the country on bogus visas.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 15, 2015
Ministers visit divisive war shrine on 70th anniversary of war end
In a move likely to draw fresh criticism from China and South Korea, three members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet visited the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine Saturday, the 70th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2015
Emperor voices 'deep remorse' over war at 70th anniversary of surrender; ministers visit Yasukuni
In comments in Tokyo to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Emperor Akihito refers to his u2018deep remorse' over wartime events.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2015
'Ama' divers denounce 'obscene' city mascot, demand its withdrawal
More than 100 ama divers are demanding that the coastal city of Shima, Mie Prefecture, scrap a newly adopted mascot on the grounds that it is obscene.
JAPAN / Society / 70 YEARS AFTER THE WAR'S END
Aug 11, 2015
Offspring have hard time relating hibakusha experience but have same health fears
Facing his fellow survivors of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Atsushi Takeshita begrudgingly announced last month that his group, comprised of about 100 hibakusha, will put an end to more than 60 years of activity because its members are getting too old.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 7, 2015
Lower House OKs recording of suspect questioning
Landmark development in Japan's criminal justice system also includes introduction of a plea bargain system and expanding the use of the wiretap law.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Aug 6, 2015
Hiroshima marks 70th A-bomb anniversary amid fears of pacifism eroding
Commemorations included renewed pledges to abolish nuclear arms and pursue world peace, though some said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's drive to expand the country's military role undercut that sentiment.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2015
In 'historic' shift, night school admission standards are eased in Japan
In a landmark development, the government has dictated a drastic easing of admission requirements for night junior high school, paving the way for victims of childhood abuse and bullying to take the classes again, only this time actually benefitting from them.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2015
Who are you calling a honky? Gaffe-prone Fuji TV stumbles again
Internet users were snorting in derision after participants on a Fuji TV entertainment show wore T-shirts with a bizarre English slogan incorporating a word that some Caucasians might find offensive.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 27, 2015
Child killer memoir 'Zekka' fuels calls for tougher proceeds-of-crime laws in Japan
More than a month after its publication, public outrage over a controversial memoir by a serial killer who targeted children when he was a minor has shown no sign of abating.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2015
Xenophobic wave of tips target 'illegal' Korean residents; immigration bureaus overwhelmed
An Internet rumor that hundreds of thousands of ethnic Korean residents are to be deported has seen immigration bureaus nationwide deluged with 'tips' from bounty seekers.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2015
Doshisha academics denounce president's support for security bills
More than 70 professors and other faculty members at Kyoto's Doshisha University say they are "ashamed" by comments from their president, Koji Murata, in support of a set of security bills at a Diet committee hearing earlier this week.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 15, 2015
Family of victim of Kobe child-killer calls for ban on criminals' memoirs
Enraged by the publication last month of a memoir by an infamous child serial killer from Kobe, the father of one of the victims petitioned the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday for a ban on criminals talking about their crimes, including in print and movies, without the permission of those...
Nissan says it will not take new U.S. orders for Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs
A Nissan manufacturing complex in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Nissan says it will not take new orders from the United States for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs following new auto tariffs levied by the U.S.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it
An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Nikkei plunges in third-biggest daily loss ever amid Trump tariff concerns
Pedestrians stand in front of an electronic board showing the numbers of the Nikkei Stock Average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange along a street in the Japanese capital on Monday.
Ride-hailing services spreading in Japan
Vehicles used for ride-hailing services in the city of Kiryu, in Gunma Prefecture
Japan responds to Trump's tariffs with a polite phone call and request
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a joint press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Feb. 7.
‘Let’s make it practical’: NATO chief eyes greater defense-industrial ties with Japan
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte plans to visit Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday — his first to the Indo-Pacific region since taking office in October, as he seeks to implement lessons from the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Tottori takes a bold leap forward in the arts
The city of Kurayoshi in Tottori Prefecture celebrated the opening of its public art museum with festivities such as a parade that drew 1,000 revelers.
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).
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
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.

Podcast

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

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it
By Alex K.T. Martin

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