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April 06, 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
Aug 21, 2014
Harasser of manga author draws maximum sentence
The unrepentant man driven by jealousy to repeatedly threaten the author of a popular basketball manga gets a 4 1/2-year prison term, the longest allowed.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2014
U.S. ice bucket challenge picked up by Japan's movers and shakers
A U.S.-based social media challenge daring people to douse themselves with buckets of ice water spreads to Japan, with celebrities from billionaire Masayoshi Son to singer Ayumi Hamasaki taking up the gauntlet to boost awareness of what is known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2014
Tokyu Corp. taps foreign students to help make Shibuya more tourist-friendly
Railway operator and real estate developer Tokyu Corp. has kicked off a nightly seminar during which some of its employees will live with foreign exchange students for two weeks, and discuss how to make Shibuya "the world's most fascinating tourist spot."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2014
Visa overstayers launch campaign for 'legalization'
A group of visa overstayers launched a month-long campaign Monday in which they will ask 36 local assemblies in the Kanto region for special permission to remain in the country legally.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2014
Free Hug activist hopes to mend fences in Asia
It was August 2011 when Koichi Kuwabara hit the streets of Seoul with a mission in mind.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND
Aug 7, 2014
Foster parent shortage takes growing toll on children
Veteran foster parent Mika Hobbs was surprisingly frank when she confessed how nerve-racking her job can be.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2014
Manga shop threatens to post face of alleged shoplifter on Internet
A well-known “otaku” shop in Tokyo is threatening to post an alleged shoplifter's face online if he doesn't return what he stole.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2014
Remarks on Studio Ghibli's 'dismantling' sows confusion
English-language bloggers were quick to react Monday to remarks made by Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki about 'dismantling' the studio's animation production department.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 4, 2014
Courts, U.N. shine spotlight on hate speech in Japan
Rarely in the history of Japan have public concerns over hate speech appeared so intense and widespread as today.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2014
Tohoku University evicts 105 students from dorm over drinking
Fed up with a litany of poor behavior by drunken students, Tou00adhou00adku University in Miu00adyau00adgi Prefecture has decided to take the unusually harsh step of evicting all 105 residents from a school dorm by the end of September.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / Q&A
Jul 25, 2014
A closer look at the Supreme Court's welfare benefits ruling
Opinions are divided over how the Supreme Court ruling last week declaring permanent foreign residents of Japan ineligible for welfare payments will affect the foreign communities in Japan.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2014
Few biting so far on special visa for workers
Indefinite stay, ramped-up privileges so far failing to attract highly skilled foreign workers said to be key to the nation's economic revival.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 19, 2014
Welfare ruling stuns foreigners
The Supreme Court's landmark decision that permanent foreign residents of Japan are not entitled to welfare benefits will discourage municipalities from doling out such aid.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 19, 2014
Vagina artist wins release, urges public to challenge taboos
An artist arrested for distributing 3-D data of her vagina online urged the public to outgrow the perception that female genitalia are taboo or shameful, after being released from police custody on Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2014
Ex-NHK staffers seek Momii's ouster
More than 170 former employees of NHK petition the board of the public broadcaster to urge biased Chairman Katsuto Momii to resign or strip him of power.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2014
Tanigaki vows internship revamp, foreign-friendly policies
Addressing the foreign press, Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki on Thursday reaffirmed his commitment to revamping the foreign trainee program, which critics say is rife with human rights violations.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2014
Government-backed innovation initiative looking for 'weirdos'
Tech-savvy "weirdos" are now wanted for an unusual government-sponsored project that seeks to spur innovation by backing people capable of producing "disruptive change" in conservative Japan.
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2014
Composer Sakamoto has cancer, cancels all engagements
Musician Ryuichi Sakamoto announces that he has throat cancer and is canceling all engagements to focus on battling the disease.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 9, 2014
Ministry panel backpedals on promise to revamp justice system
Despite growing criticism of the country's notoriously opaque criminal justice system, a government panel tasked with revamping it has opted not to back the mandatory recording of interrogations.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Jul 7, 2014
Future leader shows promise with African aid work, British schooling, and Japan politics in sight
When Doga Makiura arrived in Rwanda in 2012, the 18-year-old was amazed to find not the stains of the 1994 genocide, but a tidy airport, impressive high-rises and welcoming people.
3D printer used to construct train station building in Japan
A train station building (front) is assembled from parts printed using 3D printer technology, in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
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.
Japan digs deep to address 'national crisis' caused by Trump tariffs
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on April 1. He has said that Japan is facing a "national crisis" following the introduction of new tariffs by the United States.
Tokyo’s KK Line to close for decadelong overhaul as public greenway
People enjoy running and yoga on Tokyo Expressway’s KK Line, a 2-kilometer elevated expressway cutting through the capital’s commercial Ginza district, when it was opened as a pedestrian space in May last year.
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.
‘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

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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