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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
May 19, 2014
'Oishinbo' editor defends manga
The editor of 'Oishinbo' defends a decision to link characters' nosebleeds to Fukushima radiation, calling it a 'meaningful' attempt to depict the grim reality of life there.
Japan Times
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
May 18, 2014
Icho's ethnic vitality poses future model for Japan
If Japan throws its doors open to immigrants it might start looking like a certain neighborhood in Yokohama with multilingual street signs, ethnic eateries, and a babel of languages spoken in the streets.
JAPAN
May 16, 2014
Population fixes have anti-foreign bias, official says
The government is in denial over Japan's looming demographic disaster and adopting unrealistic solutions to keep immigrants at arm's length, a former senior immigration official reveals.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 13, 2014
Diet surrounded in human-chain protest
Combating what they call an effort to turn Japan into "a pro-war country," 2,500 people formed a human chain around the Diet building at noon Tuesday to protest the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's drive to reinterpret the pacifist Constitution.
JAPAN
May 12, 2014
Journalist now stands by Nanjing book
In a reversal, journalist Henry S. Stokes stands by the revisionist conclusion of his Japanese book that the Nanjing Massacre never occurred, after accusing his translator of right-wing sabotage.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 12, 2014
Know your rights when faced with 'stop and frisk' situation
U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Japan last month triggered a barrage of security measures in Tokyo. Lockers and garbage cans at major train stations were taped shut and throngs of solemn-faced police officers appeared to be everywhere.
JAPAN
May 9, 2014
Women's group launches bid to deny sex to men who are pro-war
A women's group campaigns against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to reinterpret the Constitution by urging women not to have sex with any man deemed pro-war.
JAPAN
May 9, 2014
Lawyers blast LDP bid to tweak Sunagawa ruling
A group of lawyers released a statement Friday expressing outrage over the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's recent move to "forcibly" interpret a high-profile 1959 Supreme Court ruling to justify its claim that Japan is allowed to wield the right to collective self-defense.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 8, 2014
Ex-Aum cultist pleads not guilty
Former Aum Shinrikyo cultist Naoko Kikuchi pleads not guilty to attempted murder for her role in the 1995 bombing of a Tokyo City Hall office.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
May 3, 2014
Does pacifism need an update?
With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe increasingly bent on altering the pacifist Constitution, backers and foes of his revisionist agenda held gatherings on Constitution Day on Saturday to make their voices heard.
JAPAN
May 1, 2014
Japan's orphans neglected: HRW
Japan's habit of shunting orphans and abused children to child-care institutions instead of foster parents has left thousands susceptible to mistreatment, Human Rights Watch warns.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 30, 2014
Ex-judge lifts lid on Japan's 'corrupt' judicial system
Abandon all hope, ye who enter Japanese courts.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2014
Manga about work at Fukushima No. 1 stirs locals' ire
Cartoon characters who suffered nosebleeds after a visit to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant are turning into a headache for manga publisher Shogakukan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 22, 2014
149 lawmakers visit Yasukuni
A total of 147 lawmakers, as well as two Cabinet ministers, visited the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday morning, in a move that could be perceived as provocative by China, South Korea — and even the United States.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2014
Hakamada has first appearance as reprieve pends
Apparently perplexed but yet thrilled to find himself in the spotlight, Iwao Hakamada, formerly the world's longest-serving death-row inmate, appeared for the first time in public Monday since being hospitalized after his release.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 14, 2014
Avian flu unlikely to sicken humans
Experts are optimistic Japan's first bird flu outbreak since 2011 won't become a public health hazard as long as people follow common sense hygiene habits.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 11, 2014
Stiffer juvenile law enacted
The Diet enacts a controversial law to stiffen punishment for juvenile offenders, including longer prison terms of up to 20 years for serious offenses.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2014
Iitate farmer's cautionary tale translated
Kenichi Hasegawa is a man of conviction.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2014
With oath, university moves to end students' alcohol woes
A university in Hokkaido will ask its students to sign an oath not to engage in hazardous drinking after several alcohol-related incidents tainted its image.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Apr 6, 2014
Human rights champ Doi battles social injustice in Japan
Many Japanese view human rights violations as the problems of people in a distant world, but Kanae Doi is battling to change that perception.

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