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April 05, 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
Jul 16, 2013
Killer octopus not seen posing threat to swimmers
As the hot, humid days lure people to the beaches, some may worry about the deadly octopuses that have been spotted in the Kanto region. To the relief of many, experts say few of them are still alive and beach-goers don't need to worry about the possibility of being bit by the venomous little critters....
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2013
Kanto may face water shortage
The early end to this year's rainy season has put the Kanto region at risk of a water shortage this summer, with record-low water levels reported Tuesday at dams along the Tone River, the government is warning.
JAPAN / Politics / GAME OF NUMBERS
Jul 5, 2013
Poll may see end to divided Diet but what follows may be worrisome
Unlike the past two House of Councilors elections, in 2007 and 2010, that saw opposition forces win big against the ruling parties, this time around they look to take the hit.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2013
Rights activists demand end to exploitative trainee program
Japan has long drawn criticism from global watchdogs for failing to curb human trafficking, perhaps most conspicuously when it comes to foreign women brought in to work in the sex trade.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 28, 2013
METI vet fined ¥11 million for Elpida trades
The Tokyo District Court on Friday handed down a suspended 18-month prison sentence and an ¥11 million fine to a former veteran trade ministry official for insider trading in the 2009 state-led bailout of Elpida Memory Inc.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 27, 2013
Gifu man, 71, sues NHK for distress over its excess use of foreign words
A Gifu Prefecture man is suing NHK for mental distress allegedly caused by the broadcaster's excessive use of foreign words.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2013
UNESCO award spurs Fuji tourist guide frenzy
Now that Mount Fuji has been inscribed on UNESCO's list of World Cultural Heritage sites, some tourism agencies are rushing to capitalize on the historic opportunity in the hopes that the decision will spur the mountain's already robust popularity among foreign travelers.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2013
Show a fashion statement on asylum seekers
Dismayed by Japan's low acceptance rate for asylum seekers, a student group organized a fashion show spotlighting ethnic clothes to raise awareness among their peers of the harsh reality facing the underprivileged worldwide.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jun 21, 2013
Project prods jobless young to test strengths
Only two years after establishing a company in 2005, young entrepreneur Yujun Wakashin found himself in an unexpected predicament: his co-founder and employees ganged up on him, ousting him from his own firm.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2013
Virtuous, vicious or just circular? Loop line to wed pair
East Japan Railway Co. announced Tuesday that a lucky couple will get the chance to hold a special wedding ceremony on board its Yamanote Line later this year.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 18, 2013
Kan hits Abe's nuclear salesmanship
Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan calls Prime Minister Shinzo Abe 'inhumane' and an aggressive 'salesman for Japan's nuclear village' for peddling Japan's nuclear technology overseas.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 18, 2013
Anti-Korean rally in Shin-Okubo turns ugly; several suspects held
The latest in a spate of anti-Korean demonstrations in Tokyo's Shin-Okubo district turned into an ugly melee Sunday between two rival groups, resulting in eight arrests, including the leader of an ultra-rightist organization and a leftist rival.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 14, 2013
Parolee in 1963 Saitama girl's slaying hits authorities for lying, forcing confessions
Investigators will lie, grill for hours on end and withhold exonerating evidence — in effect do anything — to extract a confession from a suspect they have pegged for a crime, a 1994 parolee seeking a retrial to clear his name in the 1963 kidnap-murder of a Saitama Prefecture girl said Thursday in...
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2013
Group targets miscarriages of justice
Seven months after Nepalese Govinda Prasad Mainali was last year acquitted of a 1997 robbery-murder of a Tokyo woman, his supporters launched a new civic organization to call for eradication of wrongful convictions, which they claim are still rampant in the legal system.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2013
Fukushima kids' thyroids screened
Forty-four children living in areas of Fukushima Prefecture subject to high levels of radiation were screened for thyroid cancer Saturday in Tokyo, highlighting widespread health fears following the 2011 nuclear meltdowns crisis.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2013
Video of Tokyo cop's crowd-control comments goes viral
A Tokyo police officer is winning praise for quick-witted comments that kept excited soccer fans from getting out of hand Tuesday night in Shibuya after Japan won a ticket to the 2014 World Cup.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 6, 2013
Hashimoto is Horie's kind of guy
Takafumi Horie, 40, the recently paroled founder of Internet firm Livedoor Co., said Wednesday he wants embattled Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto to become prime minister one day, citing his "ability to challenge" and "alter the status quo" of politics.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2013
Rights groups tell Japan to fully tape interrogations of criminal suspects
Human rights organizations submitted a petition Monday to the Justice Ministry urging the government to introduce full recordings of interrogations by prosecutors and police.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 2, 2013
Belgian, Ugandan win Noguchi prize
Two doctors from Belgium and Uganda were awarded the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize on Saturday at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development for their great strides in helping the world combat deadly infectious diseases.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2013
Tokyo urged to aid disease eradication battle
The world may be on the verge of a historic breakthrough in the quest to eradicate infectious diseases once thought incurable, and Japan needs to be a key player, said Mark Dybul, an executive of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
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.
Japan’s leader didn’t read the job description
Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba is facing a political funding scandal that has damaged his reputation and sparked speculation that internal efforts to remove him are underway.
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.
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.
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.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.

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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