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December 23, 2024
 

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Masami Ito

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Masami Ito
Masami is a staff writer for the Life and Culture Division at The Japan Times. She is in charge of the weekly Sunday Timeout, covering various issues related to Japan, from alcohol/drug addiction and juvenile crime to female sushi chefs and kendama. Over her 15-year career, she has written extensively on Japanese politics, foreign policy and social issues.
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2011
Nearby seawater radioactive
Radioactive materials that exceeded regulation levels have been found in seawater around the endangered Fukushima nuclear plant, but government officials offered reassurances Tuesday they will not have an immediate effect on people's health.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2011
Electricity restored at reactor No. 2
Tokyo Electric Power Co. restored electricity to the power center of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant's No. 2 reactor Sunday afternoon and will attempt to turn on its cooling system and other safety equipment to get the upper hand on the nuclear crisis.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2011
Japan abiding by IAEA: Amano
Director General Yukiya Amano of the International Atomic Energy Association tried to give his home country a break Friday by acknowledging the Fukushima power plant crisis is serious and Japan is acting in accordance with IAEA standards.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2011
Other nations continue moving their people out
Embassies continued Friday to evacuate citizens and shut down or relocate diplomatic offices in Tokyo amid grave international concern over the nuclear crisis in Fukushima Prefecture and the lack of timely, credible information on what is happening.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2011
Innkeeper offers to house 400 disaster-zone refugees
A Bangladeshi resident of Japan who owns several hotels and restaurants offered Friday to house about 400 people displaced by the massive earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku region.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2011
Embassies launch emergency measures
Embassies in Tokyo have started emergency steps such as moving their functions to the Kansai region or flying diplomats' families out of Japan amid concern over radiation from the crisis-hit Fukushima nuclear plant.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2011
Foreign medics get OK to come
The government was preparing Wednesday to receive medical help from abroad for the thousands injured by the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit the country's north.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2011
Overseas aid offers flow in
Offers of help have been streaming in from abroad in the wake of the massive earthquake and tsunami that wiped whole towns off the map in the northeast.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2011
Global rescue teams arrive to lend hand
Facing the chance that more than 10,000 people were dead in the wake of the deadly earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan, international rescue teams have been arriving to give assistance.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2011
Rolling blackouts set for nine prefectures
Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced Sunday that he has approved temporary power outages to prevent a massive blackout in the wake of Friday's deadly earthquake that struck northern Japan.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2011
U.S. sacks Maher, apologizes for remarks
An apologetic U.S. government on Thursday removed a senior U.S. official from his post over disparaging remarks he allegedly made about Okinawa.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2011
Matsumoto: Abduction pact no one-size-fits-all
New Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto said Thursday he is aware of the importance of the international treaty to prevent estranged parents from spiriting offspring across borders but noted Tokyo must consider the Japanese people's interests in determining whether to sign the Hague Convention.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2011
World Red Cross chief: Japan has crucial aid role
In November 2009, Tadateru Konoe, Japanese Red Cross Society head, became the first Asian president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2011
Mothers make case against Hague treaty
Three Japanese mothers who took their children from the United States to Japan after failed international marriages urged the government Wednesday not to sign the Hague Treaty, which is aimed at preventing cross-border parental kidnapping.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2011
Pilot project's first refugees orientated
Poised to embark on a new life on their own, the five Myanmar families in Japan on a U.N.-sponsored third-country resettlement program finished their six-month training Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2011
Matsumoto new foreign minister
Prime Minister Naoto Kan named political blue-blood and former banker Takeaki Matsumoto as foreign minister Wednesday, promoting the deputy foreign minister to replace Seiji Maehara, who stepped down over a political donation scandal.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Mar 8, 2011
DPJ loses potential successor to Kan
Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara's abrupt resignation Sunday may have averted even more turmoil in the Diet, but his loss bodes ill for the Democratic Party of Japan because he was a leading candidate to succeed Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2011
Maehara quits Cabinet over donations
Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara announced his resignation Sunday to take responsibility for illegally accepting donations from a foreign national, further damaging the already shaky Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2011
Maehara admits dodgy donations
Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara acknowledged Friday that he unknowingly accepted illegal donations from a foreign national and said he would return the money.
JAPAN / History
Mar 4, 2011
Maehara apologizes to Aussie ex-POWs
Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara officially apologized Thursday to a group of five former Australian prisoners of war for the hardships they endured at the hands of their Japanese captors.
Bankruptcies and suicides rise as Japanese struggle with mounting debt
Lawyers estimate that personal bankruptcies in Japan are on track to reach the highest since 2012 this year.
Honda and Nissan consider mutual production of vehicles, report says
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 at Tokyo Big Sight in October 2023.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.

Podcast

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

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Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
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