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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
May 12, 2010
Don't fault China for sea confrontation: envoy
The Chinese marine survey ship that confronted a Japan Coast Guard vessel last week in what Japan says was its side of the border was not acting illegally, Cheng Yonghua, Beijing's new ambassador to Tokyo, reiterated Tuesday, urging both nations to resolve the dispute over the East China Sea demarcation....
JAPAN
May 12, 2010
Japan avoiding initiative in nonnuclear movement
The August 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings killed tens of thousands of people outright and drew a line in history between the prenuclear world and what came afterward.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
May 7, 2010
Hatoyama's reach exceeds grasp
What a mess.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2010
Court: disclose Okinawa papers
The Tokyo District Court on Friday ordered the government to disclose diplomatic documents related to the 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japan from the United States.
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2010
Okada hails new U.S. policy of limiting nukes
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada welcomed on Wednesday the new U.S. policy of limiting the use of atomic arms, calling it a big step toward a "world without nuclear weapons" but adding that other nuclear powers need to follow suit to make it effective.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2010
U.N. rights rep has bone to pick
Jorge Bustamante, U.N. special rapporteur on the rights of immigrants, has concluded his Japan visit and takes with him a sense that the government lacks a system to curb discrimination and better protect the human rights of foreigners.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2010
China: Four Japanese will be put to death
China has informed Japan that it will execute four Japanese nationals for drug-smuggling, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada revealed Friday, expressing concern over how the killings will impact public sentiment.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2010
Deportation rule troubles U.N. official
A recent government decision to deport only the parents of families without residency status, thus separating children from their mothers and fathers, flies in the face of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Jorge Bustamante, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants,...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 23, 2010
Greater peacekeeping role OK, not truce enforcement
Japan has often been criticized by the international community for resorting to "checkbook diplomacy" instead of committing uniformed personnel to danger zones as part of U.N. peacekeeping operations, but the ruling Democratic Party of Japan has signaled it wants that to change.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2010
Nuke pact files may have been chucked
A former senior Foreign Ministry official testified Friday in the Diet that key documents related to the secret nuclear pacts between Japan and the U.S. that he had filed were missing, and suggested they were deliberately destroyed.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2010
Ambassadors urge action on child abductions
Japan should sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and act to resolve its current cases by enabling parents left out in the cold to contact their spirited-away offspring, eight ambassadors in Tokyo said in a joint statement Thursday.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2010
DPJ rule raises Hague treaty-signing hope
It has been over five years since Murray Wood's two children left their home in Canada with his Japanese ex-wife for a supposed visit with their ill grandfather in Japan.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2010
Sea Shepherd activist arrested
The Japan Coast Guard on Friday arrested a member of U.S.-based antiwhaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for trespassing in connection with his boarding of a whaling fleet vessel in the Antarctic Ocean last month.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Mar 10, 2010
Admitting worst-kept secrets all about timing?
The Democratic Party of Japan-led government effectively dragged the skeletons in the closet of postwar Tokyo-Washington diplomacy out into the light Tuesday, in the process exposing the hollowness of its predecessor administrations' long denials.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2010
Okada, Steinberg discuss Iran nukes
Visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said in Tokyo Friday that he and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada are discussing how to coordinate more closely on the nuclear challenges of Iran.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2010
Group hopes U.S. ad raises awareness of Futenma
Concerned about the lack of information in the U.S. regarding the relocation of a marine base in Okinawa, a network of Japanese and U.S. citizens and nongovernmental groups announced Wednesday plans to take out a full-page ad on the controversial issue in a major U.S. newspaper.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2010
Dispatch of medical team to Chile called off
The government abruptly called off sending an emergency medical team to earthquake-hit Chile on Tuesday after Santiago declined the offer of assistance.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2010
Diet members send Obama nuclear letter
A group of nonpartisan Diet members sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday urging him to strive to limit the role of America's atomic weapons to that of nuclear deterrence.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2010
New panel mulls new security parameters
A newly set-up government panel began discussing basic defense policies Thursday, ultimately aiming to revise the National Defense Program Guideline before year's end.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2010
Top marine says Okinawa bases are vital
The U.S. bases in Okinawa are strategically necessary and marines are prepared to die to protect Japan, the commander of the U.S. Marine Corps of the Pacific said Wednesday in Tokyo.
Zelenskyy to replace Ukraine ambassador to Japan
Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky delivers a speech during a handover ceremony of Self-Defense Force vehicles to Ukraine, at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo, in May last year.
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.
For baseball fans, 2024 brought The Summer of Shohei Ohtani
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani reacts to a standing ovation from fans after hitting his 50th home run of the season, against the Marlins in Miami on Sept. 19.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
Is Japan finally ready to tap its abundant geothermal energy potential?
Steam rises from a geothermal plan in Yuzawa, Akita Prefecture. Despite its long history and potential, geothermal provided just 0.3% of Japan's overall energy mix in the fiscal year from April 2023
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.

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