Masami Ito - The Japan Times

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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 Times

JAPAN

Sep 30, 2005

High court cans Yasukuni suit

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal by 39 plaintiffs who sought damages from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the state for psychological stress they claim his August 2001 visit to Yasukuni Shrine caused.

JAPAN

Sep 29, 2005

Woman's kin sue Unification Church alleging it caused family breakdown

Parents of a Unification Church member filed a 17 million yen lawsuit Wednesday against the organization, alleging it caused their family to fracture.

JAPAN

Sep 29, 2005

Tokyo High Court rejects Turkish Kurd's appeal for asylum

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal filed by a Kurdish asylum seeker to revoke a Justice Ministry decision to deny him refugee status.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Sep 22, 2005

Parolees win retrial bid over '67 killing

The Mito District Court's Tsuchiura branch granted a retrial Wednesday for two parolees found guilty of robbery and murder, casting strong doubt on the evidence that led to their convictions.

JAPAN

Sep 21, 2005

Visa violations dropping but fingerprint revival eyed

Visa violators in Japan are on the wane, but the fingerprinting of foreigners may soon be revived, according to the 2005 Immigration Control report released Tuesday by the Immigration Bureau.

Japan Times

Features

Sep 18, 2005

Complexities of beauty

The tall, handsome foreigner took a seat next to a Japanese woman. Drinking in her delicate beauty, he leaned over and asked in a gentle voice: "Would you mind if I talk to you?"

JAPAN

Sep 15, 2005

Trespassing case is political, activists tell court

Three peace activists on trial for trespassing at a Self-Defense Forces housing compound where they had been distributing antiwar leaflets told the Tokyo High Court on Wednesday their arrest and indictment is a form of political suppression and their case should be dropped.

JAPAN

Sep 12, 2005

Voter loyalties split but all seek better future

Voters turned out in droves for Sunday's Lower House election to cast ballots in favor of reforms, hoping the policy steps taken by the victors will strengthen the economy and make people's lives better.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Aug 27, 2005

Art show by visually impaired offers a hands-on experience

Seeing with their hands -- that is what young visually disabled artists did to create works for an ongoing exhibition at Gallery Tom.

JAPAN

Aug 24, 2005

Court nixes policy payout to family of journalist slain in Iraq

The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday rejected a demand by the wife and son of a freelance photojournalist assassinated in Iraq to receive insurance benefits over his death.

JAPAN

Aug 20, 2005

Asylum in Japan eludes Myanmar's close-knit Chin minority

Hundreds of asylum-seekers from Myanmar have come to Japan to escape persecution since the 1980s, including those belonging to ethnic minorities like the Rohingya and Kachin, and dozens have so far been recognized here as refugees.

JAPAN

Aug 16, 2005

Honoring the war dead is a hot, heated affair

Tens of thousands of people braved a sweltering Monday in Tokyo to pay their respects to the nation's war dead on the 60th anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Aug 13, 2005

550,000-name sex slave petition for Koizumi

Former sex slaves and their supporters gave a petition of 550,000 signatures to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Friday demanding compensation from the Japanese government and a formal apology for the hardships the women suffered from during World War II.

JAPAN

Aug 10, 2005

Redress eludes survivors of deadly Soviet gulags

Haruyoshi Inukai was 20 when he donned an Imperial Japanese Army uniform on a sunny day in April 1944 and boarded a ship for deployment to Manchuria.

Japan Times

JAPAN / 60 YEARS AND ONWARD

Aug 10, 2005

Luck only payoff for Siberia returnees

Japanese soldiers who survived the slave labor, starvation and bitter cold of Siberian prison camps after the war could count themselves lucky, but not count any significant cold cash for their ordeal.

JAPAN

Jul 20, 2005

Ruling upheld nixing redress over Unit 731 germ warfare

The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court decision denying Chinese plaintiffs compensation for germ warfare atrocities committed in China by the Imperial Japanese Army during the war.

JAPAN

Jul 14, 2005

Tokyo still weak on human-trafficking: U.N. investigator

The government will have to do much more than just revise a few laws to combat human-trafficking, the U.N. special rapporteur on the problem said Wednesday.

JAPAN

Jul 14, 2005

Lawyers stand firm, boycott refugee appeal hearings

A group of lawyers representing refugee applicants began boycotting appeals hearings Wednesday as promised, after the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau rejected their requests for greater information disclosure.

JAPAN

Jul 12, 2005

U.N. calls for antidiscrimination law

The government urgently needs to acknowledge that deep discrimination against minorities, Korean and Chinese residents and other foreigners exists in Japan, an independent investigator said Monday.

JAPAN

Jul 12, 2005

Pair who killed four lose death-sentence appeal

The Tokyo High Court on Monday upheld the death sentence for a 63-year-old dog breeder and his former wife for the murder of four people in 1993.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.

As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

JNTO promotes sustainable tourism initiatives

JNTO promotes sustainable tourism initiatives

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