Masami Ito - The Japan Times

December 22, 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

Jul 10, 2005

Detention, deportation of asylum seekers protested in Tokyo

Around 150 people including asylum applicants, lawyers and supporters gathered Saturday in a park in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, to protest the forced detention and deportation of people seeking asylum.

JAPAN

Jul 10, 2005

Detention, deportation of asylum seekers protested in Tokyo

Around 150 people including asylum applicants, lawyers and supporters gathered Saturday in a park in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, to protest the forced detention and deportation of people seeking asylum.

JAPAN

Jul 7, 2005

Supporters petition for retrial of boxer 25 years on death row

Supporters for a former professional boxer who has been on death row for decades handed the Supreme Court a petition with 2,880 signatures Wednesday demanding a retrial.

JAPAN

Jul 2, 2005

Forum mulls ways to make racial discrimination illegal here

Citing racial slurs by politicians and biased news reports playing up an increase in crimes committed by foreigners, participants in a Tokyo symposium called Thursday for a legal framework that would eradicate racial discrimination in Japan.

JAPAN

Jul 1, 2005

Rightist's life term upheld for DPJ lawmaker's slaying

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday upheld the life term meted out by a lower court to a 51-year-old man convicted of murdering a House of Representatives lawmaker inOctober 2002.

JAPAN

Jun 30, 2005

Asylum lawyers threaten boycott

A group of lawyers who represent people seeking asylum threatened Wednesday to boycott appeals hearings for their clients unless the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau changes its procedures.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Jun 27, 2005

Asylum seekers get a big kick out of 'One Ball, No Border' tourney

Cheers and laughter echoed Sunday morning around Waseda University's soccer field in Nishitokyo as an estimated 150 people seeking asylum, lawyers, Japanese volunteers and friends gathered for an annual futsal tournament to mark World Refugee Day.

JAPAN

Jun 24, 2005

Escaped slave's kin lose redress award in appeal

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday overturned a lower court decision and denied compensation to the family of a deceased Chinese slave laborer who lived as a fugitive for 13 years after escaping from a Hokkaido coal mine near the end of World War II.

JAPAN

Jun 23, 2005

Death, disease not linked to smoking: high court

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal filed by former smokers, some now deceased, who were each demanding 10 million yen in compensation from Japan Tobacco Inc. and the government for tobacco-induced illnesses.

JAPAN

Jun 21, 2005

Ethnic Myanmar refugee pleads for policy change

A refugee from Myanmar belonging to an ethnic minority urged Japan on Monday to grant asylum to more of his compatriots, saying they face serious persecution back home.

JAPAN

Jun 12, 2005

Man to sue TV Asahi over report he smuggled guns

A Japanese man now serving a 15-month sentence in the United States will seek 5 million yen in damages from TV Asahi for defamation for airing a report that he was illegally selling guns.

JAPAN

Jun 7, 2005

Info exchange on refugees rapped

Japan may explicitly legalize providing personal information on people seeking asylum to authorities in their country of origin, where they fear persecution, lawyers said Monday.

JAPAN

Jun 5, 2005

Amnesty challenges Japan to do more on rights

Japan can and should do more to improve its record on human rights as it seeks a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, according to the secretary general of Amnesty International.

JAPAN

Jun 4, 2005

'Dead Man Walking' author seeks to end control of the noose

The death penalty is part of the same societal paradigm as war, as both are used by the state to impose control through violence, according to Sister Helen Prejean.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Jun 1, 2005

Rise in defamation suits threaten media: journalists

The increasing number of lawsuits being filed in response to allegedly defamatory news articles is posing a threat to media organizations and freedom of expression by discouraging aggressive reporting, several journalists said at a recent symposium in Saitama.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Apr 13, 2005

Kids born, fathered here by Japanese sue state for recognition as citizens

A lawsuit was filed against the government Tuesday on behalf of nine children born in Japan to Japanese fathers and Filipino mothers who are seeking to be recognized as Japanese, according to their lawyer.

JAPAN

Apr 9, 2005

Asylum-seeker sues state for damages

A Myanmarese asylum-seeker who recently received a special residence permit filed a damages suit against the government Friday, demanding 11 million yen for being detained despite his status as a refugee, his lawyers said.

Features

Feb 27, 2005

Workings of a watershed

One day, in just a few years' time, people all over Japan will begin to find unexpected official letters in their mailboxes. Perhaps anxious that they have done something wrong, or failed to make a payment, it will be with considerable tredipation that most seek out the contents.

Features

Feb 27, 2005

Judges 'on bended knee'

For the 21 years of his life as a judge, Akira Rokusha lived a closeted existence. From his home in an official residence alongside fellow judges and other courthouse employees, he was taken to the court in a special minibus, and he spent his days off reading and reviewing material related to his cases....

JAPAN

Jan 29, 2005

Former deportee protests denial of bid to live here, near wife's grave

A Bangladeshi man once deported from Japan staged a protest Friday in front of the Justice Ministry, slamming the government for not allowing him back quickly enough to spend time with his Japanese wife as she died of cancer and for telling him he must now leave the country where she is buried.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.

The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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