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Natsuko Fukue

JAPAN

Sep 30, 2010

Hospitals need 24,000 doctors to ease manpower shortage, study shows

Hospitals need 24,033 more doctors nationwide to reduce the excessive workload being thrust on the 167,063 physicians already in practice, according to a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry study.

Japan Times

JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW

Sep 29, 2010

Hosokawa pledges more jobs for young people

New Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Ritsuo Hosokawa is known for his knowledge of labor issues. Now that he's in the Cabinet, he plans to focus on increasing the employment rate for young workers.

JAPAN

Sep 22, 2010

Travel industry fears major impact from China dispute

With diplomatic ties between Tokyo and Beijing turning sour, Japan's tourism industry is increasingly worried that Chinese companies may follow the lead of Pro-Health, a health product maker that last week canceled an incentive tour for thousands of its employees.

JAPAN / Q&A

Sep 22, 2010

How did the missing elderly slip through the cracks?

The Justice Ministry announced this month that it can't confirm the whereabouts of 230,000 centenarians listed in "koseki" family registers.

JAPAN

Sep 15, 2010

Forum calls for a harder push

Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the United Nations resolution on women, peace and security, a recent regional forum in Tokyo concluded that more robust implementation is needed to include more women in peacekeeping processes.

JAPAN

Sep 15, 2010

Kan urged to focus on nation's finances

After Prime Minister Naoto Kan was re-elected president of the Democratic Party of Japan on Tuesday, many people interviewed on the streets of Tokyo expressed support for him and said he should get to work right away on revitalizing the economy.

JAPAN

Sep 15, 2010

Japan urged to back equality push

Has the world become safer and more peaceful for women and girls in the past 10 years? Not so much, says former United Nations Security Council President Anwarul K. Chowdhury.

JAPAN

Sep 11, 2010

234,000 centenarians listed in registries missing

The Justice Ministry announced Friday that the existence of 234,354 centenarians listed as "alive" in family registries can't be confirmed.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Sep 8, 2010

Tsuneoka says captors grew tired of holding him, failing to get ransom

Fresh from his release in Afghanistan, freelance journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka said Tuesday in Tokyo he was probably freed after five months in captivity because his abductors' demands for ransom failed.

JAPAN / Q&A

Sep 8, 2010

For most, adoption option impractical, iffy

For couples in Japan who can't have a child, adoption is not considered a viable option.

JAPAN / THE TROUBLE AT TOYOTA

Sep 3, 2010

Reportage seems source-biased

U.S. and Japanese media gave widespread but contrasting coverage of the sudden-acceleration accidents involving Toyota Motor Co. vehicles, mainly in North America, with accounts by victims and allegations of safety flaws getting greater play on the other side of the Pacific compared with a muted approach...

JAPAN

Sep 1, 2010

Four fathers picked as role models for child-rearing leave

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has picked four fathers from 131 applicants to serve as standard bearers for the participation of dads in child-rearing.

JAPAN

Aug 28, 2010

Demand for autopsies reflects suspicions over causes of death

A vast majority of the public thinks more autopsies are necessary to determine if a death was due to foul play, according to a Cabinet Office crime survey released Thursday.

JAPAN / LIVING IN LUXURY

Aug 27, 2010

The East meets West at Furukawa Gardens

The well-preserved early 20th century Furukawa Gardens in Kita Ward, Tokyo, boasts a British-style house on a hilltop overlooking a harmonious marriage of Western and Japanese landscaping.

Japan Times

JAPAN / EXPLAINER

Aug 10, 2010

Makeup Japan-style: Dark to light

Makeup for many women is a vital component of their appearance and one they take great pains to apply, even to the point of dolling themselves up during the crowded morning commute, working through the routine starting with a foundation, then eyebrows, mascara and finally lip gloss.

JAPAN

Aug 6, 2010

Cities scrambling to find centenarians

It all began last week when a mummified corpse was found at a house in Adachi Ward, Tokyo. If the man, Sogen Kato, were still alive he would have been 111 years old.

JAPAN

Aug 5, 2010

'Enryo' video, 'A to Z' Web site win my Japan contest

What if there's only one piece of fried chicken on a plate?

JAPAN / GROWING OLD ALONE

Jul 21, 2010

Elderly living alone increasingly dying the same way

Die unnoticed and in two months all that is left is the stench, a rotting corpse and maggots.

JAPAN / GROWING OLD ALONE

Jul 21, 2010

Neighbors, more than kin, face onus of keeping tabs on seniors

Retired cabby Juzo Omata, 65, was depressed and lonely when he tried to hang himself. His suicide attempt failed only because the tree he selected couldn't take his weight.

JAPAN

Jul 17, 2010

Visiting Iran official downplays impact of sanctions

Iran's economy will not be affected by sanctions imposed by the United Nations, even if Japan goes along with them, visiting Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammadali Fatollahi said in Tokyo Friday.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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

By Johan Brooks

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