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November 22, 2024
 

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David McNeill

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David McNeill
David McNeill is a Tokyo-based writer from Ireland. He writes for several international publications and teaches political science at Sophia University. His new co-authored book is "Strong in the Rain: Surviving Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 23, 2013
Back to the future: Shinto's growing influence in politics
Immaculate and ramrod straight in a crisp, black suit, Japan's education minister, Hakubun Shimomura, speaks like a schoolteacher — slowly and deliberately.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 23, 2013
Resisting the historical deniers
Shin Kawashima recalls his heart sinking with the reelection of Shinzo Abe. A specialist in Asian diplomatic history at the University of Tokyo, Kawashima has spent years trying to narrow the gap between Japan and China's strikingly different interpretations of wartime history. The election could undo...
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 23, 2013
Re-engineering Shinto
Japan's ancient, indigenous religion, premodern Shinto, was considered one of the world's least dogmatic, laidback belief systems. Many of its earthy, animist rituals were tied to a love of nature and tradition, anchored around festivals and ceremonies honoring kami (gods) found in all aspects of life....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2013
U.S. sailor's rape victim wins case
A woman raped by an American serviceman near the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 2002 wins a landmark judgment against her attacker.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2013
Imperial Family's car woes sparked Toyota whistleblower
In 2008, Toyota faced an embarrassing problem: The Imperial Family's luxury Century Royal, used to carry Crown Prince Naruhito around Japan, was a dud.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2013
Dark sides of Toyota's drive to be No. 1
Like most corporate giants, Toyota isn't all squeaky clean. Yet in their book 'Toyota no Shotai' ('The True Colors of Toyota') published in Japanese in 2006, Hajime Yokota and Makoto Sataka catalog the Japanese media's timidity when it comes to covering the nation's top advertiser.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2013
How even the mightiest can sometimes succumb to their own success
Toyota was famously slow to respond to the glut of claims of sudden acceleration problems afflicting some of its vehicles — at least until a now-notorious recording of an emergency 911 call made from one of the passengers stuck in 45-year-old California Highway Patrolman Mark Saylor's speeding Lexus on Aug. 28, 2009.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2013
'Lurching' Lexus fortunately just ran into a wall
Tanya Spotts, a real estate agent from Hamilton, Virginia, bought a new Lexus E350 in 2011. This is her story.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 14, 2013
Inose's slurs anger, bemuse Turks in Tokyo but may boost Istanbul's Olympic bid
It's prayer time at Tokyo's biggest mosque and the congregation is pondering God, community and Naoki Inose, the city's governor, who many here say has revealed himself to be, well, a bit of a bigot.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 26, 2013
'The day my mum looked after the Beatles'
In rock mythology, John Lennon was the cynical, acid-tongued Beatle, Paul McCartney was friendly and open, George Harrison was the quiet one and drummer Ringo Starr was the group's clown, always joking around. Satoko Condon remembers it a bit differently.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 19, 2013
A violent death, some justice, few answers in Furlong case
Bad guys rarely live up to their reputation, and so it was with James Blackston. Portrayed in the Irish media as a fearsome, muscle-bound rapper, in court he was a diminutive, baby-faced figure, his tattoos covered up by a cheap prison suit, mumbling his way through an incomprehensible defense for sexual...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 19, 2013
Furlong's mother: 'I don't expect to ever, ever learn the truth'
Angela Furlong is trying to recall her darkest point in the trial of the man accused of murdering her daughter. Was it the moment she faced him in court after months of living in dread?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LIGHT GIST
Dec 25, 2012
The year in quotes: 25 windows on the way things were in 2012
It was a year dominated by Japan's spats with its most powerful neighbors, China and South Korea, over tiny specks in the sea, and by national soul-searching over nuclear power and the calamity that struck Japan in March 2011. It ended with the stunning political resurrection of the Liberal Democratic...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 18, 2012
Shilling for our side over the Senkakus
Akihiro Suzuki does not think war will come, but if it does, he believes Japan will prevail.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Sep 16, 2012
'The government could still save lives'
In the immediate aftermath of last year's Fukushima triple meltdown, Japan's government and pronuclear experts scrambled to dampen public concern. Experts waved away fears about radiation, cabinet ministers scoffed at comparisons to Chernobyl, and the word "meltdown" itself was effectively scoured from...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 5, 2012
Rumors, lies fill void left by police in Furlong case
It is one of the more ugly tasks in journalism: trying to extract a quote from a bereaved family after a violent death. By the time I called Nicola Furlong's mother on May 25, she had learned that her 21-year-old daughter had been sexually assaulted and probably throttled by a stranger in a city 10,000...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 10, 2012
Rape victim marks 10 years on lonely crusade for justice
It surely isn't very often that elite Japanese bureaucrats hear the words to the national anthem quoted at them — by a foreigner. Earlier this year, Australian national Catherine Fisher says she pulled the words of "Kimigayo" from her head during a frustrating meeting with officials from the ministries...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 8, 2012
Fukushima lays bare Japanese media's ties to top
Is the ongoing crisis surrounding the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant being accurately reported in the Japanese media?
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 8, 2012
Stories spiked despite journalism's mission to inform
Olympus isn't the only story that has been or is being ignored or squashed by powerful forces in Japan. Here are three more gems from that rich vein.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 8, 2012
Stop the presses and hold the front page
It was perhaps the biggest financial story of postwar Japan — or it should have been.Yamaichi Securities, one of the nation's four top brokerages, which was among the world's six largest in the 1980s, had in 1992 started to illegally bury millions of dollars in red ink off the books, setting up dummy...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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