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February 23, 2025
 

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Kanako Takahara

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Kanako Takahara
Kanako Takahara is a staff writer who has covered national politics, diplomacy, business and the economy at The Japan Times. A graduate of Sophia University, she is currently a national news editor.
Plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Japan's same-sex marriage ban, along with their lawyers and supporters, hold signs saying the court ruled the ban as unconstitutional on Friday in front of the Fukuoka High Court.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 13, 2024
Fukuoka High Court rules ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional
It is the third such high court ruling so far in Japan after the Sapporo High Court in March and the Tokyo High Court in October.
A handout photo shows Kosuke Nozaki (right), who was found dead of a drug overdose, and Saki Sudo, who was his wife.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 12, 2024
28-year-old widow of ‘Don Juan of Kishu’ acquitted of his murder
Prosecutors had argued that Saki Sudo, 28, somehow caused her wealthy 77-year-old husband Kosuke Nozaki to ingest drugs, resulting in a fatal overdose.
A Metropolitan Police Department flyer on high-paying illegal work advertised on social media, known as yami baito
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 6, 2024
Police may be able to use fake IDs to investigate yami baito
The new measures would allow investigators to sign up for shady jobs with disguised identities and make contact with individuals behind the recruitment.
Critics have said that drivers who were speeding well over the speed limit or those who were extremely drunk were not indicted for dangerous driving because of its vague definition.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
Dec 6, 2024
What constitutes fatal dangerous driving in Japan?
Critics say its vague definition has often led prosecutors to indict offenders with less-serious charges of fatal negligent driving instead.
Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Itsunori Onodera (right) and his Democratic Party for the People counterpart, Makoto Hamaguchi, meet in Tokyo on Friday to discuss policies their parties could potentially agree on.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 8, 2024
LDP between a rock and a hard place in struggle to get DPP support
The opposition party wants to raise the threshold for tax exemptions from the current ¥1.03 million ($6,740), a move that would cost the government tax revenues.
Tsunehisa Katsumata was known for his quick decision-making, which earned him the nickname “Razor Katsumata.”
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2024
Former Tepco chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata dies at 84
Katsumata was the company's point man after the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant went into meltdown in the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during an interview with reporters at the Liberal Democratic Party's headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday night
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 28, 2024
Japan faces political upheaval after LDP-led coalition loses majority
The electoral rout opens up a potential path for the opposition to steer the lower chamber’s agenda if they can act cohesively.
Iwao Hakamata (left) gestures beside his older sister, Hideko, at a gathering with supporters on Monday in the city of Shizuoka, his first public appearance since his exoneration over a 1966 murder case.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 15, 2024
Ex-boxer Hakamata set to vote for the first time in decades
Efforts are being made to allow the world's longest-held death row inmate, who has been exonerated over a 1966 murder case, to vote in the Oct. 27 general election.
Toshiyuki Mimaki, the co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, speaks at an event held in November at United Nations headquarters in New York on the sidelines of the second meeting of state parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2024
Nihon Hidankyo awarded Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to achieve nuclear-free world
The organization was given the honor for its work to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.
New Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (front center) and other Cabinet ministers pose for a commemorative photo after an appointment and certification ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 1, 2024
New Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba unveils Cabinet as LDP divide emerges
His Cabinet, made up of lawmakers largely untainted by an LDP political funds scandal, has appeared to open up a rift in the ruling party.
Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves after he was elected as the new head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party during a leadership vote on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 27, 2024
Fifth time's a charm: Shigeru Ishiba set to be Japan PM after LDP poll win
Ishiba, who has also served as party secretary-general, won the LDP presidential election on Friday, defeating economic security minister Sanae Takaichi in a runoff vote.
Hideko Hakamata (center) and lawyers representing her younger brother, Iwao Hakamata, pose with a banner that reads "Iwao Hakamata verdict not guilty" as they leave the Shizuoka District Court on Thursday after the ruling was delivered.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 26, 2024
In rare retrial, Shizuoka court rules ex-boxer not guilty of 1966 murders
Iwao Hakamata, the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, has maintained his innocence for decades.
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito (center) attends a session before a prefectural assembly investigative panel on Friday in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 30, 2024
Hyogo governor sidesteps accusations of workplace bullying
In the wake of the deaths of two prefectural officials, Gov. Motohiko Saito told an investigative panel that he may have been a "strict boss."
A satellite image shows Typhoon Shanshan south of Kyushu on Wednesday afternoon
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2024
Typhoon Shanshan batters Kyushu ahead of likely landfall
Shanshan could make landfall later Thursday while still a very strong storm, and its slow movement means it will deliver dangerous impacts over a prolonged period.
Former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visits Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 15, 2024
Kishida clears the way for ministers to campaign in LDP election
Prospective candidates are weighing whether they can gather the necessary endorsements and rake in enough votes to have a decent shot at winning.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 14, 2024
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
The surprise move came amid growing criticism from rank-and-file party members and bad poll numbers.
The streets of Tokyo's Ginza district on Thursday. The rainy season appears to have ended in the regions of Tokai and Kanto, including Tokyo, on Thursday, according to the Meteorological Agency.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2024
Rainy season ends in Tokai and Kanto regions
The season looks to have ended a day earlier than average, according to the Meteorological Agency.
The Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture. Brennon Washington, a 25-year-old U.S. Air Force serviceman based at Kadena, on Friday pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 12, 2024
U.S. serviceman in Okinawa pleads not guilty to sexual assault
Brennon Washington, who is stationed at the Kadena Air Base, said he did not kidnap or assault an underage girl in December.
Runners get started in the Tokyo Marathon 2024 in March.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 25, 2024
Nonbinary checkbox to be added to application for Tokyo Marathon
"We aim to create a more inclusive society through Tokyo Marathon 2025," race organizers said.
On a board for election posters in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward on Monday, duplicates of one featuring a female kickboxer who is not running in the gubernatorial race take up half of all the spots.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 24, 2024
Seeing duplicates of a poster on election boards? It's due to a loophole.
The law only restricts details about other candidates or factually incorrect information from posters on boards set up for elections.
Japan's Prince Hisahito to hold first news conference on March 3
Prince Hisahito heads to greet the Emperor and Empress on the occasion of his 18th birthday in Tokyo on Sep. 6.
Special website created 30 years after Tokyo subway sarin attack
Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system by Aum Shinrikyo, the Public Security Intelligence Agency launched a special website Friday.
LDP and opposition lock horns over Japan budget
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in parliament on Friday
Japanese nationals returned from Myanmar as scam probe continues
Multinational victims of scam centers, who were allegedly trafficked into working in Myanmar and were sent to Thailand on Feb. 12 amid a mounting crackdown on scam centers operating along a porous border, queue to get food at a shelter in Tak province, Thailand, on Wednesday.
Over 80% of Japanese say death penalty system is 'unavoidable'
Former death row inmate Iwao Hakamata (left) and his sister, Hideko, attend a gathering of his supporters after his acquittal in a retrial over a 1966 murder case was finalized in October last year.
As Ukraine rift emerges, Kyiv's envoy says Japan must take on bigger global role
Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky speaks during an interview at the Ukrainian Embassy in Tokyo on Monday.
Japan release of Shiori Ito's documentary in limbo
Shiori Ito, who won a civil suit over a rape case against a TV reporter, in 2018. Her former lawyers claim her documentary includes footage used without the consent of sources.
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown ready to sprint past Paris disappointment
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (center) runs during a 100-meter heat at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 3, 2024.
What is the ceiling for sumo’s newest yokozuna?
Newly promoted grand champion Hoshoryu (center) performs a dedication ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
‘Yasuko, Songs of Days Past’ puts overlooked star in the spotlight
“Yasuko, Songs of Days Past” centers on a real-life love triangle between poet Chuya Nakahara (Taisei Kido, left), actor Yasuko Hasegawa (Suzu Hirose, center) and literary critic Hideo Kobayashi (Masaki Okada).

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