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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2014

Identical twin clings to hope that sister is alive in North Korea

Misa Morimoto spoke to no one for 18 years about her identical twin sister who vanished when they were 20, not even to her own children. On the rare occasions when asked, she lied and said her sister was studying overseas.
EDITORIALS
Jun 27, 2011

Go-ahead for reconstruction

The Upper House on June 20 enacted a basic law for reconstruction of Tohoku-Pacific coastal areas devastated by the March 11 quake and tsunami. Besides the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito and other opposition parties supported the bill, while the Japan Communist...
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2011

Bond bill failure fiscal coup de grace

If the Democratic Party of Japan-led government fails to gain passage of a special bill to issue deficit-covering Japanese government bonds, suspicions that the country is unable to ward off a looming fiscal crisis will only deepen, two economists interviewed by The Japan Times warn.
EDITORIALS
Oct 5, 2010

Clarifying the betrayal of trust

The public prosecutors offices for the Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka districts have special investigation squads — elite teams that specialize in the investigation of corruption involving politicians and bureaucrats and large-scale crimes involving enterprises. Unlike other prosecutors, they make arrests...
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2009

Lower House passes bill revising foreign residency rules

The Lower House passed bills Friday making it easier for the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau to keep tabs on foreigners who have overstayed their visas as well as others residing legally in the country.
COMMENTARY
Nov 14, 2005

Enhanced order of security

Japan and the United States on Oct. 29 issued an interim report agreeing to expand military cooperation in connection with the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. The agreement is intended to adapt the bilateral alliance to better deal with changes in the security environment in the Asia-Pacific region....
EDITORIALS
Sep 30, 2005

Extending the SDF missions

The government has opted to extend by one year the Maritime Self-Defense Force mission to supply fuel in the Indian Ocean to ships of the U.S. Navy and allied nations engaged in antiterrorist activities related to security in Afghanistan. A law specifying a duration of two years -- enacted after the...
COMMENTARY
May 3, 2004

Koizumi's open-ended legac

On April 26 the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi entered its fourth year in power. Following his three-year rule under the slogan "No growth without reform," the Japanese economy is finally on a recovery track.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2004

Kan tells Koizumi to resign over Iraq

Democratic Party of Japan leader Naoto Kan urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Wednesday to step down, claiming he has violated the Constitution by dispatching the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2001

Full text of Koizumi's policy speech to Diet

Following is a provisional translation of the policy speech delivered by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to an extraordinary Diet session that opened Thursday for a 72-day session.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 5, 2001

Terrors, real and imagined

August means hot weather and ghost stories to add a little chill to the muggy air. Tonight, on TV Tokyo's "Sunday Big Special" (7 p.m.), host Tsurutaro Kataoka will explore various occultish phenomena for either your terrified delectation or your nonbelieving derision.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 1998

JNR debt disposal bill stirs heated dispute

Staff writer
JAPAN
Nov 28, 1997

Keidanren favors use of public money

The government should inject public money into financial institutions through the issuance of special bonds to protect depositors and insurance policy holders in the event of a financial collapse, a think tank affiliated with the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) proposed Friday....
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 16, 2022

Samurai Blues: The J. League, the World Cup and Japan’s place in global soccer

Sports writer Dan Orlowitz joins the show to catch us up on where Japan stands in the global soccer landscape and the controversies swirling around the host nation of Qatar.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 7, 2022

Biden’s trade plan to kickstart U.S. solar fails to win over industry

The president is facing challenges when it comes to supporting domestic manufacturers without alienating the companies that rely on low-cost imports.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 5, 2018

How can I ensure my family isn't liable for my elderly Japanese wife's driving mishaps?

Reader B wrote to Lifelines about his worries regarding his wife, a keen driver who is about to become an octogenarian.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Oct 19, 2014

Abe's inner circle sprouting horns over next tax bump

A major battle appears to be brewing between the office of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Finance Ministry — the most powerful bureaucracy in Japan — over whether to raise the consumption tax from the current 8 percent to 10 percent next fall.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Aug 25, 2014

Japan awaits North Korean report on fate of abductees

It may soon become clear whether the Japanese government's decision to bet on the power and ability of North Korea's State Security Department to resolve the fate of past Japanese abductees was justified.
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2011

Draft for reconstruction

On June 11, just three months after a massive quake of magnitude 9.1 and a mega-tsunami devastated the Tohoku-Pacific coastal areas, the Reconstruction Design Council, a government panel responsible for drawing up a blueprint for reconstruction of the areas, made public a draft of its first proposal,...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2011

U.N. envoy vows to press North on abductions

A special rapporteur for the United Nations on human rights in North Korea urged Pyongyang on Friday to resolve the long-standing abduction issue and deal with wider matters relating to humanitarian and human rights regarding its people.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2007

Fukuda carries political baggage to Washington

With Tuesday's passage of a new special antiterrorism bill by the Lower House, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda can breathe a sigh of relief before he meets Friday with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington in their first bilateral summit.
EDITORIALS
Sep 12, 2007

Mr. Abe tones down rhetoric

In his policy speech in the Diet on Monday, the first day of the extraordinary Diet session following his Liberal Democratic Party's devastating defeat in the July 29 Upper House election, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe toned down rhetoric on his conservative political agenda and touched more on issues closely...
COMMENTARY
May 8, 2007

Groom Japan's gifted students

On April 11, the public broadcaster NHK's program "Close-up Gendai (Current Affairs)" took up the issue of the International Science Olympiads (ISOs) for middle- and high-school students. The competition tests knowledge in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, informatics, astronomy and other areas...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 3, 2005

Ryu Murakami: Straight-talking wordsmith wields his pen like a sword

For nearly three decades since his seismic debut with "Almost Transparent Blue," which delved into the sex- and drug-fueled lives of Japanese youths in a town hosting a huge U.S. military base, author Ryu Murakami has often used his trademark explicit, offensive and guiltlessly cheerful language to dig...

Longform

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