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EDITORIALS
Nov 19, 2014

Abe seeks a fresh mandate

The opposition parties need to pick up the gauntlet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has thrown and give voters a real alternative to his policies.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 15, 2014

Tokyo continues to pull people in, which pulls the rest of Japan down

Earlier this month, the government pledged for the zillionth time to "revive" Japan's "regions." Local governments are in danger of vanishing in coming decades due to depopulation, and former Liberal Democratic Party No. 2 Shigeru Ishiba was put in charge of the regional revitalization ministry, which,...
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 15, 2014

Japan's 21st-century tsunami stones

A familiar sight along Tohoku's Sanriku coastline are the tsunami stones erected by past generations that alert residents to the high-water mark of previous tsunami and the perils of building any closer to the sea.
EDITORIALS
Nov 14, 2014

Awaiting Abe's political gambit

If Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is going to dissolve the Lower House for a snap election, he will have to clearly lay out his agenda for voters and await their verdict.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 11, 2014

Despite denial, don't be surprised if Abe calls snap election

The possibility that the prime minister will dissolve the Lower House is gaining credence, especially if he decides not to raise the consumption tax again.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 11, 2014

Awkward looks reveal hard work to come as Abe finally meets Xi

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's long-sought meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was supposed to herald a fresh start to soured relations. Their body language told a different story.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 30, 2014

Funding scandals prompt veiled LDP threat to call snap election

Feeling the heat, Prime Minister Abe tells the opposition to stop revealing his Cabinet's fundraising violations and threatens to call a snap election over the 'obstruction.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 30, 2014

Okinawa gubernatorial election kicks off with four candidates

The Okinawa gubernatorial race kicks off with four candidates in an election that could sink Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's political fortunes and strain military ties with the United States.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 29, 2014

Ministerial scandals highlight inadequate controls on political funding

The complicated and inadequate way in which political funds are declared in Japan makes it hard to unearth irregularities in how elected officials raise money and spend it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 25, 2014

The romantic notion of rural relocation

Yu Iwamoto began adult life working in the slums, refugee camps and precarious schools of Afghanistan. Had he even heard, back then, of the Oki Islands off the coast of Shimane Prefecture?
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 25, 2014

Abe downsized, comfort women reprised

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe now understands why political gurus say that a week is a short time in politics.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 23, 2014

New trade chief slapped by S&M scandal after only three days on job

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is saddled with another scandal after new trade chief Yoichi Miyazawa's staff admits paying a bill for u00a518,230 to a sadomasochism bar in Hiroshima.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 20, 2014

Abductees' families still skeptical on sending reps to N. Korea

Many relatives of abductees said Monday they remain skeptical about the government's decision to send officials to Pyongyang to learn firsthand the status of North Korea's latest probe into the victims' fates.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 16, 2014

Recruit jumps in trading debut after ¥197 billion IPO

Recruit Holdings gains 7.4 percent on its first day of trading as the nation's top provider of short-term workers holds its initial public offering.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 15, 2014

Web page on 'comfort women' donations taken down by Foreign Ministry

The decision by officials to delete the Web page, which carried a 1995 appeal for donations to a government-linked fund for former 'comfort women,' drew immediate protest from Seoul.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 7, 2014

Abenomics' women problem

The key to Abenomics' success may turn on whether the Japanese people are convinced that more women in the workforce are essential to their country's economic revival, and on whether they will support efforts to establish institutions that support working women.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 26, 2014

U.S. Attorney General Holder to step down after contentious term

Eric Holder, the first black U.S. attorney general and one of President Barack Obama's closest allies, will announce on Thursday he is stepping down after a contentious term marked by advances in civil rights and frequent battles with Republicans in Congress.
EDITORIALS
Sep 24, 2014

New Komeito's raison d'etre

Natsuo Yamaguchi, the just re-elected chief of New Komeito, and other party leaders should realize that if the party fails to ensure that Japan stays on the pacifist road with respect to the passage of new legislation, it will lose its raison d'etre.

Longform

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