Search - shukan-st

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 9, 2020

Breaking down the government's response to COVID-19

How prepared was Japan for the pandemic, and how well can it medically adapt to the emergency going forward?
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 2, 2020

What is Golden Week and why does it matter?

Due to COVID-19, this year's Golden Week has all but been called off. We take a look at the history behind this cluster of national holidays and why its effective cancelation is a big deal.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 4, 2020

Who suffers the most from the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics?

Media outlets have long been trying to figure out what cancellation or postponement of the games would mean to Japan economically. They now have a much better idea.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 2, 2020

With suicide note and lawsuit, Moritomo scandal back to haunt Abe

With the publication of a suicide note by a former Finance Ministry official and subsequent lawsuit by his widow, the Moritomo Gakuen scandal has returned to haunt Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. But with Abe saying the issue has been settled and Japan finding itself in the midst of the coronavirus crisis,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 27, 2020

Abe denies wife attended cherry blossom party in defiance of coronavirus calls to abstain

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday that his wife, Akie, did not attend a cherry blossom viewing party in Tokyo despite calls to refrain from outdoor gathering to help contain the coronavirus outbreak.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 21, 2020

Why are Japan’s millennials shunning alcohol?

Some time before the coronavirus outbreak put a damper on this year’s hanami (blossom viewing) parties and other social activities, the media had already noted that the decline in alcohol consumption by younger Japanese has been accelerating. This phenomenon even made the front page of the Nikkei Marketing...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 7, 2020

Paradise lost: Japan longs for simpler times in trying days

The Japanese weren't always workaholics. Once upon a time, work had its place and knew its place. It didn't swallow life whole. Other pursuits were given their due. People worked without being consumed by work.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 22, 2020

Fake news rears its ugly head amid COVID-19 outbreak

Fake news times fake news is fake news squared — which is to say, it goes viral. It multiplies like a virus, which multiplies like fake news.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 8, 2020

Trial of Sagamihara massacre suspect spurs debate on what society may think about people with disabilities

The trial of Satoshi Uematsu, who is accused of killing 19 people with disabilities at a care facility in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 2016, began on Jan. 8 and is expected to end in March. Uematsu admits to the murders. His defense team is trying to convince the judges, who include lay judges,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 3, 2020

The Kawai scandal and the race to succeed Shinzo Abe

Hiroshima-based Liberal Democratic Party Diet member Anri Kawai admitted in January to receiving ¥150 million from LDP headquarters prior to the July 2019 Upper House election. Kawai, a novice in national politics, is also the wife of disgraced former Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai, who was forced...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 1, 2020

Dispatches from the front line of Japan's retail sector

Since October, business media have focused on two topics at the near-exclusion of numerous others: the economic repercussions of the consumption tax hike and how that increase has influenced, or accelerated, a shift from cash to electronic payments.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 7, 2019

News outlets take time to connect the dots in Kepco gift scandal

In September, media reported that 20 executives of Kansai Electric Power Co. (Kepco) had, for a decade or so, received almost ¥320 million worth of cash and gifts from Eiji Moriyama, the former deputy mayor of Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, who died in March at the age of 90. The compensation was presumably...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 23, 2019

As Japan's infrastructure crumbles, who's footing the bill?

In the run-up to next year's Olympics, construction is everywhere — everywhere except, perhaps, in the places it is most needed. While the government is rushing to put its best foot forward and put a polish on Japan's capital and environs, the situation is becoming increasingly dire in rural areas,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2019

Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai resigns over wife's alleged election law breach

The resignation marks the second departure from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet in just a week after trade minister Isshu Sugawara resigned Friday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2019

New Japanese trade minister hopes for RCEP agreement by the end of the year

Japan is ready to take a leadership role in finalizing an Asian free trade deal by the end of the year, newly appointed trade minister Hiroshi Kajiyama said Tuesday, days after his predecessor stepped down over a gift scandal.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 12, 2019

Consumers look for ways to blunt impact of consumption tax hike

Japan's consumption tax on goods and services has arguably been unpopular from the get-go. Introduced at 3 percent in 1989 as a means of improving public finances, the rate was raised to 5 percent in 1997, 8 percent in 2014 and, from Oct. 1 of this year, to 10 percent.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 14, 2019

Of cats and rabbits: UNESCO World Heritage candidate caught in a bind over tourism drive

UNESCO designates World Heritage sites in order to preserve cultural or natural assets deemed significant to humanity. The idea is to maintain these assets for future generations, but UNESCO itself doesn't pay for maintenance. It is up to the countries where the sites are located and UNESCO will remove...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 7, 2019

Speed bumps and potholes on the road to 2020 Tokyo Olympics

When planners proposed the opening date of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, they pored over historical weather data in search of the day with the lowest statistical likelihood of rain. It turned out to be Oct. 10. Happily that day, a Saturday, was fine. As the national teams marched onto the track of Yoyogi...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 31, 2019

Aspiring to achieve forgiveness in the most difficult times

"To be wronged is nothing," said Confucius — "unless you continue to remember it."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 13, 2019

Working harder in a bid to save labor is proving exhausting

The utopia of utopias is "Utopia" by Sir Thomas More (1478-1535). Its best feature is leisure. There are no idle nobles; everyone works. A burden shared is a burden lightened. Utopians "do not wear themselves out with perpetual toil from morning to night, as if they were beasts of burden." They work...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jul 10, 2019

Johnny Kitagawa: The mogul who defined and controlled Japan's entertainment industry

Few in the history of Japan's entertainment industry have wielded more power than talent manager Johnny Kitagawa.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 29, 2019

Japanese politics finds ways to target youth

The Liberal Democratic Party's campaigns to encourage younger generations to take an interest in politics stirs media criticism.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 8, 2019

Documentary juxtaposes both sides of contentious debate on 'comfort women'

On May 30, three people held a news conference in Tokyo to speak out against a documentary titled "Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue," which focuses on the rhetorical battle over the women who sexually serviced Japanese soldiers before and during World War II. The participants...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
May 30, 2019

Rino Sashihara: Can one 'idol' beat the system?

An idol group such as AKB48 is designed for members to be easily replaced. The performers existing in these environments constantly get shuffled around and eventually "graduate" — a term used for when they leave. Fans might become attached to a specific member and follow them on their musical journey....
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / Defining the Heisei Era
Feb 23, 2019

Defining the Heisei Era: Women in Japan speak out on inequality

Last April, a female reporter from TV Asahi accused Junichi Fukuda, the top bureaucrat at the Finance Ministry, of sexual harassment.

Longform

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