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JAPAN
Jun 22, 2012

Ozawa, allies to vote against tax hike bill

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his ruling Democratic Party of Japan said Thursday they have abandoned attempts to pass the tax hike bill Friday, but an internal rift looms as Ichiro Ozawa officially declared his intention to vote against the legislation.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2012

New year could prove daunting for Noda

In the four months since winning the Democratic Party of Japan presidential election, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has survived by taking a cautious approach to governing, managing to compile the 2012 budget and several bills to finance restoration of the disaster-hit Tohoku region.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2011

Don't count Ozawa out until he is

Over the decades he's been dubbed the "shadow shogun," "the destroyer" and "the backroom fixer" for his powerful influence in the political arena and penchant for shaking up governments with his "strong hand."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 28, 2009

Berlitz blitz against union bogs down

After the second court hearing on April 20 in Berlitz Japan's lawsuit against unionized teachers, the legal fight seems bogged down in a form of trench warfare.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 4, 2004

Robert Whiting: Outside the box

Back in 1972, a 30-year-old New Jersey native who had recently graduated from Tokyo's Sophia University was in New York City, trying to talk to anyone who would listen about politics and life in Japan. Nobody was interested.
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2002

Nogami advising staff on Mideast despite demotion

Former Vice Foreign Minister Yoshiji Nogami is advising employees at the ministry on Middle East affairs, despite his demotion to the ministry's secretariat, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Friday.
COMMUNITY
Apr 30, 2000

'English Patience' thickens plots

I found Yukichi Arai eating fruit sherbet in the lobby of the Tokyo Station Hotel. It was hot, I agreed, whereupon he ordered another. After four days sitting in a booth at the Tokyo Book Fair at Tokyo Big Site, promoting his book (titled in "katakana" as "English Patience"), he felt the world deserving...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 11, 2019

Japan an underdeveloped country for women

Despite its rich, industrialized economy, Japan has yet to achieve much progress in equality between men and women.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2009

DPJ takes page from old LDP playbook

The first extraordinary Diet session under Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan-led administration ended Friday with the legislature approving 10 of the 12 government-sponsored bills during the 40-day period.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 3, 2006

Theodore Skillman and Paul Guilfoile

In May 2004, 26 people representing six international schools in the Kanto area met and formed the first International Alumni Council, Japan.
COMMUNITY
Oct 29, 2000

Food Bank Japan to aid homeless

It is hard to imagine how Charlie McJilton makes ends meet as a single father living in Tokyo. He says he does "this and that" to pay the bills. Committed to staying in Japan for love of his daughter, most of his time is spent helping those in the direst need -- foreign residents who have fallen through...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Jun 1, 2019

Fumiaki Imamura: The international road to scientific success

For nutritional epidemiologist Fumiaki Imamura, an overseas education is key to global impact.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Mar 25, 2017

Coming of age? Japan's shifting definition of adulthood

Graduating from high school represents a significant milestone in any young person's life, a landmark that certainly wasn't lost on the countless 18-year-olds milling around Shibuya Station on a recent March afternoon. Among them was 18-year-old Akane Endo, who was brimming with excitement at the prospect...
JAPAN / FOCUS
Mar 29, 2023

Japan makes renewed push to internationalize higher education

Attention has been drawn not only to the plan’s components and feasibility, but also to past government efforts to achieve similar goals.
Japan Times
Special Supplements / Career Development 2020
Jan 26, 2020

Taking the next step mid-career

Every businessperson keen on climbing the corporate ladder or switching to a higher-paying job wants to brush up their business skills — and returning to school may help one acquire those specific skills.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Nov 29, 2011

Jose Alvares finds Portugal-Japan links

Jose Alvares has tried to "reconnect" the Portuguese and Japanese cultures over the last 43 years he has spent in Japan.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 19, 2018

One year later, Abe's gamble on the unpredictable Trump appears to be paying off

Before U.S. President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20 last year, Japanese officials were anxious, even obsessed, with a nightmare scenario that could not be ruled out — an incoming American leader who could shake up the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region and vastly damage domestic interests....
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Feb 20, 2013

Language startup rises to cloud nine

Innovations in software coupled with the widespread availability of Internet broadband are transforming the once stodgy business of language education. Leading the charge in Japan are two Japanese-American brothers, John Hideyoshi Martyn and Billy Kosuke Martyn.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2009

Students give job-hunting system a big F

College students habitually complain about being overloaded with study. Not Shingo Hori though, who demands to be allowed to study more.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2021

An ‘old men’s club’ dominates Japan. The young just put them on notice.

Change may come slowly in Japanese society, but social media has offered an outlet for a younger generation stifled by a rigid hierarchy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 3, 2018

Womenomics: Mend the gap

More Japanese women are working, but many still professionally underachieve.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 23, 2016

Hiroko Kuniya's ouster deals another blow to quality journalism in Japan

Hiroko Kuniya, the widely respected anchor for NHK's stellar "Close-up Gendai" news analysis program, has been ousted from her position after 23 years with the show. She now joins a growing list of prominent news presenters and commentators who have discovered the apparent perils of not kowtowing to...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 26, 2015

Abe government targets the liberal arts

Over the past several weeks I have received many emails from all over the world asking me if reports about government plans to pull the plug on humanities and social sciences departments at Japanese national universities are accurate or just a bad joke. At this point it's not clear exactly what the government...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 5, 2015

Students oppose Abe's assault on the Constitution

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe continues to say he will try to gain the public's understanding on the government's controversial security legislation, but there are few signs that he is winning anyone over.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / OUR MAN IN TOKYO
Sep 30, 2013

Beninese ambassador brings TV star power to diplomacy

Beninese Ambassador Zomahoun Rufin says — half-jokingly — his dream is “to become the next Japanese prime minister.”
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Sep 23, 2010

Language teacher Kae Minami

Kae Minami, 32, is a bilingual language teacher. For the past seven years, she has had an outstanding record as a top Japanese juku sensei (prep school teacher). Her foreign students start out with virtually no knowledge of Japanese and almost all of them pass their Japanese university entrance exams,...
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2010

Kan, Ozawa draw flak for fiddling while Rome burns

As Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Democratic Party of Japan kingpin Ichiro Ozawa battle toward their showdown Tuesday, observers are criticizing them for creating a political void in the ruling party at a time when Japan is struggling to rekindle the economy and address other pressing issues.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2010

LDP struggling in vain to rebuild

Taking the podium last month at the Liberal Democratic Party's first convention since its fall from power at the hands of voters last summer, Katsuya Nomura, former manager of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles baseball team, had a few words of advice for the LDP.
Diagnosed at a young age with a rare variant of glycogen storage disease type IV, Mark Bookman went on to distinguish himself in academia in both the United States and Japan.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Feb 19, 2024

New film honors life and legacy of disability pioneer Mark Bookman

Free screenings of THE new documentary on Japan-based disability rights advocate Mark Bookman will be held around Tokyo on Feb. 24, 25 and 27.
Renho speaks to reporters on Wednesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 13, 2024

Renho, the liberal politician who might dethrone Tokyo's Koike

Her candidacy in July's gubernatorial race presents voters in the capital with two choices: Change or stability.

Longform

Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?