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December 29, 2024
 

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FYI

JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 11, 2018
U.S. base relocation top issue in Okinawa gubernatorial election
Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga's death last month at age 67 from pancreatic cancer came just over three months before the originally scheduled gubernatorial election and just days after he announced the prefectural government would take steps toward retracting permission for landfill work related to a new...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 31, 2016
LDP weighs leader's term limits as Abe angles to stay in power
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is expected to kick off discussions as soon as next month over whether to revise internal rules to allow Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to run for a third term in the next LDP presidential race to be held by September 2018.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Mar 14, 2016
How a U.N. committee riled Japan with its criticism of women's rights
Recent recommendations issued to Japan by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women sparked a sharp response from Tokyo.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 18, 2016
Rescues point to dangers of searching out backcountry powder
Backcountry skiing and snowboarding have come under scrutiny after the recent rescue of two groups of skiers stranded in mountains in Nagano and Fukushima prefectures.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 12, 2015
Residences left empty posing problems across the nation
The population keeps aging and shrinking, but new housing keeps getting built even though Japan has a glut of unused dwellings.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 2, 2013
Legislation bureau chief Abe's window to collective defense
The appointment of Ichiro Komatsu as director general of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau is a step toward Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's goal of reinterpreting the Constitution so Japan can engage in collective self-defense.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 18, 2013
'Big data' — a digital sea of personal info ripe for the taking?
Shop at Amazon.com and one automatically receives recommendations on books and other items based on previous queries and purchases. Similarly, checking a Facebook entry causes ads for local products and services to pop up.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 11, 2013
New ID system for keeping tax tabs, finding cheats
The Diet passed the "common number" bill May 24, paving the way for every resident, including foreigners, to be assigned a personal identification number.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 4, 2013
A term for Abe's ilk? Well, nonliberal
Foreign media and overseas Japan experts largely use 19th- and 20th-century labels to describe Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and current Japanese politics led by his Liberal Democratic Party — "right-wing," "hawkish," "conservative" and "nationalist."
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 14, 2013
New thugs on block sidestep the usual suspects
Japan's underworld, namely the "boryokudan" (gangster organizations) better known as yakuza, have been targeted with crackdowns in recent years focused on cutting their funding and expanding their criminal liability. But a new type of thug appears to be acting with impunity by operating in a legal void....
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 9, 2013
Japan's foreign trainee system said still plagued by rights abuses
Last month, a Chinese trainee went on a stabbing rampage at a Hiroshima Prefecture seafood company where he worked, killing the president and an employee and wounding six others.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 26, 2013
Curse or cash cow: Japan ready for casinos?
Lawmakers are seriously considering legalizing casinos so Japanese can roll the dice without having to travel to gambling houses in the United States, East and Southeast Asia.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 13, 2013
In Abe's future, a nationalist rewrite of the past?
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has kept a diplomatically low profile, particularly over historical issues, focusing instead on economic and other domestic matters ahead of the July Upper House election.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 5, 2013
Down syndrome blood test draws interest and ire
Last summer, news that Japan was getting ready to introduce a new type of prenatal examination that requires only a simple blood test to detect whether a fetus has Down syndrome made headlines. News reports suggested hospitals were ready to start using the test in September.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 22, 2013
The blunt, blue-blooded Aso is back
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may be the face of the new government led by Liberal Democratic Party, but Finance Minister Taro Aso is also a force in the LDP to be reckoned with.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 8, 2013
Xenophobia finds fertile soil in web anonymity
As diplomatic strains with China and South Korea worsen over territorial disputes, more and more Japanese are using the relative anonymity of cyberspace to vent their political spleens online.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 4, 2012
Mismatch: Universities on rise but students in decline
Education minister Makiko Tanaka drew immediate flak in early November when she outright refused her advisory panel's recommendation to approve three new universities.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 20, 2012
Ishiharas — family ties with a twist
The Ishiharas trail the Hatoyamas 2-0 in prime ministers. But when it comes to the variety, prominence and celebrity of each individual member, not many families in Japan today can compete with the Ishihara bunch.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 4, 2012
Part of aging process: Preparing for the end
When young people say "shukatsu," they mean job-hunting. But nowadays, older people are grimly playing on the word by changing the kanji for "shu" to convey a different kind of activity: preparing for "the end."
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 28, 2012
Revival eludes nation's birthrate
It sounds like a broken record: Japan is beset by a low birthrate and an aging society.
Ukraine risks losing all Russian land it seized within months, U.S. says
Ukrainian soldiers carry the coffins of three comrades killed in recent fighting in eastern Ukraine during their funeral in the western city of Lviv on Dec. 20.
Honda-Nissan deal sets up next fight for bankers in Japan M&A boom
A Nissan dealership and a Honda dealership in Tokyo. As the two firms negotiation a potential merger, Nomura Holdings is advising Honda, while Nissan has retained Mizuho Financial Group and Bank of America.
Osamu Suzuki, who ran Suzuki Motor for five decades, dies at 94
Osamu Suzuki, a former president of Suzuki Motor, in October 2016
Uranium detected in extracted Fukushima nuclear fuel debris
Nuclear fuel debris recovered from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant No. 2 reactor
Rejecting the Nippon Steel bid is a slap in the face to Japan
U.S. Steel workers who support the takeover by Nippon Steel rally outside the company's headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in September.
How Hokkaido quietly became a culinary treasure trove in 2024
The central Hokkaido city of Asahikawa made headlines this year when one of its suburbs was named as the best place to live in Japan — a ranking earned in part due to the community's many outstanding restaurants and cafes.
Bling-Bang, baby: The J-pop soundtrack of 2024
Hip-hop duo Creepy Nuts' uptempo “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” quickly became a TikTok favorite after its release days into 2024, which helped turn the song into a Billboard Japan Hot 100 topper for 19 weeks before rising up viral streaming charts around the world.
Flu cases surge above ‘warning’ levels in much of Japan
Authorities are calling for utmost vigilance as Japan heads into the New Year holiday season, when many people plan getaways.
Dodgers voice Stephen Nelson paves way for Japanese Americans in media
Dodgers announcers Stephen Nelson and Jessica Mendoza pose with Ichiro Suzuki before a game against the Mariners in Seattle in 2023.
Start the new year not with one temple visit, but seven
At each shrine and temple, priests create festive, decorative go-shuin stamps, and you can collect the marks of all seven of the lucky gods on one piece of paper (called a shikishi) to serve as a good-luck talisman.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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?
By Kathryn Wortley

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