Tag - government

 
 

GOVERNMENT

JAPAN / Politics
Sep 9, 2016
Tokyo governor announces plan to increase child care slots
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike on Friday announced a plan to boost capacity at day care centers for children in Tokyo to 17,000 as part of efforts to ease the country's chronic shortage of such spots at care facilities.
EDITORIALS
Sep 7, 2016
Relocating government functions
The Abe administration must take a stronger lead in pushing forward the decentralization of some national government functions if it is really serious about pursuing the project.
WORLD / Society
Aug 29, 2016
U.K. plan to make social housing tenants 'pay to stay' won't meet aim: report
Britain's "pay to stay" rule requiring social housing tenants to pay higher rents may leave local councils worse off, cause stress for families and fail to generate expected revenues for the central government, according to a report published Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2016
Lifting the lid on Japan's growing crowd of manhole cover spotters
Some tourists look around them but Hidetoshi Ishii prefers to look down.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2016
Abe offers backing for early opening of JR Tokai's Nagoya-Osaka maglev link
The government will provide backing for the early opening of a privately-built magnetic-levitation train link between Nagoya and Osaka that's currently planned to start running in 2045, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 30, 2016
GPIF: an abode of demons
As was the case with its predecessor body, the Government Pension Investment Fund is linked closely to the interests of politicians and bureaucrats.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2016
Authorities discover unhygienic conditions at Tokyo cat cafe, order temporary closure
Many Japanese workers suffer stress from a harsh working environment, and some animals too, appear to be no exception. Feline employees in cat cafes are reportedly working long hours and in sometimes unsanitary environments, receiving no salary or cash rewards.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 8, 2016
Masuzoe denies overspending after JCP reveals soaring cost of overseas trips
Tokyo Gov. Yoichi Masuzoe on Friday said he is doing his utmost to trim the cost of his overseas trips, following the revelation that each one costs taxpayers ¥26.6 million on average.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 7, 2016
Japan is fast approaching the limits of quantitative easing
The Bank of Japan is running out of government bonds to buy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 21, 2016
Lessons in history and bureaucracy lurk within Japan's geographical layer cake
Although in English we say Japan has 47 prefectures, Japanese uses four terms to express the same concept. And that's just for starters.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2016
Tsukiji workers demand answers over toxic soil at new site
Amid ongoing preparations to relocate Tokyo's world-famous Tsukiji fish market, wholesalers and consumers voice fury over the plan to move the market to a new site that has significant soil pollution problems.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2016
Many nations waging a silent war on NGOs
Using NGOs as a whipping boy to limit the operating space of civil society is a concern in as many as 50 countries around the world.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2016
Tokyo to boost hiring to better prepare for 2020 Olympics: NHK
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has reportedly decided to increase how many people it will hire in fiscal 2016 to better prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 25, 2016
Japan without ambition
The parochialism of Japan's ruling caste blinds it from seeing how the rest of the world is adapting. Therefore, unless a great leader shows up, Japan will require a massive shock to awake from its slumber.
EDITORIALS
Jan 18, 2016
Public access to government records
The principle of sovereignty resting with the people must be reinforced by improving public access to official documents.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2015
A common thread in 2015's list of ludicrousness
Some of America's most ludicrous events in 2015 were the result of a collapse of judgment in, and the infantilization of society by, government.

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it