Tag - local-government

 
 

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 30, 2019
Will Japan finally promote its female politicians?
Japan has one of the lowest participation rates of women in national parliaments in the world, but a law is meant to remedy this deficit, even if it includes no enforceable quotas or penalties.
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2019
China's local government debt: The bomb that doesn't explode — but gets kicked down the road
China has embraced the idea of defaults imposing some discipline on debtors in its bond market. And some of the most troubled debtors are local governments' financing vehicles. So an LGFV default has long seemed on the cards. But it just isn't happening.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2019
As pool of candidates in rural Japan dwindles, Kochi village to allow councilors to retain side jobs
Faced with a rapidly shrinking population of elderly residents reluctant to run for seats on the local council, the village of Okawa, Kochi Prefecture, passed a referendum Monday designed to make it easier serve on the council while concurrently holding side jobs.
JAPAN / Beyond Tokyo
Feb 24, 2019
As the world drowns in plastic, Kameoka in Kyoto and other cities across Japan fight back
Plastic pollution in the ocean has become one of the world's most urgent environmental problems. Footage of vast fields of floating plastic debris between California and Hawaii — now commonly known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — have driven home the gravity of the problem, with scientists and...
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2019
Local autonomy in dire peril
Demographic pressure is reaching crisis proportions in communities across Japan. It's time to act.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2018
80% of state bodies fail to meet disabled employee target
The number of disabled employees at 35 of the 43 state institutions stood below the level required by law as of June 1 this year, the welfare ministry said Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Oct 10, 2018
Can five Little Japans defuse one big demographic time bomb?
What about if Japan split into a confederation of five semi-autonomous 'regions,' each delineated roughly by geography and population?
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Sep 10, 2018
Let's discuss Noemi Inoue, Bolivia-born Tokyo councilor
Bolivian-born Noemi Inoue felt it was necessary to naturalize to feel fully integrated in Japanese society and to become the first non-Japan-born person to serve as a city councilor in Tokyo's Sumida Ward.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2017
Japan plans to assign individual ID numbers for public health insurance
The health ministry plans to assign an identification number to each person covered by Japan's universal public health insurance system, officials said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 26, 2017
Finance Ministry proposes cuts in medical fees and reductions in cost of new drugs
The Finance Ministry on Wednesday proposed reducing the fees charged by medical institutions, to curb social security costs which have ballooned due to the country's rapidly aging population.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2017
Fukui Prefectural Assembly OKs restart of Oi reactors, leaving final decision to governor
The Fukui Prefectural Assembly on Thursday effectively gave the green light to restarting reactors 3 and 4 at the Oi nuclear power plant.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.