Tag - kansai

 
 

KANSAI

JAPAN / Politics / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Oct 29, 2017
Nippon Ishin ponders its fate after brutal defeat in Lower House election
Five years after Nippon Ishin no Kai first appeared on the national stage with promises of changing the country through an Osaka-based revolution, the party’s future is in doubt following a crushing defeat in the Oct. 22 Lower House election.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jul 19, 2017
To find the joys of ‘real Japan,’ get on your bike
Japanese society and culture seem intrinsically suited to bicycles, which require a degree of safety of environment and intimacy that are alien to many thunderously car-based, brash and crime-ridden Western societies.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 2, 2017
Hyogo Gov. Toshizo Ido returned for fifth term as voters take experience over change
While Tokyo voters took a new direction with Gov. Yuriko Koike’s Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First) on Sunday, Hyogo voters opted for more of the same by giving 71-year-old Gov. Toshizo Ido a fifth term on his promises to deal with the prefecture’s ailing finances and falling population.
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
May 21, 2017
Kansai gropes for missile response as Korean war hype builds
With North Korea test-launching missiles on a regular basis toward Japan, towns, cities and prefectures are getting more serious about how best to respond if and when one approaches.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Apr 23, 2017
Kansai leaders grope for ways to keep regional population stable amid projected slide
A projection showing that Japan’s population could fall from 127.09 million in 2015 to 88.08 million by 2065 has pushed Kansai leaders harder for more policies and funding to increase the local birthrate, keep younger people from leaving and protect the growing ranks of the elderly.
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Mar 26, 2017
Timing, like finances, everything for Osaka’s new rail links
Shinkansen, route, Osaka, Kyoto, Kanazawa, train
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 10, 2017
Business leaders critical of Abe’s overtures to Trump
Senior business leaders, former diplomats and government advisers, and national security experts Friday warned that while Japan’s relationship with the United States is the foundation for regional security, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s attempts to forge a close relationship with U.S. President Donald...
BUSINESS
Feb 9, 2017
Kansai leaders say Trump must be taken seriously, but not always literally
Japan’s leaders need to take U.S. President Donald Trump seriously, but not always literally, and must exercise great caution in interpreting what he says. But Japan must also stress to him the importance, and benefits, of the U.S.-Japan security and economic relationship.
Japan Times
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Jan 14, 2017
Kansai sizes up ways to work with a Trump administration
In 3½ weeks, Kansai’s business leaders will gather in Kyoto for their annual summit. Some of the world’s most recognizable firms will send their top executives to the two-day retreat. There, they will rub shoulders with local politicians, academics, and “business consultant” types who, like fortune...
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Dec 25, 2016
Train, casino, reactor woes to grab Kansai headlines in ‘17
A casino, an expo, tourists, trains, and old nuclear power plants. These are just some of the major issues the Kansai region faces in 2017.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 3, 2016
‘Thursday Night Football’ NFL draws Friday morning tweeters in Japan
Reading the tweets as they scroll below NFL games shown live on Twitter has become my new Japanese study obsession.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Sep 25, 2016
Kansai uses subsidies to fill empty homes, but persuading aging population to pull up stakes remains a challenge
Some central Japan prefectures and even cities like Kyoto and Nara are increasingly adopting measures to reduce the number of vacant homes, including via subsidies for owners.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 3, 2016
Strolling the quiet alleyways of Nara, Japan’s forgotten capital
It’s hard playing second fiddle when you used to be first chair. Just ask Nara, Kyoto’s underpraised southern neighbor.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 26, 2016
Afrirampo leads ‘Zero Generation’ into adulthood
Anarchic, anything-goes garage-punk band Afrirampo is defined first and foremost by feelings: The feelings that drive the duo as artists and the feelings they evoke in audiences. As the band returns to the live circuit after a six-year absence, guitarist Mayumi “Oni” Saeki is acutely aware of how the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Jun 26, 2016
Atomic safety and shinkansen issues complicate Upper House equation for Kansai voters
Nuclear safety, route plans for new shinkansen and maglev lines, and the ruling coalition’s economic policies are some of the top local issues on the minds of Kansai voters as they head into the pivotal Upper House election next month.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Apr 24, 2016
Kyushu quakes kick off fault-finding search in western Japan
The recent, and continuing, earthquakes in Kyushu once again have many people consulting maps to determine just where Japan’s fault lines are situated, and whether where they live is more, or less, likely to see a large temblor anytime soon.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Mar 27, 2016
Life good, clean, prosperous in Japan’s backup capital of Osaka in 2060
Imagine, if you will, Japan in 2060.
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2016
Kansai business leaders hail nuclear power plant restarts, urge TPP ratification
The annual meeting of Kansai area corporate leaders opened Thursday in Kyoto with declarations of support for a recently restarted nuclear power plant and calls for the swift ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Jan 24, 2016
Politics heating up over Hokuriku Shinkansen Line’s undecided last leg
The opening last March of the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line extension to Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, brought the Hokuriku region closer to Nagano and Tokyo than ever before, and similar efforts are underway to connect the region with Kansai.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2015
Osaka drawing more foreign visitors; may see record 5 million this year
Thanks to a favorable exchange rate, relaxed visa restrictions, more discount airlines flying into Kansai airport and an increase in the number of duty-free shops downtown, the number of foreign visitors to Osaka this year is expected to top 5 million for perhaps the first time.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival