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Farmers in the city of Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture, have begun planting rice in a district once designated a no-go zone because of radioactive fallout ejected by the disaster-hit Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Recently I was asked to write a blurb for a new liquid plant-nutrient. As soon as I saw the name of the product, 早根早起 （Hayane Hayaoki), I smiled at this example of linguistic creativity.
Life in Japan just seems tailor-made for certain foreign residents, who slip into the fabric of this society as smoothly as a hand slides into a glove. American Curtis Patterson, a professional koto player and music teacher, is a case in point. Not only ...
Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night with her ethno-inspired flute and drum tune “Only Teardrops,” despite tough competition from spectacular stage shows by performers from Azerbaijan and Ukraine. Juries and television viewers across Europe awarded the barefoot, ...
One team’s quest for a first title has ended. The other team’s fight will continue next season. The Yokohama B-Corsairs outplayed the Rizing Fukuoka in Sunday’s bj-league championship game, controlling the tempo for larger stretches and making enough timely baskets to fill an instructional ...
The identification of a geological fracture zone beneath a Tsuruga nuclear plant reactor as an active fault may force the decommissioning of the reactor in Fukui Prefecture.
The death of an 11-year-old female Chofu (Tokyo) student in December 2012 prompts the education ministry to set up a panel to consider how to prevent such accidents.
A Shiga University professor has some reservations about a government industrial council's proposals to make Japan "the world's most business-friendly environment."
For France and for the euro system, the best strategy is to dismantle the monetary union from the top — via the exit of Germany and the other most competitive countries.
Once the Mother's Day advertising displays came down, it was back to the grim reality of being a mother in Japan rather than in other developed countries.
The first group of students at the University of Tokyo have submitted their plans and embarked on a new "gap year program" to learn from the world.
The Abe government should give up on the trouble-plagued Monju fast-breeder reactor project after the Nuclear Regulation Authority cited safety management problems.
Forty-one years after Okinawa reverted from U.S. administration to Japan, Okinawans are not happy about the U.S. military presence or Japan-China territorial tensions.
The election of Nawaz Sharif to his third term as prime minister marks the first peaceful transition among civilian governments in Pakistan's history.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's call for greater use of sex shops by U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa increase suspicions about his common sense and sense of dignity.
To protect the kosei nenkin pension program, the welfare ministry should withdraw a plan to allow troubled investment funds for the program to keep operating.
The prime minister's remarks about Yasukuni Shrine as well as his attitude toward the nation's past "aggression" threaten to undermine international trust in Japan.
Enabling people to pursue a career while raising a child in Japan — beyond taking longer child-care leave — ranks as a major challenge for the Abe administration.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is trying to promote Japanese export of nuclear power plants even as the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant continues.
The growing might of sovereign wealth funds is causing concern that economic power is shifting to emerging nations with different political regimes from OECD countries.
U.S. congressional dysfunction on defense rears its head when a subcommittee chair threatens to withhold funds for implementing the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
Smoking is not allowed on Washington D.C.'s Metro system. But the prospects for e-smoking — which delivers nicotine but doesn't produce smoke — are as hazy as a cloud.
The politics of immigration in Japan involve anxieties about national identity and worries about crime. Looking at other countries with large numbers of immigrants, the Japanese government has said “no thanks.” There are, however, strong economic reasons for Japan to let down the drawbridges. ...
The Southeast Asian region has been caught in a dilemma — wanting to benefit from China's economic rise but fearing its intensifying military prowess.
In a classic replay of its old game, China recently intruded across the Himalayan frontier with India and then disingenuously counseled "patience" and "negotiations."
Japanese society is beset with some regrettable weak points. It must find ways to remedy those, bolster its strengths and enhance global "Japanability.