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National / Politics

Despite perceived progress, Japan and Russia remain far apart in territory dispute

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed last week to accelerate negotiations to conclude a long-pending bilateral peace treaty based on the 1956 Japan-Soviet Union joint declaration. ...
35 mins ago

National / Politics

South Korea to dissolve Japan-funded 'comfort women' foundation

South Korea has notified Japan of its intention to dissolve a foundation set up as part of a 2015 agreement to resolve the long-standing issue of Korean "comfort women" who ...
7 hours ago

National / Politics

Diet discussion halted after Justice Ministry says data in survey on missing foreign trainees was miscalculated

The ruling coalition dropped a plan to start substantive deliberations in the Diet on Friday on a bill that would increase the number of foreign workers in the country amid ...
8 hours ago

National / Politics

Work on Japan's new defense guidelines to focus on missiles, cyberattacks

The ruling coalition will focus on addressing threats posed by ballistic missiles, cyberattacks and electromagnetic attacks when revising the national defense program guidelines, a senior official said. "North Korea has improved ...
5 hours ago

National | VIEW FROM OSAKA

Future foreign worker influx met with hope and concern in Kansai business world

by Eric Johnston

The news last week that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is preparing to admit up to 345,000 foreign workers by 2023 has been met with a combination of hope they will help prop up ...
National / Crime & Legal

Honed over four decades, Osaka police use facial recognition skills to arrest dozens of wanted criminals every year

Despite advances in facial recognition technology, the police in Osaka still rely on pure skill to find fugitives, with investigators using only their memory to arrest dozens of wanted criminals every year. While other police ...
Asia Pacific / Politics

China, U.S. trade fiery barbs in speeches at Pacific summit

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence traded barbs in speeches to a summit of world leaders Saturday, outlining competing visions for global leadership as trade and other tensions between them ...
National / Politics

In historic visit, Shinzo Abe visits Darwin 75 years after WWII attack on Australian port city

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a historic visit to Darwin on Friday, some 75 years after Japanese planes bombed the northern Australian city, as the two countries cement ties in the face of an ...
National

Japan's industries are ready to hire foreign workers, but concerns remain

by Chisato Tanaka

More than 345,000 blue-collar foreign laborers are expected to enter Japan within a five-year period starting from fiscal 2019, but expectations as to their status and potential appear to differ significantly between the industries ...

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JAPAN NEWS

National

Journalists' spat over wartime 'comfort women' brothels shows Japan's trouble in facing past

by Mari Yamaguchi

A journalist close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has defended her view that Korean women who were sent to Japanese wartime military brothels were not sex slaves, and accused a liberal-leaning newspaper of fabrication. One of the newspaper's reporters said a day earlier that the ...

WORLD NEWS

World

U.S. intel says Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi killing: source

U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. official said Friday. The Saudi government has denied the claim. The conclusion will bolster efforts in Congress to further punish the close U.S. ally ...

BUSINESS NEWS

Business

Trump opens door to trade deal with China soon as friction threatens to damp economy

President Donald Trump said Friday that China was ready to make a deal to defuse trade tensions so he might not have to punish the country with more import tariffs. A deal to resolve the dispute would be a huge breakthrough on an issue that ...

MULTIMEDIA

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SPORTS

Figure Skating

Hanyu takes huge lead in Russia

Yuzuru Hanyu built a 20-point lead in the short program at the Cup of Russia on Friday. The two-time defending Olympic champion landed a clean quadruple salchow and quad toe loop/triple toe loop combination en route to earning 110.53 points. As usual, his fans hurled ...

COMMUNITY

Voices | FOREIGN AGENDA

I feared the crush of the rush, but now my commute completes me

by Andreas Neuenkirchen

Everybody knows that it is hard to make a good living from writing alone. However, every aspiring writer I've met has thought they might end up as that one-in-a-million exception to the rule. Most learn the hard truth in their 20s, but some have ...

LIFE

Travel

James Turrell's 'House of Light': A modern art house in old snow country

by Emma Riley

Contemporary artist James Turrell is known for experiential artwork that manipulates his primary medium: light. For the "House of Light" in the Niigata Prefecture town of Tokamachi, Turrell took his inspiration from Junichiro Tanizaki's book "In Praise of Shadows."

CULTURE

Music

The queen of kawaii: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu reflects on her reign

by Patrick ST. Michel

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's trip to the Museum of Death in Hollywood proved to be a 2018 highlight for the 25-year-old J-pop star. "I thought it would be about murder and crime, but it was actually about everything related to death," she tells The Japan Times. ...