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Thomas Wilson
For Thomas Wilson's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 18, 2018
Phillip Morris' iQOS e-cigarette is capable of harvesting smoker's data: ex-project manager
In seeking regulatory approval overseas for iQOS, an electronic smoking device, Philip Morris International Inc. is claiming the product is less likely to cause disease than traditional cigarettes. But the iQOS, which is gaining popularity in Japan, holds another, less obvious advantage over regular smokes: the ability to harvest personal data about users' smoking habits.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 6, 2018
Japan's cryptocurrency exchanges held back by shortage of engineers
When cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck Inc. explained how hackers were able to make off with $530 million (¥56.7 billion) in digital money, it noted that part of the problem had been beyond its control; the firm had struggled amid Japan's shortage of software engineers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Mar 10, 2017
Six years on, Fukushima child evacuees face menace of school bullies
"Radiation! Bang bang!"
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Nov 24, 2016
Japan-born son, Thai mom split by heartbreak legal deal
On a morning in mid-September, Utinan Won hugged his mother and then watched as she passed through departures at Tokyo's Narita airport on her way to Bangkok.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Nov 24, 2016
Japan leaves unapproved asylum seekers and kids born in-country with dire choices
Visa please fall on deaf ears as justice ministry insists on executing deportation orders.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 4, 2016
MGM Resorts ready to bet up to $10 billion on Japan casino
Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International could plow almost $10 billion into a Japanese casino via a publicly traded real estate investment trust, its chief executive has said, as Tokyo inches closer to legalizing the industry.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2016
Odds rise on Japan legalizing casinos after political gains by LDP
Moves to allow casinos in Japan have failed for 15 years, but the chance of success has improved sharply, people involved in the effort say, thanks to political shifts that could open the world's next great frontier for high-roller gambling.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Aug 9, 2016
Refugee reluctance clashes with labor realities as asylum seekers, banned from working, build Japan's roads
Mazlum Balibay paves Japan's roads, digs its sewers and lays its water pipes — all for a country that doesn't want him.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Mar 9, 2016
Japan detention center deaths cast doubt on 'appropriate medical steps'
Niculas Fernando died at a Tokyo immigration detention center sometime between 9:33 a.m. and 10:44 a.m. on Nov. 22, 2014, according to the coroner.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2015
Bangladeshi seeking asylum deported after working for years in Japan
Abu Said Shekh was awakened in his cell at an immigration detention center in Tokyo one recent morning and told he was leaving for the airport. After nine years of seeking political asylum in Japan, he was being deported to Bangladesh.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 29, 2015
Subaru's secret: Low-paid foreign workers power an export boom
Yasuyuki Yoshinaga was in a good mood at the early May earnings briefing in Tokyo. The top executive at the maker of Subaru automobiles joked that he would have to wear a helmet on an upcoming trip to the United States. The reason: Dealers were going to hit him over the head for not supplying them with enough of his cars to sell.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2014
Amid reform talk, hopes grow for short-term home rental market
Japan seems to have the right mix for developing a vibrant short-term home rental market: a rapidly growing tourism industry, a cheap currency and — unlike many countries — 8 million vacant homes.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on