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The Microsoft logo is seen in 2016 in Issy-les-Moulineaux, outside Paris.

Four-day workweek boosted productivity by 40%, Microsoft Japan experiment shows

by Kazuaki Nagata

In a rare corporate experiment to test a four-day work system, Microsoft Corp.’s Japan branch found that their productivity improved by about 40 percent, the company said. The test involved 2,300 regular office workers in August. Amid calls for improving efficiency in the workplace in a cou...

Chiki Ogiue (right), a well-known critic who covers social issues including school education, speaks about the draconian school rules dubbed "black kōsoku" during a news conference in August at the education ministry in Tokyo.

Japan school boards start to rethink ‘black rules’ on everything from underwear to protesting

by Tomohiro Osaki

More and more municipalities in Japan are scrambling to amend or abolish what are widely criticized as draconian school rules long imposed on students, heralding a rethink of a long-standing teaching culture that has prized conformity and docility. In the latest example, the board of education...

All 10 Hokuriku bullet trains flooded by Typhoon Hagibis last month in Nagano will be scrapped because of severe damage, railway operators said Wednesday.

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JR East and West decide to scrap flooded shinkansen for ¥15 billion loss

Ten Hokuriku bullet trains with 12 cars each will be scrapped because of severe damage from flooding during Typhoon Hagibis last month. Of the 10 trains, eight were owned by East Japan Railway Co. and the other two by West Japan Railway Co. At a news conference Wednesday, JR East President Yuji F...

A visitor takes a photo with characters from the popular Japanese anime "My Neighbor Totoro" in September in Jakarta. Netflix Inc. is now introducing more Japanese anime works to lure fans from outside Japan.

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Netflix bets on Japanese anime to battle Disney and Apple in streaming wars

As Netflix Inc. prepares for a bruising battle against the Walt Disney Co. and Apple Inc. for streaming subscribers, it's playing a card that may deliver enough of an edge to fend them off in Asia: Japanese anime. Although Netflix has featured animation for years, the leading streaming provider o...

A screenshot from security footage shows a 30-year-old Japanese man (front right), who has been charged with attempting to import child pornography into Australia, on Saturday.

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Japanese man arrested in Australia for alleged child porn possession

A 30-year-old Japanese tourist has been arrested and charged with attempting to import child porn material into Australia, border officials said. During a search of the man's mobile phone upon his arrival in the city of Perth from Tokyo on Saturday, officials discovered more than 200 video files ...