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ASIA PACIFIC
May 1, 2016

China's new tactic in disputed waters: playing by the rules

The professionalism displayed by China's navy in some of the world's most contested seas is masking an underlying challenge to the existing order in the East China Sea and South China Sea that must be resisted, according to a report by an Australian security think tank.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 1, 2016

Beijing launches charm offensive ahead of South China Sea court ruling

Beijing has launched a charm offensive to shore up its position in the South China Sea ahead of a key international court decision widely expected to rule against its claims to the disputed waters.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 30, 2016

Human primacy is go-ing, go-ing, gone

It is said of the ancient Chinese game go that the number of possible positions on its board exceeds the number of atoms in the known universe.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 30, 2016

Japan's meek media kowtows to the government

Last week I compared the Catholic Church in Boston and Japan's "nuclear village" of atomic-power advocates — two powerful institutions that stifled embarrassing revelations for some time. The Oscar-winning film "Spotlight" depicts the comeuppance of the church hierarchy after investigative reporters...
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Apr 30, 2016

Can police successfully keep a lid on gang violence?

When the Kobe-based Yamaguchi-gumi broke up in August last year, many expected a turf war to erupt as the country's largest crime syndicate battled for territorial control against a newly formed group called the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi that was founded by expelled gangsters in the aftermath of the split....
OLYMPICS
Apr 29, 2016

Show jumper Keach returning to Olympics after 28 years

Australian show jumper Scott Keach will not be alone in competing in his second Olympics in Rio later this year but it is unlikely anyone else in the Athletes' Village will have waited so long for another taste of the Summer Games.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NATURE'S PANTRY
Apr 29, 2016

Salted and dried on Japan's far side

Friendly faces call out greetings as I stroll through the morning market in Wajima on the northern end of Noto Peninsula, Ishikawa Prefecture. I'm a big supporter of the fish sauce and fermented foods sold here, and it seems some vendors have remembered me. There may be less wrinkled women selling their...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2016

Japan looks to reform rigid tour guide exams as part of wider tourism push

As Japan begins to adapt to the unprecedented influx of foreign visitors, the tightly regulated tour guide industry prepares for major reform.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Apr 29, 2016

U.S. Army captain becomes branch's first female infantry officer

Capt. Kristen Griest became the U.S. Army's first female infantry officer this week, the army said, in a milestone for the U.S. military as it opens up combat roles for women.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Apr 29, 2016

Minnesota cops get sealed warrant for Prince's home; opioids said found on body

Authorities in Minnesota obtained a search warrant in connection with the death of pop star Prince and also won a court order to keep the findings secret, documents showed Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 28, 2016

China prompts criticism with tough curbs on foreign NGOs

China's parliament passed a controversial law governing foreign nongovernment organizations, the Xinhua News Agency said on Thursday, giving wide powers to the domestic security authority and prompting criticism from Amnesty International.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2016

Chernobyl's lessons unlearned

No post-Soviet leaders seem to have drawn the right conclusions from the Chernobyl tragedy that took place 30 years ago this week.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 28, 2016

Title hunt tips off for 16 playoff contestants

After the long regular season, 16 teams remain in the hunt for the bj-league title.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 28, 2016

Marred debut liftoff at Russian cosmodrome embarrasses Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin told his space officials to raise their game on Wednesday after he flew thousands of kilometers to watch the inaugural launch of a rocket from a new spaceport, only for it to be called off.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 27, 2016

Agent Orange and Okinawa: the story so far

Five years after The Japan Times first revealed the U.S. military's use of toxic defoliants on the island, new evidence continues to come to light.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 27, 2016

Mitsubishi skips forecast, says domestic orders have halved

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. on Wednesday abstained from releasing a forecast for fiscal 2016 as a scandal involving falsified fuel efficiency figures threatened to be a road wreck for the automaker.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2016

Medical facilities to launch ovarian tissue bank for female cancer patients

A Tokyo fertility clinic plans Japan's first ovary bank to help women conceive by freezing their tissue before cancer treatment.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past