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Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Sep 19, 2016

App maker aims to revive wedding industry with virtual reality nuptials

A couple put on a pair of goggles and a wedding aisle appeared in front of them as flowers rained down.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 18, 2016

The Novembers have an 11th-hour (or 11th-year) rock epiphany

Yusuke Kobayashi, singer and guitarist of rock band The Novembers, is wearing a black Pink Floyd T-shirt and sipping a tea as I sit down to chat with him in a cafe in Tokyo's Ebisu neighborhood.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 18, 2016

'Bridge to nowhere' shows China's failed economic effort to engage North Korea

Towering above the murky waters, the New Yalu River Bridge was supposed to symbolize a new era in relations between China and North Korea, helping bring investment to landmark free trade zones jointly run with the impoverished and isolated state.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 17, 2016

Silver gifts to centenarians get cheaper as ranks rise

One perk of getting old in Japan is a gift of a silver cup from the prime minister in the year you celebrate your 100th birthday. But from this year, new centenarians will be sipping sake from cheaper vessels.
EDITORIALS
Sep 16, 2016

Taking risks with Syrian cease-fire

The new cease-fire attempt in Syria deserves applause, but it will need sustained political and military backing to achieve a real peace.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 16, 2016

In Putin's parliament, plunging popularity not regarded as a hurdle to power

Ruling parties hoping to get re-elected during a prolonged recession usually pitch fresh ideas for easing the population's economic pain.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 15, 2016

North Korea floods wipe out crops, triggering crisis as winter approaches: WFP

Devastating floods in North Korea have unleashed a humanitarian crisis that may worsen sharply in the next few weeks, the United Nations World Food Programme said Friday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 15, 2016

Builders go back in time to construct a castle the medieval way

Blacksmiths, stonemasons and quarry men are hard at work in a Burgundy forest building a 13th-century-style castle using the most basic tools and materials, replicating the methods used hundreds of years ago to better understand them.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 15, 2016

Kerry, Lavrov look to extend Syria truce by 48 hours before waging joint strikes against terror targets

The United States and Russia agreed that the Syrian cessation of hostilities that began on Monday had largely held and should be extended for another 48 hours despite sporadic violence, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 14, 2016

'Safety net' needed to get young consumers to spend more: economist

Kazuhisa Takemura has an idea for helping Japan's struggling economy: Entice younger consumers to spend more by providing them a financial and emotional cushion.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 14, 2016

BOJ is said to mull change or abandonment of JGB maturity range

The Bank of Japan is considering either a tweak to or an abandonment of its guidance on the range of government bonds that it buys, according to people familiar with the discussions.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2016

North Korean rhetoric and reality

Pyongyang's actions are driven by the need to deter the use of American nuclear weapons in the Korean Peninsula if there is a war.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2016

Why burkini bans are unwise

Using bans to force immigrants to assimilate isn't the best way to integrate them into mainstream society.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 12, 2016

Woman who contracted Zika in Vietnam diagnosed in Tokyo

A Vietnamese woman has been confirmed infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus in the first case in Tokyo since the government recognized the disease as Class-4 in February.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 12, 2016

Rehab trumped by crackdowns as war on drugs seen failing in Asia

The Philippines has launched a bloody "war on drugs" that has killed at least 2,400 people in just two months, while neighboring Indonesia has declared a "narcotics emergency" and resumed executing drug convicts after a long hiatus.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 10, 2016

Asakusa: in the glow of Nippon kitsch

Every once in a while, the Japanese have to remind themselves that they're Japanese. We feel the need to reconfirm that we are part of a long and enduring traditional culture — one which includes kimono, samurai, ninja, eels on rice, and other weird items. Many like to pretend that these particular...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 10, 2016

Pricing system offers scant protection as Amazon Japan hacks away at bookstores' benefits

Japan's saihan seido system may not be enough to save the country's remaining bookstores, whose advantages Amazon.jp has systematically worked to nullify over the years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 7, 2016

The delicate notes of 'Someone's Xylophone'

Japanese directors now routinely do dozens of media interviews to publicize their new films, especially if they are on the indie end of the spectrum. The stars of said films also sit down with the press, if not as commonly, but though I have been writing about local film folk since 1991, an interview...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 7, 2016

ANA to seek Rolls-Royce redress for 787 flight cancellations over turbine flaws

ANA Holdings Inc. plans to claim compensation from engine-maker Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC following its cancellation of more than a dozen flights last month after finding broken turbines on three 787 aircraft, according to two people familiar with the plan.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2016

U.K. needs a reality check

The British economy and people will survive Brexit, but we should not kid ourselves into believing that there will be no pain.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 5, 2016

As Philippine slayings surge, many too afraid to denounce Duterte's drug war

The body of 22-year-old pedicab driver Eric Sison lies in a coffin in a Manila slum with a chick pacing across his casket, placed there in keeping with a local tradition to symbolically peck at the conscience of his killers.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 4, 2016

Pope Francis declares Mother Teresa a saint during Vatican ceremony

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, known as the "saint of the gutters" during her life, was declared a saint of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Francis on Sunday, fast-tracked to canonization just 19 years after her death.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Sep 3, 2016

New horse lodge signals the way ahead

On July 15, 2016, just a few minutes' gentle canter from our splendid Afan Trust Centre here in the hills outside Kurohime in northern Nagano Prefecture, we officially opened our brand-new, first-ever horse lodge.
EDITORIALS
Sep 3, 2016

Making the most of vacant homes

Vacant homes could greatly boost the short supply of inexpensive public housing.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 3, 2016

One secret of Trump's low-cost campaign: free labor at the top

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has run an unusually cheap campaign in part by not paying at least 10 top staffers, consultants and advisers, some of whom are no longer with the campaign, according to a review of federal campaign finance filings.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 1, 2016

Saudi-led airstrike kills at least 16 members of Yemeni imam's family

At least 16 members of the extended family of a Yemeni mosque imam were killed on Wednesday in an airstrike on their family home in northern Yemen by the Saudi-led Arab coalition, a Reuters witness, a medic and a resident said.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2016

Thai military junta playing a dangerous blame game

The junta's effort to blame recent terrorist attacks on its political opponents leaves the country more vulnerable to terrorism.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight