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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 25, 2015

Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her’s Aiha Higurashi listens to her inner teen on ‘Eternal Adolescence’

Aiha Higurashi pauses, her brow furrows slightly, and she purses her lips. Her eyes have the sharp, scrutinizing focus of someone who doesn't want to miss a single cue or nuance of meaning in her surroundings. There's a wariness about her, and even in the simple matter of scratching her chin, it's her...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2015

Laundry firm's flexibility cited as reason why single moms don't quit

Since joining the laundering company Kikuya in 1995, Akemi Hirayama says she has never missed a day of work.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Sep 24, 2015

Refugees swarm Greece's Lesbos island ahead of fall weather

More than 2,500 mainly Syrian and Afghan refugees, soaked and exhausted, reached the Greek island of Lesbos within hours on Wednesday, a sharp rise in the rate of arrivals via the dangerous sea crossing from Turkey.
WORLD / Society
Sep 24, 2015

Refugees swarm Greece's Lesbos island ahead of fall weather

More than 2,500 mainly Syrian and Afghan refugees, soaked and exhausted, reached the Greek island of Lesbos within hours on Wednesday, a sharp rise in the rate of arrivals via the dangerous sea crossing from Turkey.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 23, 2015

Startups untapped resource for Japan Inc., says venture capitalist

Venture capitalist Anis Uzzaman has a special affinity for Japan, where he spent five years studying at a university on government scholarships. It's for that reason he is frustrated to see many Japanese firms struggling in global competition.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2015

Xi seeks to reassure U.S. on trade, security

Chinese President Xi Jinping, facing a skeptical audience on Tuesday, the first day of a weeklong U.S. visit, sought to reassure business and government officials over a long list of irritants, from economic reform to cyberattacks, human rights and commercial theft.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 23, 2015

Security precautions unprecedented for pope's U.S. whistle-stop Itinerary

Pope Francis opened his six-day U.S. tour on Tuesday, bringing a call for Americans to do more to fight poverty, curb climate change and help immigrants.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Sep 22, 2015

Site of 1930s activism, Kyoto cafe is steeped in heritage

Nestled away on a side street just south of the busy intersection of Shijo and Kiyamachi streets, the Western facade of the Salon de the Francois cafe stands out amidst the traditional machiya wooden townhouses.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 22, 2015

Onaga takes base argument to U.N. human rights panel

Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga tells a United Nations human rights body that the central government has closed its ears to local voices in the battle over U.S. military bases.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2015

Internet banking slow to take root in nation where branches offer friendly face time

For bank analyst Mac Salman, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi flagship branch in Tokyo is so majestic that he brings friends and family there when they visit Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2015

Tokyo at high risk of devastating floods, experts say

It's just a matter of time before Tokyo is struck by the same magnitude of flooding that devastated parts of the northern Kanto region this month.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Sep 21, 2015

Group compiles, posts song lyrics in Braille online to facilitate karaoke for the visually impaired

Nagoya Braille Network, a support group for people with visual impairments, has started posting lyrics written in Braille online for people who cannot read with their eyes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Sep 20, 2015

'Don't sell your soul for a Japanese man'

Having overcome isolation and a loss of self-confidence in Japan, one American mother now finds herself doling out advice to women seeking Asian men.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Sep 20, 2015

Treatment of Mount Fuji horses and WWII mea culpas: readers' responses

Some readers' responses to recent Community articles.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 19, 2015

Taiji drops anchor on dolphin hunts despite increasing pressure

On the harbor road heading east toward Tomyozaki Point, there is a moss-encrusted monument dedicated to an ill-fated whaling expedition in 1878. Facing fierce westerly winds, the fishermen released their catch, a right whale and her calf, and tied their boats together with nets to bolster defenses, but...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 19, 2015

How grandma drives human evolution

Speak to professionals from various disciplines and you will notice something funny: Even when they are off duty, they tend to view the world through the lens of their professional background. For example, a psychiatrist at a dinner party might pause to think a bit about the possible neuroses of the...
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Sep 19, 2015

Government's affinity to the universe, religion

Supposing we think of the universe this way: there is Heaven and there is Earth; nothing else — no other worlds, no gods. "Heaven" is roughly analogous to what we moderns call "Nature." Heaven's laws, however, unlike Nature's, are moral, not physical.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 19, 2015

Democratic donors urge Biden to challenge Clinton in presidential race

A group of prominent Democratic Party fundraisers on Friday began circulating a letter to encourage a hesitant Vice President Joe Biden to enter the 2016 race for president.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 18, 2015

Consumer spending recovery hampered by pension payment cuts

More than a year after a consumption tax increase tipped Japan into a recession, efforts to clamp down on soaring pension payments are suppressing a recovery in consumer spending.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2015

Women's tech group helps level the coding field

To outsiders, the world of computer programming may seem to be the exclusive domain of male geeks.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 18, 2015

Arctic advantage: genetic traits help Inuit in harsh conditions

The Inuit, a group of people who make the Arctic their home, have benefited from a handy set of genetic adaptations that help them survive in some of Earth's harshest conditions.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 16, 2015

Japan's defense reform tarnished by low public support, unconvincing sales pitch

The ruling bloc's effort to pass a pair of controversial security bills has failed in an important respect: to win public support.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 16, 2015

Weary of refugees, Munich to find release in Oktoberfest

Germany's decision to restore border controls to stem a tide of refugees may have stunned Europe but is being cheered in Munich as it gears up for a far bigger influx of 6 million beer-swigging visitors to the 182nd Oktoberfest.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 16, 2015

Mexico confirms Egypt forces killed eight nationals in mistaken attack

Eight Mexicans were killed by Egypt's army in an apparently mistaken aerial bombing of a tourist convoy, Mexico's government said on Tuesday, matching the fatality estimates given by security sources in Egypt and a relative of two of the victims.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 15, 2015

In Japan, the rise of the machines solves a labor problem

The rise of the machines in the workplace has U.S. and European experts predicting massive unemployment and tumbling wages.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 12, 2015

Sweeping beauties of Kumano's brush area

In the soft morning drizzle, a handful of people line up before an altar-like mound of stones where a small fire crackles and hisses. Each person in turn throws a handful of old brushes into the blaze. The local garbage incinerator? No — this is ritual cremation.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 12, 2015

Student protesters want a revitalized democracy

The large and loud crowds that regularly gather outside the Diet on Friday evenings are the result of student activists trying to do something constructive to block Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's security legislation.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 12, 2015

Father of drowned Syrian toddler drove boat that capsized, other passengers say

The father of drowned Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi was working with smugglers and driving the flimsy boat that capsized trying to reach Greece, other passengers on board say, in an account that disputes the version he gave.

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