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WORLD
Aug 19, 2014

Betrayal, desertion could mean execution, Ukraine rebel leaders warn fighters

Under growing pressure from a government offensive, the rebel leadership in Ukraine's battle-torn east warned its fighters on Monday that desertion and betrayal could be met by execution.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Aug 18, 2014

Miura adding to legacy with recent success for BayStars

Daisuke Miura is turning back the clock in Yokohama.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2014

Visa overstayers launch campaign for 'legalization'

A group of visa overstayers launched a month-long campaign Monday in which they will ask 36 local assemblies in the Kanto region for special permission to remain in the country legally.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2014

Make no mistake about Thailand's problem

The Thai military has not played the role of 'democratic defender' following its recent coup. Instead, its intervention shows its desperate move to maintain power ahead of the imminent royal succession.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2014

Welcoming refugees to fill labor shortages

Why doesn't Japan, Canada and other governments admit more refugees for resettlement with a view toward addressing the governments' labor shortages?
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 16, 2014

Gomez earning his stripes with Tigers

Mauro Gomez probably couldn't believe his luck when he saw the pitch Chris Seddon threw him.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2014

Vodka: market riches after communism's fall

Early on, Russia's Yeltsin government (1991-1999) imposed heavy tariffs on the import of medicines and staples while granting societies of the handicapped and sports clubs the ability to import vodka without tariffs. It marked a new era in the country's economic history.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2014

What should the U.S. do about Islamic State?

The U.S. lost the Iraq War years ago. The sooner it accepts that there is nothing to be saved there and moves on, the better off it'll be. That includes refraining from attacking the Islamic State.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Aug 15, 2014

Islamic State puts 'invincible' Kurd warriors to sword

The Kurdish peshmerga fighter ran out of ammunition but saved two bullets to end his own life in case Islamic State militants caught up with him as he fled the front line in northwest Iraq.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 15, 2014

Egyptian mummification is older than previously thought, researchers find

It has long been known that the practice of mummification of the dead in ancient Egypt — fundamental to that civilization's belief in eternal life — was old, but only now are researchers unwrapping the mystery of just how long ago it began.
JAPAN / History
Aug 14, 2014

Surrender had lasting impact on many Japanese after war's end

Many Japanese people remember Aug. 15 as the day World War II ended. Sixty-nine years ago today, in a speech broadcast on the radio, Emperor Hirohito announced that Japan had notified the Allied powers of its acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 14, 2014

Florida man pleads guilty in global toxin shipping scheme

A Florida man has pleaded guilty to making deadly toxins and shipping them to customers across the globe, among them a British woman plotting to kill her mother, a London magistrate, U.S. authorities said on Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 13, 2014

The Queen of Versailles

Pride comes before a fall, and proving that old proverb correct is "The Queen of Versailles," a documentary tracking one obscenely wealthy couple's attempt to build the largest mansion in America, modeled on the Palace of Versailles, no less, but with a bowling alley.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 13, 2014

Japan suffers biggest economic slump since 2011 quake as tax hike bites

The April 1 consumption tax hike drove the economy into its biggest contraction since the March 2011 quake and tsunami, Cabinet Office data show.
Reader Mail
Aug 13, 2014

Ignorance putting us in danger

People sometimes say, "Ignorance is bliss." It is true that innocent children who don't know the despair of modern society seem to live a happy life. Nevertheless, we should stop being fatalistic and see the truth in society because, currently, our safety is being jeopardized due to our ignorance.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Aug 13, 2014

As pope heads to South Korea, alleged religious freedom in North is just a show for the outside world

Tucked between trees and paddy fields in a quiet suburb in the west of Pyongyang, Chilgol Church is one of four state-operated churches in the capital of a country that espouses freedom of religion but effectively bans it.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2014

Barren rocks fuel South Korean passions in islet spat with Japan

Holding a notepad full of questions, 15-year-old Ko Yu-jeong rushes up to a South Korean diplomat after his speech, asking how she can better argue the case for her country's control of a set of islets also claimed by Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 12, 2014

Chi-na aims to win fans over one step at a time

For many musicians, dreams of success take the form of a big break: perhaps a major label record contract, a lucrative tour deal or a barnstorming festival set. However, a quick fix isn't the style of Tokyo indie quintet Chi-na, who is gradually growing in stature through a steady process of connecting...
BUSINESS / NOTEBOOK
Aug 12, 2014

International woodblock art; an airport space for kids; heating up the hoodie

exhibitions
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2014

Never trust a realist when it comes to politicians

If you're looking for one big reason the U.S. seems to be on the wrong track, try the marginalization of idealism that coincided with the collapse of the peace movement and the American Left at the end of the Vietnam War in the early 1970s.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND
Aug 11, 2014

Staff at children's homes strive to give kids their all

For Chikako Ishigo, 70, working at a children's home has not been as worrying or troublesome a job as one might imagine.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 9, 2014

Critics get frank when it comes to Godzilla

Because Japanese media are incestuous in their inter-corporate dealings, those writers referred to as hyōronka (critics) tend to be less critical about popular culture than their counterparts in North America and Europe. They are more likely to engage in punditry or public relations, because complaining...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 9, 2014

Haruki Murakami's new book peels back the layers of friendship

Haruki Murakami has made his name in the West with the translations of his tome-like novels, but it was 1987's relatively slim Norwegian Wood that made him famous in Japan. And his latest big hit here is similarly slender.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 9, 2014

Support for Scottish independence drops after TV debate: poll

Support for Scottish independence has fallen following a TV debate last week and the campaign to split the United Kingdom will need a dramatic turnaround if it is to win a forthcoming referendum, a poll showed on Saturday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 9, 2014

Ishikawa perseveres with Swallows

On a somewhat muggy Friday night in Yokohama, Masanori Ishikawa strode to the center of the diamond at Yokohama Stadium, bent down and bounced the rosin bag around in his hand a few times — seemingly every pitch later that night was accompanied by a puff of white — and proceeded to make his 20th...

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers