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Japan Times
CULTURE
Jun 18, 2015

A festival for every weekend of your summer

Festivals (matsuri) of all kinds are a staple of Japanese culture and summer is the premier season to experience them. In recent years, the country has seen a bit of a boom in cultural festivals, to the point that it's possible to book every weekend of your summer around them. We're here to help by highlighting...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 17, 2015

Hirokazu Koreeda on his new drama about women with 'shadows'

When Hirokazu Koreeda's gently offbeat family drama "Umimachi Diary" ("Our Little Sister") was screened in competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, both audiences and the media were enthusiastic — a story for the Reuters news agency described it as "Palme d'Or material." But instead of being...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 17, 2015

'Selma' shows Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s eloquence in the face of racial violence

Gone are the days when films made by women were touted as such and labeled "women's films." No critic or distributor would dare do anything so ignoble to "Selma," the first major motion-picture portrayal of American civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As befitting the subject, it's a hard-hitting,...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 17, 2015

Trump blusters way into White House bid, blasts fellow Republicans, Obama, Mexicans, Saudis

Real estate mogul and TV celebrity Donald Trump barged his way into the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Tuesday in a blitz of boasts, inflammatory comments and attacks on both fellow Republicans and President Barack Obama's administration.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 17, 2015

Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood figures sentenced to death over mass jail break

An Egyptian court sentenced deposed President Mohamed Morsi to death on Tuesday over a mass jail break during the country's 2011 uprising and issued sweeping punishments against the leadership of Egypt's oldest Islamic group.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 16, 2015

Toy industry rides video game megahit 'Yokai Watch' to record sales

Thanks to items related to megahit video game "Yokai Watch," the domestic toy market saw the best sales in a decade in fiscal 2014, the Japan Toy Association said Tuesday.
WORLD
Jun 16, 2015

Russia says will retaliate if more U.S. weapons stationed on its borders

A plan by Washington to station tanks and heavy weapons in NATO states on Russia's border would be the most aggressive U.S. act since the Cold War, and Moscow would retaliate by beefing up its own forces, a Russian defense official said on Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 16, 2015

Consumer groups skeptical of health claims from new food labels

The first batch of products with new "functional food" labels will hit stores nationwide this week, amid controversy over regulatory policy that critics say is too lax.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2015

NHK filter gives viewers 'legal' way to avoid Japan's TV tax

An engineering professor at Tsukuba University says his device for TVs that filters out NHK's signal provides a legal basis for not paying subscription fees to to the public broadcaster.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 15, 2015

Scholars restate Cabinet condemnation, mock LDP's response

Two constitutional scholars who this month rekindled debate over security reforms restate their assessment of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's security bills as unconstitutional.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 15, 2015

Speculation swirls over result of Abe-Hashimoto meeting

Speculation is swirling among the politically well-connected that Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto may have agreed to help Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pass contentious security legislation when the two met in Tokyo on Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2015

Stand back: China's bubble will burst

The bursting of China's stock-market bubble could conceivably deflate the myth that what Beijing commands of the economy shall be so. And who knows where that might lead.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2015

How to avoid a war between the U.S. and China

To avoid a war, the U.S. and China must activate top-level diplomacy, build strong crisis-management mechanisms and enrich the rules of engagement in the South China Sea.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 14, 2015

South African court orders indicted Sudanese president not to leave

A South African court issued an interim order on Sunday preventing Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from leaving the country, where he was due to attend an African Union summit, until the judge hears an application calling for his arrest.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 14, 2015

China to drop entry permit requirement for Taiwan residents

China plans to drop the entry permit requirement for Taiwan residents visiting the mainland, the official Xinhua News Agency cited a senior Chinese politician as saying on Sunday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 14, 2015

Suspect killed after attack on Dallas police headquarters

A man who attacked the headquarters of the Dallas Police Department with gunfire and explosives early on Saturday was killed by police snipers during a standoff, authorities said.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jun 14, 2015

Hospital at center of South Korea's MERS suspends services; seven new cases reported

A South Korean hospital suspended most services on Sunday after being identified as the epicenter of the spread of a deadly respiratory disease that has killed 14 people since being diagnosed in the country nearly four weeks ago.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 13, 2015

Ojika's residents beat the rat race by abandoning it, bucking a national trend in the process

If only there was an island somewhere ...
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / OLYMPIC NOTEBOOK
Jun 13, 2015

Carr starred at Tokyo Games

Henry Carr didn't have the longevity of Olympic track legends like hurdler Edwin Moses or sprinter/long jumper Carl Lewis. But to those who witnessed and remembered what he accomplished at the Tokyo Olympics in October 1964, his greatness as a runner left an indelible impression.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / YEN FOR LIVING
Jun 13, 2015

Suntory gains ground in battle of the machines

Suntory Beverage is buying a bigger piece of a shrinking but lucrative pie with its purchase of the Japan Tobacco's vending machine subsidiary.

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