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Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Apr 10, 2020

Shortage spurs rush on materials for DIY virus masks in Hokkaido

A nationwide shortage of face masks amid the growing COVID-19 outbreak has sparked a rise in the number of people who make homemade masks using cloth as a substitution for medical gauze as protection against the novel coronavirus.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional voices: Chubu
Apr 10, 2020

As pandemic hits conferences, Aichi firm launches remote interpretation services

As the business environment continues to be affected by the spread of COVID-19, an industrial painting firm based in Anjo, Aichi Prefecture, has begun offering Japanese-English simultaneous interpretation services remotely using teleconference systems.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 10, 2020

Shochiku celebrates a century of Japanese cinema hits

Despite setbacks caused by COVID-19, film studio Shochiku is determined to go ahead with its program of anniversary events and releases where possible.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Apr 10, 2020

Tepco 10-year plan for scrapping Fukushima No. 1 aims to get local firms involved

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. is expected to disclose detailed 10-year plans for the decommissioning of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, including how much construction material they will have to order and the technology needed for the work, in hopes that it will make it...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 6, 2020

Abe unveils 'massive' coronavirus stimulus worth 20% of GDP

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Monday to roll out an unprecedented economic stimulus package equal to 20 percent of economic output as his government vowed to take "all steps" to battle deepening fallout from the coronavirus.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Fincity.tokyo
Apr 6, 2020

Finance experts note importance of workforce diversity, global collaboration

Against a backdrop of startling international developments, such as Brexit and the Hong Kong protests, Japan’s financial sector is uniquely positioned to step out of the shadows of its competitors in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Food Sustainability in Japan
Apr 4, 2020

Breaking ground: Young farmers embrace urban agriculture in Tokyo

Kei Kawana’s kingdom is Neighbor’s Farm, a 2,000-square-meter plot overlooked by the Tama Monorail, which regularly zips by overhead. This March, she celebrated her first year of agricultural activity, the culmination of many years of patient work, planning and wading through bureaucracy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 4, 2020

Travel documentaries to feed your wanderlust

From the Lumiere brothers who traveled the globe capturing culture with their portable camera to modern day globe-trotting YouTubers with iPhones, since the late 19th-century travel documentaries have been sparking imaginations and igniting travel passions the world over.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Apr 3, 2020

Parents worry as kids stuck at home get more screen time than ever

For David Krieger’s kids in south Florida, screens were a weekend treat. Now, every day is iPad-appropriate.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Apr 3, 2020

Student group in Fukushima raises awareness of LGBT issues

On one day in February, about 10 people gathered for a discussion hosted by Fukushima University students in the city to raise awareness on LGBT issues.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Apr 3, 2020

Aichi schools' field trip plans upended by spread of COVID-19

As the number of COVID-19 infections surge, especially in the Tokyo metropolitan area, many junior high schools in Aichi Prefecture have been forced to change their school trip schedules, which are typically held in the spring with third-year students traveling to the Kanto region, or other destinations....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Apr 3, 2020

Iwate 3/11 survivors face isolation as wait to leave makeshift houses drags on

About 40 households who survived the March 2011 earthquakes and tsunami in the coastal areas of Iwate Prefecture are still stuck in makeshift housing, waiting to move into new homes.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA
Mar 31, 2020

NBA planning players-only NBA 2K tourney: report

The NBA has plans for a players-only NBA 2K video game tournament to be shown on ESPN, Yahoo Sports reported Monday evening.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Fincity.tokyo
Mar 31, 2020

FinCity. Tokyo meet-up sees sector heavies discuss Tokyo's role as a future global financial center

During the bubble economy of the 1980s, Japan was a behemoth of global finance, with Tokyo and its financial institutions vying neck and neck with New York City and London. But everything changed when the country’s asset price bubble burst in 1992, generating a loss of 100 trillion yen — approximately...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 28, 2020

Face masks can foster a false sense of security

What’s happening in Japan is written all over our faces — our blank, expressionless, masked faces. Never before, it seems safe to say, have so many people gone about masked.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 28, 2020

The seemingly perfect world of author Clarissa Goenawan

Set in Japan, Clarissa Goenawan's eagerly anticipated second novel, 'The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida,' has a winsome tone, harkening to the early works of Banana Yoshimoto.
CULTURE / Books / RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN
Mar 28, 2020

'Grit, Grace, and Gold' review: The Olympics are postponed, but this book's a winner

On the surface, sports and haiku are an incongruous mix but, as Nagamura notes in the introduction, 'Writing good haiku involves the same attention to grace, balance, strength, bravery, restraint and observation that propels athletes to their peak.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Mar 28, 2020

Okinawa sees fall in foreign visitors amid pandemic

Senagajima Umikaji Terrace, a Mediterranean-esque shopping mall located near the west coast of Senaga Island in Okinawa Prefecture, usually sees crowds of tourists and lines of buses and rentals cars. Starting in around mid-February this year, however, the number of tour group from overseas has sharply...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Mar 27, 2020

Fukui looks back at prefecture’s first nuclear reactor

Japan’s first commercial light-water nuclear reactor started operations in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, on March 14, 1970.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2020

Our phones can serve as a virus tool

Justified civil liberties concerns shouldn't prevent us from using technology to combat a pandemic that could kill millions.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 27, 2020

Huawei tests whether shoppers in China are ready for new phones, with range of 5G-only handsets

Huawei Technologies Co. is about to test demand for flagship smartphones in China, and the chief executive officer of its consumer business said he’s confident both markets and manufacturers are ready.
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 27, 2020

Must the show go on during the COVID-19 outbreak?

Responses to the spread of the COVID-19 virus have varied widely from country to country and are changing from day to day. So, while Broadway shows in New York have shut down for at least a month, West End productions in London have been canceled until further notice.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 26, 2020

Ron Carter: A record-breaking jazz legend returns to Tokyo

"I think people still want to hear the old man playing on an antique,” says Ron Carter. “And as long as they want that idea, I’m kind of available.”
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 20, 2020

Google critics see its Firebase tools as another squeeze play

Some app developers say Google LLC is increasingly pressing them to embed code in their own products that will deepen Google's access to data on consumers, giving the company a leg up on rivals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 20, 2020

Gezan's Mahito The People says music won't be beaten by a virus

These are trying times for gigging musicians. As COVID-19 continues its relentless spread, tours are being cancelled and artists and promoters are having to adjust to a brutal new reality, in which the activities that livelihoods depend on are suddenly rendered taboo. When I meet the members of alternative...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 19, 2020

Nariaki Obukuro offers optimism with latest album, 'Piercing'

Nariaki Obukuro has been living in London for a little over a year now, and the Japanese singer-songwriter says the city routinely gets his imagination going.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji