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WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 12, 2015

California seeks salvation in desalination as drought drags on

As California battled its last severe drought in the early 1990s, Santa Barbara spent $34 million on a desalination plant that proved too costly to keep running when rain returned. Now the city can't afford to keep it idle.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 11, 2015

Overseas observers spot something strange

Is Japan a strange country?
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 11, 2015

Snowpack in U.S. West at its shallowest ever after early thaw

Meager precipitation and a premature spring thaw caused by unusually mild temperatures last month have left the U.S. Western mountain snowpack, a key source of fresh surface water for the region, at record low levels, the government reported Friday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 10, 2015

Ineffable dining in Kyoto

Spring is here, and Kyoto is calling us. The old capital is ablaze with blossom, fresh foliage and the exhilaration that winter is over. This is a magical time of year — not just for sightseeing, but for eating out, too, with all the produce of the new season. There are great restaurants close to all...
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 10, 2015

Okinawa activists establish fund to fight Futenma base move

Money matters in politics. This is something Okinawans locking horns with the central government over the plan to relocate U.S. Marine Corp Air Station Futenma seem to have cottoned on to, setting up a private-sector fund to promote their anti-base cause.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 10, 2015

Line CEO bets on selfies and macho stamps to expand overseas

To go global, Line Corp. is getting local.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2015

The solar price revolution

We should not underestimate the tremendous potential the sun and wind have for building global wealth and fighting poverty.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 9, 2015

Apple faces local battles as its prepares global payments push

Apple Inc. has made mobile payments look easy, after a decade of mostly failed experiments by banks, telecom operators and retailers to woo consumers away from cards and cash.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 9, 2015

Ikea adds veggie balls to lure vegan shoppers to popular restaurants

Ikea dished out a vegan-friendly version of its famed Swedish meatballs on Wednesday, aiming to lure more shoppers to furniture stores that already sell close to a billion meatballs a year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Apr 8, 2015

Do Western men have it bad in Japan? Readers discuss

A small selection of the large number of comments received in response to Olga Garnova's recent column, 'Spare a thought for Western men trapped in Japan.'
WORLD
Apr 8, 2015

Despite law, FBI can give ransom to kidnappers

While U.S. policy bans federal officials from doing business with kidnappers, the FBI for years has used a secret exemption to government rules to communicate with hostage-takers and sometimes send money to them, U.S. government sources said.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2015

Winning Sri Lanka's peace

Sri Lanka is at a crucial moment in its efforts to consolidate peace and secure its long-term benefits.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2015

Mizuho cherry-picks 130 RBS staffers to feed U.S. expansion

Mizuho Financial Group Inc. said Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's Jennifer Powers, Victor Forte and Richard Smith will take senior roles in debt capital markets at the Japanese lender, which is hiring about 130 people from RBS to expand in the United States, according to a person with knowledge of...
EDITORIALS
Apr 8, 2015

Japan should join the AIIB

Japan should join the AIIB so it can exert influence from within to ensure it is run according to international norms.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2015

Iran's long-postponed rise is all but inevitable

Only a cataclysmic war will prevent Iran from fulfilling its long-postponed destiny as a major economic, political and scientific nation.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2015

Beijing declares war on illegal golf courses

On April 1, the Chinese government quietly went to war against golf.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / ABENOMICS — THE BOTTOM LINE
Apr 7, 2015

Under 'Abenomics,' rich thrive but middle class on precipice

The recent debate over wealth inequality has highlighted an unpleasant fact for policymakers — that the income gap between rich and poor is not shrinking, even though Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policies have been in play for two years now.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 6, 2015

Japan's battery-powered economic recovery

A renewable-energy boom would do for Japan what quantitative easing can't: produce a thriving economic ecosystem that creates wealth, jobs and international esteem.
EDITORIALS
Apr 5, 2015

The general returns

President-elect Muhammadu Buhari is well-positioned to get troubled Nigeria back on track.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 4, 2015

Koga's parting shot may not hit its target

In February, Reporters Without Borders published its annual list of countries ranked in terms of press freedom. Japan came in at No. 61, down two places from the previous year and lower than Taiwan (51) and South Korea (60). The reason for the decline was the state secrets act, which came into force...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 4, 2015

Bouldering, a remedy to climbing the walls

I emerged from Mitake Station, on the Ome Line, just after 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning amid a throng of day-tripping hikers easily identifiable by their heavy boots, seam-busting backpacks and seemingly standard issue trekking poles.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Apr 4, 2015

Women's participation in elections questioned; sake labels mandatory; Tokyo bathhouses call for one-day lockout; automatic ticket gates employed

100 YEARS AGO
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2015

Indiana, Arkansas approve religious-freedom laws that some call discriminatory

Indiana and Arkansas revised on Thursday new religious freedom acts that had drawn criticism from rights groups and U.S. companies that assailed them as discriminatory against gays.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Apr 3, 2015

Sweet tweet forges ties between sword-making town, ice cream maker

A humorous tweet earlier this year about an ice cream bar boosted new ties between the city of Seki in Gifu Prefecture, well known for its swords, and sweets maker Imuraya Group Co. that otherwise would not have been nurtured.

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