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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2020

The role of privacy in ending the lockdown

It is now clear that the only way to protect public health and restart the economy is gradually, through widespread tracking and tracing. But to make such systems palatable, regulatory and technological hurdles will need to be cleared.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2020

The world’s bad actors see an opportunity in pandemic

China's crackdown on Hong Kong is part of a broader pattern of aggression by Iran, Russia and North Korea.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2020

Strength in numbers: A more open approach to tracking the virus in Japan

Like many foreign residents of Japan during the early days of the country's COVID-19 outbreak, Shane Reustle and Jiahui Zhou recall poring over websites run by the health ministry and local municipalities to try to get a clear picture of how infections were spreading in the world’s third-largest economy....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Apr 18, 2020

Delay to games, while frustrating, may allow Kumamoto runner to showcase Aso Bridge rebuilt after earthquakes

As a torch relay runner for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, second year junior high school student Teppei Miyata had planned to run near the Aso Bridge in his village in Kumamoto Prefecture, which collapsed during the April 2016 Kumamoto earthquake. Then the games were postponed to next summer, due...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 17, 2020

When the fog lifts, a changed landscape will be revealed

Britain will urgently need to gain a stronger foothold in Asia, and Japan makes the obvious link point.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Apr 17, 2020

Motorboat racing in Mie hit hard by outbreak, affecting public finances

Boat Race Tsu, a municipal-run kyōtei (boat race) course in Tsu, Mie Prefecture, is facing difficulties due to plunging sales after it began holding races without audiences to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 15, 2020

COVID-19 pandemic prompts a digital revolution

Even as the novel coronavirus pandemic throws the global economy into turmoil and as commercial activities are paralyzed in Japan under the state of emergency declared by the government, at least one sector is seeing an expansion in demand — “virtual” business models and online transactions that...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 14, 2020

Tribe’s climate change plight highlights challenge for Native Americans

For several years, Fawn Sharp has seen her tribe on the coastline of Washington state lurch from crisis to crisis: rising sea levels have flooded the Quinault Indian Nation’s main village, and its staple sockeye salmon in nearby rivers have all but disappeared — a direct hit to the tribe’s finances...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 14, 2020

For filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi, freedom was the most important thing of all

Director Nobuhiko Obayashi, who died on April 10 at the age of 82, was incredibly prolific during his six-decade career. A pioneering experimental filmmaker in the 1960s, he went on to direct 2,000 television commercials (by his own estimate; no exact count exists) and 43 theatrical features.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 12, 2020

Japan's nightlife entertainers head to cyberspace to dodge virus, host clients online

Hosts and hostesses in Japan's famous nightlife industry are turning to remote entertainment sessions as the COVID-19 pandemic forces them to create a safer environment to survive the public safety crisis.
JAPAN / History
Apr 11, 2020

Looking for solace in Japanese mythology during a pandemic

Amid growing anxiety over an invisible pathogen that has so far claimed tens of thousands of lives worldwide, some Japanese are turning to faith and mythology for solace.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 11, 2020

Forget you're under quarantine and lose yourself in the world of Studio Ghibli

Though COVID-19 has unfortunately scuppered many travel plans this spring, it's still possible to experience Japan from your couch through film. In particular, Studio Ghibli's iconic canon of animated features provide a vivid refuge for those unable to leave the house.
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...

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