Search - news

 
 
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Aug 23, 2014

Yoshimoto Kogyo's role in creating a real-life robot with a sense of humor

With big, round, smiling eyes and a shirt and bow tie displayed on the screen on his chest, humanoid robot Pepper is ready to entertain his guests. Music begins to play, and Pepper shows off his moves to the 1960s hit song "The Loco-Motion" as a crowd of onlookers laughs with pleasure.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 22, 2014

U.S. defense official praises Abe for bolstering military alliance

A high-ranking U.S. defense official visiting Tokyo said Friday that the U.S. appreciates recent actions taken by the Abe administration to bolster the Japan-U.S. military alliance.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 22, 2014

How WWII could have ended

A Soviet attack on Japan proper leading to the destruction of the Emperor system and the establishment of a communist government frightened Japan's militarists even more than the atomic bombings at the end of World War II.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 22, 2014

Polarizing Abe learns the long game

Shinzo Abe is one of Japan's most polarizing prime ministers in decades. He may also have a good shot at becoming that rarity in Japanese politics — a long-serving leader.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 22, 2014

Two U.S. Ebola patients leave hospital as virus wiped out

Two U.S. health workers infected with Ebola in Liberia were released from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta after treatment there helped wipe out the deadly virus from their blood.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Aug 21, 2014

Attention in Hiroshima turns to causes of mudslides

Torrential downpours, unstable ground and tardy evacuation advisories all contributed to the tragedy that have cost the lives of at least 39 people in Hiroshima, experts say.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Aug 21, 2014

Grouses remain in transition as preseason looms

Less than two weeks before the league's preseason schedule tips off, the Toyama Grouses roster doesn't resemble the one that soared to great heights last season.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Aug 21, 2014

Jackie Chan takes 'bow of apology' after son busted for drugs

Kung-fu movie star Jackie Chan offered the public a "deep bow of apology" after his son, actor, singer and socialite Jaycee, was arrested in Beijing for drug use.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 21, 2014

Israeli airstrike kills three Hamas commanders in Gaza

Israel killed three senior Hamas commanders in an airstrike on the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the clearest signal yet that Israel is intent on eliminating the group's military leadership after a failed attempt on the life of its top commander this week.
WORLD
Aug 21, 2014

Adversaries seize chance to lecture U.S. on Ferguson unrest

Governments scolded by the United States over their human rights records have seized on racial unrest and a police crackdown in the Missouri town of Ferguson to wag their fingers back in disapproval.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 21, 2014

Prosecutor in Ferguson police shooting tells governor to decide if he stays on case

The St. Louis county prosecutor in charge of investigating the police shooting of an unarmed suburban teenager called on Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon to promptly decide whether he should remain on the case.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 20, 2014

MLB names four stars for series against Samurai Japan

As the Nichibei Yakyu extravaganza returns for the first time in eight years, Major League Baseball looks set to bring a serious squad to Japan come November.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Aug 20, 2014

A high price to pay for a little peace of mind

Sometimes it's hard to believe the American that emerged, naked and naive, from Narita International Airport back in 2004 and the person writing this column are one and the same. Life in Japan has made me, unmade me and remade me. I've unpacked and sorted through all sorts of koto (generally, things...
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Aug 20, 2014

As Missouri violence flares, fingers point to outsiders

As darkness fell on Ferguson, Missouri, the crowd of several hundred people protesting the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teen quickly and radically changed.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 20, 2014

Pakistani military gains political power as protests weaken Sharif

Besieged Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been assured by the military there will be no coup, but in return he must "share space with the army," according to a government source who was privy to recent talks between the two sides.
WORLD
Aug 19, 2014

China punishes Xinjiang official for openly practicing faith

China has reprimanded 15 Xinjiang officials for violations that include adhering to religious faith, state media said on Tuesday, amid a crackdown on what the government calls illegal religious activities in the unruly western region.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2014

U.S. riots raise issue of racial profiling

The Ferguson, Missouri, race riots over the shooting of an unarmed young black man by a white cop underscore the beginning of a national conversation in the U.S. about police racial profiling of African Americans.
WORLD
Aug 19, 2014

Renegade Libyan general claims airstrikes on Tripoli

Renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar's air force was responsible for strikes on Islamist-leaning militia in Tripoli on Monday, one of his commanders said, after weeks of fighting for the capital in Libya's worst violence since Moammar Gadhafi was toppled in 2011.
WORLD
Aug 19, 2014

Ukraine accuses rebels of deadly attack on refugees in convoy bearing white flags

Dozens of people, including women and children, were killed as they fled fighting in eastern Ukraine on Monday when their convoy of buses came under rocket fire, a Ukrainian government military spokesmen said.
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.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 18, 2014

Autopsy finds unarmed teen killed by police was shot six times

A preliminary private autopsy report found that Michael Brown, the black teen killed by a police officer in the suburban St. Louis city of Ferguson, was shot at least six times, The New York Times reported Sunday night.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 18, 2014

Nigerian who died in UAE may have shown signs consistent with Ebola

A Nigerian woman with cancer who died in the Emirati capital had shown signs "that may be consistent with Ebola," the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi said on Sunday.

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