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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2014

Ecology product confab at Big Sight kicks off with higher youth turnout

In the face of pressing environmental challenges, the nation's biggest event on eco-friendly products kicked off Thursday in Tokyo, giving everyone from elementary school kids to businesspeople an opportunity to think about what's good for future generations.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 11, 2014

London's Cereal Killer Cafe serves up breakfast from around the world

Identical twin brothers hope they have ticked the right boxes and bought the right flavors for their new Cereal Killer Cafe in London, serving only cereal.
EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 2014

Abe takes aim at labor regulations

Changes that the Abe administration wants to make to labor laws will likely increase the number of lower paid irregular workers in the nation's workforce.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / DECISION 2014
Dec 10, 2014

Japan's persisting gender gap leaves many single moms in poverty

Yuka Suzuki, 47, has virtually no savings, earns about half the average national wage and cannot see where the money will come from to retire one day.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 10, 2014

Hong Kong braces for clearing of final Occupy protest zones

Hong Kong police announced plans to clear away the last of the Occupy protest encampments that have blocked key streets in the financial hub for over two months, setting up what could be a final showdown with pro-democracy activists on Thursday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 9, 2014

High-level disorganization still hobbles Japan

Although many Westerners think of Japan as a highly unified, hierarchical nation, it often more closely resembles a squabbling confederation of loosely affiliated gangs.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 9, 2014

'Abenomics' in the spotlight

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe blames the opposition camp for criticizing 'Abenomics' without presenting lternatives. But finding a way to put today's economy on a virtuous circle is akin to trying to create something out of nothing.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / Q&A
Dec 9, 2014

'Right to be forgotten' on the Internet gains traction in Japan

The Internet has made fact-checking easy and people routinely use it for this end, for example, to Google client names and personal backgrounds before their first business meeting, or to take a quick glance at a potential new hire's reputation.
BUSINESS / TRAVEL INSIDER
Dec 9, 2014

New Hong Kong flights; treat for 'Takao'; airline of the year named

New Hong Kong flights
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 8, 2014

Hong Kong splinter groups fast-track rearguard action ahead of camp clearance

Splinter protest groups calling for democracy for Hong Kong are springing up and fast-tracking action plans as student-led demonstrators consider a retreat from the main campsite that has blocked key downtown arteries for more than two months.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2014

Xi's cultural revolution looks doomed to fail

China's government has just reserved the right to send film and television actors, directors, writers and producers on all-expenses-paid, involuntary, 30-day sabbaticals to rural mining sites, border areas, and other remote locations.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 8, 2014

Sapporo takes chance on repeating as Olympic host

Sapporo Mayor Fumio Ueda announced Nov. 27 that his city will bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympics.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 8, 2014

Lending data bucks recession with help from yen

Bank lending unexpectedly rose at its fastest pace since 2009, a positive sign in an economy that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is trying to steer out of the deeper than expected recession.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 7, 2014

Evidence suggests Keynesianism boosts GDP in recessions, but good luck explaining why

Casual evidence indicates that government spending during recessions (a pillar of Keynesianism) boosts GDP. But we don't have a satisfying macroeconomic model that explains why.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 6, 2014

Poverty takes on a new look in today's Japan

In the early years of the 21st century, such neologisms as nyū puā (new poor) and wākingu puā (working poor) began appearing in the Japanese media. Like their equivalents overseas, the terms were typically applied to people unable to realize a decent livelihood while holding down a job, or even more...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 6, 2014

Animals at extinction risk from climate change

Animals are dying off in the wild at a pace as great as the extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago because of human activity and climate change.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 6, 2014

E-cigarettes could prime brain for harder drugs

Like conventional cigarettes, electronic cigarettes may function as a "gateway drug" that can prime the brain to be more receptive to harder drugs, U.S. researchers recently announced.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2014

Americans becoming fatter, sicker, poorer

The epidemic of fat in the United States is so great that more than one in five Americans is said to be too heavy to enlist in the armed services.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 5, 2014

Bilingirl has plenty to teach you

Chika Yoshida, aka Bilingirl, wears many hats. She teaches English, sings, dances and makes costumes. She could be dressed up as Malificent with horns sticking out of her head, have her face painted white and talk in a squeaky voice like comedian duo Nippon Elekitel Rengo or be singing songs from the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Dec 5, 2014

From umbrellas with feet to miniature ice-fishing polar bears, On: Design goes clever-quirky

Fishing for a good cuppa
EDITORIALS
Dec 5, 2014

The elephant in the room

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision to postpone the second phase of the consumption tax hike may be popular with much of the electorate, but it would be unfortunate if the decision diverts people's attention from the nation's real fiscal plight.
COMMENTARY
Dec 5, 2014

The pope has a point in denouncing materialism

Pope Francis finds himself ranged against a pitilessly Darwinian outlook in Europe, which, maintained by self-interested political and business elites, seems to go unexamined by apathetic voters.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 5, 2014

North Korea's hackers are a hand-picked elite

Despite its poverty and isolation, North Korea has poured resources into a sophisticated cyber warfare cell called Bureau 121, defectors from the secretive state said as Pyongyang came under the microscope for a crippling hack into computers at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2014

Bitcoin policymaker tries to gain converts before election

The man who single-handedly made Japan an oasis for bitcoin entrepreneurs was holding court with political supporters. The price of admission: ¥10,000.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 4, 2014

SoftBank invests $250 million in GrabTaxi as it fends off Uber

SoftBank Corp. has invested $250 million in GrabTaxi Holdings Pte. as the cab-booking service fends off competition from Uber Technologies Inc. in Southeast Asia.

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