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JAPAN / History
Jul 5, 2014

Battle of Saipan: beginning of the end

Seventy years ago, the Imperial Japanese Army lost a pivotal battle over the Pacific island of Saipan, a defeat that put Tokyo within range of high-altitude U.S. B-29 bombing raids that could evade Japan's inadequate air defenses.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Jul 5, 2014

Figuring out the science behind research whaling

Japan has a unique concept of science that doesn't seem to be accepted in the Western world. Both the esteemed academic journal Nature and the International Court of Justice have essentially handed down rulings over the past year that question the standards of research in Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 5, 2014

Shinjuku self-immolation act protests Abe's democracy hijack

Last week a man set himself on fire next to Shinjuku Station to reportedly protest Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's bid to lift constitutional constraints on Japan's military forces. It was a gruesome spectacle captured on numerous smartphone videos and disseminated on social media. Good thing because the...
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 5, 2014

Neymar ruled out of World Cup with back injury

Brazil forward Neymar has been ruled out of the World Cup after fracturing a vertebra in his back in the closing stages of the 2-1 quarter-final win over Colombia on Friday in a major blow to the host nation.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 4, 2014

Economic sanctions against North Korea partially lifted

Japan partially lifts economic sanctions against North Korea after confirming the reclusive country has established a special panel to reinvestigate its past kidnappings of Japanese.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 4, 2014

Raising women's profiles, Cabinet names four as ministry bureau chiefs

To increase the number of female bureaucrats, the Cabinet promotes four women to bureau chief at four ministries where women have never held such lofty ranks.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jul 3, 2014

Nash returns to Toyama Grouses for third season at the helm

With a familiar face still in charge, the Toyama Grouses will resume their quest for a championship when the season tips off in October.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2014

While Japan presses North on abductions, South Korea victims are forgotten

Kim Young-nam was a teenager living on the coast of South Korea when he disappeared in 1978, only to turn up in North Korea. There, he met and married Megumi Yokota, a Japanese national abducted by North Korean agents on her way home from school a year earlier.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jul 2, 2014

Health studies explode the myth of the 'safe' nuclear power plant

There remains one final myth regarding nuclear power plants in Japan: Namely, that in the absence of a major accident, a normally operating nuclear power plant is safe.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 2, 2014

Knox ex says he wasn't with her all evening

The ex-boyfriend of Amanda Knox, on trial with her for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, distanced himself from his co-defendant Tuesday, saying the two had not been together for the whole evening when the crime took place.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 2, 2014

Komatsu CEO flags China slump as mining market nears bottom

Komatsu Ltd., the world's second-biggest maker of building and mining equipment, said sales in China are falling more steeply than anticipated, joining larger peer Caterpillar Inc. in flagging fraying Asian demand.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2014

Abe wins battle to broaden defense policy

The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe authorizes a reinterpretation of war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution, allowing Japan for the first time since World War II to come to the aid of an ally under attack.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jul 1, 2014

China's 'shadow banking' challenge

A new financial service operated by China's biggest e-commerce firm Alibaba could crack open the country's economic system as it draws customers from the major state-owned commercial banks by paying higher interest rates to depositors.
WORLD
Jul 1, 2014

Swan song for dead parrot? Pythons say reunion this week will be their last

The dead parrot routine, the Spanish Inquisition and the silly walk will all be performed on stage this week for what the five remaining members of the Monty Python comedy team, all in their 70s, said Monday will probably be their last reunion.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society / FOCUS
Jul 1, 2014

Beijing quietly tightening grip on Hong Kong

Since Britain handed back colonial Hong Kong in 1997, retired primary school teacher and Falun Gong devotee Lau Wai-hing has fully exercised the freedoms China promised this city of 7.2 million.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 1, 2014

Emperor penguin populations to slide as climate change reduces icy breeding grounds: study

Global warming will cut Antarctica's 600,000-strong population of emperor penguins by at least a fifth by 2100 as the sea ice on which they breed becomes less secure, a study said on Sunday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 30, 2014

Despite wowing West, Ukraine leader dependent on Putin

Three weeks into his job, President Petro Poroshenko looks like a man in a hurry.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2014

Dealers hedge their bets on Abe's casino plan

For trainee dealer Taichi Yahagi, the odds of making a better living turning cards at a baccarat table in Tokyo are looking up.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2014

The government decides 'Redskins' bothers you

Some Americans who are paying attention to the absence of Native American revulsion over the name 'Washington Redskins' are not comfortable with the government saying, in effect, that if people are not offended, they should be.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Jun 30, 2014

Kamei breathes new life into Giants

Yoshiyuki Kamei was added to the Yomiuri Giants' roster on May 31 and he started his season with a bang. His first hit of the year came that night, and it was a tiebreaking home run in the 12th inning of a game in which the Kyojin had been held hitless for the first 10 frames. Yomiuri went on to win...

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