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OLYMPICS
Feb 9, 2014

Tokyo 2020 Olympic chief Mori faces media scrutiny

Yoshiro Mori, the new Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Organizing Committee president and former Prime Minister, faced some tough questions from the international media at a news conference on Sunday morning at the Main Media Center for the Sochi Games.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Feb 9, 2014

Globally focused International Baccalaureate diploma needs local-level support

The education think tanks were busy in 2013. As the Year of the Snake slithered to a close, the education ministry made headlines by announcing bolstered English education plans — again — in an attempt to better prepare Japanese students for an increasingly connected world.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2014

Mexico's reformer Pena Nieto can't quit Castro

It isn't clear what Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto gains by ignoring the reality that Cuba has no elections, no political parties, no free press or freedom of expression, and that dissidents are harassed and jailed.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2014

China's credit boom raises flags on risk levels

The growth of credit in China at a breakneck pace, including the spike in local-government debt by 70 percent since 2009, is raising serious concerns about the level of risk in China's financial system.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 9, 2014

Sex and single-mindedness: The Wendy Deng story

When Rupert Murdoch sat before a British House of Commons select committee in July 2011, Wendi Deng appeared the very picture of a supportive spouse. Dressed in a pink Chanel jacket and black pencil skirt, she poured the then 80-year-old's water for him, lovingly stroked his back and quietly reminded...
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Feb 9, 2014

Records broken in biathlon, speedskating events

Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen tied a Winter Olympics record with his 12th medal by taking gold in the biathlon 10-km sprint.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 8, 2014

Blast from the past: Lucky Dragon 60 years on

Sixty years ago, on March 1, 1954, a Japanese fishing boat named Lucky Dragon No. 5 was doused by radioactive fallout from a U.S. hydrogen-bomb test, codenamed Castle Bravo, on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Although the bomb was over 1,000 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 8, 2014

Promises of 'taboo' topics rarely live up to the billing

When you see the word 'tabu016b' in a headline, it's probably not really a taboo, mainly because self-censorship ensures that topics that really are taboo are treated with commensurate caution. Thus, an article claiming to expose some taboo might titillate, but probably won't reveal enough to invite litigation.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2014

Sochi's toilet saga is a lesson in truthfulness

If the tandem-toilet incident is any indication, the organizers of the Sochi Olympics could end up flushing way any ambitions of giving an enormous boost to Russia's global image.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Feb 7, 2014

NHK governors' impartiality doubted

Shocking remarks like "there was no Nanjing Massacre" and "the gender equality law triggered Japan's low birthrate" by NHK governors appointed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have called into question the qualifications and neutrality of the public broadcaster's board and the biased way its members are...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 7, 2014

Female scientists push for breakthrough in equality

Recent news that Haruko Obokata of Riken's Center for Developmental Biology found a new way to generate pluripotent cells cast a spotlight on women in the male-dominant field of science.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Feb 7, 2014

Volleyball coach Sato speaks out after dismissal

You are given a big project and asked for a long-term commitment. And then you are ousted based on your short-term showing?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2014

Sony sees ¥110 billion loss, to cut 5,000 jobs

Sony Corp. reverses its forecast for the full year from a ¥30 billion net profit to a ¥110 billion loss and says its electronics division will likely spend another year in the red.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2014

Activists fear gubernatorial-race standoff could split anti-nuclear vote

Switzerland hopes to serve as an intermediary for potential dialogue between Japan and North Korea on the issue of Pyongyang's past abductions of Japanese nationals, Swiss President Didier Burkhalter says in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2014

New boss to steer Keidanren back to politics?

Sadayuki Sakakibara, the incoming chairman of Keidanren, says his priority in leading the nation's top business lobby is to help get Japan back on a growth track, but observers say he may also try to re-establish the organization's influence in politics.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 5, 2014

Tamogami finds right-wing niche

Last Sunday, a week before Tokyo residents go to the polls and choose a new governor, prominent candidates were campaigning hard in Ginza, showcasing their ability to manage a ¥13 trillion annual budget that almost equals Indonesia's national budget.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2014

Mitsubishi Estate profit up 73% on home sales

Mitsubishi Estate Co. said Wednesday its nine-month net income rose 73 percent as profit margins of its residential business improved.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers