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Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 10, 2017

Are libraries to blame for Japan's slump in bunko paperback book sales?

Kiyondo Matsui, the president of the publishing house Bungei Shunju, spoke at this year's All-Japan Library Conference, which took place in Tokyo on Oct. 12 and 13. During his talk, Matsui asked the assembled professionals to no longer acquire bunko editions of books for lending in their libraries.
WORLD
Nov 10, 2017

Fallout cloud prompts French institute to suspect September nuclear accident in Russia or Kazakhstan

A cloud of radioactive pollution over Europe in recent weeks indicates that an accident has happened in a nuclear facility in Russia or Kazakhstan in the last week of September, French nuclear safety institute IRSN said on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 5, 2017

With U.S. pulling out, China may grasp climate leadership at U.N. talks

China has a chance to assert leadership of a global plan to combat global warming this week at the first U.N. climate talks since U.S. President Donald Trump decided to quit the 195-nation Paris Agreement, delegates say.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2017

Tokyo International Film Festival closes with an inconvenient message from Al Gore

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore Jr. still remembers the childhood experiences that inspired his passion for the natural environment.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Oct 28, 2017

Tsukiji races to exterminate rat infestation before fish market relocation

As the Tokyo Metropolitan Government works with industry groups to finalize the date for relocating the famed Tsukiji fish market next year, it is also mulling how to exterminate the hordes of rats infesting the current location.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 12, 2017

Boy Scouts of America to let girls join

In a historic shift, the Boy Scouts of America will let girls enroll in Cub Scouts starting next year and allow them to eventually earn the highest rank of Eagle Scout, the organization said on Wednesday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Oct 7, 2017

Spanish chef Eneko Atxa: 'You have to break a lot of plates before you can dance with them'

Eco-friendly Basque chef on the opening of his new Tokyo eatery.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 2, 2017

Mayuko Toyota scandal brings to light how working as a Diet secretary can become a living hell

In the past few months, hardly a day hasgone by without a news story popping up on Japan's tabloid TV shows replaying Diet member Mayuko Toyota's now infamous rant.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2017

Tech and regulators can find common ground

Big shocks to the landscape, including the operating context for both incumbents and disrupters, require adaptations that can be — and often are — inherently complex.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 23, 2017

A ruff guide to Seeing Eye dogs in Japan

Ariel is a devoted labrador. Named after the title character in Disney's "The Little Mermaid," Ariel can’t get enough of her user, 37-year-old Kanako Suzuki. Ariel rolls on her back, begging to be petted, and when Suzuki joins her on the floor, the animal jumps onto her lap — all 24 kilograms of...
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 22, 2017

At trial, Dentsu chief admits ad giant guilty of ignoring illegal levels of overtime

In a rare one-day trial expected to result in a small fine, Dentsu President Toshihiro Yamamoto admits the powerful advertiser permitted overtime violations that killed employee Matsuri Takahashi.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Sep 18, 2017

Nagoya teen brings 100 paper insects to life at an art exhibit

With just a pair of scissors and plain drawing paper, Shinichiro Ishikawa, a 15-year-old high school student from Nagoya, can quickly create lifelike cutouts of insects such as a pink mantis poised to take down its prey or a yellow swallowtail butterfly with its wings spread wide.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 16, 2017

Taste test: Does the future of meat lie in a lab?

Biochemist Yuki Hanyu's vision for the future includes a supermarket that has plenty of meat, none of which has come from a farm. Instead, it has all been grown in a laboratory.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 14, 2017

North Korean nuclear 'crisis' an illusion

The urgency that world news media are imparting to the 'crisis' is, actually, a factor in extending it, thereby creating opportunities for miscalculation and war.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 28, 2017

Kenya imposes world's toughest law against plastic bags

Kenyans producing, selling or even using plastic bags will risk imprisonment of up to four years or fines of $40,000 as the world's toughest law aimed at reducing plastic pollution came into effect Monday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 18, 2017

Sierra Leone holds mass burial for over 300, braces for more downpours, mudslides

Sierra Leone is bracing for more floods as the country is burying the casualties of a mudslide that killed hundreds of people in the capital, Freetown.
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Aug 17, 2017

French cuisine with a Japanese twist

The Motif Restaurant and Bar at the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi is offering dinner created in collaboration with Sapporo's Moliere French restaurant from Aug. 21 to 27.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 12, 2017

Food for thought: Government agencies are joining private initiatives to tackle the growing problem of food waste in Japan

Consumers, retailers and businesses nationwide throw away millions of tons of food each year, with waste ultimately affecting profit levels and keeping officials up at night.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2017

Soil science can help save a hungry planet

By 2050, the world's population will approach 10 billion people. Feeding them all will require novel solutions.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 8, 2017

A year on, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike has more plans to reform the capital

A year since becoming Tokyo governor, Yuriko Koike is riding high.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 3, 2017

Struggling in polls, Abe puts premium on stability in Cabinet shake-up

With Thursday's shake-up of his Cabinet done and dusted, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has delivered an apparent message to the public and political heavyweights in Nagatacho, the heart of Japan's central government.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NATURE'S PANTRY
Jul 29, 2017

Putting dairy cows to pasture makes for healthy soil, delicious milk

Milk production, which was essentially nil during the Edo Period (1603-1868), did not begin in Japan until the Meiji Era (1868-1912).

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami