Search - news

 
 
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 4, 2013

The latest gyaru-go: The top 10 words for gals on the go

The other day, I overheard two gyaru (ギャル, gals, i.e., fashion-conscious girls) talking, but I had no idea what they were saying.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 4, 2013

Sicily's openly gay governor risks life in anti-Mafia drive

Of the previous two men to sit in Sicily's palatial governor's office, one is up on criminal charges and the other is doing hard time. Their successor, Rosario Crocetta, is the unlikeliest politician ever to govern Cosa Nostra country.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Aug 4, 2013

China may relax one-child policy to let more couples have second child

China is studying whether to relax its one-child policy to allow more couples to have two children, the official Xinhua News Agency has reported, citing the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
BASKETBALL
Aug 3, 2013

Center Davis decides to remain with Shimane

Big man Jeral Davis, who led the bj-league in blocked shots in each of the past three seasons, recently finalized a deal to return to the Shimane Susanoo Magic for the upcoming season, the team has announced.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Aug 3, 2013

Iran's Rouhani faces pressure over economy

Iran's economy is showing signs of foundering just as the country prepares to inaugurate its first new president in eight years, with Western sanctions cutting ever deeper into the Islamic republic's financial lifelines and increasing pressure for a nuclear deal with the West.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 3, 2013

China, U.S. at odds over human rights

U.S. officials said Friday that human rights abuses in China are worsening and that their latest talks with China on the issue "fell short of expectations."
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 3, 2013

Upper House poll to elect officer hits snag: Votes exceed chamber's roster

The 240-member Upper House voted Friday for its new president and vice president, but when ballots were cast for the latter, the tally came to 243.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 2, 2013

Upper House gets first LDP president in six years

A six-day extraordinary Diet session kicked off Friday with the Upper House electing a president from the Liberal Democratic Party for the first time since 2007.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2013

23 residents sue to keep Setagaya off plates, claiming violation of their privacy

Residents of Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, are suing the central government to stop the introduction of license plates that they claim will violate their privacy and are being forced on them.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 2, 2013

Tax delay and Fed paring called threat to JGB bubble

Takeshi Fujimaki, a former adviser to billionaire investor George Soros who won a seat in the Upper House election last month, said a delay in increasing the sales tax and a reduction in the U.S. Federal Reserve's stimulus could cause the Japanese government bond "bubble" to burst.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2013

Nation's troops long way from hitting the beaches: experts

Japan has taken an increasingly proactive role in defending its territory since the end of the Cold War allowed it to shift its defensive posture to address threats from North Korea and China as public memories of the war begin to fade.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 1, 2013

Queen's secret speech for WWIII revealed

British government files from 1983, opened to the public for the first time Wednesday, include an official's view of the message Queen Elizabeth II would have broadcast to the nation in the event of World War III.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2013

Sony rides weak yen to beat profit estimates

Sony Corp., considering Daniel Loeb's push for a partial sale of its entertainment assets, said Thursday it posted first-quarter earnings that beat estimates after cutting costs, introducing new smartphones and benefiting from a weaker yen.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2013

Where does Manning rank in the annals of espionage?

Cleared of the most serious charge — aiding and abetting the enemy — but convicted of most everything else, including espionage, Pfc. Bradley Manning is now facing sentencing, which could land him behind bars from roughly zero to more than 100 years.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 1, 2013

Aso retracts remark on 'learning from the Nazis'

After facing criticism both at home and abroad, Finance Minister Taro Aso retracts his remark suggesting Japan should learn from the Nazis when it comes to revising the Constitution, saying it led to a “misunderstanding.”
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2013

A prince's push for workplace equality

Prince William's decision to take two weeks of job-protected, paid statutory paternity leave represents bold support for workplace equality between men and women.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2013

Japanese university professor born in, critical of, South Korea says Seoul barred her entry

A Japanese university professor of South Korean descent claimed Wednesday in Tokyo that Seoul denied her entry to the country last Saturday at Incheon airport.
Reader Mail
Jul 31, 2013

Preventing another caste system

Extraordinary, insightful and humane: These are the words that came to my mind upon reading Kevin Rafferty's July 24 article, "Obama's blunder with Bangladesh."
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 31, 2013

Deficit cut mulled as sales tax debate intensifies

The Abe administration is considering an ¥8 trillion target for budget-deficit cuts over the next two years as officials debate how to proceed with the planned consumption tax increases that threaten to take the wind out of the economic rebound.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal / ANALYSIS
Jul 31, 2013

WikiLeaks' founder may be next target

The conviction of U.S. Army Pvt. Bradley Manning on espionage charges Tuesday makes it increasingly likely that the United States will prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as a co-conspirator, according to his attorney and other civil liberties groups.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2013

JPMorgan to settle market-rigging case

On March 14, 2011, Blythe Masters, head of JPMorgan Chase's global commodities group, asked one of her top deputies why California power officials were making ominous inquiries into the bank's arcane and lucrative business of selling electricity. Five months earlier, Masters had been given a spreadsheet...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 30, 2013

Crowdsourced art project to printout the Web honors free-information activist

The World Wide Web began to show up by snail mail at the end of May. It arrived on sheets of office paper, stacked in white boxes, slipped into bubble-wrapped manila sleeves, folded into a clean, white business envelope with Rosa Parks stamps, stuffed in neon-green packaging from Farmington Hills, Michigan....

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