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OLYMPICS
Aug 16, 2012

Team Japan makes triumphant return from London

After the 17-day extravaganza of the London Olympics, the Japanese delegation — which gave the country excitement and insomnia on a daily basis — made a triumphant return home on Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2012

Palestinian plight's Tohoku parallels

The civil war in Syria is not only affecting its civilians but also the Palestinian refugees living in exile there, and the situation is deteriorating, the head of a United Nations agency supporting the refugees said during a recent visit to Japan.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Aug 15, 2012

Despite flaws, Rakuten is 1-0 against Amazon in Japan's e-book wars

Rakuten, Japan's largest online shopping mall — and a head-to-head rival of Amazon Japan that also hopes to expand its business globally — launched its first e-book reader, the Rakuten Kobo Touch, on July 19, getting the jump on the long anticipated Japanese release of Amazon's Kindle.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 14, 2012

Yokosuka rape victim takes fight for justice to U.S. courts

Australian Catherine Jane Fisher, who was raped by a U.S. Navy sailor in Yokosuka in 2002, has now taken her case for compensation all the way to the U.S. courts.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2012

Utilities lose $46 billion as nuclear era nears end

The nuclear power industry has lost a record $46 billion since the earthquake and tsunami disasters led to three meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant last year, wiping out seven years of profit.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 13, 2012

FIBA's Baumann doubts basketball age limit will be imposed

Patrick Baumann, FIBA's secretary general, believes an age-limit proposal won't be approved for the 2016 Rio Summer Games men's basketball tournament. Still, there could be some changes made to the current tournament format, he acknowledged.
EDITORIALS
Aug 13, 2012

Keeping retirees employed

The Lower House on Aug. 2 passed a bill to make it obligatory in principle for enterprises to keep employing through the age of 65 all workers who want to continue to work after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60. The bill is aimed at securing employment for such workers until they start receiving...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 12, 2012

Osaka trial highlights Japan's deficient mental-illness facilities

On July 30, the Osaka District Court sentenced a 42-year-old man to 20 years in prison for killing his sister. That's the maximum term for the crime, but it's also four years more than what prosecutors demanded. The reasoning behind the decision of the court, which included lay judges, has provoked an...
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 12, 2012

Bahamas pulls off huge upset in 4x400 relay

Turkey had a surprising 1-2 finish in the women's 1,500 to steal some of the spotlight from two of Friday night's marquee events: the women's 5,000, featuring a star-studded cast of world-class runners, and the women's 4x100 relay at the Olympic Stadium.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 12, 2012

South Korea reflects on successful Olympics

Not one of the largest nations competing in the Summer Olympics, South Korea had collected the fifth-most gold medals as of 9 p.m. on Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 12, 2012

Excuse this proud new father — it's time to indulge in some baby talk

I'll preface this column by admitting that it is fairly common, among journalists on the science and health beats, that after they personally reproduce they experience a burning desire to write about the science of childbirth. Seasoned editors know to expect that postnatal reporters will start pitching...
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2012

Moment of truth for kin of A-bomb decision

When the grandson of U.S. President Harry Truman, who ordered the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and a descendent of the only serviceman to fly on both bombing runs came face to face with some of the survivors, it was a moment of truth.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 11, 2012

Supporters helped propel Icho, Obara to gold

Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, is not known for being Party Central. But that changed in a big way when freestyle wrestlers Kaori Icho and Hitomi Obara doubled Japan's gold medal total on Wednesday, making their hometown proud and bringing immense joy to Tohoku.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 10, 2012

'Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutteyo (The Kirishima Thing)'

High schools are mercilessly hierarchical societies. At mine in rural Pennsylvania varsity basketball players occupied the summit. (Football players didn't because we didn't have a football team.) For a mere honor student to absent-mindedly sit in the "reserved" seat of one of these titans in the lunch...
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2012

Police asked to intervene in more bullying cases

Amid growing public criticism of the way schools and boards of education handle, or allegedly ignore, cases of bullying, more children and parents are turning to the police, filing criminal complaints or asking for reinvestigations of previously reported instances of physical abuse.

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