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COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 3, 2015

How the TPP can transform Japan's economy

Regardless of whether or not the TPP is implemented, Japan's farmers must change their approach if they want to secure their futures rather than hope that subsidies will continue forever.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 31, 2015

How analysts calculate China's true — and huge — burden of bad loans

Corporate investigator Violet Ho never put a lot of faith in the numbers on bad loans that are reported by China's banks.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 29, 2015

U.S. Navy's foray into China-claimed seas reportedly followed foot-dragging by White House

The U.S. naval challenge to China's territorial assertiveness in the South China Sea this week came after months of frustration within the Pentagon at what some defense officials saw as unnecessary delays by the White House and State Department in approving the mission.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Oct 28, 2015

Imagining a Japan that thinks beyond blood and binary distinctions

Could the Brave Blossoms serve as a model for a multicultural Japan of the future?
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Oct 27, 2015

Lack of strength only thing holding Miyahara back

"Exquisite performance, beautiful skating skills, lovely likeness. When she lands the jumps it's as though the blades are kissing the ice. It's so soft. Hardly any sound."
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 13, 2015

Japan may empower courts to handle more cross-border divorce suits

After 18 months of deliberations, the Legislative Council of the Justice Ministry has drawn up an outline for legal revisions aimed at resolving a problem many failed marriages face: whether the Japan-based spouse can file for divorce here rather than overseas.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 8, 2015

China uses intimidation tactics at U.N. to silence critics

In a cafe lounge at the United Nations complex in Geneva, a Tibetan fugitive was waiting his turn earlier this year to tell diplomats his story of being imprisoned and tortured back home in China.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Oct 7, 2015

Red flags and exit strategies: advice for English teachers in Japan

It's important for new instructors in Japan to know when they are being exploited, and, if so, how to improve their lot or extricate themselves from the situation as painlessly as possible.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 3, 2015

Japan's elderly can't live off happy memories

Around the first week in December, lifelong-learning company U-Can sponsors an event that designates the top buzzwords of the year. Almost certain to be in the running for first place this year is "karyū rōjin" (low-class elderly people), a term that has been spreading like wildfire since summer.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 2, 2015

Lobby group urges Japan to join peers by accepting more Syrian refugees

A group focused on the interests of refugees in Japan urges the government to take in more asylum seekers from Syria to avoid looking bad on the international stage.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 26, 2015

Nation's youth are attempting to establish a new political norm

"Tell me what democracy looks like!"
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2015

Residents of Russian-held isles disputed by Japan await diplomatic resolution

Russian residents of an island chain at the center of a dispute that has held up a Japanese-Russian treaty to formally end World War II hope a diplomatic solution will lure tourists and investment to help refurbish rickety infrastructure.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Sep 23, 2015

Neither here nor there: the families torn between Nigeria and Japan

Caught between instability in Nigeria and isolation in Japan, African immigrants fear the loss of their children's love.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2015

Vilifying China a bad campaign tactic

The more heated the anti-China rhetoric is in the U.S. presidential campaign, the more likely Beijing is to respond in kind.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2015

Thousands gather outside Diet in heavy rain for last chance to protest security bills

Thursday's heavy rain failed to douse the rage of thousands of demonstrators who gathered in front of the Diet building in Tokyo to protest the controversial security legislation that is expected to pass by week's end.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 16, 2015

Japan waits to see whether new Australian leader will rock the boat on defense

Japan watches anxiously after one of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's closest Asia-Pacific allies in ousted in a party leadership vote.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2015

Student protests continue quest to block security bills

Student protesters continued to cry foul over what they call "unconstitutional" security legislation Wednesday in a last-minute effort before the bills' expected Diet passage later this week.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 15, 2015

Security bills won't allow for Hormuz minesweeping, Abe says

The administration does not view minesweeping operations in the Strait of Hormuz as one of the possible actions that the Self-Defense Forces would carry out if the national security bills are enacted, according to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 9, 2015

Hungary's Orban plays for high stakes with tough stance on migrants

Hungary's fiery Prime Minister Viktor Orban has always relished a fight, be it with foreign bankers, international lenders or the European Union over policy toward Russia.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Sep 7, 2015

Rich gulf Arab nations' refugee response questioned

When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, fellow Persian Gulf states raced to shelter thousands of displaced Kuwaitis. Fast forward 25 years, and the homeless from nearby Syria's war have found scant refuge in the Arab world's richest states.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2015

Trump makes a lot of sense on foreign policy

Donald Trump may be the most sensible Republican in the race, at least on foreign policy.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 31, 2015

No exit in sight from Futenma quagmire, where local resentment is deep

In early August, it appeared Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga might use his authority to cancel permission for the central government's landfill work on a U.S. facility in Henoko, where personnel from the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma are supposed to be relocated.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 26, 2015

Osaka governor demands Ishin no To secretary-general resign as party division intensifies

Ishin no To (Japan Innovation Party), the second largest opposition party, is on the brink of disintegration once again as a confrontation between its Osaka-based and Tokyo-based members intensified Wednesday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2015

The value of China's devaluation

China's currency devaluation has advanced its strategic goal of turning the RMB into an international reserve currency — and, in the long term, into a credible global challenger to the U.S. dollar.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Aug 22, 2015

Surviving the postwar Soviet detention camps

Japan's surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, marked the end of the most devastating global conflict in history.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 22, 2015

Abe catches heat from the weeklies in the dog days of summer

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces such a constant stream of stumbles and irritants, it's hard to identify which of them is causing his biggest headache.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 22, 2015

The same old story on rural depopulation

A story that is constantly upbeat quickly becomes tiring. Conflict and resolution are necessary to maintain interest, and while happy endings are still more popular than depressing ones, characters should go through some sort of emotional turmoil before arriving at them.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / 70 YEARS AFTER THE WAR'S END
Aug 14, 2015

Abe's nationalism reflected in conservative political movement, but polls show voter dissent

The hot political season is back as the nation observes Aug. 15, which is always an emotional date as it marks Japan's surrender in World War II — and this year is the 70th anniversary of that fateful event.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell