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Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 27, 2013

Scientists now creating 'app-style' life-forms

For scientist Jack Newman, creating a new life-form has become as simple as this: He types out a DNA sequence on his laptop, and clicks "send." And nearby in the laboratory, robotic arms start to mix together some compounds to produce the desired cells.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Oct 25, 2013

Space trash tax eyed

Space is getting awfully messy. The amount of debris in Earth's orbit keeps multiplying each year, damaging satellites and putting astronauts in harm's way. If the problem gets severe enough, it could eventually make low-Earth orbit unusable.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 21, 2013

Mercury still threat, Abe assurances or not

Earlier this month, delegates from over 130 nations gathered in Kumamoto to launch the Minamata Convention on Mercury. The U.N.-brokered treaty aims to limit mercury use and emissions. It comes at a time when the U.N. Environmental Program warns half of all global anthropogenic mercury emissions come...
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 13, 2013

Defective gene gives some stronger, darker view of life

Some people just see the world more darkly than others.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 11, 2013

Illegal taps on oil pipeline wreaking havoc on Nigeria

The flames roared 20 meters above the Niger delta swamp for 48 hours; 6,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into the creeks and waterways around the village of Bodo and several people died.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2013

Minamata mercury treaty finds skeptics

Delegates from about 130 countries will gather Wednesday in the Kumamoto Prefecture cities of Minamata and Kumamoto for a three-day meeting to finalize a new international treaty seeking to ban or greatly limit the use of mercury.
EDITORIALS
Oct 7, 2013

Inching toward collective self-defense

By agreeing to revise the terms of Japan-U.S. defense cooperation in view of China's buildup, the Abe administration risks discarding Japan's traditional 'defense-only defense' posture.
EDITORIALS
Oct 6, 2013

Japan must go green

In releasing the first part of its fifth assessment report on Sept. 27, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that temperatures are likely to rise by 0.3 to 4.8 degrees Celsius and sea levels could rise by 26 to 82 cm by the end of the 21st century compared with the latest 20 years.
EDITORIALS
Sep 30, 2013

North Korea's hard and soft tactics

Pyongyang's recent cancellation of a planned reunion for North and South Korean families suggests that it is using hard and soft tactics to gain diplomatic advantage.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Sep 24, 2013

Kato's attempt to change NPB doomed by lack of power

Ryozo Kato had the ideas to be the commissioner Japanese baseball needed, but not the muscle.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 22, 2013

Vetting firms 'rush' through security clearances

When Ileana Privetera started working for the contractor USIS, the firm that vetted National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and Washington Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis, it sounded like the perfect job. A mother, she would have flexible hours for her family, and she would be helping the country...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Sep 20, 2013

Animal shelters strive to reduce euthanasia

The Welfare and Management of Animals Law was revised Sept. 1 in an attempt to reduce the number of abandoned dogs and cats.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INNOVATIVE CITY FORUM
Sep 17, 2013

Urban innovation, deregulation among keys to improving Tokyo

Global cities are competing with each other to be the most innovative by combining many kinds of intelligence, such as that of technology and of people with different talents.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INNOVATIVE CITY FORUM
Sep 17, 2013

Can Tokyo move up to the top spot of the Global Power City Index?

The 21st century may be considered the era of cities, as opposed to the 20th century being the era of countries.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 15, 2013

2013: A space conundrum

Long ago, in a dreamier era, space stations were imagined as portals to the heavens. In the 1968 movie "2001: A Space Odyssey," the huge structure twirled in orbit, aesthetically sublime, a relaxing way station for astronauts heading to the moon. It featured a Hilton and a Howard Johnson's.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 14, 2013

Seed bank sprouts support a-plenty

In a sunny corner of Tomoko and Kenji Usui's garden, surrounded by marigolds and goldenrod, there stands a peculiar little house. The thatched roof is tall and pointy like a witch's hat, with flowers growing around the brim. The porch is wide and shady, with a handmade wooden chair on it inviting visitors...
BUSINESS / Economy / 'SUMMER DAVOS' SPECIAL 2013
Sep 10, 2013

Advising visitors to truly see Japan with their own eyes

Last summer at age 66, Seiichi Kondo climbed Mount Fuji for the first time in his life. Friends warned it wouldn't be an easy expedition, and it wasn't. But conquering Japan's highest mountain was essential for what he was about to do next.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 7, 2013

Fukushima: health disaster or PR fail?

One thing about having a nuclear accident in a rich country is that at least there is going to be good medical care and long-term monitoring. The repair and clean-up operation is another matter, of course — which is why Japan is currently under pressure to accept help from abroad in fixing the appalling...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2013

Experts uncertain about Tokyo bid

As the weekend vote looms by the International Olympic Committee to decide the city that will host the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, experts in Japan say the three candidates are neck and neck amid lingering worries about the radioactive water leaking from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Japan Times
JAPAN / INTERPRETATION & TRANSLATION
Sep 2, 2013

Focusing on people, not just words

English interpreters in Japan may often be regarded as those who convert English into Japanese or vice versa. However, Mutsumi Katayama, who has worked for more than 20 years as a freelance professional interpreter, focuses more attention on interpersonal communication.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2013

Knock down barriers to FDIs

If Japan wants to regain its international competitiveness and recover its innovative capabilities, it must encourage leading foreign firms to come to the Japanese market.
EDITORIALS
Aug 26, 2013

Poisoned mongooses in Okinawa

Japanese researchers have detected high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in mongooses found near two U.S. military bases in Okinawa.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 18, 2013

Interest in climate change ebbs

It's puzzling why so few arguments have been made in Japan this summer to link the heat waves and local cloudbursts to global warming and climate change.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Aug 12, 2013

Radiation fears forced me to postpone Japan visit by U.S. students

Dear Minister of Education Hakubun Shimomura,
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2013

Tokyo beach reopens after five-decade effort

The seawater by Tokyo's Kasai Rinkai Park is only slightly cooler than body temperature, and its beach contains a mix of tiny gravel and seashell fragments instead of fine white sand.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan