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WORLD / Society
Jun 11, 2015

Despite ban, U.N. peacekeepers commonly engage in transactional sex: study

United Nations peacekeepers commonly pay for sex with cash, dresses, jewelry, perfume, cell phones and other items, despite a ban on such relationships with people the world body is trying to help, a draft U.N. report concluded.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 10, 2015

Chinese-born Aussie senator defends Beijing over sea dispute, 1989 crackdown

A Chinese-born Australian senator on Wednesday defended Beijing's claims to a chain of disputed islands at the center of growing tensions in the South China Sea, saying the country with the most power "at the time" will emerge triumphant.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jun 10, 2015

China's big biotech bet starts to pay off

Years of pouring money into its laboratories, wooing scientists home from overseas and urging researchers to publish and patent is starting to give China a competitive edge in biotechnology, a strategic field it sees as ripe for "indigenous innovation."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 10, 2015

Japan's budget king turns to robots to revive bubble-era theme park

Light shows and pirate rides helped Hideo Sawada pull a bankrupt theme park in Kyushu back to profitability.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2015

Poroshenko makes Putin look like a wimp

If Ukraine manages to pull out of the deepest crisis in its history and re-emerge as a functioning democratic country with a liberal economic model, it will do more to undermine Russians' passive support for Vladimir Putin than any Western pressure ever could.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jun 7, 2015

South Korea reports 14 more MERS cases and fifth death

South Korean health officials on Sunday reported 14 more cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome, bringing the total in the country's outbreak to 64, and said a fifth person infected with the virus had died.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jun 5, 2015

South Korea reports third MERS death as alarm grows

South Korea on Thursday confirmed that a man who died a day earlier had been infected with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the third fatality in a virus outbreak that has caused growing alarm in the country.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2015

Some Japanese teens welcome move to reduce voting age, others apathetic

For high school student Aine Suzuki, the Lower House's move on Thursday to pass legislation that would reduce the voting age to 18 from the current 20 was akin to a dream come true.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2015

What next for ShinGinko Tokyo?

News that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is apparently planning to withdraw from managing ShinGinko Tokyo Ltd. has opened old wounds for residents who just seven years earlier saw their tax money poured into resuscitating the bank that was supposed to become a savior of small businesses.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 3, 2015

Director Naomi Kawase has finally made a 'real Japanese film'

Sooner or later, many Japanese directors — be they internationally acclaimed auteurs or industry outsiders — end up making what Sion Sono (a noted auteur/outsider himself) once described to me as "a real Japanese film." To put it simply, this sort of film is aimed squarely at the domestic audience,...
JAPAN / Society
Jun 2, 2015

Japan Pension Service hack used classic attack method

The massive leak last month of personal data from the Japan Pension Service was the result of a simple error by its employees: opening a virus-laced email attachment disguised as a health ministry document.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 2, 2015

Florida scientists document 'virgin births' of endangered sawfish

Scientists have documented in Florida a series of "virgin births," reproduction without mating, in a critically endangered sawfish species pushed to the brink of extinction by overfishing and habitat destruction.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 30, 2015

Is 'proactive peace' just a new term for war?

"Have you ever heard the roar of a jet fighter?"
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
May 30, 2015

Sayoko Yamaguchi, an enigma to the end

You may not know the name, but there is a good chance you know the face. As Clara Bow, Greta Garbo and Twiggy were iconic of their times, Sayoko Yamaguchi was everywhere in the 1970s. Even if you weren't a dedicated follower of fashion, it would have been difficult to avoid her cool gaze, which appeared...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 29, 2015

Pirokalpin gets a taste of the majors and opts for indie

Getting signed to a major label is a goal many bands aspire to, but what happens when your contract ends halfway through the making of your sophomore LP? You start your own label and put it out yourself.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 29, 2015

Changes to ODA Charter reflect new realities

Japan's strategy for distributing foreign aid has undergone a much-needed revamping to reflect today's realities.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 29, 2015

Nidec's 70-year-old CEO plans to run company 15 more years

Shigenobu Nagamori plans to lead Nidec Corp. until he hits his latest financial target, a 10-fold increase in revenue he expects by 2030. He'll be 85 then.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTEL SPECIAL 2015
May 29, 2015

Relaxing time at Niki Club & Resorts

In a woodland setting surrounded by streams and singing birds, the Niki Club & Resorts in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, offers guests a relaxing summer, providing them with an experience similar to a long-term stay at a summer house.
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
May 28, 2015

President Park Geun-hye's Japan stance in perspective

Where does South Korean President Geun-hye Park's open antipathy toward Japan come from?
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 28, 2015

Abe says Constitution would rule out full-scale invasion, but 'exceptions' are unclear

As debate rages in the Diet over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's security bills, the opposition has identified a key question: Could Japan use force on foreign territory to support the U.S.?
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 27, 2015

Shibuya Ward aims to launch same-sex partnership certificates in October

Tokyo's Shibuya Ward aims to begin issuing certificates recognizing same-sex partnerships by around the end of October, the ward's new mayor said on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 26, 2015

Lower House finally takes up contentious security bills

The Lower House kicks off much-awaited deliberations on two contentious security bills that would greatly expand the scope of the Self-Defense Forces' missions overseas, and opposition lawmakers immediately go on the attack.
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2015

China's unaddressed mental health problems

The Chinese government must take steps to deal with the country's mental health crisis.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / YEN FOR LIVING
May 23, 2015

Phone users in Japan still paying for plenty of stuff they don't need

Despite efforts to shake up competition in the cellphone market, consumers are paying more than ever for mobile services.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
May 23, 2015

With capture of Ramadi, Islamic State expands its hold over region

Almost a year after the Islamic State's shock capture of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, the black flags of the jihadis have been raised over Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province to the west of Baghdad, seat of Iraq's increasingly theoretical central government.
CULTURE / Music
May 22, 2015

Mono guitarist Goto revisits past compositions on 'Classical Punk and Echoes Under the Beauty'

In 2014, instrumental rock band Mono released two LPs simultaneously: "The Last Dawn" and "Rays of Darkness." The albums stripped the band's sound down to its bare essentials, eschewing the orchestral sounds it had become known for and instead going for the sound of a raw rock band with two emotional...
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2015

Beijing makes a great academic leap forward

China has made impressive strides in its higher education system, which will pay off as its economy increasingly relies on technology and innovation.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes