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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2017

India's democracy is strained by illiberalism

India continues to be robustly, even chaotically, democratic. But its freedom is under growing threat.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Mar 8, 2017

New Zealander is on a mission to turn Japan green, one balcony at a time

Quakes of 2011 in Christchurch and Tohoku put Kiwi on the path to self-reliance and sustainability.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2017

When spies are out of control

U.S. top spies should go back to doing their real work instead of inventing fairy tales.
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2017

70th anniversary of '228 Incident'

Remembering the '228 Incident' provides a timely reminder of the intricate subtleties that affect Taiwan-China relations.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 27, 2017

Tax break for OTC drugs seeks to get Japanese managing their health, not swarming clinics

Buying medicine at a drugstore can now save you taxes.
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2017

Sagamihara killings indictment

It's now up to the courts to unravel the motives behind the Sagamihara stabbing spree, and the government to come up with an improved system for dealing with potentially dangerous mental patients.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 26, 2017

Out of the shadows: Manila's meth dealers back on the streets as cops pull back

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs had until three weeks ago driven the trade in crystal methamphetamine underground, according to residents and drug users in some of the slum areas of the nation's capital city.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 21, 2017

Migrants exploiting refugee applicant loophole to work in labor-scarce Japan

Sayaka Hirose is a Tokyo-based immigration lawyer specializing in assisting Indonesians coming to Japan. She says that in the past two years her clients have been seeking legal advice on an issue she had never encountered before.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 21, 2017

The Japan-United States alliance of despotism

In both Japan and the U.S., the governments are retreating from the rule of law and guarantee of people's freedom under the cause of national security.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2017

Japan's health care system edges foreign care in expat survey

Just over half of non-Japanese residents feel Japan's health care system is generally better than that in their home countries, a trend particularly pronounced among U.S. citizens, with 3 out of 4 rating it more highly, an informal Japan Times survey has found.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Feb 19, 2017

For African-American ‘idol’ Amina du Jean, difference is a double-edged sword

Amina du Jean been in Japan for only 2u00bd years, but in that time has become a bona fide idol, joined a J-idol group and even branched off into a bit of gravure (bikini) modeling.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Feb 19, 2017

Hard to detect, deadly China bird flu virus may be more widespread

Bird flu infection rates on Chinese poultry farms may be far higher than previously thought, because the strain of the deadly virus that has killed more than 100 people this winter is hard to detect in chickens and geese, animal health experts say.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 16, 2017

Comedian Jimmy Carr talks about sensitivity, universal jokes and the best sound he can hear at a stand-up show

"OK, let's kick off with a question for you, in time-honored tradition," Jimmy Carr says to me at the outset of our interview. "Do many comedians make it over to Japan?"
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 9, 2017

More than 1,000 feared killed in Myanmar crackdown on Rohingya, U.N. officials say

More than 1,000 Rohingya Muslims may have been killed in a Myanmar army crackdown, according to two senior United Nations officials dealing with refugees fleeing the violence, suggesting the death toll has been a far greater than previously reported.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2017

Rural Japan's folk traditions fading as residents age

Traditions die hard in the small mountain town of Kanegasaki, whose history includes a series of battles nearly 1,000 years ago that drove an ancestor of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to leave the area for southern Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Feb 5, 2017

Efforts afoot to revive Japan's traditional small tea farms by offering global reach

Japanese green tea, known for its health benefits and centuries-old brewing and serving rituals, has won the hearts and taste buds of people around the world.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Feb 4, 2017

New housing options get smaller in the city

Last month this column discussed how lack of city planning in the suburbs had led to an over-supply of new housing that exacerbated the well-publicized vacant-home problem. It should be noted, however, that populations in suburbs throughout Japan are declining — some slowly, others rather rapidly....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Feb 4, 2017

Honesty is the best policy for lost property

Last month, I withdrew some money — ¥100,000 to be precise — from an ATM near Tokyo's Shibuya Station.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 3, 2017

Schools close, hospitals swell as influenza spikes

Japan sees a surge of 400,000 influenza cases in just one week as patients rush to get doctor's notes instead of resting.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2017

Penalizing the plotting of crimes

The government should not dismiss concerns that penalizing the act of plotting and preparing for crimes would entail placing society under greater surveillance
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 30, 2017

Tens of thousands in U.S. cities protest Trump immigration order

Tens of thousands of people rallied in U.S. cities and at airports on Sunday to voice outrage over President Donald Trump's executive order restricting entry into the country for travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2017

Full transcript of Donald Trump's inaugural address

President Donald Trump's inaugural address, as delivered:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jan 18, 2017

Re-entry to U.S. can be tough for a Tokyo Man drunk on white privilege

There is a price this former Tokyoite pays for being home. Because in America, being white can be less than a privilege — it is part of a complicated history.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2017

The fortunate few and the forgotten many

The message for the super rich gathered in Davos should be clear: Building a more inclusive economy requires redistribution of wealth.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 14, 2017

Recalling the ins and outs of our memory

In the Harry Potter films, Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore shows the young wizard memories that he keeps in glass vessels. The franchise portrays memories as things that possess a physical structure that can be moved around. Although they appear to look like wispy bits of fluff, they are given...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jan 12, 2017

Japanese city to use vein data to identify lost dementia sufferers

In a possible first for Japan, the city of Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, will start an experiment to register the vein data of elderly residents with dementia so they can be instantly identified if they wander off and are found without an ID.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 10, 2017

Hyundai, IHI among firms weighing $5 billion Turkey roads and bridge project: sources

Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Itochu Corp. and Chinese builders are among companies that may bid for a $5 billion contract to build a network of roads and a suspension bridge across Turkey's Dardanelles waterway, according to people familiar with the matter.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 8, 2017

Japan's human rights issues fared better in 2016

Welcome back to JBC's annual countdown of the top issues as they affected Non-Japanese (NJ) residents of Japan. We had some brighter spots this year than in previous years, because Japan's government has been so embarrassed by hate speech toward Japan's minorities that they did something about it. Read...

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan