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Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Oct 21, 2014

Italy gives army troops a new job: grow cheap medical marijuana

Italy legalized marijuana for medical use last year, but the high cost of buying legal pot in a pharmacy meant few people signed up. Now, the government has found a solution: Get the army to grow it.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 20, 2014

Abductees' families still skeptical on sending reps to N. Korea

Many relatives of abductees said Monday they remain skeptical about the government's decision to send officials to Pyongyang to learn firsthand the status of North Korea's latest probe into the victims' fates.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2014

Big Pharma, world leaders not cut out for Ebola battle

Scientists at leading universities, rather than Big Pharma, are fighting the battle against Ebola and other tricky diseases, while the response of Western leaders has been to try to keep Ebola out of their backyards.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 17, 2014

Oil market is proving mightier than OPEC

The only sensible oil-pricing strategy for Saudi Arabia and OPEC — in light of U.S. shale output — is to focus on market share and allow prices to decline to the point at which they slow the growth in non-OPEC output and lessen the drive for energy efficiency.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2014

Ruling denying welfare for foreign residents finds homegrown, biased support

The landmark Supreme Court ruling in July that found permanent residents of Japan legally ineligible for public assistance is already having an impact. Moves are afoot both at the national and local levels to try to scale back or remove welfare payments to foreign residents.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 16, 2014

China likely set to expel disgraced security chief from party

China's disgraced former domestic security chief, Zhou Yongkang, looks set to be expelled from the ruling Communist Party at a key meeting next week, sources said, possibly paving the way for his formal prosecution.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 14, 2014

U.S. officials move to shore up Ebola spending after years of cuts

Federal authorities are bracing for more Ebola cases in the United States at a time when spending on Ebola research and health emergency preparedness has been on a steady decline.
BASKETBALL
Oct 11, 2014

Shiga outplays Gunma in first bj-league contest for ex-NBA coach Parker, center Ely

Longtime NBA assistant coach Charlie Parker and big man Melvin Ely, the 12th overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, made their bj-league regular-season debuts on Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 8, 2014

Hit play reveals a wife and mistress baring all

English playwright David Hare's acclaimed 2002 West End hit "The Breath of Life" this week launches a new series titled "Drama for Two: the power of dialogue" at the New National Theatre Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2014

India's nuclear risks and costs

The inevitable conclusion that nuclear weapons cannot help India solve the problems of poverty, illiteracy and malnutrition, and are irrelevant as security against any other country, should at least encourage India to champion the phased and verifiable goal of global nuclear disarmament.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 5, 2014

Ancient Oregon caves may upend understanding of humans in the Americas

A network of caves in rural Oregon may be the oldest site of human habitation in the Americas, suggesting that an ancient human population reached what is now the United States at the end of the last Ice Age, Oregon officials said on Friday.
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Oct 4, 2014

The bear cheek of our woodland friends

When I came to live here in Kurohime in the hills of northern Nagano Prefecture almost 35 years ago, I got a gun licence and joined the local hunter's association — not because I wanted to kill things, but to help me learn about the mountains, rivers, woodlands, plants and wildlife in this area.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 4, 2014

Inner-city life, and the banal mystery that is other people

Beautifully banal. Perhaps not the most positive-sounding turn of phrase, but the one that best summarizes the appeal of Shuichi Yoshida's interwoven narrative of five young adults and their struggles living in an overcrowded Tokyo apartment.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2014

North Korea envoy says door is open on nuclear issues, rights, abductees

North Korea is ready to resume six-party talks on its nuclear program but must maintain its readiness in the face of joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, a senior envoy in Geneva said on Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2014

Weaker case for the law schools

Reform of the nation's system for training legal professionals — introduced a decade ago to draw people from more diverse backgrounds into the legal professional community — is under scrutiny as the ratio of applicants passing the national bar exam falls to a record low.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 1, 2014

Death-row samurai spills ink, not blood

Why have samurai movies become so middle-aged and sedate? Starting in the silent days and continuing through their 1950s peak, period films with top-knotted heroes typically featured a big one-against-many finale with flashing swords and the occasional firearm. Especially in the early days, both actors...
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 1, 2014

Abductees' families warn official visit to Pyongyang may not yield answers

Some relatives of abductees say Tokyo should eschew North Korea's invitation to send officials to Pyongyang, believing it would yield few details on the fate of their loved ones.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 30, 2014

North Korea asks Japanese to go to Pyongyang for abduction briefing

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday that North Korea has asked Japanese officials to visit Pyongyang to receive the latest information on its probe into the fate of Japanese abductees.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Sep 30, 2014

Quebecoise shines as 'minyo' singer

Learning to play the three-stringed Japanese traditional instrument shamisen topped Canadian Maud Archambault's list of things to do while in Japan. She arrived here in 2001 to explore one of her fields of study: Japanese culture.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 27, 2014

Human rights lawsuit makes for awkward start to Modi's big U.S. visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off his maiden visit to the United States as India's leader on Friday, facing an unwelcome reminder of his once-strained relations with his host nation: a lawsuit alleging he failed to stop anti-Muslim rioting in 2002.

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