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Japan Times
BUSINESS / ESG Consortium Special
Dec 31, 2017

ESG investing for innovation

I imagine most people know about the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals and, possibly, ESG investment. From working as a strategic advisor on corporate sustainability in Japan since the mid-1990s, I feel these two concepts represent major drivers of innovation for businesses across the world.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 30, 2017

Japanese media's hits and misses of 2017

The term "fake news" was used in so many different situations this year that it no longer describes an agreed upon concept but rather anything you don't agree with. This is why the U.S. press has had a difficult time making sense of its president's conflation of cynical policy aims with his own deranged...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 30, 2017

No looking back in hunger: a wrap-up of Tokyo's restaurant scene in 2017

As the year draws to a close, all that's left to do is to slurp New Year's soba and give thanks for another bumper year of superlative dining.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 30, 2017

Who can we trust during these new wars of the world?

Swords into ploughshares. Spears into pruning hooks. Three thousand-odd years ago, when civilization was rough and passions raw, an extraordinary visionary saw peace dawning. His words, recorded in the Biblical book of Isaiah, transcend religious denomination and national affiliation. They belong to...
Japan Times
JAPAN / AT A GLANCE
Dec 30, 2017

Bustling Haneda shines as a New Year's traveler hub

Every New Year's, the nation's airports are jammed with travelers heading to their hometowns or overseas to spend the holidays — and Tokyo's Haneda is the busiest one.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Dec 30, 2017

Debate grows over the plight of foreign staff at convenience stores in Japan

Launched in 1993, Japan's Technical Internship Training Program for foreign nationals hasn't had the best reputation. The program was created to help visitors from developing nations live and work in Japan for as long as three years under the protective umbrella of Japan's labor laws.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Dec 30, 2017

'Strong in the Rain': Poetry from the heart and mind by Kenji Miyazawa

'Strong in the Rain," a classic Japanese poetry collection from Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1921), beautifully reveals much about both nature and humanity.
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2017

Revising medical fees

Medical cost structures have to be adjusted to ensure that people will continue to have adequate care.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 30, 2017

Russian tankers fueled North Korea via transfers at sea, sources say

Russian tankers have supplied fuel to North Korea on at least three occasions in recent months by transferring cargoes at sea, according to two senior Western European security sources, providing an economic lifeline to the secretive communist state.
WORLD
Dec 30, 2017

Price protests turn political in Iran as rallies spread

Demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans in several cities across Iran on Friday, Iranian news agencies and social media reports said, as price protests turned into the largest wave of demonstrations since nationwide pro-reform unrest in 2009.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society / FOCUS
Dec 30, 2017

From #MeToo to rape laws, women's rights advanced despite adversity in 2017

Pink hat-wearing protesters marched in the millions, celebrities called out their abusers as "pigs," and countries from Chile to India passed pro-women legislation, making 2017 a momentous year for women's rights despite setbacks, activists said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 29, 2017

Oton Glass CEO looks to help those with reading disabilities and ease their lives

What would you do if you suddenly lost your ability to read, and the text you're reading now became an incomprehensible jumble of letters?
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 29, 2017

Japan aims to lower age of adulthood to 18 by 2022

The government has decided to introduce legislation toward lowering the legal age of adulthood from 20 to 18 when the Diet opens in January. It is also slated to remove a clause in the Imperial House Law that sets the emperor's age of majority at 18, and submit 24 bills also related to revising the Civil...
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 29, 2017

America had a near-record 15 billion-dollar weather disasters in 2017

In the year that President Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris accord and downplayed global warming as a security threat, the U.S. received a harsh reminder of the perils of the rise in the planet's temperature: a destructive rash of hurricanes, fires and floods.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 29, 2017

SoftBank succeeds in tender offer for huge stake in Uber, securing shares at 30% discount on recent valuations

A consortium led by SoftBank Group Corp. will buy a large number of shares in Uber Technologies Inc. in a deal that values the ride-services firm at $48 billion, Uber said on Thursday, in a victory for new Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 29, 2017

Bitcoin bubble and bond boom shaped 2017, which brought mixed results for stocks

It was a great year to hold bitcoin, but a bad time to have been invested in the Uzbek som.
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2017

2017 was a year of awakening

The year 2017 has been marked by a shift in the balance of power and a recalibration of roles and status.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 29, 2017

Nomura CEO targets U.S. in push that could include acquisitions, and puts European ranks on notice

Nomura Holdings Inc. is getting serious about shedding its perennial underdog status in the U.S.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 29, 2017

It's time to bring Japanese schools into the 21st century

Japan must develop an educational system that makes its citizens become more relevant to the globalized economy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2017

Space World buys naming rights to star ahead of closing finale

Despite the fact that a space-themed amusement park in Fukuoka will close for good soon, it's still ready to brighten people's lives — as a small twinkling star in the night sky.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 29, 2017

Here comes the sun: Recommended hatsuhinode spots

The first sunrise of the new year represents a chance for a new beginning and so it's hardly surprising that some once viewed the first rays of the sun on Jan. 1 with special reverence. It was believed to be the moment that Toshigami, god of the new year, descends from heaven and bestows happiness on...
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 29, 2017

U.N. official says over 100 civilians, including children, killed in Yemen by Saudi-led coalition's raids

A Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has killed 109 civilians in airstrikes in the past 10 days, including 54 people at a crowded market and 14 members of one family on a farm, the top U.N. official in the country said Thursday.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight