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WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 18, 2020

Court throws out children's climate lawsuit against U.S. government

A U.S. federal appeals court on Friday threw out a lawsuit by children and young adults who claimed they had a constitutional right to be protected from climate change, in a major setback to efforts to spur the U.S. government to address the issue.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 17, 2020

Opposition grills LDP on risks facing Japan's SDF mission to Mideast

Any overseas SDF mission is politically sensitive, but U.S.-Iran tensions are so high that debate on the constitutional hazards has ensued even before the Diet has opened.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jan 17, 2020

India relief team chief brings home lessons from 3/11 Tohoku tsunami

The former head of an Indian government rescue team dispatched for relief operations in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, following the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in 2011 is sharing the lessons learned from the disaster-stricken town in his home country.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Jan 17, 2020

Nagoya tech school students plan to build seaplane for flood rescues

Members of Nagoya City Technical High School's airplane club are planning to develop a seaplane that can be used to rescue people from floods — an idea they came up with after learning about the Ise Bay Typhoon, a 1959 storm that swept through the Chubu region, claiming more than 5,000 lives.
Reader Mail
Jan 17, 2020

Back to Basu's drawing board

Regarding the opinion piece "For the 2020s, it's time to go back to the drawing board" in the Jan. 6 edition, "the start of a new decade" is indeed "an occasion for pause and reflection." The questions that writer Kaushik Basu asks about the increasing inequalities and fractiousness of our democracies...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 14, 2020

Life begins at 60 (or at least it starts anew)

Japan Times writer Daniel Morales celebrates his 60th column with a lesson on turning 60, a special birthday in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Jan 14, 2020

Record low number of babies born in Japan in 2019

A Kyodo article looks at number of babies born in Japan last year while comparing it to the country's mortality rate.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2020

Modi's project to make a Hindu India

India represents the most successful example in history of managing the challenge of unity in diversity, but the ruling party's Hindutva agenda threatens this achievement.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2020

Putin's latest obsession: Rewriting World War II

Russia's leader believes the narrative is shifting in ways that make the Soviet Union a villain.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 11, 2020

Japan Post Holdings drags its heels on insurance sales scandal

On Dec. 27, the top three executives of Japan Post Holdings Co. announced they would be resigning on Jan. 5 over the insurance sales scandal that first came to light more than a year and a half ago. The announcement comes on the heels of an order from the Financial Services Agency for subsidiaries of...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Jan 10, 2020

Made in central Japan: Chubu bets on Tokyo Olympics to boost sales of local produce

With the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics taking place this year, prefectures in the Chubu region are eager to make the sporting event an opportunity to promote their local produce.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jan 10, 2020

Avatar robot allows Hiroshima students to attend classes from hospital beds

The education board in Hiroshima Prefecture has pioneered the use of a pint-sized "surrogate robot" to realize what was previously considered impossible: allowing hospitalized students to take classes remotely without being monitored by teachers.
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Jan 7, 2020

Father of 2011 tsunami victim to carry Olympic torch

A Kyodo article delves into Olympics-related vocabulary and tells a heartwarming story in the process.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 6, 2020

'Low IQ' kids, parental rights and problematic terminology dogged Japan's international community in 2019

Of the issues non-Japanese had to deal with in the past year (and even the past decade), some were major news stories and some fell quietly into the cracks.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 5, 2020

Heli-skiing in Japan: The joys of big-mountain powder

From December to March, Hokkaido Backcountry Club runs heli-skiing tours to Mount Shiribetsu near the Niseko and Rusutsu ski resorts. Clip in for the ride.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 5, 2020

Get ready for Japan's backcountry with an avalanche safety course

Black Diamond Tours has been offering Avalanche Skills Training courses in English since 2009 to educate skiers and snowboarders on the risks when riding in Japan's backcountry.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 4, 2020

From hangover cures to prairie dogs, tabloids end 2019 with a bang

For their final issues of December, the weeklies — their covers trimmed in gold color (except for the Sunday Mainichi, which came out in yellow-orange) — typically publish two-week bumper issues with extra pages. This gives many of them leeway to write about lots of timely topics. For instance, journalist...
Reader Mail
Jan 3, 2020

Japan falling short in green effort

As Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi spoke at the recent U.N. climate conference in Madrid, "Japan faced a barrage of criticism" over the continuous use and support for coal-fired power, writes Eric Johnston in his Dec. 13 article "Koizumi confronts coal criticism." Koizumi seemed fairly concerned...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / Outlook 2020
Jan 2, 2020

What will Abe do to cement his legacy?

If you look at Japan's 2020 political calendar now, it will look like it is going to be a relatively quiet one.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2019

Fifteen predictions for the new year

The U.S. presidential election will end in a tie and other educated guesses.
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Dec 31, 2019

'Hagoita' paddles feature big names of 2019

A Kyodo article on Hagoita paddles comes filled with the kanji of this year's newsmakers.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 31, 2019

Suspect in New York stabbing attack at rabbi's home charged with federal hate crimes

Federal prosecutors Monday filed hate crime charges against a man accused of going on a stabbing rampage during a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi's home north of New York City, saying the suspect kept journals containing references to Adolf Hitler and "Nazi culture."
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2019

How Instagram has changed the way we shop

It has also transformed the way we brag about what we bought.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 29, 2019

LDP and Komeito mark 20th anniversary of alliance as policy clash on Constitution awaits

In a partnership that stretches back two decades, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, have deepened their reliance on each other.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Dec 27, 2019

Critics assail secrecy over unexploded chemical weapons left by Imperial Japanese Army

At the end of World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army left a number of unexploded shells filled with poison gas used as munitions. In the 2000s, when such artillery shells were discovered and retrieved from the seabed off the coastal town of Kanda, Fukuoka Prefecture, the central government issued an...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Dec 27, 2019

VR builds bridge between staff and young detainees with developmental disorders in Japan

One day in mid-November, instructors at the Miyagawa medical reformatory, which treats delinquent teenage boys with developmental disorders, in Ise, Mie Prefecture, experienced how people with the disabilities perceive the world by wearing virtual reality goggles and watching a video.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Dec 27, 2019

Tokyo Olympic torchbearers from Fukushima hope event showcases recovery

Applicants across Japan have begun receiving notification that they were selected to run in the Japan leg of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay that will kick off on March 26 at the J-Village soccer facility in Fukushima Prefecture, where efforts to recover from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji