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JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Aug 26, 2018

Osaka teachers resist mayor's plan to raise achievement test scores

Stung by the poor results of a national achievement test covering math, science, and Japanese, Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura wants to raise scores on next year's exam by linking the test results to personnel evaluations and bonuses for school principals and teachers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 26, 2018

Trump says Mexico trade deal near; NAFTA hurdles seen easing

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States could reach a "big Trade Agreement" with Mexico soon as the incoming Mexican trade negotiator signaled possible solutions to NAFTA energy rules and a contentious U.S. "sunset clause" demand.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 24, 2018

New Australian PM Morrison vows stability after Liberal Party ousts Turnbull

Former Treasurer Scott Morrison, Australia's sixth prime minister in 11 years, pledged to bring stability after Malcolm Turnbull relinquished power on Friday in a party coup.
Japan Times
PARALYMPICS
Aug 24, 2018

Men's wheelchair national team coach grateful for expanded training opportunities

Until recently, Japan's elite para-sport athletes have struggled to earn support from their workplace as they aim to represent their country in international competition.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 23, 2018

China's growing hunger for wheat pushes global reserves to crisis levels, as heat waves and droughts hit harvests

A scorching hot, dry summer has ended five years of plenty in many wheat producing countries and drawn down the reserves of major exporters to their lowest level since 2007-08, when low grain stocks contributed to food riots across Africa and Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 23, 2018

Turkey-U.S. tiff reveals deep NATO woes

Countries on the eastern flank still see Russia as an existential threat, but countries in NATO's south are more fearful of terrorism and migration flows.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 23, 2018

Congo OKs more experimental Ebola treatments as cases rise, deaths reach 59

Democratic Republic of Congo has approved four more experimental treatments against the deadly Ebola virus, the health ministry said as it raced to contain an outbreak in its violence-torn east.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2018

1,308 disabled people abused at workplaces in Japan in fiscal 2017

The number of people with disabilities who were abused at workplaces in fiscal 2017 surged 34.6 percent from the previous year to 1,308, the labor ministry said Wednesday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 22, 2018

Tech giants dismantle global Iranian propaganda push

Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and Alphabet Inc. collectively removed hundreds of accounts tied to Iranian actors that a cybersecurity firm said on Tuesday were promoting Iran's geopolitical agenda around the world.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 21, 2018

Eyeing U.S., Iran says it will boost military might as it unveils new fighter jet

Iran said Tuesday it would boost its military might and also unveiled a new fighter jet amid increased tensions with the United States and with regional rivals over conflicts in the Middle East.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 20, 2018

Mori touts transformative power of sports

Yoshiro Mori, a former prime minister and the current president of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, believes sports has the power to connect people's hearts and encourage them to overcome obstacles.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Aug 20, 2018

Yu Kato helps shine light on women's baseball in Japan

Yu Kato wants to bring women's baseball into the spotlight. She wants people to see what she can do on the diamond and also how talented the rest of her Saitama Astraia teammates are. She wants to everyone to know there is quality baseball being played in the Japan Women's Baseball League.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Aug 19, 2018

Tokyo Yakult Swallows slugger Wladimir Balentien stays ahead of curve at plate

Every time Wladimir Balentien hits a home run, and he's hit quite a few since joining the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in 2011, he has to go back to the drawing board and recalibrate his approach.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 19, 2018

The GSDF is taking to the waves, but should it?

The Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade is set up to conduct landing operations to retake Japanese territory.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 19, 2018

Empty hotels, idle boats: What happens when a Pacific island upsets China

Empty hotel rooms, idle tour boats and shuttered travel agencies reveal widening fissures in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, which is caught in an escalating diplomatic tug-of-war between China and Taiwan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 18, 2018

Tabloids offer a potpourri of treats to mark summer

To give their staff a mid-August break, most magazines came out with special two-week issues. A few, waxing nostalgic, are describing this year as "the last summer of the Heisei Era."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 18, 2018

BOJ's tolerance of bigger stock drops shows 'stealth tapering' underway: analysts

Since the central bank isn't propping up the stock market with ETF purchases on every dip anymore, many traders think the BOJ's exit strategy is underway.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Aug 17, 2018

Jared Kushner Russia policy role grew after unreported March 2016 Henry Kissinger lunch

In March 2016, as the U.S. foreign policy establishment shunned presidential candidate Donald Trump, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was invited to lunch for a think tank urging engagement with Russia.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 17, 2018

No handshakes, no helmets in eastern Congo city as it braces for Ebola onslaught

A mobile blood-testing lab. Hand-washing stations on street corners. Motorcycle taxi drivers forbidden from sharing spare helmets. If Ebola is coming, the city of Goma in eastern Congo wants to be ready.
SPORTS
Aug 16, 2018

Japan sending strong squad to Asian Games

The 18th edition of the Asian Games, the region's biggest sporting extravaganza, will officially begin on Saturday in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 15, 2018

Abe forgoes Yasukuni visit on anniversary of WWII surrender, sends ritual donation instead

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe skipped a visit to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Wednesday, the 73rd anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II in 1945.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 15, 2018

Cubans cheer as free internet goes nationwide for a daylong test

Cuba's government said it provided free internet to the communist-run island's more than 5 million cellphone users on Tuesday, in an eight-hour test before it launches sales of the service.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 15, 2018

Congo starts using experimental Ebola treatment as officials urge militia to allow war-zone access

Democratic Republic of Congo has started using the experimental mAb114 Ebola treatment to counter the latest flare-up of the virus, health officials said on Tuesday, the first time it has been deployed against an active outbreak.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2018

Beijing needs to understand one thing about Trump

The U.S. president is voicing a widely held resentment about China's double-dealing economic policy.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami