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JAPAN / Politics
Aug 31, 2015

Ishin, DPJ agree to work together to challenge ruling coalition

Leaders of Ishin no To and the Democratic Party of Japan agree to bolster cooperation in the Diet and future elections with the aim of taking the fight to the ruling camp.
WORLD
Aug 28, 2015

UK immigration hits record high, causing headache for Cameron

Long-term net migration to Britain has hit a record high, underscoring the challenge Prime Minister David Cameron faces to dispel voter fears that immigrants are straining public services such as housing, hospitals and schools.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2015

Students launch hunger strike to protest security bills

Sitting upright across from the Diet building, the protesters say they know their fight against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is going to take a heavy toll on them. But they say they have to do it nonetheless.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Aug 26, 2015

Abe's historically selective WWII speech gets borderline failing grade

I couldn't help asking myself what grade Prime Minister Abe would have got had he made his presentation in one of my Japanese studies classes. The answer, I regret to say, is C- or D+.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 26, 2015

Assad opposes alliance of Syrian rebels against Islamic State

Syrian President Bashar Assad said Tuesday that he is open to the idea of a coalition against Islamic State but indicated there is little chance of it happening among his enemies, casting further doubt on a Russian plan to forge an alliance against the militant group.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 22, 2015

Miyagi's hot-spring valley of the dolls

If local train rides, bucolic vistas, simple family-run ryokans and hot-spring baths overflowing with mineral-rich waters sounds like the perfect getaway, Naruko Onsen village in Miyagi Prefecture should be your next destination.
COMMUNITY / Voices / OVERHEARD
Aug 22, 2015

Stating the obvious

Mr. Tomo. Long time no see. How are you?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 18, 2015

Japan needs to break its addiction to exports

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe needs to recognize, as China already has, that Asia's old export model of economic growth no longer works.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2015

Jeremy Bentham's fallacies, then and now

Written in the early 19th century, Jeremy Bentham's 'The Book of Fallacies' still has resonance today.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Aug 17, 2015

How hot is it?: Let me count the ways to say it in Japanese

Today we introduce three different u3042u3064u3044 (atsui) adjectives.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 17, 2015

Secret strategies of world's most lucrative apps

A few months ago, Yoshiki Watabe, a producer at Japan's DeNA Co., was looking to draw attention to the company's hit mobile game. He introduced a spiky-haired hero armed with an outsized sword — then gave players a mere four days to bring down an evil mega-corporation.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Aug 16, 2015

Yoshida warns Southampton to wake up

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman is still hobbling around on crutches after an Achilles operation. His team is limping just as badly in the Premier League.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 15, 2015

Post-3/11 power-conservation goals change the energy game

The heat wave rolling over Tokyo is a godsend for Olympics bashers like former newscaster Hiroshi Kume. On his TBS radio show last week, he said that five years from now when the games are held here, they will "violate the Olympic charter," which requires an environment where all athletes can demonstrate...
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 15, 2015

The fraught debate over science and divinity

Truth is a sordid business. It brings nations down to earth, cuts people down to size. Why honor it, therefore? Why esteem it above myth, which does the opposite, raising nations to the gods and turning ordinary, unremarkable people into subjects of divine rulers?
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Aug 14, 2015

Full text of Abe's declaration on 70th anniversary of the end of WWII

On the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, we must calmly reflect upon the road to war, the path we have taken since it ended, and the era of the 20th century. We must learn from the lessons of history the wisdom for our future.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 10, 2015

Photochemical smog creeps back on hot, still days

As searing hot days continue this summer, heatstroke and heat exhaustion have sent record numbers of people to hospitals.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Aug 10, 2015

Modi's quest to put India's poor to work stymied by rise of robots

In a sweltering factory in southern India, Royal Enfield motorcycles are being painted and lacquered by giant robotic arms that move at twice the maximum speed of a human limb, day in, day out, never making a mistake.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Aug 9, 2015

Is Japan equipped to handle historic decisions that cost lives, limbs and loved ones?

Perhaps calendars should indicate not just holidays, but the dates on which important people in our collective pasts made decisions that caused tremendous harm.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2015

Why Islamic State makes the Taliban nervous

The Taliban want to avoid a situation in which, having won their long war against the U.S. and its Afghan puppet regime, they have to fight another civil war against an Islamic State offshoot.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2015

Can Singapore save democracy?

The conditions exist for Singapore to move from being a showcase of efficient authoritarianism to an exemplar of that much-invoked but nearly extinct thing: democracy.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 4, 2015

Italy nabs 11 in hunt for Sicilian Mafia don of dons on run since '93

Police in Sicily arrested 11 suspected mobsters they believe were helping Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro evade capture and spread his orders to the rest of the criminal organization.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 3, 2015

Deep-sea creepy crawlies turned into crackers in Japan

Here's a novel treat: a senbei rice cracker made of giant isopods, creepy crawlies from the ocean deeps. The snacks are now on sale at a range of outlets in Japan and are quickly gaining popularity.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 2, 2015

Moriumius project brings young life and learning back to the Tohoku disaster zone

A unique educational project aims to revitalize the Miyagi town of Ogatsu, which lost around 80 percent of its buildings and 10 percent of its 4,300 population to the 3/11 disasters.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 30, 2015

Nation's political culture stands at major crossroads

Will Japan be dragged down by egocentric anti-intellectualism and suspension of judgment, or will a new civic culture turn the nation into a more mature democracy?
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2015

Why little Estonia's not worried about Russia

Estonian President Toomas Ilves wants to turn his tiny country into a digital pioneer to save the rest of Europe from Luddism and red tape.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jul 25, 2015

Nihonshu overflow

Dear Alice,
SOCCER / J. League
Jul 25, 2015

Okubo brace lifts Frontale past S-Pulse

Yoshito Okubo scored twice as Kawasaki Frontale came through a wild, swinging encounter with Shimizu S-Pulse with a 3-2 win on Saturday night.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 23, 2015

Regional lenders want to work with Japan Post Bank, on one condition

As Japan Post Bank Co. prepares for an initial public offering and poses increased competition to regional banks, they are willing to do business with the state-owned company — on one condition.

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