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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 22, 2017

Public questions Japan's duck and cover drills

On July 7, during a public assembly in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, Shunichi Tanaka, head of Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority, was asked how his organization would respond to a North Korean missile attack. Tanaka replied that it would make more sense for North Korea to hit Tokyo with a missile than...
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 21, 2017

Inada resists calls to resign over alleged SDF activity log cover-up

Defense chief Tomomi Inada denies participating in the alleged GSDF log coverup, clinging to her position ahead of a Cabinet reshuffle in which she is widely expected to exit.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2017

Trump's climate decision won't matter

U.S. President Donald Trump probably pulled America out of the Paris climate accord to bolster his sagging popularity ratings, but the rest of the world may benefit as well.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jul 19, 2017

To find the joys of 'real Japan,' get on your bike

Japanese society and culture seem intrinsically suited to bicycles, which require a degree of safety of environment and intimacy that are alien to many thunderously car-based, brash and crime-ridden Western societies.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2017

Trust is falling in Western democratic institutions

One clue to understanding the loss of trust in the professional integrity of the Western media is their unrelenting efforts to demonize Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 16, 2017

Australia urges China to release dissident Liu Xiaobo's widow

Australia on Sunday called for China to lift curbs on the widow of Nobel Peace Prize-winning dissident Liu Xiaobo, who died of liver cancer in custody last week.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 15, 2017

Japan should abandon nuclear umbrella

Japan should propose a nuclear weapons-free zone for Northeast Asia.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2017

Islamic State remains dangerous in defeat

Islamic State soon won't have a physical presence on war-zone maps — but it will live on in other forms.
EDITORIALS
Jul 13, 2017

The Democratic Party's woes continue

The Democratic Party remains unable to turn popular criticism of the Abe administration into support for the opposition.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 12, 2017

China sends military personnel to Djibouti to man its first overseas base

Ships carrying Chinese military personnel for Beijing's first overseas military base, in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, have left China to begin setting up the facility as China's rapidly modernizing military hones its global reach.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 11, 2017

Are the state planners back again?

Demands for new types of leadership and a return to strong government intervention and protection can be heard all round.
Japan Times
SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Jul 11, 2017

Incoming QBs unlikely to measure up to Prescott initially

File it under "Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while," if you must.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 10, 2017

Japan on the wrong side of nuclear weapons ban treaty

The Japanese government's stance on the U.N. nuclear ban treaty is a deeply flawed misreading of international sentiment and a deep betrayal of Japan's own history, legacy and people.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 10, 2017

Maekawa details Kake scandal allegations in special Diet hearing

A former top education ministry bureaucrat says again that top officials in the government must have manipulated key decision-making processes to help out a school run by a close confidant of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 10, 2017

Weakened May appeals to opponents to help deliver Brexit success

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May will call on opposition lawmakers to help steer Britain out of the European Union as she seeks to reset after her standing was diminished by last month's disastrous general election.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 8, 2017

Tokyo poll offers Abe an opportunity to take a long, hard look in the mirror

We have witnessed Abe's peak and he is now a diminished leader, with the aura of invincibility he projected since December 2012 now gone.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 7, 2017

Cultural construction boom aims to offset Hong Kong's business-like image

The theater stage is bathed in a luscious lavender hue, a color that in Chinese tradition signifies nobility and mystery — and portends things to come. A young couple, pure of heart, fall in love only to see their romance thwarted by the machinations of a corrupt bureaucrat. They declare their devotion...
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 2, 2017

Koike's camp clobbers Abe's LDP in historic Tokyo assembly election

Gov. Yuriko Koike's upstart Tomin First party scored a sweeping victory Sunday in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election, dethroning the Liberal Democratic Party and damaging Shinzo Abe's prospects for winning another term as prime minister.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jul 2, 2017

'No foreign tenants' — and not much you can do about it

Landlords in Japan are within their rights to refuse to rent to foreign residents, but some services are stepping in to bridge the gap.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2017

U.S. will pay for Trump's global unpopularity

Being seen as unreliable and 'arrogant, intolerant and dangerous' by a majority of respondents from 37 countries around the world could have concrete policy consequences for U.S. President Donald Trump.
Reader Mail
Jun 30, 2017

Thai prison is real, should be shut down

In his letter to The Japan Times in the June 11 edition, Thai Ambassador Bansarn Bunnag accused Pavin Chachavalpongpun of making unsubstantiated claims when he reported that there is a temporary prison on the grounds of the Daveevattana (Thavi Wattana) Palace of Thailand's King Vajiralongkorn, a prison...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2017

Foreign IT workers seen as solution to industry shortage

There is a rising demand for IT engineers in Japan as many point out there is a shortage of such professionals domestically. An estimate shows that Japan will face a shortage of close to 600,000 IT-related professionals by 2030.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jun 29, 2017

Imperial succession issue neglected

The Imperial family's future is endangered by the male-only paternal lineage succession rules, yet the Abe administration is taking no action.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2017

Despite weak spots in steel, nuclear experts say EDF's Flamanville reactor safe to start: sources

Utility EDF's Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor in northwest France has been cleared by a group of experts for start-up despite weak spots in its steel, confirming the findings of the ASN nuclear regulator, a source close to the situation told Reuters.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jun 28, 2017

U.S. hopes to see Chinese activist Liu treated for cancer 'elsewhere'

Newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad said Wednesday the United States would like to see Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist Liu Xiaobo treated elsewhere for cancer, and that the two countries must work together on human rights.
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Jun 27, 2017

Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi speaks on greatness of Hanyu, Mao, Takahashi

One of the benefits of covering skating for many years has been the high caliber of people I have continually come in contact with. Skaters, coaches, choreographers, executives and parents, they almost always seem to be open and approachable.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years