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Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 18, 2017

Islamic State seeking al-Qaida alliance after losing ground in Iraq

Islamic State is talking to al-Qaida about a possible alliance as Iraqi troops close in on IS fighters in Mosul, Iraqi Vice President Ayad Allawi said in an interview on Monday.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Apr 17, 2017

Japan softball team excited to take first steps toward Tokyo 2020

There may still be three years to go until the Tokyo Olympics, but Japan women's softball national team head coach Reika Utsugi and players Yukiko Ueno and Eri Yamada are already psyched up.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 17, 2017

Japan's private schools fill a niche but at a cost

The saga of scandal-plagued, Osaka-based Moritomo Gakuen, which advocated a nationalist education, has thrown the spotlight on private educational institutions in Japan and how they are operated.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 17, 2017

Pence warns North Korea of U.S. resolve shown in Syria, Afghan strikes

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence put North Korea on notice Monday, saying neither the United States nor South Korea would tolerate further missile and nuclear tests, with U.S. attacks in Syria and Afghanistan showing its resolve.
EDITORIALS
Apr 17, 2017

Deterrence and defiance on the Korean Peninsula

Close coordination among Japan, South Korea and the U.S. is essential to rolling back the North Korean threat.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2017

Trump stumbles into Putin's Syrian backyard

The U.S. has stepped into a gaping power vacuum in the Middle East.
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2017

China's property investment remains robust despite curbs

Real estate investment in China remained robust in the first quarter from a year earlier, official data showed Monday, as the pace of new construction quickened, despite intensified government cooling measures.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 16, 2017

North Korean test of medium-range missile explodes on launch in latest challenge for Trump

North Korea tested an apparent medium-range missile early Sunday that "blew up almost immediately," the U.S. military and government officials said — the latest act of defiance in the face of calls by Washington to rein in its nuclear and missile programs.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 16, 2017

Frugal households offer no respite for BOJ, retailers

Naruhito Nogami, a 37-year-old systems engineer in Tokyo, drives to discount stores on weekends to buy cheap groceries in bulk, even though he earns enough to make ends meet and the prospects for Japan's economic recovery are brighter.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 16, 2017

Ken Domon and the artistry of real life

By 1957, photographer Ken Domon had reached the peak of his creative powers. A picture taken that year in Hiroshima, which he was visiting for the first time to chronicle the lingering effect of the bomb, shows him supremely confident: ram-rod straight on a stool, tripod in one hand, he casts a sideway...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Apr 16, 2017

Japan's traditional blues for bright and cheery kids

"It's stinky!" shouts my 4-year-old daughter, jumping up and down with an expression of pure glee on her face. The object of her fascination is a large vat containing a dark, murky substance that does indeed have a distinctly earthy aroma.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: TECH
Apr 16, 2017

Technological fun for the home

Gadget maker Cerevo has taken advantage of the hype surrounding this month's release of the Hollywood version of 'Ghost in the Shell' by producing a 1/8 scale robot model of the original anime's AI combat-vehicle Tachikoma.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 15, 2017

Television has forgotten its golden years

Japanese commercial television companies have a problem. The bulk of their programming has always been aimed at relatively young people, because that's what advertisers want. But young people no longer watch TV, or, at least, not in the numbers they used to. Having grown up in a world ruled by the internet,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Apr 15, 2017

'The Just Bento Cookbook': Riffing on the theme of the Japanese packed lunch

Nourishment means nurturing in Japan, and nowhere does this hold more true than in the daily bento.
WORLD
Apr 15, 2017

United passenger stung after scorpion drops onto his head

United Airlines on Friday found itself on the defensive again after a passenger complained that a scorpion stung him during a flight from Texas, capping off a bruising week for the public image of the one of the world's largest carriers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 15, 2017

Umami Burger: A focus on flavor with natural ingredients

Umami is hardly a foreign concept in Japan. After all, this is the land where the so-called fifth taste was isolated, named and promptly marketed to the outside world.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2017

North Korea: solutions beyond saber-rattling

Compromise and diplomacy, not military might, has the greatest potential to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula.
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 14, 2017

Calls for Wenger's dismissal continue to grow louder

The walk from the security-guarded gate at Selhurst Park to the Arsenal coach is about 15 meters, but to the players beaten 3-0 by relegation-threatened Crystal Palace Monday it must have seemed 150 meters.
Reader Mail
Apr 14, 2017

Where are the protests to the march to war?

If you've picked up the paper this week, you might have come to the disturbing conclusion that the U.S. is marching ever closer to the brink of a devastating war with North Korea. It's a conflict that would be sure to hit Japan hard, yet there seems to be relatively little pushback from the people who...
Reader Mail
Apr 14, 2017

Making a case against ban on public smoking

So, the World Health Organization "tells Japan to ban public smoking" (April 9). Is this the same WHO that repressed a 1998 study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer on environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) which found "weak evidence of a dose-response relationship between risk of lung cancer...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 14, 2017

British startup hopes to cut plastic waste with innovative water balls

Small transparent spheres filled with natural or flavored water could help provide a solution to London's plastic waste problem, according to the startup company based in the British capital that manufactures them.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 14, 2017

Scientists invent device that draws water from thin air

People living in arid, drought-ridden areas may soon be able to get water straight from a source that is all around them — the air, American researchers said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2017

New rules to make spinoffs tax free may unlock potential of Japan's firms

Hedge fund manager Jamie Rosenwald is excited about tax reform, but it has nothing to do with Trump trades.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Apr 13, 2017

Two more die as Venezuela riots spread to poor areas

Venezuelans in poor areas blocked streets and lit fires during scattered protests across the country on Tuesday night, and two people were killed during the growing unrest in the midst of a crippling economic crisis.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 12, 2017

Hollywood's 'Ghost in the Shell' remake misses the mark

After the online petitions, the countless think pieces and Twitter tirades, Hollywood's "Ghost in the Shell" was never going to have an easy passage. Rupert Sanders' film — a $110 million live-action movie based on a beloved manga and anime property — was ill-fated from the start, tarnished by the...

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past