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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 20, 2015

Japan Post's IPO might just shake up lagging regional lenders

The nation's regional banks need a little shaking up: There are far too many of them, profits from loans are shrinking, and their customers are disappearing. The enormous privatization of Japan Post, coming up next month, may just help spur them into action.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 19, 2015

An increasingly bitter battle of the ages brews in Japan

The elderly believe that having worked themselves to the bone their entire lives, they deserve to have fun. Society, though, is becoming less sympathetic to this view.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Oct 19, 2015

Let's discuss pressure on university liberal arts education

In June the education ministry sent a directive to national universities calling on them to reorganize their humanities and social sciences departments.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 19, 2015

As winter looms, Germany struggles to find warm homes for refugees

At a sprawling camp in the German town of Celle, refugees wearing thick sweaters sit around a heater smoking cigarettes as rain beats down on the cramped white tent that has become their home. Some of them are ill and worried it will snow.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 18, 2015

Beijing promotes low-paid college graduates to startup CEOs

Quitting her job as receptionist, joining rock bands and chancing her tattoo-sleeved arm at small business ventures would once have branded college graduate Ding Jia as a rebel in China. Now she can claim state endorsement as a "creative."
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Oct 17, 2015

True Edo spirit can be found while soaking in a public bath

"Public baths are the shortest route there is to moral and spiritual enlightenment. Careful reflection shows this."
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Oct 17, 2015

Kyoto forum's leaders warm up to renewables

Each autumn, the world's most influential scientists, engineers, business leaders and science policy experts gather in Kyoto for the Science and Technology in Society Forum. The STS Forum is the brainchild of Koji Omi, a former finance minister and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry bureaucrat and...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 16, 2015

SABMiller, AB InBev merger may reignite Japanese brewers' foreign ambitions

The planned $100 billion merger of Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller will be a wake-up call to the overseas ambitions of Japanese brewers, which are struggling to grow at home in a saturated market with a shrinking population.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2015

Corporations lie, and some get away with it

In the midst of so many contexts where we expect people sometimes to lie — sports, entertainment, certainly politics — it is disturbing that the one place to which we run for truth is private corporations.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 13, 2015

Japan should avoid making suicidal education mistakes

Japan's educational system will suffer greatly if political ignoramuses who know the price of everything and the value of nothing are allowed to have their way.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 10, 2015

Saitama's 'Little Edo' is big on Japan's colorful history

As my smartphone clock flashes from 11:59 a.m. to 12 p.m., I watch the visitors to Kawagoe, in Saitama Prefecture wipe the sweat from their foreheads and direct their attention toward a more primitive form of time keeping — the Toki no Kane (Bell of Time) tower in the middle of the town square.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 10, 2015

'Omotenashi' comes up short on humility

A Japanese friend who used to travel a lot for work told me of a funny thing that once happened to her in a Tokyo hotel. She was checking in when a bellhop came up and, without saying anything, picked up her bag. She resented the presumption and tried to yank it out of his hand. A silent tug of war ensued....
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 9, 2015

NATO backs Turkey as U.S. says errant Russian missiles hit Iran

NATO is prepared to step up support for Turkey and warned Russia against escalating its campaign in neighboring Syria, as U.S. officials said some Russian missiles intended to hit Syrian rebels fell short, landing in Iran.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2015

When you can't see Singapore, it looks like Beijing

Air pollution is getting out of hand in Southeast Asia, and big corporations and small-scale farmers are both to blame.
EDITORIALS
Oct 7, 2015

Retrial system needs revamping

As illustrated by the case of Masaru Okunishi, who passed away after decades on death row without getting the new trial that he deserved, Japan's retrial system is seriously flawed and in need of reform.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2015

Is a Sino-U.S. war inevitable?

Out of the past 16 cases when one major power was gaining in power and its rival feared relegation to the second rank, 12 ended in war. Will China and the U.S. suffer the same fate?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 3, 2015

Universities fending off attacks on the liberal arts

As discussed last week, in June the education ministry sent a directive to all 86 national universities in Japan, apparently calling on them to abolish or reorganize their humanities and social sciences departments.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 3, 2015

The long and short of male circumcision in Japan

For most of its history the Japanese archipelago knew nothing of circumcision. Contact with missionaries and merchants from Europe did little to raise awareness of the custom, and the procedure does not seem to have been a high priority for the promoters of Western ideas and technology during the Meiji...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Oct 3, 2015

Size of B. League will present challenges from the outset

There is no one-size-fits-all formula — no magic pill exists — for the Japan Basketball Association to create a new men's pro hoop circuit that will become an instant success.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Oct 1, 2015

Neither here nor there: Stretched between Nigeria and Japan, family ties fray

This is the last of a two-part series on Japanese-Nigerian families torn between Asia and Africa. The first part can be found here.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2015

Catalonia's breakaway vote

Artur Mas, president of the regional government of Catalonia, is creating a crisis for Spain as he strives for independence.
WORLD
Oct 1, 2015

Many natural World Heritage sites threatened by oil, mining: report

Almost a third of natural World Heritage sites are threatened by mining and oil exploration, according to a report that said companies and investors face reputational and legal risks by backing such activities.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Sep 28, 2015

At U.N., Xi boasts women's rights but critics quick to note China's jailing of female activists

China's President Xi Jinping told the United Nations on Sunday that all Chinese women have the opportunity to excel, touting his government's record on women's rights as the United States slammed Beijing and others for jailing women for their views.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 27, 2015

Can art bring people back to Japan's depopulated islands?

I've seen island revitalization projects come and go, but the idea of an NPO riding on the coattails of a successful art trend in the area strikes me as having some promise.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 26, 2015

Ashes to diamonds and the cost of death

'Where do we go when we die?"

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?