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EDITORIALS
Mar 26, 2015

A trilateral summit, maybe

Despite the agreement among Japan, China and South Korea to hold a trilateral summit at the earliest convenient time, it is unrealistic to think the relationship between Japan and the other two will thaw soon.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 26, 2015

House adopts plan to boost U.S. war funds while cutting Medicare

The U.S. House adopted a fiscal 2016 budget that would cut $5.5 trillion in federal spending and achieve balance in nine years while providing more defense spending than President Barack Obama has proposed.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 26, 2015

New Ebola infections continue to drop but Guinea still a concern

The three nations hardest hit by West Africa's Ebola epidemic recorded the lowest weekly total of new cases so far this year in the week leading up to March 22, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 26, 2015

North Korea's well-to-do feast on French baguettes

French-trained chefs are cooking up a storm in Pyongyang, where North Korea's privileged classes are devouring their baguettes, a pro-North newspaper reported on Wednesday, even as much of the population outside the capital struggles to feed itself.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 26, 2015

Cockpit voice tape hoped to unravel Germanwings Airbus crash riddle

Investigators have retrieved cockpit voice recordings from one of the black boxes of the German Airbus plane that smashed into the Alps, killing everyone onboard, and they expect a preliminary read-out of their content in days, an official said on Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2015

Noodle-maker revolutionizes ramen culture in the U.S.

At the huge, brightly lit factory in Teterboro, New Jersey, machines from Japan gently mix eggs and flour and turn them into sheets of yellow dough that are then cut into thin wavy ramen.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2015

Saitama city blocks 'one-sided' exhibit on 'comfort women'

The city of Niiza, Saitama Prefecture, is refusing to let a citizens' group use a municipal facility for an exhibition on “comfort women,” claiming the display would promote the views of a particular group on the controversial issue.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2015

MSDF commissions its biggest helicopter carrier yet

The Maritime Self-Defense Force commissions its largest-ever helicopter carrier as officials deny that the massive vessel could be used as a conventional aircraft carrier or represents a prototype for one in the future.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2015

Battle of Iwojima forgotten, except toll

When Yoshitaka Shindo was a boy, he did not hear much from his family about his grandfather, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, commander of the Japanese troops who fought and died in the bloody Battle of Iwojima.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 25, 2015

A stable Afghanistan crucial to region: Pakistan diplomat

Visiting Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry stressed Wednesday that stability in neighboring Afghanistan is critical to peace in South Asia and called on the international community for continuous economic commitment to the war-torn country.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2015

The Chinese government wants to buy Europe

European openness to investment by Chinese state entities means support for a regime that is not necessarily Europe's friend and that certainly doesn't share its values.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 25, 2015

Summit spotlights school dramatists

"Diversity is the outstanding attraction of high school drama, so I'm always appreciating afresh theater's myriad charms," the prominent director Keisuke Tanaka said with a beaming smile during a recent interview ahead of the fifth annual High School Drama Summit at Tokyo's leading Agora Theater.
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2015

Jordan signs $10 billion nuclear power plant deal with Russia

Jordan signed an agreement with Russia on Tuesday worth $10 billion that sets the legal basis for building the kingdom's first nuclear power plant with a total capacity of 2,000 megawatts.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 25, 2015

Airbus A320 is an aviation workhorse

The Airbus A320 is the workhorse of Europe's aerospace industry, transporting more than a million people a day from business travelers to backpackers.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 25, 2015

Cancer experts laud Angelina Jolie's decision to remove ovaries

Two years after a double mastectomy, actress Angelina Jolie has had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed to avoid the risk of ovarian cancer, a move cancer experts described as courageous and influential.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 24, 2015

Abe, New Zealand's Key vow TPP progress

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his New Zealand counterpart John Key pledged further cooperation Tuesday to wrap up the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations soon.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 24, 2015

In gaffe, Abe refers to SDF as 'military'

Despite Japan's official view that the Self-Defense Forces' legal nature makes it different from the militaries of other nations, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calls the SDF “our military.”
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 24, 2015

Iraq request for U.S.-led Tikrit airstrikes "imminent": diplomat

Iraq's request to the U.S.-led coalition for airstrikes in the campaign to retake Tikrit from Islamic State insurgents is "imminent," a senior diplomat from a Western nation that is part of the coalition said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2015

Russia treading water in sea of red ink

Russia's troubled domestic front is now catching up to President Vladimir Putin and limiting his regional and global aspirations.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2015

American Jews finding it harder to like Israel

The gap between American and Israeli Jews is growing as Israel becomes more Middle Eastern and less European.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 24, 2015

Government continues Henoko base work, ignoring demand by Okinawa governor

The central government launches into an all-out battle with the Okinawa Prefectural Government, saying the prefecture's order to halt preparatory work for the Futenma replacement base is “illegal and obviously invalid.”
CULTURE / Music
Mar 24, 2015

All grown up: Les McKeown leads reincarnated Bay City Rollers back to Tokyo

As singer of the Bay City Rollers, the tartan-clad teen-pop sensations that conquered the world in the 1970s, Les McKeown forged a special bond with Japan that endures today.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Mar 24, 2015

Single mother with disability vying for seat in Tokyo's Kita Ward

The packed room quieted down as Rie Saito took the stage. Instead of picking up the microphone, however, she smiled and silently pointed to the big screen next to her. This was the beginning of her speech — at a political rally on March 15 — which she based around a Power Point presentation.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Mar 24, 2015

Iran's 'empire' grows ahead of nuclear deal

With Iran moving closer to a deal with world powers to constrain its nuclear program in return for an end to sanctions, Arab analysts and leaders are focused more on how Tehran is working unfettered to tighten its grip on Arab states, from Iraq to Lebanon, and Syria to Yemen.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers