Search - 2015

 
 
JAPAN / AFTEREFFECTS OF MARCH 2011
Mar 10, 2017

Nuclear energy industry lacks new talent as Fukushima fallout turns off graduates

At a Tokyo job fair for the atomic energy industry on March 4, Kenta Kakitani, a graduate student at the University of Tokyo, hopes to some day become a nuclear plant design engineer.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Feb 22, 2017

Pedophile sting ops roil U.S. forces on Okinawa

Controversial operations in which sailors pose online as underage girls lead to dozens of NCIS arrests.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Feb 21, 2017

Genuine asylum seekers in Japan lumped together with migrant laborers

The clanking of Tokyo trains going by still echoes in the head of a 27-year-old Congolese man as he recalls the dreadful few weeks he spent in Japan in January 2016 traveling from station to station, homeless, in search of a place where he could survive the cruel cold nights.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 6, 2017

State-backed scholarship program to open doors to university

The government will soon launch the first state-backed scholarships in an effort to make universities more accessible as more students face financial difficulties to pursue higher education.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2017

Trump's pointless, senseless war on Mexico

If Donald Trump starts a trade war, all the NAFTA countries will be losers, even if he — through his incendiary and distorted rhetoric — is a political winner.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2017

Japan's business gift culture says it with orchids

In Japanese business celebrations, there's one thing you'll almost always see: orchids.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2017

Nearly two years after Goto beheading, journalist Tsuneoka asks: Did Tokyo do enough?

Early on the morning of Feb. 1, 2015, Japan woke to the news that Japanese freelance journalist Kenji Goto, held hostage by Islamic State militants, had been beheaded.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 16, 2017

Samsung boss faces arrest as Park corruption scandal grows

South Korea's special prosecutor's office said Monday it was seeking a warrant to arrest the head of Samsung Group, the country's largest conglomerate, accusing him of paying multimillion dollar bribes to a friend of embattled President Park Geun-hye.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 14, 2017

Assad linked to Syrian chemical attacks for first time

International investigators have said for the first time that they suspect President Bashar Assad and his brother are responsible for the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict, according to a document seen by Reuters.
EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 2017

Keep 'comfort women' deal alive

Tokyo and Seoul should take careful steps to prevent an escalation of diplomatic tensions and keep the comfort women agreement alive.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 8, 2017

Japan's human rights issues fared better in 2016

Welcome back to JBC's annual countdown of the top issues as they affected Non-Japanese (NJ) residents of Japan. We had some brighter spots this year than in previous years, because Japan's government has been so embarrassed by hate speech toward Japan's minorities that they did something about it. Read...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 3, 2017

How ties to an 'equestrian princess' landed Samsung at the center of the Park scandal in South Korea

Samsung Electronics' sponsorship of the equestrian daughter of a longtime friend of President Park Geun-hye has helped to land South Korea's top company in the center of the country's influence-peddling scandal.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Nov 22, 2016

China likely to maintain climate goals

Beijing's air quality fell short of national standards on 179 days last year. That's one reason why the world's biggest coal consumer is likely to stick with its plan to clean up its energy supply — regardless of what President-elect Donald Trump does in the U.S.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 11, 2016

Crime at postwar low: 2016 white paper

Crime in Japan has dropped to a postwar low, but the bad news is that seniors are committing more offenses because they have nowhere else to go.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Oct 26, 2016

Japan's Filipinos heed Pope Francis' call to action on refugees and climate

Pontiff's emphasis on mercy for migrants and warnings about climate change resonate with the community in Japan.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal / ANALYSIS
Oct 25, 2016

Probe finds Duterte deploying questionable data in ongoing violent crackdown on drug addicts

President Rodrigo Duterte ended a recent speech in Manila with a now-familiar claim: Two policemen are dying every day in his violent battle to rid the country of illegal drugs.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 11, 2016

Returning Carp hero Kuroda gets fitting reward

It took the Hiroshima Carp winning their first Central League pennant in 25 years to get veteran pitcher Hiroki Kuroda to drop his steely public facade. Kuroda, so business-like and methodical on the mound, couldn't hold back the tears on Saturday night after the Carp defeated the Yomiuri Giants to clinch...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2016

The EU's migration crisis is far from finished

The flow of refugees into Europe won't end as long as the Syrian war and the anarchy in Libya continue.
Japan Times
JAPAN / TICAD VI SPECIAL
Aug 26, 2016

Summit seeks expanded investment and development

African nations and Japan will be seeking a new type of win-win partnership at the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) that will be held for the first time in Africa when it kicks off in Nairobi on Aug. 27 amid uncertain situations in Japan and the region.
EDITORIALS
Aug 25, 2016

Japan's shaky fiscal consolidation

Instead of selling rosy high-growth scenarios, the Abe adminstration should present a concrete and credible road map for fiscal rehabilitation.
JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Aug 14, 2016

Fukushima tourism making strong progress on recovery

Tourism in Fukushima Prefecture approached a milestone in fiscal 2015 after recovering to nearly 90 percent of where it was before the nuclear disaster unfolded in March 2011, the prefectural government said in a recent tourism report.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jul 30, 2016

Commuters fight back against groping

Takako Tonooka's life at high school did not start out the way she had anticipated. On the very first day she attended class, she was groped on the train — and that was only the beginning of her nightmare. For a year and a half, she was the victim of persistent groping attacks during her commute to...
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2016

Japan census report shows surge in elderly population, many living alone

The number of elderly people is on the uptick, even as the size of the average family shrinks, government numbers indicate.
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jun 3, 2016

Time running out for Hodgson to tinker with lineup for Euro 2016

This was , the pundits said, the most potent attack England could select. Portugal beware. Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy and Wayne Rooney — the two leading goalscorers in the Premier League — plus England's record scorer starting a match together for the first time.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 30, 2016

GPIF: an abode of demons

As was the case with its predecessor body, the Government Pension Investment Fund is linked closely to the interests of politicians and bureaucrats.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G7 ISE-SHIMA SUMMIT SPECIAL
May 25, 2016

Japan plays leading role in global public health issues

Satoshi Omura has long been regarded as preeminent in identifying antibiotics and other useful compounds originating from nature's microorganisms. His innovative and pioneering research has resulted in the discovery of many new microbes and over 500 novel chemicals, several of which have been developed...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 21, 2016

Japan's cybersecurity upgrade — too little, too late?

The Internet facilitates rapid data-sharing and increased communication between individuals, firms and government entities. This generates significant risks but, for most of the 2000s, Japan did not take commensurate countermeasures. The complacent attitude toward information technology security has...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 27, 2016

Agent Orange and Okinawa: the story so far

Five years after The Japan Times first revealed the U.S. military's use of toxic defoliants on the island, new evidence continues to come to light.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell