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Japan Times
JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Dec 20, 2015

Loneliness grows as 3/11 evacuees vacate temporary housing

Even though thousands of evacuees from the 3/11 disasters still live in temporary housing, many others have moved on, turning once busy communities into virtual ghost towns.
Reader Mail
Dec 18, 2015

U.S. textbook defender lacks an open mind

The article "50 Japanese scholars fire back in McGraw-Hill sex slave row" in the Dec. 12 issue about professor Eiji Yamashita's well-worded and eminently reasonable rebuttal to the American academics' year-long histrionics over the "comfort women" makes a nice capstone to this disheartening affair.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 15, 2015

Thai activists urge release of man, allegedly detained by force at hospital, over Facebook post

Thai activists on Monday demanded the release of a man arrested for sharing an infographic on Facebook detailing alleged graft in an army-built park, saying plainclothes security officers had taken him by force.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 14, 2015

Singapore in the thick of U.S. strategy on China

Singapore may not want to admit it, but it is now part of the U.S. military challenge to China — and the risk that entails.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Dec 14, 2015

First made-in-Japan passenger jet completes test flight

Japan's first domestically produced passenger jet makes its first test flight, half a century after the country last introduced a new passenger plane.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 14, 2015

Boy who pushed for hospital high school education passes away

An 18-year-old boy from Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture, who had called for hospital schooling for sick high school students and helped establish a teacher dispatch system, passed away last month.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 12, 2015

No tolerance at the inns for China's shoppers

Last August, Nikkei Business magazine reported the travails of a businessman from a regional city on a sales trip to Tokyo. His company's accommodation allowance covered a maximum of ¥8,000 per night, but he couldn't find a centrally located hotel room for under ¥20,000.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 12, 2015

Gerald Curtis, the ultimate insider in Japanese politics, retires

Gerald Curtis will retire this month from Columbia University, where he has been teaching since 1968.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 12, 2015

Geling Yan draws from life in a tale 
of women in war

At the opening of Chinese-American author Geling Yan's best-selling novel "Little Aunt Crane," a 16-year-old girl by the name of Tatsuru, or "Crane," escapes a mass suicide that Japanese elders in a Manchurian village order to preserve their honor. The young girl's problems, however, have only just begun....
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 12, 2015

Investors see big returns as Airbnb takes off in Japan

While many see Airbnb as a possible fix for two seious problems in Japan — the shortage of hotel rooms and a steady increase in vacant buildings — others see an investment opportunity.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 9, 2015

Sexual harassment at bōnenkai, inept handling, a suicide

Hokkaido Shimbun case shows how far Japan still has to go to safeguard women's rights in the workplace.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Dec 7, 2015

Warming may drive 100 million more people into poverty

Global warming could elevate disease, ravage crops and push 100 million more people into poverty unless action is taken to prevent it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 7, 2015

Non-Japanese students overcome obstacles to pursue dreams

High school students from overseas are working hard to overcome language and financial obstacles in Japan to achieve their dreams.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 6, 2015

Myanmar's ex-dictator sees Suu Kyi as country's 'future leader,' grandson says

Myanmar's former dictator sees erstwhile foe Aung San Suu Kyi as the country's "future leader" and has pledged to support her even though she is currently barred by the constitution from becoming president, his grandson said on Saturday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 5, 2015

Push for balance can lead to a skewed view

In September, public broadcaster NHK aired a documentary that recounted the news events from the capital this summer. One of the segments focused on the continuing protests led by college students in central Tokyo against the controversial security bills the ruling Liberal Democratic Party had yet to...
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Dec 4, 2015

Stimson's love of Kyoto saved it from A-bomb

The glories of Kyoto impressed Henry Stimson, and the decisions he made decades later as the U.S. secretary of war.
Reader Mail
Dec 4, 2015

How to reduce Halloween litter

I am writing this letter in response to the article in the Nov. 1 issue about garbage provisions at Halloween in Tokyo's Shibuya district ("Halloween revelers get litter bags").
WORLD
Dec 4, 2015

Central Europeans set up group to keep Schengen Zone alive

The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland rejected on Thursday the idea of limiting the European Union's visa-free area to a smaller number of countries and will invite other EU members to help them fight for its survival.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 2, 2015

Complicating factors for U.S. nationals with Japanese pensions

U.S. citizens who have contributed to both Social Security and a Japanese pension system for any length of time are likely to know of the 40-quarter/ 25-year vesting rules. There are two important laws to understand here:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 2, 2015

'Persona Non Grata' a dramatic nod to Sugihara's legacy

Refugees are much in the news now, though the U.S. media commonly refers to the Syrians struggling to enter Europe as "migrants." The reason: Together with genuine refugees fleeing from slaughter are so-called economic migrants seeking a better life in the West — and a news article is not always the...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 2, 2015

U.S. bill ends legal quandary over mining rights in space

A new law clears U.S. companies to own what they mine from asteroids and other celestial bodies, ending a legal quandary that had overshadowed technical and financial issues facing the startups, industry officials said on Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2015

Thank Kim Young-sam for preserving the peace

The greatest legacy of the late South Korean President Kim Young-sam was preserving the peace when the dogs of war were almost unleashed once again on the Korean Peninsula.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 30, 2015

Smog chokes Chinese, Indian capitals as climate talks begin

The capitals of the world's two most populous nations, China and India, were blanketed in hazardous, choking smog Monday as climate change talks began in Paris, where leaders of both countries are among the participants.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Nov 30, 2015

North Korea to offer flights over capital

North Korea will offer helicopter sightseeing tours of its capital, Pyongyang, tourist agencies have confirmed.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 30, 2015

Aichi letter swaps deepen ties with Philippine kids

Students in Aichi Prefecture are exchanging letters and pictures with children in the Philippines as part of a mutual understanding project led by a Nagoya-based nonprofit organization working in the impoverished nation.
WORLD
Nov 29, 2015

South Korea screens refugees with lie detectors and solitary confinement

South Korea has spent decades screening refugees from a hostile neighbor but some enemy agents manage to get through, underlining the challenges Western nations face in dealing with a far larger influx of people escaping the war in Syria.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 27, 2015

The future of conveyor-belt sushi

In October, U.K. sushi chain Yo! Sushi opened a new kaiten (conveyor belt) restaurant in a Florida mall. It is the third branch the chain has established in the United States this year, and more branches are slated to open in 2016. It is a reminder that this automated approach to dining continues to...
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Nov 27, 2015

Research faces a dire future

Thanks to poor funding and a lack of creative administration, Japan's recent success in winning Nobel Prizes will likely be followed by a long dry spell.

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