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WORLD
Aug 14, 2014

U.S. military team lands on Iraq's Mount Sinjar where Yazidis are trapped

A team of U.S. military and humanitarian aid personnel landed on Iraq's Mount Sinjar early on Wednesday to assess how to evacuate thousands of civilians under siege from Islamic State fighters, a U.S. official said.
WORLD
Aug 13, 2014

U.K. says it will suspend some Israel arms exports if Gaza truce fails

Britain said on Tuesday it would suspend 12 licences to export military items to Israel, including tank, aircraft and radar parts, if hostilities with Hamas in Gaza resumed, citing concerns the exports may be used to breach international laws.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2014

Barren rocks fuel South Korean passions in islet spat with Japan

Holding a notepad full of questions, 15-year-old Ko Yu-jeong rushes up to a South Korean diplomat after his speech, asking how she can better argue the case for her country's control of a set of islets also claimed by Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2014

More to Africa than Ebola, there's also optimism

The outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa is making headlines, yet many of the African leaders attending a summit in Washington this week want to talk about their home not as a continent in crisis but as one of opportunity.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2014

Women armed with chain saws head to the hills under Abe's growth plan

Junko Otsuka quit her job in Tokyo and headed for the woods, swapping a computer for a bush cutter and her air-conditioned office for the side of a mountain.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 8, 2014

Cockpit voice recorder in crashed Air Algerie jet unintelligible

Cockpit voice recordings from an Air Algerie jet that crashed last month in northern Mali are unintelligible, investigators said on Thursday, depriving them of vital clues on what sent it into a sudden plunge that killed all 116 passengers and crew.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 7, 2014

Why ASEAN has not condemned Thailand

It is not a given that ASEAN won't condemn Thailand's recent military coup. At present, though, most neighbors regard the events as an internal matter while more than two-thirds of Thais surveyed report being happier now than before the intervention.
EDITORIALS
Jul 28, 2014

Weak state secrets oversight

An expert panel's proposal to create at least two oversight bodies staffed by Japanese bureaucrats falls far short of what's needed to prevent the arbitrary designation of government information as state secrets.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 24, 2014

Abe's security strategy lacks strategic thinking

The Abe administration's first National Security Strategy basically continues the longtime status quo policy, indicating that the prime minister remains trapped in the ongoing domestic polemics of peace vs. self-defense.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 20, 2014

Limits on 'stop and frisk' open to interpretation by Japan's police and courts

The rules that apply to 'stop and frisk' questioning are set down in the Police Duties Execution Act of 1948, but since the clauses are ambiguous and contradictory, there have been a lot of arguments about the legal limits on this kind of behavior,
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 18, 2014

Microsoft to cut 18,000 jobs this year as it chops Nokia ranks; stock surges

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella kicked off one of the largest layoffs in tech history Thursday, signaling he intended to shake up the aging PC industry titan, but leaving questions about how exactly he would transform it into a nimbler, Web-based rival to Apple Inc and Google Inc.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 17, 2014

Man who named GPIF returns to fund, with new approach

The man who helped name the world's biggest pension pool is back as one of its money managers, and says the fund's new approach to buying stocks will rub off on other retirement investors.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 16, 2014

Reflections on the dark side of a tropical island

Naomi Kawase was once Japan's best-known female director abroad; now she is one of its most internationally prominent directors, regardless of gender.
BUSINESS
Jul 16, 2014

Hokkaido looking to sale operating rights for busy New Chitose Airport

The Hokkaido Prefectural Government is pondering a sale of the rights to operate the nation's fourth-busiest publicly run airport, sources said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 16, 2014

Apple, IBM put aside differences with landmark deal

Apple Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. are putting aside a rivalry started at the dawn of the personal-computing era to get more businesses to embrace iPhones and iPads.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2014

Why capturing CO2 emissions remains frustratingly expensive

Deploying carbon caputure and storage technology will be essential if the rise in average global temperatures is to be limited to no more than 2 degrees Celsius by the middle of the century. Yet CCS remains frustratingly expensive.
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2014

Composer Sakamoto has cancer, cancels all engagements

Musician Ryuichi Sakamoto announces that he has throat cancer and is canceling all engagements to focus on battling the disease.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2014

North Korea test-fires more missiles, but abduction talks likely to continue

North Korea's launch Wednesday morning of what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles prompted a fresh protest from Tokyo, but appears unlikely to derail ongoing talks over the abduction of Japanese nationals.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 8, 2014

Islamists show online savvy in displaying menace, soft side

Tweets and online videos are emerging as weapons of war in the Islamic State's campaign to seize a swath of Iraq, with the al-Qaida offshoot's use of social media dwarfing efforts by other militant groups.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2014

Pakistan waging a risky war at home

Pakistan's launch of a full-scale military operation in the North Waziristan Tribal Agency, to eliminate terrorist bases and to clear out foreign fighters, will trigger yet another refugee crisis. And that risks spreading the terrorist threat to other parts of Pakistan.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 30, 2014

North's missiles may have sent different message

As Japanese and North Korean envoys prepared to hold talks Tuesday, Tokyo faced the difficulty of assessing Pyongyang's seriousness in its promised inquiry into the fates of abducted citizens while apparently snubbing Japan and other neighbors Sunday with a pair of missiles fired into the ocean.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2014

Dealers hedge their bets on Abe's casino plan

For trainee dealer Taichi Yahagi, the odds of making a better living turning cards at a baccarat table in Tokyo are looking up.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2014

Japan called out on terror finance woes

Japan refuses to plug holes in its defenses against money laundering and terrorist financing and should pass laws that can do so, the Financial Action Task Force warns.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji