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JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2014

Hirata gets nine years for role in Aum kidnapping of notary

Former Aum Shinrikyo fugitive Makoto Hirata is sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in the 1995 kidnapping and confinement of Tokyo notary Kiyoshi Kariya and two other crimes.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 7, 2014

Job market set to overheat with labor shortage

Kazufumi Yamamoto is having such a hard time finding waiters and sushi chefs to fill jobs at Ganko Food Service Co. that he's going to boost wages for the first time in more than a decade.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 7, 2014

Israeli dishwasher-size moon lander looks to shatter space 'glass ceiling'

It is only the size of a dishwasher and weighs as much as a giant panda, but its inventors are hoping this spacecraft will go where no other Israeli vessel has gone before — to the moon.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2014

Indonesia's economy growing steadily

Indonesian politicians and business experts, along with their Japanese counterparts, discussed investment opportunities in Southeast Asia's most populous country at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
JAPAN / THREE YEARS AFTER 3/11
Mar 6, 2014

Solving Fukushima water problem a long, hard slog

Three years after it was devastated by monster tsunami, the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant continues to be plagued by numerous problems as it lurches through the decades-long process toward decommissioning.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 6, 2014

East Asia should build resilience through disaster-relief cooperation

The president of Soka Gakkai International urges Japan, China and South Korea to take the initiative in building a model of cooperation that will serve to mutually strengthen regional resilience to extreme-weather events and other disasters.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Mar 6, 2014

Scandinavian sampling, Chef's choice course

A taste of Scandinavia
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2014

Live-action Ghibli remake delivers a new Kiki

When is a remake not a remake? Arguably, Takashi Shimizu's "Majo no Takkyubin (Kiki's Delivery Service)" is less a reworking of the Hayao Miyazaki animation classic (which this reviewer praised on this page in 1989) than his own interpretation of the 1985 Eiko Kadono fantasy novel on which the Miyazaki...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2014

'Ieji (Homeland)'

Many documentaries have been made about the nuclear-plant disaster in Fukushima and its aftermath, but relatively few feature films. One reason could be seen in the rough handling local critics gave "Kibo no Kuni (The Land of Hope)," Sion Sono's 2012 film set in a near-future Japan that has again experienced...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2014

'12 Years a Slave'

It's hard to resist comparing "12 Years a Slave" with "The Butler."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2014

'Gloria'

All the lonely people, where do they all come from?" Lennon and McCartney posed the question, and "Gloria" provides an answer. Gloria, played by Paulina Garcia, is a 50-something divorcee whose children have grown up and moved out; she lives by herself in Santiago, Chile, with the occasional company...
WORLD
Mar 6, 2014

Ukraine may lead to entente between Russia, China

China's reaction to events in Ukraine will probably prove more important in the long run than the responses of the United States and the EU.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2014

'Upskirting' legal in Massachusetts

A man who snapped secret pictures up women's skirts on a Boston subway train, a practice known as "upskirting," did not violate the state's Peeping Tom law, Massachusetts' top court said Wednesday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 6, 2014

China's civilian fleet is a potent force asserting sovereignty in disputed seas

From harassing Filipino fishing boats and monitoring oil exploration off Vietnam to playing cat-and-mouse with the Japan Coast Guard, China's expanding fleet of civilian patrol vessels have become the enforcers in disputed Asian waters.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 6, 2014

Osaka challenges Tokyo with tallest skyscraper

Japan's tallest building will open Friday in Osaka, as Asia's third-biggest metropolitan economy aims to lure tourists and stem businesses from moving to Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
Mar 5, 2014

Move cautiously in TPP talks

Ministers from Japan, the U.S. and 10 other Pacific-Rim countries again have failed to reach broad agreement on terms of their Trans-Pacific Partnership, but that's no reason for Japan to become less cautious about the talks, which have the potential to change the very fabric of Japanese society.
Reader Mail
Mar 5, 2014

Provocation of former leaders

What more compelling condemnation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's craziness can there be than the unprecedented, bipartisan outcries of three former prime ministers (Morihiro Hosokawa, Junichiro Koizumi and now Tomiichi Murayama). You would be hard pressed to find as serious an example of multidirectional...
Reader Mail
Mar 5, 2014

Dog- and cat-lovers get the picture

Judit Kawaguchi's Feb. 28 article, "What we can learn from cats and dogs" (about her visit with Tokyo veterinarian Chikao Muratani), made me think of our great responsibility to co-exist with all life. The last paragraph — "Many dying cats and dogs wait for the people they love to return before they...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 5, 2014

China says 2014 military budget to rise 12.2 percent

China will increase military spending by 12.2 percent this year, the government says, partly to beef up coastal and air defenses and to develop more high-tech weapons.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO BAR ADVENTURE
Mar 4, 2014

Sober is the new drunk at juice-cocktail bar

In an izakaya or pub in Tokyo, a glass of orange juice can look out of place among a sea of beer mugs. For a nonalcoholic drinker who chooses to avoid pints for whatever reason, going out in Japan can be hard. While beer or wine lovers have a wide variety to choose from, those who can't drink are stuck...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2014

APEC: Does what happens in China remain in China?

China may not kill its journalists, but imprisonment, explusions and visa delays vex foreign news organizations. As host of this year's APEC Forum, China has a chance to turn a page by allowing open coverage of events.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Mar 4, 2014

Happy Turn launches new vegetable flavors

For the veggie lovers out there, Happy Turn, a hugely popular fried-rice snack covered in a sweet buttery powder, now comes in two new flavors as Vege Happy: tomato and kabocha squash (¥128 each).
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 4, 2014

NY Times editorial erred in claiming Abe denied massacre: Suga

The New York Times erroneously reported in a recent editorial that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has claimed the 1937 Nanjing Massacre never happened, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Tuesday, adding the government has already lodged a protest with the paper and demanded a correction be published....

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’