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Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Jul 9, 2017

Saitama woman turns maligned waste disposal firm into recycling powerhouse

As a child, Noriko Ishizaka was ashamed of her father's company — a waste disposal firm with towering smoke stacks overlooking a small town in Saitama Prefecture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Jul 8, 2017

Leading cancer researcher Yusuke Nakamura pursues answers

Yusuke Nakamura could easily have had a long, successful career as a surgeon in Japan, but he isn't the kind of person who is satisfied with unanswered questions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jul 8, 2017

Enterprising Aomori apple farmer pivots to boutique hard cider

On a steamy June afternoon, the apple trees in the Tsugaru region of Aomori Prefecture are laden with fruit. Now, the young apples are hard green spheres the size of golf balls, but come autumn they will be plump, sweet and ready for harvest.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2017

GPIF posts return of ¥7.9 trillion for fiscal 2016, marking best performance in two years

The world's biggest pension fund posted its best annual gain in two years, as Japanese and overseas stocks rose while government bonds slid.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 7, 2017

Cultural construction boom aims to offset Hong Kong's business-like image

The theater stage is bathed in a luscious lavender hue, a color that in Chinese tradition signifies nobility and mystery — and portends things to come. A young couple, pure of heart, fall in love only to see their romance thwarted by the machinations of a corrupt bureaucrat. They declare their devotion...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 7, 2017

GE and Canon risk fines as EU clamps down on merger violations

General Electric Co., Merck KGaA, Sigma-Aldrich Corp. and Canon Inc. are the latest companies to risk hefty penalties as the European Commission clamps down on violations of its merger approval procedures.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2017

Branson ready to resume powered flights of rocket plane, eyes 2018 trip to space

Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic is poised to resume powered test flights more than 30 months after the fatal breakup of its experimental rocket plane, with the billionaire entrepreneur aiming to make the first trip into space himself by the middle of next year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 6, 2017

Experts say key criteria aligning in Japan's long battle to escape deflation

Japan's economy is running the hottest relative to capacity since the global financial crisis. More than four years after the Bank of Japan launched its radical monetary easing, key conditions are aligning in its long battle to truly escape from deflation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 6, 2017

'Gloomy Japan' highlights a loss of hope

"In recent times, reflections on the future of Japanese society have not generally been couched in optimistic terms," says Yuji Genda, a professor of Labor Economics at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Social Science.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 6, 2017

Libya's eastern commander declares victory in battle against Islamists for Benghazi

Libya's eastern commander, Khalifa Hifter, said on Wednesday his forces had taken full control of Libya's second city Benghazi from rival armed groups after a three-year campaign.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 5, 2017

U.S. senators visit Afghanistan, demand coherent strategy against Taliban from Trump

A bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators visiting Afghanistan on Tuesday called for a new strategy from the Trump administration to turn the tide against an increasingly strong Taliban insurgency and end the longest war in U.S. history.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2017

Once a bankrupt fishmonger, Hirotake Yano is now a ¥100 shop billionaire

Selling everyday items to bargain hunters has made the founder of Japan's biggest discount store a billionaire.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jul 3, 2017

New service connects Japanese travelers to compatriots living abroad

A website created by a Nagoya-based venture firm offering help from Japanese living overseas is gaining popularity with travelers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jul 2, 2017

'No foreign tenants' — and not much you can do about it

Landlords in Japan are within their rights to refuse to rent to foreign residents, but some services are stepping in to bridge the gap.
EDITORIALS
Jul 2, 2017

Woman's retrial points anew to judicial problems

Once again a conviction comes into doubt because of a lack of hard evidence and questionable confessions and testimony.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 2, 2017

Survey: What's been your experience of trying to rent an apartment in Japan?

We asked foreign residents to tell us about the hurdles they faced when trying to rent an apartment in Japan. The following is a selection of their responses.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Jul 1, 2017

Are crime syndicates in Japan sitting on a gold mine?

The Japanese underworld loves gold — it has been the analog bitcoin of crime syndicates in recent years. The origins of gold are difficult to trace, and the material is easy to convert into cash and store. Crime syndicates are increasingly smuggling it, stealing it or robbing it from other smugglers...
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 1, 2017

'Comfort women' statue in Georgia latest to irk Japan

A new “comfort women” statue pops up in a suburb just northeast of Atlanta as the movement to commemorate the victims continues to frustrate Japanese diplomats.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 1, 2017

Xi swears in Hong Kong's new leader, calls any challege to Beijing 'impermissible'

Chinese President Xi Jinping swore in Hong Kong's new leader on Saturday with a stark warning that Beijing will not tolerate any challenge to its authority in the divided city as it marked the 20th anniversary of its return from Britain to China.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 30, 2017

Japan, Uruguay men's squads to play two exhibition contests in late July

The Japan Basketball Association announced on Friday that the men's national team will take on Uruguay in a pair of exhibitions at Aoyama Gakuin University on July 29 and 30.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2017

Foreign firms, maligned by Trump, have been a driving force for reviving U.S. manufacturing jobs

Years before U.S. President Donald Trump began promising to bring back good manufacturing jobs by getting tough with U.S. trade partners, such jobs have already been on the rise, largely thanks to foreign companies now cast as villains in Trump's narrative.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2017

Global cyberattack just a cover for malware installation in Ukraine computer infrastructure: police official

The primary target of a crippling computer virus that spread from Ukraine across the world this week is highly likely to have been that country's computer infrastructure, a top Ukrainian police official told Reuters on Thursday.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jun 29, 2017

Rockets acquire Paul from Clippers in blockbuster trade

Chris Paul is heading to Houston to join James Harden, giving the Rockets two All-Stars in the backcourt to lead their chase for a championship.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 29, 2017

Ex-education minister Shimomura denies media report claiming undeclared Kake donations

Shimomura responds to a Shukan Bunshun report that he allegedly received u00a52 million in undisclosed payments from scandal-tainted school operator.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan