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LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Oct 27, 2014

Volcano erupts in central Japan

A volcano erupted in central Japan on Sept. 27, shooting ash and rocks into the air that forced 150 people to shelter in cabins near the summit.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 27, 2014

'Comfort women' issue refuses to go away

"Comfort women," as Japan refers to the females who were forced into sexual servitude for the nation's wartime forces, have been a constant source of controversy since the early 1990s, when the media started to take a serious look at their ordeal.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 24, 2014

Western media distorts Japan

Those two favorite targets for Western moralizing about Japanese corporate corruption — Olympus (cameras) and Recruit (information) — are back in the headlines. Both typify the shallowness of much Western reporting in Japan.
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Oct 24, 2014

Stately Nagoya, Aichi HQs on way to becoming tourist destinations

Nagoya and Aichi Prefecture plan to turn some of their office buildings into tourist destinations and are taking steps to preserve them properly.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 24, 2014

Lone-wolf attacks on the rise in era of asymmetric war

Six needle-nosed CF-18 fighter jets took off from the Canadian Forces base in Cold Lake, Alberta, on Tuesday to join the coalition fighting the Islamic State group. The next day, a convert to Islam attacked symbols of the Canadian state, killing a soldier and riddling the parliament building with bullets....
EDITORIALS
Oct 23, 2014

The quasi-legal drug dilemma

There is no end in sight to the traffic accidents and other incidents attributed to the use of quasi-legal — or what the police now call 'dangerous' — drugs. It's not easy revising the laws regulating their use.
Reader Mail
Oct 22, 2014

Nobel Prize's effect on a child

In the Oct. 9 front-page, wire service article "Nobel Prize shines light on sweeping impact of LEDs," there is a table of Nobel Prize winners from Japan. In the table, the first Japanese listed as receiving the prize is Hideki Yukawa, an expert in particle physics. But it was in 1949 — not 1940.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 20, 2014

Two of Abe's female ministers resign over separate scandals

Cabinet ministers Yuko Obuchi and Midori Matsushima resign in connection with separate political scandals, dealing a major setback to the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2014

Do some citations rank academic stupidity?

The admonition 'cite your sources' rings in the ear of every slapdash undergraduate and corner-cutting postdoc. But have we taken the emphasis on citation so far that we've ended up ranking academic stupidity?
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Oct 20, 2014

Earth's ozone layer on track to recover

There are signs that the Earth's protective ozone layer is recovering due to the regulation of ozone-damaging gases, according to a new report jointly released by the U.N. Environment Program and World Meteorological Organization on Sept. 10.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Oct 19, 2014

Abe's inner circle sprouting horns over next tax bump

A major battle appears to be brewing between the office of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Finance Ministry — the most powerful bureaucracy in Japan — over whether to raise the consumption tax from the current 8 percent to 10 percent next fall.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Oct 19, 2014

Former Fukushima teacher blogs to inspire students while fighting off cancer

The former vice principal of a junior high school in Fukushima Prefecture has been encouraging his former students by blogging while undergoing 11 years of treatment for cancer.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 18, 2014

The sinking yen is a threat to the cost of living

If the items you purchase these days seem more expensive, you're not imagining things.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 18, 2014

The Abe conundrum and the pitfalls ahead

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a polarizing figure, lauded as the resolute leader Japan needs to revive its flagging fortunes and slammed for mishandling history issues in ways that undermine national interests.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Oct 17, 2014

Survivor looks to save images of deadliest typhoon to hit Japan

After Typhoon Vera, also known as the Isewan Typhoon, struck Japan in September 1959, local history researcher Kaneo Ogawa dedicated the next few months of his life to photographing the aftermath in his hometown.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Oct 17, 2014

Documentary puts survivors' accounts of Isewan Typhoon on film

A Japanese documentary on the 1959 Typhoon Vera, titled "Sorezore no Isewan Taifu" ("Each Person's Isewan Typhoon"), will begin screening on Saturday in three prefectures in the Tokai region.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2014

Ruling denying welfare for foreign residents finds homegrown, biased support

The landmark Supreme Court ruling in July that found permanent residents of Japan legally ineligible for public assistance is already having an impact. Moves are afoot both at the national and local levels to try to scale back or remove welfare payments to foreign residents.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2014

U.S.-China skirmishes beg for guidelines on 'spying'

What do the dangerous encounters at sea and in the air between Chinese and American ships and aircraft have in common, and how can they be prevented or managed?
WORLD
Oct 16, 2014

Michael Jackson tops Forbes list of highest-earning dead celebrities

Five years after his death, singer Michael Jackson is generating a fortune and is the top-earning dead celebrity, raking in an estimated $140 million in the past year for his estate, according to Forbes magazine.
Reader Mail
Oct 15, 2014

Strange obsession with robots

Regarding the Oct. 8 article "Toshiba unveils a humanoid robot that could be a sign of the times": I find it ironic that as the human population continues to increase, we are trying our best to make robots do the work of humans, aiming to find substitutes for tour guides, companions, etc.
Reader Mail
Oct 15, 2014

Nuclear village fooling itself

Regarding the Oct. 14 Reuters article "As nuclear waste piles up, South Korea faces storage crisis": Duh?! When will all the nuclear-village idiots across the globe realize that radioactive waste from aging nuclear power plants will need safe storage for up to 100,000 years? Such waste cannot be collected...
EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2014

A shift in defense posture

A Japan-U.S. interim report proposes that geographical restrictions on the activities of the Self-Defense Forces in support of U.S. military operations be removed as part of a tremendous shift in Japan's defense posture.
EDITORIALS
Oct 12, 2014

Freedom of the press in South Korea

Criminal action taken by Seoul prosecutors against a Japanese journalist for questioning the whereabouts of President Park Geun-hye on the day in August when a South Korean passenger ferry sank raises serious questions about South Korea's commitment to freedom of the press.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 11, 2014

In-debt idols send wrong message to girls

Two weeks ago a female pop group called The Margarines debuted via a Tokyo news conference. Since Japanese show business has no shortage of young women who want to sing and dance in order to "fulfill their dreams," the new ensemble needed a gimmick.
OLYMPICS / ROBERT WHITING'S 1964 OLYMPICS RETROSPECTIVE
Oct 10, 2014

Olympic construction transformed Tokyo

The 1964 Tokyo Olympics had a profound impact on the capital city and the nation. In the opening installment of a five-part series that will run during the next two weeks, best-selling author Robert Whiting, who lived in Japan at the time, takes a look back at the preparations for the event.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Oct 10, 2014

New center in Nagoya helps young patients deal with head injuries

A new facility for people with traumatic brain injuries has opened in Nakagawa Ward, Nagoya, to offer the kind of care that, say, traffic accident victims often need.
EDITORIALS
Oct 9, 2014

The dangers of intolerance

Two universities in Japan have received letter threats that nail-laden bombs will go off on their campuses if they don't dismiss two instructors who formerly reported on the 'comfort women' controversy for the Asahi Shimbun.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Oct 8, 2014

Biased pamphlet bodes ill for left-behind foreign parents outside Japan

A pamphlet about the Hague Convention provides valuable insights into the Foreign Ministry's slanted mind-set towards the child abduction issue.

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