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ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Aug 2, 2019

South Korean petition to ban imports of sex dolls forces government response

A petition calling for a ban on importing life-size sex dolls into South Korea has gathered nearly a quarter of a million signatures as of Friday, passing a threshold that requires the president's office to respond to the matter.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 2, 2019

Astronomers find that Milky Way is a warped and twisted galaxy

Astronomers have created the most precise map to date of the Milky Way by tracking thousands of big pulsating stars spread throughout the galaxy, demonstrating that its disk of myriad stars is not flat but dramatically warped and twisted in shape.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 19, 2019

Gulp! Jurassic mammal was the first one able to eat politely

A shrew-like primitive mammal that inhabited China 165 million years ago represents a milestone in mammalian evolution, scientists said on Thursday, boasting a key anatomical trait in its throat that helped usher in the era of polite table manners.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 5, 2019

Quiet luxury in lesser-known Kansai

The Kansai area — think Kyoto, Osaka and surrounds — has some of the country's best anaba (little-known spots) where you can encounter the rich depths of Japanese culture, minus the crowds. Reserve one of these nine luxuriously uncrowded options to take your travels to new levels.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 29, 2019

'Gentle Black Giants': Diplomacy, sport and Japan's early love for baseball

'Gentle Black Giants' reveals a little-known chapter of Japanese baseball's early years and the impact that a collection of Negro Leagues players had on its development.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 20, 2019

Building bridges to Bangkok through stage

Never at risk of being run of the mill, Chelfitsch — which took its name from a baby's pronunciation of the English word "selfish" and usually stylizes itself with a lowercase "c" — is one of Japan's foremost contemporary theater companies, despite only rarely performing here. Instead, it can mostly...
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Jun 19, 2019

With changes in emperors come amnesties, so who will benefit?

One convenient thing about Japanese law for those of us who are professors of it is that it is quite modern. Virtually all Japanese laws and institutions antedate the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and, of those, most have a 20th-century provenance. Compared to Anglo-American law with Magna Carta, bewigged...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2019

Which Tiananmen narrative is true?

There is little doubt about the Beijing spring of 1989 that called for greater openness, freedoms and democracy in China, or about its suppression. But there is a counter-narrative that receives no mention in the China-bashing mainstream media.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / Children's Literature in Japan
May 25, 2019

Poop, realism and Ghibli: Enter the world of children's literature

To introduce our readers to this special subsection of Japanese literature, for the next 12 months, we'll be featuring one children's writer or illustrator on these pages each month.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
May 5, 2019

Iwo Jima: Where Japan rules but the memory of war dead still reigns

It is odd to stand at an iconic place few can ever visit. There on Mount Suribachi where the American flag was raised over Iwo Jima, I am embarrassed to report my first thought on looking out across at the military airport we landed at that morning was, "I have to walk back there in the next two hours."...
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 28, 2019

San Diego-area synagogue shooting leaves one worshipper dead, three wounded

A gunman walked into a San Diego-area synagogue crowded with Sabbath worshippers on Saturday and opened fire with an assault-style rifle, killing one woman inside and wounding three others in a hate crime carried out on the last day of Passover, authorities said.
CULTURE / Film / Heisei Icons,Heisei Icons
Apr 19, 2019

Hayao Miyazaki: Universally acclaimed weaver of unforgettable anime worlds

Animators and live-action filmmakers around the world acknowledge his influence. His talents have even been described by fans as “godlike.”
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 15, 2019

Defining the Heisei Era

Over the past year, as we counted down to the end of the Heisei Era, The Japan Times presented a monthly 12-part series that looked back at the leading issues of the past three decades
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 6, 2019

Wes Lang and his quest to climb Japan's top 100 mountains

A love of hiking inspired avid mountaineer Wes Lang to scale all of Japan's hyakumeizan (100 top mountains). Now, he's co-written a comprehensive and user-friendly guidebook to hiking in Japan to inspire everyone else.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Mar 31, 2019

Heisei's legal legacies include greater civic participation

With Emperor Akihito abdicating on April 30, the Heisei Era that began Jan. 8, 1989, after his father's death will also come to an end. With this column I'd like to look back at some of the noteworthy changes that occurred to Japan's laws and legal institutions during the past three decades.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 28, 2019

Sony chairman, who keyed firm's turnaround with bet on PlayStation and image sensors, to retire

Sony Corp. Chairman Kazuo Hirai, the architect of a turnaround at the once-dominant electronics giant, will retire in June after spending more than three decades at the company.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Mar 6, 2019

Robot rights: From Asimov to Tezuka

Asimov's 'Three Laws of Robotics' are fictional rules, so why do we keep looking to them for guidance? The closest thing to real-world robot law we could have more seems likely to develop around the question of when autonomous military drones can make 'kill' decisions without human intervention.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 23, 2019

'Tokyo Ueno Station' shows the dark side of the postwar boom

In her new novel, 'Tokyo Ueno Station,' writer Yu Miri connects Japan's modern past with the homeless in Ueno Park, giving faces and voices to the dispossessed.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 21, 2019

Why do zebras have stripes? Because they make bad landing strips for flies

Scientists are providing new evidence to answer the long-standing question about why zebras have stripes. It appears stripes make terrible landing strips, bamboozling the fierce blood-sucking flies that try to feast on zebras and carry deadly diseases.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 20, 2019

Heavy metal: Moonlighting knights and medieval swordplay in Tokyo

Jay Noyes, clad head to toe in the steel armor of a medieval knight, is steadily advancing toward me with a longsword, which he intends to hit me with.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 18, 2019

Corporate governance is improving, but not by enough

Poorly run companies are under international and domestic pressure to adopt global standards of capitalism.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Feb 14, 2019

Netflix row overshadows Berlin premiere of film about Spanish lesbians 'Elisa & Marcela'

A row over whether films produced for streaming platform Netflix should be shown at the Berlin Film Festival has overshadowed the premiere of "Elisa & Marcela," Isabel Coixet's tale of two Spanish lesbians.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Feb 6, 2019

The Supreme Court hews to the letter of the law on gender identity while laying the groundwork for future challenges

At no point have I ever had to grapple with the decision to have my genitals surgically removed. Perhaps the same is true for you. While these may seem an odd set of affirmations to open with, they help illustrate a basic truth: How we think about a law can vary greatly depending upon whether or not...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2019

Facebook bums us out, but we'll pay for it anyway

Those who deactivated their accounts for a month were less anxious and depressed.
WORLD
Jan 28, 2019

Influential commission's report says obesity, bad nutrition and climate change pose triple threat to globe

Obesity, undernutrition and climate change are the biggest threats to the world population, linked by profit motives and policy inertia, a top commission said Sunday, calling for a binding plan and trillions of dollars to thwart the dangers.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jan 25, 2019

In the name of the gods: Indian girls forced into sex work despite ban on ancient ritual

Young girls in south India continue to be "dedicated" to village temples and then forced into prostitution despite laws banning the ancient ritual, researchers say.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 8, 2019

What the world can learn from Japan

Islandology is spreading globally as other nations recognize the world is a single closed ecosystem.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 5, 2019

Examining the strange synergy of Heisei Era crimes in Japan

There's a tendency in some societies to associate a period of history with the crimes that occurred therein. This is why we use expressions such as "crime of the century."

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