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BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 8, 2014

Nikkei financial newspaper has a lock on earnings prescience

If you wanted to find out what Toyota Motor Corp., NTT Docomo Inc. and Canon Inc. earned last year before they reported their results, the best guide wasn't analyst or company predictions. It was the Nikkei newspaper.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Aug 7, 2014

Aomori warns foreign players about fraudulent agents

Despite having a collection of 80-plus import players for all recent seasons and the fact that 30 foreign-born head coaches, including one (Howie Landa) who never coached in the preseason or regular season, have been hired since the league's first game was played in 2005, there's no information on the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND
Aug 7, 2014

Foster parent shortage takes growing toll on children

Veteran foster parent Mika Hobbs was surprisingly frank when she confessed how nerve-racking her job can be.
WORLD / Society
Aug 7, 2014

Wikipedia fights back against Europe's 'right to be forgotten'

Wikipedia fought back against Europe's "right to be forgotten" by listing the online encyclopaedia's articles removed from search results, snubbing a court ruling that allows people to stop personal information appearing under Internet searches.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 6, 2014

Former top brass say cyberspace key in new defense rules

As Japan and the U.S. work toward a historic upgrade of bilateral defense cooperation guidelines for the first time in 17 years, the biggest tasks for the two allies may be dealing with China's growing military and economic might while also keeping an eye on events in North Korea and its unpredictable...
Reader Mail
Aug 6, 2014

Bravo to Seoul's persistence

Regarding the Aug. 5 Jiji article "South Korea to issue 'comfort women' white paper in 2015": It's curious how Japan would have the world remember the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but cries foul when other nations remind Japan that not too long ago it was a militaristic power hellbent on...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2014

Is Israel's offense morally defensible?

To say that Israel's actions are less clearly wrong than those of Hamas is not to say much. While pursuing its legitimate military objectives in Gaza, Israel should be showing more concern for Gaza's trapped civilians.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Aug 5, 2014

Abe's hollow Asia diplomacy

The Asia diplomacy — aka China-containment policy — of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is showing signs of falling apart amid irritation among Southeast Asian countries over the slow pace at which Abe's promises of assistance, equipment, and acceptance of foreign workers are being carried out.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Aug 4, 2014

Loophole Dappo drugs banned

In the face of a series of accidents caused by drivers high on law-skirting 'dappo' drugs, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare used new emergency powers on July 15 to ban two substances.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 4, 2014

Courts, U.N. shine spotlight on hate speech in Japan

Rarely in the history of Japan have public concerns over hate speech appeared so intense and widespread as today.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 3, 2014

China's Xi likely to promote PLA general who exposed graft

President Xi Jinping is likely to promote a corruption whistle-blower to China's top military decision-making body to underscore his determination to tackle graft inside the country's rapidly modernizing armed forces, two sources said.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Aug 3, 2014

Imam's killing in China may be aimed at making Muslim Uighurs choose sides

The murder of a state-backed imam in China's Xinjiang region underscores an escalation in 18 months of violence and could be part of a bid by extremists to persuade moderate Muslim Uighurs to turn against Beijing's controlled current of Islam.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 2, 2014

Is the next stop 'brokesville' for the maglev?

Robert Moses, the civil servant who built the great park-expressway-bridge network in New York state during the middle of the last century, succeeded by gaming the system. Understanding how politics would make it difficult for him to fulfill his vision, he often started a public works project clandestinely....
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 2, 2014

Hot in the city: scorching Kumagaya

Exploring new ways of dealing with the heat from a city in Saitama that certainly knows a thing or two about keeping cool
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 2, 2014

Fast-food follies have media in a frenzy

Almost exactly a year ago (on July 27, 2013), this column reported on how the print media was inundated with concerns over the safety of foods from abroad. Among the sources cited was Takarajima magazine, which quoted a foodstuffs importer as saying, "The decline of morals due to the pursuit of profits...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Aug 2, 2014

Toxic gypsy moths — a most unpleasant infestation

Living in the countryside, the usual casual greetings include an observation about the weather, but for the last six weeks around my home in northern Nagano Prefecture, everybody mentioned the caterpillars. Now it's the moths. I've never seen such a plague of them in the 34 years I've been here.
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 1, 2014

HIS angling to work with Toyota on test driving new tour concept

Travel agency HIS is collaborating with Toyota Motor Corp. to include a visit to one of its assembly plants in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, in package tours for tourists visiting Japan.
Reader Mail
Jul 30, 2014

Get tough with selfish 'patients'

Regarding the July 24 Bloomberg Focus article, "Retirees swell national debt treating clinics as clubs": I completely agree. To go further, I personally would mark these people as selfish and inconsiderate of others.
Japan Times
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Jul 30, 2014

New issue of Foreign Student Times published

On July 28, The Japan Times published the Foreign Student Times, a publication for foreign students who are studying or want to study in Japan.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Jul 30, 2014

Massive graft, rivalry behind purge of China's oil mandarins

Oil executive Jiang Jiemin rose to power in communist China in time-honored fashion: by hitching his star to a mighty mentor.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jul 29, 2014

Abe's flawed contingency plan

If the barren state of Tokyo-Seoul ties continues, Shinzo Abe's call for the exercise of the right to collective self-defense as well as the protection of Japanese citizens on the Korean Peninsula in an emergency is doomed to become pie in the sky.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 29, 2014

Preparing for the next big solar storm

The probability of a solar storm striking Earth in the next decade with enough force to do serious damage to electricity networks, lasting perhaps for months, could be as high as 12 percent.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jul 28, 2014

A trip around the Yushukan, Japan's font of discord

Often overlooked in discussions about Yasukuni is the divisive role played by the Yushukan, the war museum built within the shrine grounds to promote the 'Yasukuni doctrine.'
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Jul 28, 2014

Harry Potter area opens at USJ

USJ Co. opened a new attraction area based on the 'Harry Potter' movie series at its Universal Studios Japan theme park in Osaka on July 15. About 3,000 fans, some of whom spent the night in line, were at the park for the launch of the new attraction.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 27, 2014

Is 'Kobe Formula' spanner in works?

On March 18, 1975, in a show of defiance against Japan-U.S. military policy, the Kobe Municipal Assembly passed a resolution that became known as the "Kobe Formula."
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 26, 2014

Japan's brand is floundering under Abe

Attending the Association of Asian Studies conference in Singapore last week, I realized that Japan's global image is not what it might be. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says Japan is back, but doubts are spreading about the version of Japan he is promoting. It appears that Abe's energetic regional diplomacy...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 26, 2014

'Space Expo' offers a cosmic sense of wonder

With man's natural curiosity and a potentially endless, undiscovered universe waiting to be explored, it's no wonder that space appeals equally to both the scientist and the fantasist. The "Space Expo 2014" collaborative exhibition being hosted through Sept. 23 by U.S. space agency NASA and its Japanese...
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jul 25, 2014

Aichi police switch to carrot over stick to prevent traffic accidents

Aichi Prefecture is taking a unique approach to reducing the number of traffic accidents after having the worst rate in the country 11 years running.

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