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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2017

Chinese learning the value of privacy

If China's biggest online players want to chart a bigger role for themselve at home and abroad, they're going to need to start taking privacy much more seriously.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2017

Why nationalists need like-minded foreigners

The nationalist populist parties of today can't achieve global success unless they form a common agenda that is less grounded in local values than in a common ideology.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2017

Cherry blossom fever boosts companies' bottom lines

Every spring people across Japan are enraptured as the cherry trees explode into bloom, clothing the country in pink. The blossoms last for only a few short weeks, but in that time the fleeting flowers make for good business.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 24, 2017

London attacker Khalid Masood was a criminal with militant links

Before he killed at least four people in Britain's deadliest attack since the 2005 London bombings, Khalid Masood was considered by intelligence officers to be a criminal who posed little serious threat.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 24, 2017

Kyoto University professor does the math and finds that sperm swim to a beat

We know that the upshot of sex between a man and a woman is more than 50 million sperm racing to reach one egg, though exactly how sperm swim through a woman’s body and how just one survives the journey to fertilize an egg is full of mystery.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Mar 23, 2017

Celebrate spring among blossoms

The Hotel Century Southern Tower's annual spring party plan through the end of April is perfectly timed to coincide with the blossoming of someiyoshino and yaezakura cherry trees, so guests can experience all the beauty that spring in Japan has to offer.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2017

Sorry Trump, Cambodia owes the U.S. nothing

The $500 million bill that Uncle Sam has come knocking for is a pittance compared to the destruction the U.S. wreaked on Cambodia by incessant B-52 bombing during the Vietnam War.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Mar 22, 2017

Author returns to China civil war siege that haunts her, still seeking honor for its dead

Scarred by her childhood ordeal in Changchun, Homare Endo channeled her energies into helping Chinese students in Japan.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 21, 2017

Japan's 'Matrix'-style job fairs evolving as employers forced to think outside the square

Graduate recruitment in Japan looks a bit like a scene from the movie "The Matrix."
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 21, 2017

Tillerson plans to skip NATO meeting, visit Russia in April, sources say

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to skip an April 5-6 meeting of NATO foreign ministers for a U.S. visit by the Chinese president and will travel to Russia later in the month, U.S. officials said Monday, a step allies may see as putting Moscow's concerns ahead of theirs.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 19, 2017

Smoothly but warily, U.S. and China stick to script in Tillerson visit

Despite a long list of potential pitfalls, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's visit to China, the first by a senior member of the Trump administration, passed off relatively smoothly although there were no tangible gains to show.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Mar 18, 2017

Backstop Kobayashi plays big role for Japan

There's a thanklessness to catching in baseball. Catchers do a lot of the dirty work, and their efforts end up being both extremely challenging and easy for the casual observer to accidentally overlook.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 18, 2017

French carrier to lead joint amphibious Pacific drill with Japanese, U.S. personnel in show of force aimed at China

In a display of military power aimed at China, France will dispatch one of its powerful Mistral amphibious carriers to lead drills on and around Tinian island in the Western Pacific, with Japanese and U.S. personnel and two troop-carrying helicopters sent by Britain, two sources have said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Mar 16, 2017

Welcome spring among the blossoms

"All things Sakura," celebrating Japan's blossom-filled spring, will take place at The Peninsula Tokyo from March 25 to April 2. Visitors will find themselves in a hanami (cherry-blossom viewing) wonderland immediately upon arrival, as the hotel lobby is decorated with hundreds of cherry trees.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 16, 2017

Radwimps were the perfect choice when it came to soundtracking 'Your Name.'

Yokohama Arena feels special on this chilly Tuesday night in early March. It's here that Radwimps — a rock outfit from Kanagawa Prefecture whose members could bike to this very venue when they were teens — are playing the first of two sold-out shows.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2017

'Strange' hotel, run by robots, opens near Tokyo; more to come

Major travel agency H.I.S. Co. on Wednesday celebrated the opening of its second robot-staffed Henn na Hotel. The new location is near the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 14, 2017

Akie Abe's connection with Moritomo Gakuen scandal puts role of Japan's first lady under spotlight

Is the wife of a prime minister a public official who should be subject to legislative rules and bureaucratic regulations on her activities, or a private citizen who shouldn't be held accountable over the political impact of her activities?
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 13, 2017

Toto rolls out droll toilet humor with a whiff of class

Sit back and relax as this week's Bilingual column splashes on the results of Toto's 2016 Toilet Senryu Contest.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 13, 2017

Clash of style and substance as Merkel makes Trump serious study before their key meeting

She is controlled and cautious, a physicist from East Germany who takes her time making decisions and has never relished the attention that comes from being Europe's most powerful leader.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 11, 2017

Unlocking Tokyo's history one step at a time with guided walking tours

Tokyo has never had a reputation for being walkable.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 11, 2017

'Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien': Excavating Edo's ancient memes with the power of 'yokai'

Beginning with 2008's "Yokai Attack!," translators Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt have been on a quest to bring an aspect of Japanese culture that has lurked in the shadows to the world at large.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 11, 2017

The first missteps for Japan's first lady

On Feb. 27, Democratic Party lawmaker Kiyomi Tsujimoto submitted questions to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party about the activities of Akie Abe, the wife of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in regard to her relationship with Moritomo Gakuen, a controversial corporate body that wants to build an elementary...
BASEBALL
Mar 11, 2017

Teams makes preparations for second round

Tokyo Dome was mostly silent, with only the sounds of practice ricocheting off thousands of empty seats at the Big Egg, as the 2017 World Baseball Classic took a day off to prepare for the final push to the championship round.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 11, 2017

South Korean upheaval won't slow U.S. deployment of THAAD anti-missile system

The U.S. military said on Friday it plans to forge ahead with building the THAAD missile defense system in South Korea, separating the issue from the political crisis in Seoul that led to President Park Geun-hye's removal from office on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 10, 2017

Airbnb gets Cabinet OK as Japan sets rules on home-sharing businesses

The Cabinet approved rules limiting home-sharing by private citizens to 180 days a year, according to the final draft of the legislation headed for the Diet.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 10, 2017

Chinese airlines cut some routes to South Korea amid political standoff over anti-missile system

Airline operators cut some routes between China and South Korea as the fallout spread on Friday from a diplomatic row over Seoul's plans to deploy a U.S. missile defense system regardless of Beijing's objections.
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Mar 9, 2017

Fresh fruit to celebrate the season

The Rihga Royal Hotel Kyoto celebrates the approaching spring with a selection of strawberry-themed desserts, featuring amao brand strawberries, through March 31 at the hotel's lounge inside the Kaza restaurant on the first floor.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 8, 2017

A dystopian future set in the present aftermath

With "Homo Sapiens", director Nikolaus Geyrhalter paints a haunting dystopian vision of civilization minus its creators. This unique documentary consists of nothing but steady, perfectly framed wide-shots of abandoned structures and wastelands. Imagine Wes Anderson doing location shots for "The Walking...
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2017

Japan's border islands to get ¥5 billion boon for tourism, defense

The government has earmarked ¥5 billion in increased economic assistance to 71 islands off the coast of eight prefectures, as concerns over declining populations are compounded by recurring intrusions into sovereign territory by foreign vessels.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami