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WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 19, 2015

Alarming new 'superbug' gene found in animals and people in China

A new gene that makes bacteria highly resistant to a last-resort class of antibiotics has been found in people and pigs in China — including in samples of bacteria with epidemic potential, researchers said this week.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Nov 11, 2015

Let women and the world into kabuki and watch it flourish

Kabuki has the ability to enrich the imagination of the world; it should not be held back by insular vision and outmoded conservatism.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 2, 2015

U.S. better keep an eye on Indonesia

The U.S. generally fails to give due importance to the largest nation in Southeast Asia, but taking Indonesia seriously is at least as logical and consequential as taking Japan seriously.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 31, 2015

Massive fissure mysteriously opens in Wyoming mountains

A massive fissure that has mysteriously appeared on the flanks of the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming is a slow-moving landslide, possibly triggered by excessive precipitation combined with moisture from a nearby spring, a state geologist said on Friday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 27, 2015

Chinese paper says West is trying to 'falsify' history of Communist Party, military

Enemy forces in the West are trying to "falsify" the history of China's ruling Communist Party and its military and force a "color revolution" on troops who are too susceptible to outside influences, the military's official newspaper said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 21, 2015

Women are in trouble at the Tokyo International Film Festival

Bad things can happen to good women, especially in the movies. For me, the most intriguing films at TIFF this year feature women in trouble. Yes, men may be a lot harder to take down on-screen than women — requiring explosives, monsters and extremely fit assassins — but, in reality, girls are more...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 21, 2015

Rare orchids and misfit sex workers at the Tokyo International Film Festival

Some of the hottest tickets at TIFF each year are for films that have already secured a commercial release date in Japan. For all the high-minded talk about artistry and creativity, most viewers just want to see the big movies before everyone else. But spare a thought for the less commercial offerings...
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Oct 21, 2015

Warning: This viral video of high school girls might make you blush

Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Oct 17, 2015

'Little Songs of the Geisha' collected by an American anthropologist

The label kouta (which roughly translates as, "little song") has been applied to any number of popular Japanese music forms over the centuries. But these days, the word usually refers to a specific genre of shamisen music that evolved in 19th-century Edo (present-day Tokyo) from existing popular styles,...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 14, 2015

China's unfinished island wars

China will continue to pursue its claim to the Spratly Islands, but Hainan and Taiwan remain the two great pearls of its maritime frontier strategy.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Oct 11, 2015

China-backed trade pact playing catch-up after U.S.-led TPP deal

Lest competitor nations steal a march on export access, China and India approach talks for a huge Asia-wide equivalent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership with fresh urgency.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 11, 2015

Syria airstrikes leave Russia at risk of revenge attacks

President Vladimir Putin has taken a risk by launching airstrikes against Islamists in Syria because they could incite militants to seek revenge by attacking targets inside Russia.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 2015

Russia passes the West in race across the Syrian minefield

Peace will remain elusive in Iraq and Syria until Islamic State is defeated. If Putin accomplishes this he will earn the world's gratitude.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 3, 2015

The long and short of male circumcision in Japan

For most of its history the Japanese archipelago knew nothing of circumcision. Contact with missionaries and merchants from Europe did little to raise awareness of the custom, and the procedure does not seem to have been a high priority for the promoters of Western ideas and technology during the Meiji...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 30, 2015

China's Xi struggles to show softer side during U.S. charm offensive

Before Xi Jinping flew to the U.S., his foreign minister promised a "people first visit" that would showcase the Chinese president's "extensive outreach to the American people."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 5, 2015

Briefly maligned, bilingual rappers gain visibility

English words and phrases have been a part of the Japanese MC's arsenal since hip-hop culture began making inroads here in the early to mid-1980s.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 31, 2015

China party says no disrespect meant with Jiang sign removal

The removal of a stone plinth sign written by former Chinese President Jiang Zemin at the entrance of a key Communist Party training center is not a sign of disrespect, a senior official said on Monday, after rumors of destabilizing party infighting.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2015

Asia should call a truce on the currency war

Asian policymakers need to understand that currency devaluations aren't a cure-all — and if they pursue trade-offs there's no avoiding their downsides.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 23, 2015

China wants great power, not responsibility

Beijing still believes money can buy the trust and soft power it craves, but as long as the government's pronouncements aren't seen as genuinely reliable, skepticism about the yuan will only grow.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / NOTES ON A SCORECARD
Aug 20, 2015

Fitness proving a continuing challenge for Nishikori

Kei Nishikori finally broke through against Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of last week's Rogers Cup in Montreal. Nishikori routed the 14-time Grand Slam champion 6-2, 6-4 with an overpowering show to record his first win over Nadal in eight career meetings.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Aug 19, 2015

Tale of Tuscan beekeeping and family breakdown has a sting

Italian drama "The Wonders" opens on Aug. 22 and it's well worth a look (or two or three).
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 18, 2015

Japan needs to break its addiction to exports

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe needs to recognize, as China already has, that Asia's old export model of economic growth no longer works.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Aug 18, 2015

Monfils accused of tanking in defeat

Ohio
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 31, 2015

China's Xi swats 'blood-sucking mosquitoes' as graft push goes small

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has likened his nationwide corruption purge to hunting tigers and swatting flies, is sending Communist Party graft-busters after an even more annoying pest: mosquitoes.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 25, 2015

Gunman in Louisiana theater rampage had history of mental illness

A 59-year-old man once hospitalized for psychiatric care was identified by authorities on Friday as the gunman who fatally shot two people in a rampage at a central Louisiana movie theater before killing himself as police closed in.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 14, 2015

Debate over security bills masks clash of views on pacifist Constitution

Is Japan's Constitution a symbol of peace and respect for universal values or a reminder of humiliating defeat?
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jul 14, 2015

Detained Chinese lawyer 'blabbered' about rule of law, human rights

China's state media last month accused Wang Yu, the country's most prominent female human rights lawyer, of "blabbering about the rule of law and human rights."
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 9, 2015

Repairing Japan-China ties

Are the domestic politics of Japan and China antithetical to continued peace between Asia's leading powers?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2015

China stocks nosedive as regulator warns of 'panic'

Chinese stocks dived on Wednesday, as the country's securities regulator warned investors were in the grip of "panic sentiment" and the market showed signs of freezing up as companies scrambled to escape the rout by having their shares suspended.

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