Search - 2015

 
 
JAPAN
May 21, 2018

Former Financial Times Tokyo bureau chief Charles Smith dies at 82

Charles Smith, who served as Tokyo bureau chief of the Financial Times in the 1970s and of the Far East Economic Review in the 1980s, passed away at the age of 82 Friday of acute respiratory failure, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan said Monday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
May 21, 2018

SoftBank's Yuki Yanagita stands out among NPB crowd

The top buzzwords in Japan in 2015, as chosen through the annual U-Can Shingo Ryukogo Taisho (U-Can New Words and Buzzwords Awards), were co-winners bakugai and toripuru suri.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2018

German companies worry Trump moving toward 'America Alone'

German companies are concerned that U.S. President Donald Trump is increasingly thinking only of America rather than just putting his country first, the head of Germany's DIHK Chambers of Commerce told media.
BUSINESS / Tech / Deep Dive
May 20, 2018

Drone deliveries ready to soar in Japan but lingering issues likely to keep post office in business

A drone carrying a package sails through the air, touching down to make a delivery right on a customer's doorstep.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 20, 2018

Japan's foreign policy balancing act

This year's Diplomacy Bluebook shows Japan scrambling to square long-held positions with rapid changes in the region.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 19, 2018

Through the lens: Japanese photographers explore nuclear narratives

Whether it's the work of Robert Capa in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) or Richard Drew's iconic "Falling Man" picture of a man free-falling from the World Trade Center in 2001, photography has provided us with the images that we've used to visualize every disaster of the 20th century and beyond. But...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 19, 2018

Japan's courts are being asked to define the role of the SDF

As discussed in Media Mix last week, news organizations are on the lookout for signs of whether the country’s Self-Defense Forces are becoming politically active. There have been indications the SDF wants to be the conventional military that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has in mind, but that...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 19, 2018

China lands bombers on South China Sea outpost for first time

China has landed heavy bombers on one of its outposts in the South China Sea for the first time, part of an operation intended to provide "experience for Air Force bomber units to use islands as their bases," according to the Defense Ministry.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
May 18, 2018

Asia urged to reduce pricey oil dependency as crude hits $80

The cost of Asia's growing thirst for oil will surpass $1 trillion this year, about twice as much as in 2015 and 2016, as oil prices touch $80 per barrel and continental demand hits a record.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
May 18, 2018

Aspiring brewer taps Fukushima town's hops in bid to boost sagging farming industry

"I can't wait to drink delicious beer made from homegrown hops," Makoto Honma, the president of Hop Japan Inc., told farmers with a smile in April when he visited them in Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 18, 2018

All aboard: Exploring Japan's abandoned train lines

Admiring the decaying beauty of abandoned railroads is just one of myriad hobbies Japan's railway enthusiasts indulge in.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 18, 2018

Study finds one-third of world's protected wildlife areas under threat from development

A third of the world's protected areas for wildlife are suffering road-building, more farms and other man-made threats that are undermining goals to safeguard the diversity of life on Earth, scientists said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
May 17, 2018

End big power firms' stranglehold on electrical grid

The big power companies' stranglehold on the transmission network is suppressing the development of renewable energy.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League / B. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 17, 2018

Final four set to clash

And now it's down to four teams still chasing after the B. League Championship crown.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
May 17, 2018

China launches first privately designed rocket

China launched its first privately developed rocket on Thursday, the latest milestone in its ambitious space exploration program.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
May 17, 2018

How Trump's fix-it man became $1.2 million headache for Novartis

When Michael Cohen showed up at Novartis AG last year proposing to help the drugmaker navigate the Donald Trump administration, it sounded like a promising opportunity. Cohen had, after all, served as an attorney for Trump and had close ties to the new president.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 17, 2018

Britain's plan to again nationalize key rail line sparks new row over ownership

The British government is renationalizing the rail route between London and Edinburgh, taking back the line from a private company after it over-estimated profits, in a step likely to reignite a debate over public ownership of the U.K.'s railways.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 16, 2018

Hyoe Yamamoto dives into Japan's culture of corporate corruption in 'Samurai and Idiots: The Olympus Affair'

Speaking as a Japanese person, it's a bit disheartening to see the words "samurai" and "idiot" in the same sentence. Filmmaker Hyoe Yamamoto's documentary "Samurai and Idiots: The Olympus Affair" not only pairs the two, it shows the lack of logic and wisdom behind the so-called samurai spirit that many...
Japan Times
WORLD
May 16, 2018

Well-armed Taliban battle into west Afghan city in new crisis for Kabul regime despite U.S. air support

Taliban fighters with heavy weapons and night-vision equipment fought their way close to the center of the western city of Farah on Tuesday, as Afghan forces with U.S. air support battled to force them back, officials and residents said.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 14, 2018

Japan's universities struggling under corporate status

Instead of making education and research more efficient, the conversion of national universities into university corporations has increased inefficiency.
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2018

Open skies can clear Beijing's 'Orwellian nonsense'

An agreement to expand market access in China would be the best way to Chinese government avoid censorship.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 14, 2018

Tanzanian man looks to transform Dar es Salaam's busy bus system using app he developed with Japan-based startup

It is not unusual for overseas visitors on their first visit to Japan to be impressed by the country's efficient rail network, with its heated seats and computerized message boards providing passengers with information updates.

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