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JAPAN / Society
Sep 27, 2016

Amid charges of sexism, city in Kyushu pulls video promoting local eels

A promotional YouTube video made by the city of Shibushi, Kagoshima Prefecture, featuring a young woman in a swimsuit who morphs into an eel has been pulled following a public outcry that it was sexist.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2016

MetLife to offer staff buyouts amid investment squeeze

MetLife Inc. said its Japanese business will offer early retirement packages to some staff as the insurer consolidates operations in Tokyo to help counter pressure from low bond yields.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2016

The differences between the Bushes and Trump

You have to be personally ambitious, occasionally ruthless, to seek the U.S. presidency, but you don't have to be sleazy or a demagogue. That's where the Bushes part ways with Donald Trump.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 26, 2016

Companies, households continue to thwart BOJ by hoarding piles of cash

Households and companies continue to hold onto cash rather than spending or investing it, highlighting the ongoing challenge to revitalize the economy.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 26, 2016

Plan to fix day care crunch belies decades of pent-up demand

The shortage of day care facilities is a long-standing issue in Japan, where the ranks of working mothers keep swelling, both out of choice and necessity.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Sep 26, 2016

Luxury carp making comeback outside Japan

The popularity of nishikigoi carp is growing outside Japan.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Sep 25, 2016

Ramirez working to get BayStars ready for Climax Series

Yokohama BayStars manager Alex Ramirez is wearing two hats as the regular season winds down.
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Sep 25, 2016

Hikaru Utada and the iconic women of Japanese pop who came before her

In an age where anyone and (it often seems) everyone can be an idol, it takes something special to be an icon.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Sep 25, 2016

Sagamihara massacre begs question: Do we want a society that only values usefulness?

The twisted thinking behind Japan's worst postwar massacre may have its roots in the way the modern world teaches us to judge the worth of others.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 23, 2016

Canada activist found guilty of harassing scientists over Fukushima fallout

A Canadian environmental activist who waged a sustained online campaign against two prominent marine scientists is found guilty of harassment in British Columbia.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 23, 2016

Panel formed to ease burden on Emperor Akihito but abdication issue looms

A six-member panel forms to help the Emperor through his twilight years, while the thorny political issue of allowing him to abdicate lurks in the background.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 23, 2016

Moonlight sonata: fish's nocturnal 'singing' secrets revealed

In one of the marvels of nature, males of a fish species called the plainfin midshipman that dwells in Pacific coastal waters from Alaska to Baja California court females during breeding season using a nocturnal "love song" with an otherworldly sound.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 23, 2016

Scientists say world could pass key temperature-rise mark in decade

The planet could pass a key target on world temperature rise in about a decade, prompting accelerating loss of glaciers, steep declines in water availability, worsening land conflicts and deepening poverty, scientists said this week.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2016

Kuroda's strategy shifts from shock and awe to bond market finesse

Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda stormed onto the global stage in 2013 with the subtlety of a Metallica concert, electrifying markets with a shock-and-awe strategy.
EDITORIALS
Sep 21, 2016

Growth in senile dementia cases

Japan must prepare to handle a larger number of senile dementia cases as the size of its eldlerly population increases.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 20, 2016

Abe urges TPP approval in meeting with Clinton in New York

Prime Minister Abe stresses the import of TPP ratification to U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who opposes the deal.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 20, 2016

U.S., China to step up coordination on North Korea

U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang agreed on Monday to step up cooperation in the United Nations Security Council and in law-enforcement channels after North Korea's fifth nuclear test, the White House said.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Sep 19, 2016

Let's discuss young recluses in Japan

An estimated 541,000 people aged between 15 and 39 in Japan avoid social contact and shut themselves in their homes, according to a government survey.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 18, 2016

Tokyo's safety claims for Toyosu fish market cleanup getting harder to sell

On Sept. 10, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike revealed that the people in charge of the soil remediation work for the Toyosu market, the relocation site for the famed Tsukiji fish market in Chuo Ward, ignored the recommendations of outside safety experts.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 16, 2016

Japan's biggest bank urges BOJ to weigh side effects of negative-rate policy

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.'s main lending unit has urged the Bank of Japan to consider the side effects of negative interest rates at next week's meeting, saying the policy will continue to squeeze lending income.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2016

Saving refugees to save the European Union

Rather than uniting to resist the populist threat they all face, EU member states have played into its hands by becoming increasingly unwilling to cooperate with one another.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb