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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 23, 2019

Voter disillusion tempered by realism

Despite Abe's electoral victory, the result is not an overwhelming mandate for transformative change.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 23, 2019

We'll all be losers in 2020, anti-Olympic activists say

Activists opposed to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games say the events will hurt individuals and businesses through high costs and disruption, and will provide only fleeting gains for a small number of people in the political, economic and media elite.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 23, 2019

San Juan police fire tear gas to disperse protesters

Police in San Juan fired tear gas on Monday night to disperse thousands of protesters demanding Puerto Rico's governor resign over offensive chat messages, the latest scandal to hit a bankrupt island struggling to recover from 2017 hurricanes.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Jul 23, 2019

Kim inspects new submarine in first public display of North Korea's nuclear capabilities since 2017

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a "newly built submarine" that was to operate in the Sea of Japan, state-run media said Tuesday, in one of the first displays of power related to his country's nuclear capabilities since November 2017.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 22, 2019

North Korea's Kim casts vote in local elections with '99.98%' turnout

Under the thin veneer of supposedly free elections, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un cast his ballot Sunday in nationwide polls to choose new deputies to the country's local assemblies, state-run media has reported.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jul 20, 2019

Mane attraction: Coastal parts of Fukushima Prefecture have a long-standing love of horses

Hundreds of armor-clad participants on horseback parade through the streets of Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, during the Soma Nomaoi festival on a typically blistering hot day at the end of July every year.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 20, 2019

Vietnam says Chinese vessel violated its sovereignty in South China Sea, tells Beijing to remove ships

Reuters — Vietnam on Friday accused a Chinese oil survey vessel and its escorts of violating its sovereignty and demanded that China remove the ships from Vietnamese waters.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Regional voices: Chubu
Jul 19, 2019

Better known as a manufacturing center, Chubu region is turning its talents to nurturing startups

The Chubu region, with Nagoya at its center, has never been known as a land of startups. Although the area is recognized as one of the nation's largest manufacturing hubs, few IT startups have been established and many students in the region tend to prefer joining big companies to becoming entrepreneurs....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Jul 18, 2019

Japan jumps into the music stream

The biggest moment for streaming music in Japan this year came via a handwritten letter. In late June, Kenta Matsumoto of pop-punk trio Wanima shared a note on Twitter announcing that his band's entire catalog would be uploaded to streaming music platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2019

Boeing to spend $50 million to support 737 Max crash victim families

Boeing Co. said on Wednesday it will dedicate half of a $100 million fund it created to address two crashes of its 737 Max planes to financial relief for the families of those killed, with compensation expert Ken Feinberg hired by the world's largest plane maker to oversee the distribution.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 17, 2019

Candidates with disabilities hope to lay foundation for inclusive Diet in Upper House election

On a recent Wednesday morning, Rie Saito wasn't giving a lengthy, energetic speech about her campaign pledges through a loudspeaker, unlike most of her competitors on the stump.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2019

Developing efficient machine teaching, technologies

At the Japan Times Advanced Technology Forum held in Tokyo on May 31, Akira Sakakibara, chief technology officer of Microsoft Japan Co. and the president of Microsoft Development Co. spoke about what artificial intelligence can do and machine learning processes, and about future possibilities and challenges....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jul 17, 2019

South African musician Johnny Clegg, vocal white foe of apartheid, dead at 66

South African singer and songwriter Johnny Clegg, one of the few white artists to openly confront the apartheid government in the late 1970s and 1980s, died on Tuesday aged 66, his agent said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 16, 2019

George Porter Jr.: The man bringing the funk to Fuji Rock

If the Beatles are Liverpool's fab four, The Meters are New Orleans' funky four.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 16, 2019

A vision for protecting the world's oceans

The Group of 20's adoption of the Osaka Blue Ocean Vision is a welcome step forward, but effective follow-up is the only way it will make a real difference.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 16, 2019

The skills that youths will need to succeed in the 21st century

Societies now need young people who learn and master the skills for a dynamic, tech savvy and globalized world.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 16, 2019

Tragedies over the trade spat with Seoul

Japan needs a realistic strategy for South Korea that will bring Seoul back into full engagement over security issues.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2019

Japan weighs possible SDF dispatch to Strait of Hormuz as U.S. seeks coalition

Officials from major political parties debate whether Self-Defense Forces personnel should take part in a U.S.-proposed coalition to safeguard strategic waters near the Strait of Hormuz.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 13, 2019

Working harder in a bid to save labor is proving exhausting

The utopia of utopias is "Utopia" by Sir Thomas More (1478-1535). Its best feature is leisure. There are no idle nobles; everyone works. A burden shared is a burden lightened. Utopians "do not wear themselves out with perpetual toil from morning to night, as if they were beasts of burden." They work...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / A Weekend In
Jul 12, 2019

A weekend in Kamaishi and Iwate: Educate yourself in natural disaster

Of all the host venues of the Rugby World Cup, there are none with as tragic a recent past as the city of Kamaishi in Iwate Prefecture.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jul 12, 2019

Group helps Hiroshima mudslide victims return to normal life

It was three months after a dozen people were killed last July in mudslides triggered heavy rains in the town of Kumano, Hiroshima Prefecture, that five local residents formed a group aimed at reconstructing the area.
BUSINESS
Jul 12, 2019

Goldman Sachs joins Wall Street chorus warning about possible U.S. FX intervention

The buzz around possible U.S. currency intervention is growing louder as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has now weighed in on an idea that has been making the rounds on Wall Street.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Jul 11, 2019

Hong Kong chief executive's departure seen as just a matter of time

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam's apologies and explanations about a doomed extradition bill have failed to quell political tension, and her departure is now seen by many in the Chinese-ruled city as merely a matter of time in a drawn-out, long goodbye.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2019

Why women are central to addressing climate change

Women suffer the most from climate change and they are also the most willing to address it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 10, 2019

'Five Million Dollar Life': Assessing the value of a single life

The weight of expectations — from family, friends, community — can be tough on any young person. Now imagine those people once paid $5 million to save your life.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 9, 2019

California, hit by 7.1 magnitude quake Friday, expanding early detection and warning system modeled after Japan's

California officials are spending more than $40 million on an earthquake early warning system that in addition to alerting the public could also be used to automatically halt trains and open fire station doors moments before a major tremor actually strikes.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 9, 2019

South Korea's botched handling of wartime labor issue

Seoul's claim of putting the wartime labor victims first doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic