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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 12, 2017

In sunny Monte Carlo, insurers crunch numbers on U.S. hurricane costs

Insured losses in the United States from Hurricane Irma could total $40 billion, according to one risk forecaster, and though that was less than earlier projections, the elite of the insurance world convening in this sunny resort were reluctant to signal relief.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 11, 2017

Normalized Sino-Japanese diplomacy, 45 years on

To improve bilateral ties, it's important for both China and Japan to drive forward civil exchanges in some form that is not influenced by political agenda.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Sep 11, 2017

After six decades of separation, the two Koreas are worlds apart

South Korea and North Korea could hardly be further apart right now: A new democratic president has been elected in Seoul after the peaceful ouster of his predecessor over a political scandal, while a dictator in Pyongyang has raised the ante with missile launches and yet another nuclear test.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 11, 2017

Republicans could lose U.S. House in 2018 via 'civil war' over Dreamers: Steve Bannon

Republican infighting over the fate of immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children could be so vitriolic that the party loses control of the U.S. House of Representatives next year, Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, said in an interview airing on Sunday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 9, 2017

It takes threats from the unstable for us to question security

Adolf Hitler is like that bad tooth you can't keep your tongue off, though it hurts to touch it. Seventy-two years postwar, he keeps surfacing. He fascinates. All the way up and all the way down the age scale — from Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, 76, who last week praised Hitler's "motives," to the...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2017

A very wealthy monarch grows wealthier

By gaining full control over the Crown Property Bureau, King Vajiralongkorn has taken another step to bolster his authority.
EDITORIALS
Sep 7, 2017

Unauthorized cord blood treatments

The recent arrests over alleged unauthorized stem cell therapies using blood collected from umbilical cords and placentas has shed light on the shady aspects of these expensive treatments.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2017

Winners of Blue Planet Prize call on world leaders to take action on environmental threats

A group of scientists expressed concern on Thursday that world leaders are not on the same page about the urgency to counteract global threats to environment, and called on all governments to take action.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 7, 2017

Filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda: 'I wanted to do something different'

Hirokazu Koreeda is best known for intimate family dramas that overseas critics often compare to the work of Yasujiro Ozu (1903-63), the genre's unquestioned master. Koreeda rejects these comparisons, however, and says he feels more of a cinematic kinship to Mikio Naruse (1905-69), one of Ozu's contemporaries....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices
Sep 6, 2017

The other eclipse: Nazism recasts its shadow in Japan and the U.S.

It seems Nazis are the new black. It took two days for U.S. President Donald Trump to belatedly denounce American neo-Nazis and other white supremacists. In Japan, Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, voicing admiration for German Nazis ("paleo-Nazis"?), suggested that Adolf Hitler, "who killed millions of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 6, 2017

'The Third Murder': Director Hirokazu Koreeda triumphs with a trial drama that keeps the focus on character

Murder mysteries are popular film and television fodder in Japan, but most revolve around puzzle plots that hold as much real-world probability as the cases of Sherlock Holmes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 6, 2017

Documentarian Megumi Sasaki hopes to bring balance to the story of Taiji in 'A Whale of a Tale'

At the 2010 Academy Awards, a film titled "The Cove" won the Oscar for best documentary. It was a proud moment for producers Fisher Stevens and Paula DuPre Pesmen, director Louie Psihoyos and activist Ric O'Barry, all of whom got on stage to accept the award. It was also the start of an onslaught of...
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 6, 2017

Maehara stumbles over selection of deputy as DP braces for snap election

Seiji Maehara, the new president of the Democratic Party, has suffered a setback in arguably his most important first task as head of the largest opposition force: Choosing his secretary-general — the second in command within the party leadership.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 5, 2017

China's Xi wants to put relations with India on 'right track'

China wants to put its relationship with India on the "right track," President Xi Jinping told Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, as the two countries sought to mend ties damaged by a recent tense Himalayan border standoff.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2017

Weak currencies: Be careful what you wish for

Beyond the short term, the disadvantages of a weak currency begin to loom larger.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2017

What Twitter taught me about (nuclear) war with North Korea

Can words alone mitigate the obvious gravity of nuclear holocaust?
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Sep 5, 2017

Yamashita shines on ice in Salzburg JGP event

Mako Yamashita's favorite color appears to be bronze.
Japan Times
SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Sep 5, 2017

Recalling Ric Flair's theatrics, generosity after recent health scare

MAS didn't realize how far-reaching the influence of U.S. superstar wrestler Ric "Nature Boy" Flair was until he took in a high school football game in Japan some years back.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2017

Nagasaki University plans biannual English journal on nuclear disarmament

Nagasaki University will launch an English-language academic journal focused on nuclear disarmament early next year.
EDITORIALS
Sep 4, 2017

Pyongyang ratchets up its provocations

Pressure must be increased on North Korea to help halt its weapons development programs, but diplomatic efforts directly involving Pyongyang should also be explored.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 4, 2017

Japan's 'Super Mario Syndrome'

The early success of video games in Japan created market conditions that smothered e-sports.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 4, 2017

Merkel seen surviving challenger's onslaught to win TV debate ahead of elections

Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared to hold her ground in a television debate ahead of German elections, under attack from her Social Democrat (SPD) rival on refugee policy, ties with Turkey and her handling of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Sep 3, 2017

The hot topic of high-rise fire prevention

The fire that killed at least 80 people in London's Grenfell Tower in June, as well as similar apartment building blazes that recently occured in Dubai and Hawaii, has brought the world's attention to the issue of safety in high-rise residences.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Sep 3, 2017

How Japan got new contract law it neither wants nor needs

One possible explanation for the inexplicable change in contract law: It is a giant experiment driven by academic hubris and bureaucratic ambition.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 2, 2017

Battling nuclear demons: Mental health issues haunt those who were the first line of defense after 3/11

Ryuta Idogawa traces the onset of his battle with mental illness to a moment not long after his parents had been relocated to Saitama from their hometown of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, in the spring of 2011.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan