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JAPAN / Politics
Feb 18, 2016

Lawmaker draws rebuke, silence after describing Obama as 'slave descendant'

A day after calling U.S. President Barack Obama a 'descendant of black slaves,' Diet member Kazuya Maruyama is accused by the black community, if not his party, of flirting with racism.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 18, 2016

Can you call the stock market? Equity analyst says he can

On the 10th day of every month, Junsuke Senoguchi has just one thing on his mind: the closing level of the Nikkei average.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Feb 17, 2016

Tokyo festival for 'alternative visions' is loaded with art films

The Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2016 is on until Feb. 20 and is taking place in one of Tokyo's most highfalutin chunks of real estate: the area around Yebisu Garden Place in the Ebisu neighborhood.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 17, 2016

Viral anonymous blogger rails against Abe failure to alleviate chronic day care shortage

An anonymous blog post penned by an irate mother complaining that she has to quit her job after her child was denied admission to a day care center has gone viral on the Internet, shedding light on what she called the hypocrisy of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's drive to promote the "dynamic engagement"...
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 17, 2016

Top court-frozen Obama climate plan may get new legal life with Scalia's death

A vote to block the Obama administration's ambitious climate regulation was one of Antonin Scalia's last acts as a Supreme Court justice. His sudden death may have opened a new path to the rule's survival.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2016

Hedge fund says Abenomics-fueled era of easy gains is over

Stats Investment Management Co., whose hedge fund posted a positive return in each of the past 10 years, said the era of easy gains in the Japanese stock market fueled by Abenomics is over.
Japan Times
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Feb 15, 2016

Kanazawa retirement community a relocation-from-Tokyo success story

With its artistic traditions and preserved traditional neighborhoods, the city of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, has long been known as "Little Kyoto." But over the past year, it has also been seen as a potential model for future continuing care retirement communities, or CCRCs, nationwide.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2016

The pope should push property rights for all

When Pope Francis talks about protecting immigrants, he should also stress the importance of documenting property rights within countries.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 15, 2016

Strong yen is a brake on Japanese carmakers' profits

Japanese automakers may have run out of the fuel that has driven profits higher for the past four years: the weaker yen.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Feb 13, 2016

Trust robots to keep the kids occupied

'Can we go to the park?" In our household, this refrain is heard almost as frequently as "I want ice cream" and "I don't want to go to bed."
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Feb 12, 2016

February 13, 2016

ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Feb 11, 2016

Australian cuts to climate change research may hit drive into Asia

Funding and job cuts at Australia's climate change research body could undermine the country's goal of dominating the Asian premium food market by placing farmers at a disadvantage to U.S. and European competitors.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Feb 10, 2016

Japan and its birth rate: the beginning of the end or just a new beginning?

Despite demographic doomsayers, Japan could be ripe for a gender revolution that boosts its birth rate.
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
Feb 10, 2016

Japanese investors in no mood for bargains amid banking rout

The nation's cheapest stocks are proving anything but bargains.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2016

When drama undercut diplomacy

If the Modi government wants history to stop repeating itself, it must develop a credible counterterrorism strategy vis-a-vis Pakistan.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2016

Japan takes aim at ballooning drug prices as costs strain health budget

When two of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies announced a tie-up in Japan, its $78 billion drug industry took note.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2016

Stop ignoring North Korea

The lesson of Pyongyang's latest nuclear test is that talking to North Korea offers a better hope of success than ignoring it.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 7, 2016

Melt-Banana, The Fin among acts at gig set in old bathhouse

"To get the community onboard with the show, we made some flyers with photos of us on that make us look like cult leaders," she says. "We were trying to look as wholesome as possible, which didn't really work too well."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Feb 6, 2016

Swans, and us, at risk as wetlands shrink

Soon after the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, and the huge tsunami it triggered that killed almost 16,000 people and left more than 2,500 missing in the Tohoku region of northeastern Honshu, our C.W. Nicol Afan Woodland Trust contacted the many towns affected and invited survivors to...
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Feb 6, 2016

Exploitative enterprises continue to menace society

On Dec. 15, the operator of Japanese-style pubs Watami Co. reached a settlement with the parents of a former employee who killed herself due to overwork.
Rugby
Feb 5, 2016

Goromaru embraces opportunity with Queensland Reds

Though he received widespread media exposure following his success at last fall's Rugby World Cup, Ayumu Goromaru is a man of few words, at least publicly.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 5, 2016

Chiaki Hara reaches out to cancer survivors

Things were looking good for Chiaki Hara at the start of 2005. She was an accomplished actress, having starred in the 1997 tragic romance "Shitsurakuen" ("Lost Paradise") and 2002' drama "Aiki," and her profile as a social commentator was also on the rise. Then, at the age of 30, she was diagnosed with...
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 3, 2016

FBI joins probe into Flint's 'man-made crisis' water contamination

The FBI is joining a criminal investigation into lead contaminated drinking water in Flint, Michigan, exploring whether any laws were broken in a crisis that has captured international attention.

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