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Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2014

Fukushima No. 1 plant workers kept in the dark over hazard pay

Almost a year after Japan pledged to double hazard pay, workers still don't know how much extra — if anything — they'll get for cleaning up the nuclear disaster.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 27, 2014

More European nations embrace U.S.-led airstrikes on Islamic State

Fighters from the Islamic State group tightened their siege of a town on Syria's border with Turkey on Friday despite U.S.-led airstrikes aimed at defeating the militants in both Syria and Iraq, in a coalition that has now drawn widespread European support.
EDITORIALS
Sep 19, 2014

Defeating dengue fever

We should probably expect infections of the mosquito-borne virus that causes dengue fever somewhere in Japan every summer because of the effects of global warming and the rise in overseas travel.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 15, 2014

Chinese police open fire on Tibetan protesters, rights group says

Chinese police have opened fire on Tibetan demonstrators in southwestern China, wounding 10 people, after the Tibetans protested against the detention of a respected village leader, a Tibetan rights group said.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 14, 2014

Israel said to be moving troops to Gaza border as truce expiry nears

Israel moved troops to the Gaza Strip border, Israeli newspapers reported, as the midnight expiry of a three-day truce drew near without word of an extension.
EDITORIALS
Jul 28, 2014

Weak state secrets oversight

An expert panel's proposal to create at least two oversight bodies staffed by Japanese bureaucrats falls far short of what's needed to prevent the arbitrary designation of government information as state secrets.
WORLD
Jul 20, 2014

Ukraine, rebels argue over access to downed airliner site; Europeans give Putin 'last chance'

Ukraine on Saturday accused Russia and pro-Moscow rebels of destroying evidence to cover up their guilt in the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner that has accelerated a showdown between the Kremlin and Western powers.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 14, 2014

Mystery over pig virus origins sparks concern

Swine veterinarian Bill Minton thought the baby pigs dying at a farm in western Ohio had a bad case of gastroenteritis and was stumped when lab results came back with no indication of what had killed them.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 16, 2014

Violence abates in Vietnam as U.S. warns China for 'provocation'

Anti-China violence subsided in Vietnam on Friday after the prime minister called for calm and its de facto ambassador to Taiwan apologized, but the United States said China's "provocative" actions in maritime disputes were dangerous and had to stop.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / NFL NOTEBOOK
May 8, 2014

Teams facing tough strategic choices in draft

Best or bust?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2014

The rest of Ukraine promises only more trouble for Russia

Once again Russian President Vladimir Putin's rhetoric has made U.S. President Barack Obama seem out of touch protesting violation of international law, as the world knows the U.S. is the country that ignores it most.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 14, 2014

Culture of safety can make or break nuclear power plants

On the third anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and its devastating impact on Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima nuclear power plants, we need to understand why Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s Onagawa Nuclear Power Station — which was even closer to the quake epicenter — had a drastically different fate.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 13, 2014

China waging psychological warfare in the East China Sea

Japanese and Western news reports suggest that the U.S. bombers and routine Japanese patrol fighters that flew into China's air-defense identification zone right after the ADIZ was proclaimed did not encounter any Chinese interceptors or radar beams.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2014

NHK chief tells board 'comfort women' remarks no big deal

The controversy swirling around NHK shows no sign of simmering down, with Chairman Katsuto Momii reportedly playing down the explosive nature of the remarks he made at his first news conference in January over the wartime brothels used by the Imperial Japanese military.
EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 2014

Food safety measures fall short

The case of intentional food contamination by an employee at a subsidiary of Maruha Nichiro Holdings Inc. has exposed shortcomings in the product safety measures taken by Japanese food makers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2013

Acura gets U.S. twist in bid for pizazz

Honda Motor Co.'s No. 2 executive, asked to identify the automaker's weak spot, spoke bluntly: Acura luxury sedans have to get better.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 24, 2013

Police, mine officials met before Marikana killings

On Aug. 16, 2012, the summertime sun streamed through the leafy canopy of central London's Green Park and into the windows of the headquarters of platinum mine company Lonmin PLC. But 8,800 km away there was a chill in the air as the company's biggest South African mine became a frenzy of activity.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2013

Myanmar-North Korea link

With investments by Japanese, American and European companies on the rise, it is worth asking how much the once-pariah state of Burma has really changed since the days of military rule.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 24, 2013

U.S. keeps Pakistani officials in loop on drone strikes

Despite repeatedly denouncing the CIA's drone campaign, top officials in Pakistan's government have for years secretly endorsed the program and routinely received classified briefings on strikes and casualty counts, according to top-secret CIA documents and Pakistani diplomatic memos obtained by The...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 10, 2013

Right way to send a message

It's harder for the U.S. to claim legitimacy for circumventing U.N. paralysis, it has used the veto more often than China and Russia combined since the end of the Cold War.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 19, 2013

Clearing way for wider military role

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is poised to achieve his long-held goal of reinterpreting Article 9 of the Constitution to allow Japan to exercise its right to engage in collective self-defense under the U.N. Charter.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Aug 13, 2013

Even without a Cold War, the D.C.-Moscow link is still up

At 7:15 on the morning of June 5, 1967, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara reached for a handset, one connected to a secure telephone line to a military switchboard at the White House. He asked the operator to ring the Air Force sergeant on duty outside President Lyndon B. Johnson's bedroom.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2013

Rights activists demand end to exploitative trainee program

Japan has long drawn criticism from global watchdogs for failing to curb human trafficking, perhaps most conspicuously when it comes to foreign women brought in to work in the sex trade.
EDITORIALS
Jul 1, 2013

Mr. Snowden's revelations

There is real debate over whether Edward Snowden is a whistleblower for civil rights violations or a traitor who has harmed U.S. national security.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2013

Deepening, revising ties with Southeast Asia

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Japan mark the 40th anniversary of their cooperative relations this year. ASEAN and Japan's partnership, which began with the establishment of the ASEAN-Japan forum on synthetic rubber, has evolved over the 40 years. The two parties have formed close cooperation...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 9, 2013

Japan's foreign trainee system said still plagued by rights abuses

Last month, a Chinese trainee went on a stabbing rampage at a Hiroshima Prefecture seafood company where he worked, killing the president and an employee and wounding six others.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Mar 16, 2013

How can the royal family champion women and endorse Saudi Arabia?

In its latest human rights report, not a great read, the United Kingdom's House of Commons foreign affairs committee wondered if the government attitude to "countries of concern" isn't a wee bit too "low key." Britain's relations with Saudi Arabia, for instance, would benefit from a "bolder" approach,...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami