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Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jan 16, 2019

'Baby Shark' driving you crazy? Its creator warns penguins are next

"Baby Shark (Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo)" is the YouTube sensation that's been viewed more than 2 billion times and made the Billboard Hot 100 chart last week as its top new entrant. The jingle has also become such an earworm that late-night-show host Jimmy Kimmel proposed throwing those responsible in...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 15, 2019

How will AI change international politics?

The AI revolution will have an immense impact on global power politics, but Japan may get left behind.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2019

Beijing's perilous Taiwan policy

The unfolding geopolitical contest between China and the United States has been described by many as a new cold war. If it ever becomes a hot one, the flash point could be Taiwan, owing in large part to Chinese policy toward the island.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jan 15, 2019

People in flood-hit western Japan area frustrated by sluggish recovery and population loss

With Jan. 6 marking six months since deadly floods devastated parts of western Japan, many residents in the area are still living in temporary housing, towns with declining populations are seeing more people leave and some farmers with destroyed fields have decided to quit farming.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 13, 2019

Vietnam emerging as front-runner to host second Trump-Kim Jong Un summit

Vietnam has emerged as the apparent front-runner for hosting a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, after a second report cited the Southeast Asian country as a potential host city.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN
Jan 12, 2019

'Small Buildings of Kyoto': A spotlight on Kyoto's overlooked quotidian

When it comes to photography books about Kyoto, the genre is usually limited to three areas: geishas, gardens and temples — in the English language at least.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 11, 2019

With farms atop malls, Singapore gets serious about food security

Visitors to Singapore's Orchard Road, the city's main shopping belt, will find fancy malls, trendy department stores, abundant food courts — and a small farm.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2019

Taro Aso's blaming of sexual harassment victim is voted 2018's most sexist remark by a Japanese politician

Finance Minister Taro Aso's apparent justification of sexual harassment committed by a former prominent bureaucrat topped a list of the most egregious sexist and discriminatory remarks made by Japanese politicians in 2018, according to a recent online survey.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2019

'His Lost Name': A lack of more than just a name

Cinema abounds with tales of imposters and con artists, but some of the most interesting stories are the ones where people get wise to a deception and decide to go along with it anyway. In "His Lost Name," a young drifter arrives in a rural backwater under a fake identity, only to get sucked into a relationship...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 8, 2019

North Korea's Kim travels to Beijing for meeting with Xi after warning of alternative path

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was spending his birthday in Beijing after arriving in the Chinese capital Tuesday — which was believed to be his 35th birthday — for his fourth summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping as talks on a second meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump gather steam.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 7, 2019

Gabon thwarts military coup attempt in president's absence

Gabon foiled an attempted military coup Monday, arresting several plotters just hours after they took over state radio in a bid to end 50 years of rule by President Ali Bongo's family.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 7, 2019

Trump says North Korea sanctions to remain 'in full force and effect' until U.S. sees 'very positive' results

In comments ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's planned second meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump said Sunday that crippling sanctions imposed on nuclear-armed North Korea will remain "in full force and effect" until the United States sees "very positive" results.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jan 6, 2019

Chinese gay dating app Blued temporarily halts registration after underage users reportedly contracted HIV

Chinese gay dating app Blued is halting new user registration for a week, it said Sunday, following media reports that underage users caught HIV after going on dates set up via the world's largest networking app for the LGBT community.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 6, 2019

It's 2019 and it's time to hit those Japanese textbooks — for real

Whether you've been here for several days or several decades, listening to fellow expats, immigrants and other non-Japanese residents groaning about their dissatisfaction with their language abilities is nothing new. The advice I've received on how to improve, however, sometimes skews toward the exasperating....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 5, 2019

Brazil's 'Chicago Oldies' team aims to revive Pinochet-era economic playbook

Brazil's new Economy Minister Paulo Guedes worked in Chile 40 years ago after earning his doctorate at the University of Chicago, giving him a front-row seat to dictator Augusto Pinochet's economic shock treatment.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2019

Dapper new Kim Jong Un is playing an old game

The best U.S. approach to North Korea can be summed up in two words: strategic patience.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jan 4, 2019

Exploring Jiyugaoka's venerable shopping arcade

Winter winds whistle as I exit Jiyugaoka Station in Tokyo's Meguro Ward, surrounded by a flock of boisterous high school students in black uniforms. Their joyous chatter as we walk into brilliant sunshine at the station's main exit reminds me that the station and area was named in 1930 for a nearby high...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / FOCUS
Jan 4, 2019

With plan to show women more respect, South Korea tries to fix its demographic crisis

In just over a decade, South Korea has spent the equivalent of a small European economy trying to fix its demographic crisis, yet birthrates have dropped to the lowest in the world.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 1, 2019

Top world news of 2018

The Japan Times newsroom selected the following world news stories as the most important of 2018.
JAPAN / Help Wanted?
Dec 31, 2018

Japan's denial of immigration reality echoes Germany's experience with 'guest workers'

The recent sweeping revision to the immigration law opens a gateway for as many as 345,000 migrant workers to enter Japan in the next five years. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, however, has repeatedly said the new visa system does not constitute an immigration policy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Dec 31, 2018

Akira Satake: From handmade banjos to vases

When the music industry became too stressful to bear in the U.S., Akira Satake found a new vocation in pottery.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 31, 2018

U.N. welcomes Houthi pullout from Yemen's embattled Hodeida but says move must be verified

The United Nations welcomed on Sunday any redeployment of Yemen's Houthi forces away from the port city of Hodeida, but said this should be independently verified to ensure it is in line with the Stockholm cease-fire agreement.
Japan Times
SATOYAMA CONSORTIUM
Dec 30, 2018

Outdated ideas a heavy burden on society

A two-day event on topics related to satoyama (mountains and woods shared and maintained by residents of the adjacent rural communities) was held at the Jinseki Kogen Hotel in the town of Jinsekikogen, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Oct. 20 and 21. The event was hosted by the Japan Times Satoyama Consortium,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 30, 2018

Celebrating New Year's the island way

On the small island where I live in the middle of Japan's Seto Inland Sea, new year celebrations are stalwart traditional. Preparations start a week before when the holiday spirit wafts in on sea breezes tinted with chilling temperatures. The island holds a community rice-pounding event to make kagami...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 30, 2018

Views from Tokyo: How was your 2018, and are you looking forward to 2019?

Maria Bueno
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 28, 2018

Invest in education and save the economy

Giving birth to dynamic companies in Japan will require nothing but education that values and nurtures extraordinary individuality.

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