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JAPAN / History
Jul 25, 2015

Winds of war: Japan's balloon bombs took the Pacific battle to American soil

In May 1945, a pastor from Bly, Oregon, led his wife and a group of children on a day trip near Klamath Falls. They were all looking forward to hours of fishing and picnicking in fine weather. Everyone got out of the car while the Rev. Archie Mitchell was parking along a remote logging road and unloading...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 24, 2015

Nikkei Inc. announces it will buy venerable Financial Times in ¥160 billion deal

The surprise announcement by Nikkei Inc. has raised questions about whether the Japanese company can successfully manage such a highly regarded news company.
EDITORIALS
Jul 24, 2015

Upper House has its work cut out

The Upper House must address the questions and doubts raised in the Lower House's deliberations on the government's security legislation.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jul 23, 2015

Myanmar sentences Chinese nationals to life for illegal logging

China has lodged a diplomatic protest with Myanmar after a court in the southeast Asian nation sentenced 153 Chinese nationals to life imprisonment for illegal logging.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2015

Japan's 2030 climate goals will clash with planned investments in coal

With countries from China to Brazil lining up to showcase efforts to rein in pollution that causes global warming, developers of coal power plants in Japan may find themselves increasingly under pressure.
EDITORIALS
Jul 20, 2015

Rising tensions in Eastern Europe

As tensions rise between NATO and Russia, both sides would do well to remember and follow the spirit of the Helsinki Accords.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 19, 2015

Tokyo hospitals to add five foreign doctors for expats

The government will allow five non-Japanese doctors to practice at four hospitals in Tokyo from around December. Their patients will be limited to non-Japanese who agree to pay full costs themselves.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 17, 2015

Forum on corporate competitiveness

The business environment surrounding companies has changed dramatically recently. Companies are urged to deal with such changes, as doing so will allow some to recover from financial crises and others to sustain profitability and continue to be industry leaders.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2015

Japan sets 26 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions as 2030 target

Japan will slash greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2030 from 2013 levels.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2015

Doshisha academics denounce president's support for security bills

More than 70 professors and other faculty members at Kyoto's Doshisha University say they are "ashamed" by comments from their president, Koji Murata, in support of a set of security bills at a Diet committee hearing earlier this week.
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2015

Japan fighter jet scrambles down by half in April-June

Fighter jet scrambles by the Air Self-Defense Force fell by half in the April-June period to 173 from a year earlier, the Defense Ministry said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2015

Despite pressing need, Japan continues to grope for nuclear waste site

Welcome to Japan, land of cherry blossoms, sushi and sake, and 17,000 metric tons of highly radioactive waste.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2015

A decent deal to bring Iran in from the cold

If the Iran deal goes through, the world should have a 15 year respite from the threats of an Iranian nuclear bomb and of Iran being bombed.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Jul 15, 2015

The LDP's comic appeal for constitutional change falls flat

I hadn't planned on reading the Liberal Democratic Party's propaganda comic on constitutional change for the same reason I don't watch NHK, listen to AKB48 or use my underpants as an ashtray. Yet, as a piece of Japanese legal cultural history, perhaps it merits comment.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jul 15, 2015

Hovasse convinced Tokashiki bound for greatness

Japan women's national basketball team assistant coach Tom Hovasse recalled that Ramu Tokashiki "was just a kid" when she made her WJBL debut right out of high school.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 14, 2015

How to cope with Japan's demographic transformation

Japan must take steps to make it easier for women to work while raising families and to extend the nation's healthy life expectancy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 14, 2015

Parody of LDP security bills video goes viral ahead of Diet vote

An animated video released by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that attempts to explain the need for the security bills currently being debated by the Diet has spawned a scathing parody that attempts to shoot holes in the ruling coalition's argument for the legislation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 11, 2015

Japan should re-examine the idea of marriage to help spur a baby boom

After decades of a national conversation about the need for more babies, there is still disagreement as to what sort of measures Japan should take in order to increase its birthrate. The obstacles are financial, social and physiological, and before they can be addressed properly they must be identified...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 11, 2015

The effort to educate Syria's refugee children

Lebanon is doing all it can to educate the children of refugees from Syria's civil war, but it could use some help.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 10, 2015

World's top chefs swap lives and restaurants for a day

Afternoon turns to evening in Tokyo's plush Aoyama district. At Narisawa, one of the city's finest contemporary French restaurants, the final preparations are being made for dinner service. There is both tension and anticipation in the air as the first customers arrive.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 10, 2015

Seas could rise 6 meters even if governments curb global warming: study

Sea levels could rise by at least 6 meters (20 feet) in the long term, swamping coasts from Florida to Bangladesh, even if governments achieve their goals for curbing global warming, a study published Thursday said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 9, 2015

Akiko Kikuchi thinks you can go home again in nostalgic new flick

In a restless country where it's common to work overtime, a bit of the slow life is needed now and then, even if it's via the silver screen.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Jul 9, 2015

Pope pays brief high-altitude Bolivia visit, praises reforms, pays tribute to slain priest

Pope Francis arrived in Bolivia on Wednesday, praising the government of leftist President Evo Morales, the country's first indigenous leader whose frosty relationship with the Catholic Church has begun to thaw under the Argentine pontiff's papacy.
WORLD
Jul 8, 2015

Chinese parliament publishes draft cybersecurity law

China's rubber-stamp parliament has published a draft cybersecurity law that consolidates Beijing's control over data, with potentially significant consequences for internet service providers and multinational firms doing business in the country.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2015

Carnival gets U.S. nod to start running themed cruises to Cuba starting next May

Carnival Corp. has won U.S. approval to operate cruises to Cuba and plans to start taking travelers there in May, joining a growing list of maritime companies hoping to profit from a thaw in relations between Washington and Havana.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 7, 2015

Trump says some Mexico remarks were distorted but slaying by multiple deportee proves him right

After days of outrage, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday that some of his criticism of Mexico has been distorted but stuck to his stance that many illegal immigrants coming across the Mexican border are criminals.

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