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JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Jun 21, 2015

Time running out for South Korean 'comfort women' as average age approaches 90

Year after year, their numbers dwindle. Now, with the average age of former "comfort women" in South Korea approaching 90, time is running out.
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Jun 21, 2015

Suspicion tarnishes 50th anniversary of Japanese-South Korean ties

As Tokyo and Seoul mark 50 years since normalizing bilateral relations after the war, the anniversary is unlikely to yield much to celebrate as trust issues continue to fester.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 20, 2015

The true cost of fertility treatment in Japan

An increasing number of couples nationwide are relying on fertility treatments to conceive without adequately understanding the financial, physical and emotional toll such therapy takes on participants.
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2015

Rethink Olympic stadium design

Olympic competition should be limited to sports, not the construction of stadiums.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 19, 2015

Some of the world's cities take baby steps to protect women

Going out for dinner and not sure which area would be safer at night for a woman traveling on her own? Want to track your daughter to ensure she gets back from college safely?
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 19, 2015

Charleston's storied 'Mother Emanuel' grieves loss of gifted pastor-politician

Two months before the Rev. Clementa Pinckney was gunned down during a Bible study at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, he stood before state lawmakers seamlessly blending his faith and politics in urging them to pass a law to protect his community.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 18, 2015

National ruckus over security bills puts spotlight on Supreme Court

The verbal war over the national security bills is heating up now that Japan's constitutional scholars have clearly branded Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's reinterpretation of war-renouncing Article 9 and all legislation based on it as unconstitutional.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 18, 2015

Hong Kong vetoes China-backed electoral reform proposal

Hong Kong's legislature on Thursday vetoed a China-vetted electoral reform package that had been criticized by opposition prodemocracy lawmakers and activists as undemocratic, potentially easing the prospect of fresh mass protests.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jun 18, 2015

Yoyogi and Hisaya Odori parks get cultured during the summer

As one of the biggest tourist spots in Tokyo, Harajuku offers visitors endless consumerist pursuits — it's certainly not a place for those who seek peace and quiet.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 17, 2015

Beijing relays more details on South China Sea facilities

The Chinese government on Wednesday rolled out more details of the building work it is undertaking in the disputed South China Sea, listing lighthouses, communications stations and other facilities for civilian and emergency use.
EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2015

Stop dodging key security questions

The government and the ruling bloc should reflect on why public understanding of its security bills remain elusive.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 17, 2015

In leaked draft encyclical, pope urges urgent action to thwart climate change

The world could see the destruction of entire ecosystems this century without urgent action on climate change, Pope Francis says in a draft of his keenly awaited encyclical on the environment.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 16, 2015

Toyota wins approval for shares locking in owners for five years

Toyota Motor Corp. has won approval to sell a new class of stock to long-term shareholders, a proposal that divided proxy advisers and drew criticism from foreign investors.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2015

ASIJ sex abuse report is finally released, blames 'cultural taboos'

A 'historical lack of formal policies' and 'cultural taboos' allowed child sex abuse committed by former American School in Japan teacher Jack Moyer to go unchecked for decades, according to an independent legal team tasked with probing the pedophilia scandal.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 13, 2015

Above and below the Yamaguchi plains

Three meters above my head, the rectangular offering box of Motonosumi Inari Shrine seems impossibly out of my reach. For the 23rd time, I wind back my arm and attempt to lob my chosen donation between the narrow slats. For the 23rd time, the coin takes on a trajectory I'm certain I didn't intend ......
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 13, 2015

Pipe dreams of a 'grand bargain' in East Asia

As the 50th anniversary of the normalization of ties between Japan and South Korea approaches, it seems there is little to celebrate.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / OLYMPIC NOTEBOOK
Jun 13, 2015

Carr starred at Tokyo Games

Henry Carr didn't have the longevity of Olympic track legends like hurdler Edwin Moses or sprinter/long jumper Carl Lewis. But to those who witnessed and remembered what he accomplished at the Tokyo Olympics in October 1964, his greatness as a runner left an indelible impression.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 13, 2015

Obama's quest for fast-track trade bill on hold in U.S. House

A raging battle over President Barack Obama's request for fast-track authority, seen as central to improving U.S. ties with Asia, will resume in the House of Representatives in the coming week, when lawmakers are expected to try to reverse Friday's defeat of linchpin trade legislation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 12, 2015

Egg or sperm? Japan finds gene that makes the call

Providing insight into the sometimes mysterious biology of reproduction, researchers in Japan have identified a gene that controls whether the reproductive precursor cells known as germ cells eventually become sperm or eggs.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 12, 2015

Japan security bills reveal irreconcilable divide between scholars, politicians

The full-scale battle over security reform highlights an unbridgeable gap between politicians and scholars that will have to be filled by Japan's less-than-proactive Supreme Court.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 11, 2015

New U.S. plan to trim aviation emissions satisfies industry, worries greens

For two years, President Barack Obama has used his executive power to impose new rules to cut carbon emissions, targeting cars and power plants, buoying environmentalists and infuriating industry.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 11, 2015

Liberating the robot from factory floor by inflating it

Kevin Albert is playing the part of lion tamer. The 33-year-old engineer, with a passing resemblance to Joe Namath, sticks his head into the four-fingered grip of a robotic hand, pauses for a moment and then emerges unscathed.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jun 10, 2015

China's big biotech bet starts to pay off

Years of pouring money into its laboratories, wooing scientists home from overseas and urging researchers to publish and patent is starting to give China a competitive edge in biotechnology, a strategic field it sees as ripe for "indigenous innovation."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 10, 2015

Chided by Abe, Japan Inc. starts boosting investment at home

Pressured by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to share some of their record profits, and by increasingly obsolescent equipment, Japan's companies are starting to boost their investment spending.

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