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JAPAN / Politics
May 28, 2014

Abe continues Diet push on collective self-defense

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made his case again Wednesday for enabling Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense, amid discussions between the Liberal Democratic Party and junior coalition partner New Komeito on security scenarios that would require Japan to defend the U.S. and other friendly...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 28, 2014

Foreign labor key to Olympic gold

At a construction site in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, worker Fan Xiuyu says he's too busy to miss the wife and 6-year-old child he left behind in China.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 28, 2014

Mitsui Fudosan plans big share issue on Olympics

Mitsui Fudosan Co. plans to raise as much as ¥324.6 billion in the biggest share sale by a property company in Japan in at least four decades.
EDITORIALS
May 28, 2014

Managing declining fish stocks

The future survival and prosperity of Japan's fishing industry is dependent on its embrace of sustainable catch practices.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
May 28, 2014

Zaccheroni insists Japan will hit stride at World Cup

National team manager Alberto Zaccheroni is confident his side can shape up in time for the World Cup but admits the Blue Samurai are currently running on empty.
JAPAN / Politics
May 27, 2014

Ruling bloc spars over defense shift

The Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito are in the midst of wading through a number of thorny scenarios relating to national defense, including one that has sparked outrage from the coalition's junior partner.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2014

Coup fallout: Sony joins Panasonic in avoiding travel to Thailand

Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp. are among companies advising workers against traveling to Thailand, as evidence mounts that political turmoil in the country is undermining business activity there.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 27, 2014

Space-based power stations on the horizon

Space-based solar power could eventually prove to be an alternative source of electricity for Japan, as the country struggles to find the best energy mix to lessen its dependence on thermal and nuclear power.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2014

Are disasters inherent risks?

Clearly current measures worldwide to cope with disasters and threats to human life are considered inadequate, yet some people in Britain think that overbearing health and safety regulations are curbing the spirt of adventure in the young.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2014

China needs education revolution to compete

China's demographic advantage in economic output is diminishing quickly, owing to low fertility rates, population aging and the lagging quality of higher education.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 25, 2014

Scientists trying to develop heat-beating chickens

American scientists are attempting to develop chickens that can cope with scorching heat as part of a series of government-funded programs looking to adapt to or mitigate the effects of extreme weather patterns on the food supply.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 25, 2014

Warm Pacific may have caused U.S. cold

Unusually warm western Pacific waters linked to global warming may be the paradoxical cause of a bone-chilling winter in parts of the United States earlier this year, a new scientific study says.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 24, 2014

Youth seek new ideas to solve old problems

Young researchers today are in a pickle. Most of them have assumed that peer-reviewed science is fundamentally accepted until new, equally legitimate research proves those findings wrong. However, that was before politicians became self-declared experts on everything under the sun, from science to religion....
COMMENTARY / World
May 23, 2014

Opportunity for U.S. to extricate itself from Korea

The U.S. should reduce the possibility of impoverished, remote North Korea interfering with its own peace, stability and prosperity by simply going home: Terminate the defense treaty with South Korea.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 21, 2014

LDP touts moves to bolster 'Abenomics'

Corporate tax cuts, stronger corporate governance and closing the tax gap between one- and two-income households are among the Liberal Democratic Party's recommendations for inclusion in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic growth strategy, due by the end of next month.
Reader Mail
May 21, 2014

Vulnerability of nuclear power

On April 11, NHK broadcast a debate program concerning the right to collective self-defense. In the middle of it, all six participants and two moderators were frozen by a question from a scholar: "Each and every government official insists that the international environment surrounding Japan is getting...
JAPAN
May 20, 2014

Government silent on report Fukushima No. 1 workers fled during crisis

The government is refusing to comment on a media report that Masao Yoshida, the now-deceased chief of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant at the time of the meltdowns, was quoted as saying most of the plant's workers evacuated the site despite of his order to remain.
JAPAN / Politics
May 20, 2014

Divided coalition begins defense talks

The ruling coalition kicked off discussions Tuesday aimed at overcoming a fundamental division on whether the Cabinet should reinterpret the Constitution and upgrade Japan's defense posture in a changing security environment.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 20, 2014

Foreign domestics seen as aiding working mothers

Noriko Hitotsumatsu, a bilingual research pharmacologist with a master's from Cambridge University, considers herself lucky to have a part-time job in a Tokyo pharmacy after shelving her career to raise two daughters in one of the world's most work-oriented countries.
CULTURE / Music
May 20, 2014

Singer Mayu Wakisaka takes inspiration from the TV drama boom

Singer-songwriter Mayu Wakisaka harbors dreams of Hollywood, but she's not about to enroll at drama school.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 19, 2014

From Fukushima to Syria, CWAJ supports scholars

The College Women's Association of Japan awards a variety of annual scholarships in higher education, backing, among others, women from abroad studying in Japan and Japanese women getting an education overseas.
EDITORIALS
May 19, 2014

Hope beats fear in India election

While the prospect of a strong Indian government led by Narendra Modi appeals to those who decry the horse-trading that has sapped the energy of previous Delhi governments, others worry that Modi could prove to be a Hindu nationalist who ratchets up tensions in South Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2014

Trash troubles pile up in China's Garbage Era

Chinese consumers, as much if not more than industry or the government, are at the root of the country's solid-waste problem. Yet protests over garbage incinerators, as an alternative to landfills, are turning violent.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
May 18, 2014

Monster hits continue to survive the Internet age

A monster lays waste to America's cities, smashing skyscrapers and tearing up passenger trains. It's the familiar tale of Godzilla, a mutant lizard last seen rampaging through cinemas in 1998 and now back on the big screen.
EDITORIALS
May 18, 2014

Boosting the female workforce

The Abe administration is pushing for a review of household tax and social security benefits under the belief that current rules discourage many women from participating in the labor force — even as the nation faces a steep decline in its working-age population.
EDITORIALS
May 18, 2014

Protecting the water cycle

The Diet has enacted a basic law on the water cycle, but the law falls short of meeting local governments' demand to legally define underground water as common public property.
JAPAN
May 17, 2014

Casino bill 'tough to pass' in current Diet session

The government will find it difficult to pass a casino legalization bill before the Diet's current session closes, a ruling coalition lawmaker predicts.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?