Search - 2013

 
 
ENVIRONMENT / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Jul 20, 2014

New radiation measurement method spreads confusion

Confusion is spreading among towns and cities tasked with radiation cleanup in the face of a new decontamination policy to be released by the Environment Ministry as early as this month.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / OLYMPIC NOTEBOOK
Jul 19, 2014

New sports center symbol of Haiti's recovery

Haiti's recovery from the 2010 earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation is a slow, difficult process.
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Jul 19, 2014

Time for legislation to prevent spread of hate speech

On July 8, the Osaka High Court ruled that, yes, standing in front of a primary school while kids are in class, shouting through a megaphone that they and their parents are not human, and then vandalizing the school's property, is legal discrimination.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 19, 2014

Iran can tap $2.8 billion during extended atomic talks, but most sanctions stay

Iran will be allowed to access an additional $2.8 billion of its frozen assets during a four-month period of extended talks with six powers on its nuclear program, but most sanctions against Tehran will remain in place, the United States said.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jul 18, 2014

Organ donation

Dear Alice,
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 18, 2014

High cost to new neutrality

South Korea's elite appears to be splitting into pro-Chinese and pro-American factions that transcend party lines, while German leaders' obsession with growing exports appears to have gagged them on China's human rights abuses and its aggressive behavior toward Asian neighbors.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2014

Yahoo launches online death-planning service

The Internet has made it easier to plan everything from travel and weddings to careers. Now it is helping people prepare for what they may be the most reluctant to face: death.
EDITORIALS
Jul 17, 2014

Silver lining to labor shortage

Labor shortages in Japan are becoming increasingly problematic amid the current economic recovery, particularly for those sectors where rising wage costs result in lost sales and even bankruptcy — despite rising consumer demand.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2014

Female workers may finally get foothold

When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe showed up last Sunday for the 19th International Conference for Women in Business, Kaori Sasaki — who has been organizing the gathering to empower women since 1996 — finally felt that society was changing.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jul 17, 2014

Merger talks going slowly

Japan Basketball Association officials said that they would actively keep discussing how to overcome the differences between the nation's top two leagues in order to establish a new professional hoops circuit in two years.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jul 17, 2014

Romanian princess admits running cockfighting ring in Oregon

A Romanian princess and her husband pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one charge of running an illegal gambling operation over their involvement in a cockfighting ring in rural Oregon.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 17, 2014

Japan, Israel may yield Osprey's first-export milestone after almost 25 years

Textron Inc.'s V-22 Osprey, the tilt-rotor craft that entered development almost 25 years ago, is poised to win its first export deals as Israel and Japan close in on purchases.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 16, 2014

Reflections on the dark side of a tropical island

Naomi Kawase was once Japan's best-known female director abroad; now she is one of its most internationally prominent directors, regardless of gender.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 16, 2014

Escape From Tomorrow

An audacious kick-in-the-ribs at the Disney kingdom, "Escape From Tomorrow" is cool, cool stuff — albeit in a clunky and kitsch Ed Wood kind of way.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 16, 2014

More than 17,000 sign petition for genitalia artist under arrest

Thousands of people have signed a petition demanding that police free a Tokyo artist arrested on obscenity charges for distributing data that allowed recipients to make 3-D models of her vagina.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 16, 2014

Europe rewards edgy dramatists

Tim Etchells, artistic director of Forced Entertainment, the English company whose "The Coming Storm" was a highlight of last year's Festival/Tokyo, told me then that they now play abroad more than at home — mainly because festival organizers pay their costs. In contrast, producers are loathe to take...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 16, 2014

Suitcase 'Macbeth' packs a punch

Cultures collide on the small square stage of Mansai Nomura's pared-down "Macbeth," in which the actor/director draws on the restrained aesthetics of noh and the agility and wit of kyōgen traditional comic theater as he transplants his version of Shakespeare's blood-soaked Scottish play to medieval...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2014

Chinese town trades lead poison test results for milk

After a test showed farmer Zhao Heping's toddler grandson had high levels of lead in his blood two years ago, local officials in China's Hunan province offered the child medicine, he says — and milk. In return, Zhao says, officials asked that he hand over his grandson's blood test results.
BUSINESS
Jul 16, 2014

Chinese bitcoin firm joins Atlas ATS in bid for Mt. Gox assets

BitOcean, a Chinese bitcoin startup, joined with New York-based exchange platform Atlas ATS Inc. to bid for the assets of Mt. Gox, the exchange platform that filed for bankruptcy in Japan earlier this year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 15, 2014

YMO's Yukihiro Takahashi recruits Towa Tei, Cornelius, Yoshinori Sunahara, Tomohiko Gondo and Leo Imai for an impressive supergroup

One of the unspoken rules in the progress-fixated world of electronic music is that you don't get bonus points for dwelling on past glories. So when Yukihiro Takahashi — drummer, vocalist and dapper elder statesman of electro-pop — convened a star cast of musicians at Tokyo's Ex Theater Roppongi...
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 15, 2014

Backlog of orders, savvy marketing stave off carmaker crisis

A backlog of orders as well as concerted marketing efforts by carmakers have minimized the impact from April's consumption tax hike on sales between April and June — but there are still concerns about sales volume after July, the chairman of the nation's automaker lobby said Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 15, 2014

Strike halts Toyota's S. Africa production

Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are stopping production at South African plants as a strike in the manufacturing industry stems the supply of components.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 15, 2014

Line applies to TSE for IPO that could see value exceed ¥1 trillion

Line Corp., operator of Japan's most popular mobile messaging service, has submitted an application for an initial public offering to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, sources said.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jul 15, 2014

Will Nagoya put Hakuho within reach of Taiho's 32-yusho record?

With 29 Emperor's Cup wins to date, yokozuna Hakuho is already the third most successful grand champion in the almost 260 years of sumo's recorded history. Only Taiho, who was primarily active through the 1960s with 32 wins, and Chiyonofuji, active from the 1970s to the early '90s with 31 wins, stand...

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years