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WORLD / Politics
Sep 19, 2015

Spurred by anger, Canada's Aboriginals may cast decisive vote in election

Canada's Aboriginal people, less than half of whom usually vote because many do not recognize the government's sovereignty, could help decide the outcome of an unusually tight three-way federal election race in October.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 19, 2015

African Union suspends Burkina Faso over abducting president and threatens sanctions

The African Union has suspended Burkina Faso and will impose sanctions on coup leaders if they do not restore the interim government and release its leaders, it said on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 19, 2015

Diet enacts security laws, marking Japan's departure from pacifism

Following boisterous confrontations in the Diet and more than three days of public protest, the Upper House finally enacted two divisive security laws early Saturday that will mark a significant departure from Japan's postwar pacifism.
EDITORIALS
Sep 18, 2015

Security policy set the wrong way

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has rammed his security legislation through the Diet, public opposition be damned.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2015

Putting Chinese medicine to the scientific test

Western doctors, elite medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies are starting to put traditional Chinese medicine to the scientific test.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 18, 2015

Consumer spending recovery hampered by pension payment cuts

More than a year after a consumption tax increase tipped Japan into a recession, efforts to clamp down on soaring pension payments are suppressing a recovery in consumer spending.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 17, 2015

Opposition parties' delaying tactics throw Diet into chaos

In an Upper House meeting rife with heckling and wrestling, two disputed security bills are bulldozed through committee, paving the way for enactment by the ruling bloc.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 17, 2015

S&P cuts Japan rating, casting doubt on 'Abenomics'

Standard & Poor's has cut the nation's long-term credit rating one level to A+, saying it sees little chance of the government's current strategy accelerating growth and inflation over the next few years.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 17, 2015

Tokyo conference urges Japan to make most of new global attention

While the world watches Japan's on-again, off-again economic recovery, a forum of roughly 200 corporate decision-makers and former government officials has discussed how to turn that attention to the nation's advantage.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 16, 2015

Japan waits to see whether new Australian leader will rock the boat on defense

Japan watches anxiously after one of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's closest Asia-Pacific allies in ousted in a party leadership vote.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 16, 2015

Government cries foul over use of term 'forcible voting' as security bills debate heats up

As the political battle over two contentious government-sponsored security bills at the Diet enters its final stage, a propaganda war broke out Wednesday between the government and opposition parties.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 14, 2015

Okinawa governor moves to revoke approval for Futenma replacement work

Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga's announcement is likely to start a long, complicated legal battle over the fate of the Henoko area.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 14, 2015

Toshiba logs first-quarter net loss; sales at lowest since December 2012

Toshiba Corp. posted a net loss for the first quarter as sales of televisions and personal computers slumped and profit fell at its division that makes chips.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 14, 2015

China unveils details of state-firm reforms as growth sputters

China unveiled details on Sunday of how it would restructure its state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including partial privatization, as data pointed to a cooling in the world's second-largest economy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 12, 2015

Sweeping beauties of Kumano's brush area

In the soft morning drizzle, a handful of people line up before an altar-like mound of stones where a small fire crackles and hisses. Each person in turn throws a handful of old brushes into the blaze. The local garbage incinerator? No — this is ritual cremation.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 12, 2015

Student protesters want a revitalized democracy

The large and loud crowds that regularly gather outside the Diet on Friday evenings are the result of student activists trying to do something constructive to block Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's security legislation.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 12, 2015

Japan's treasury hopes flat-rate beer tax will drive drinkers to maltier fare and pad coffers

Who will benefit from plans to levy the same tax rate on all three categories of beers?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 11, 2015

Why do Putin and his cronies look so nervous?

The Kremlin's successful campaign to build a besieged fortress has imprisoned its chief architect.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2015

Tokyo steps up security after Islamic State tells supporters to attack Japanese missions

The militant group made the threat against several missions in an English-language magazine circulated on the Internet.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Sep 10, 2015

In Japan, 1 in 6 children lives in poverty, putting education, future at stake

"Abenomics" may have helped double stock prices and enabled companies like Toyota Motor Corp. to post record profits in Japan, but one segment of the economy remains behind: the poor.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Sep 10, 2015

What Japan's next stimulus may look like as Abe runs on fumes

The anemic economy is prompting calls for another fiscal boost. If history and the government's strained finances are any guide, a package is likely to redirect cash already on the books.
BUSINESS
Sep 10, 2015

Workforce promotion panel: Extend foreign resident visa limit, put elderly, married women to work

Japan should extend the maximum period foreign nationals can stay in the country to eight years from the current cap of five to secure highly skilled workers, and boost jobs by 5 million by creating an environment that encourages the elderly and married women to take up jobs, a government advisory panel...
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 9, 2015

Will he, won't he? Osaka Mayor Hashimoto keeps public guessing about future role in politics

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto continues to fuel speculation that his political career will not end in November and that he might end up as an outside adviser to, or even a non-elected member of, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet by the end of the year.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 8, 2015

A woman who could revive Japan's fortunes

LDP lawmaker Seiko Noda has some bold ideas on how to revitalize Japan, starting with the better utilization of the women who make up half its population.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 7, 2015

Noda faces uphill battle in last-minute bid to take on Abe for LDP presidency

Executives in the Liberal Democratic Party pile pressure on lawmakers not to support Seiko Noda's attempt to unseat Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as LDP president.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan