Search - 2015

 
 
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 5, 2016

Rusty ships and unused aircraft carriers: the other side of Asia's militaries

As China spends billions to upgrade and reorganize the People's Liberation Army, the deficiencies in competing Asia-Pacific militaries are coming into focus. Even some of China's much heralded military advances are drawing attention for their shortcomings. Here is a snapshot of some of Asia's less illustrious...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 5, 2016

Military spending rises across Asia as China expands its reach

Global defense contractors are circling for business in Asia, with countries from Australia to Vietnam upgrading and adding everything from submarines to fighter jets as China expands its military reach.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 4, 2016

The struggles of a local sumo hero

An oft-repeated question these days, and one not necessarily confined to sports media, is whether 29-year-old wrestler Kisenosato will make it to sumo's highest rank. Or is he destined to remain a perennial bridesmaid?
CULTURE / Books
Jun 4, 2016

Black Illumination: Haruo Sato's lush, gloomy landscapes

Most of us, when we feel sad, assume there is a cause for our sadness. Often there is, and the feeling can then be addressed, diagnosed, resolved. But what about sadness without a cause? This is the terrain of melancholy and, while melancholy has a rich and varied history in the West, it takes on unique...
BASKETBALL
Jun 3, 2016

Niigata selects Shoji to be next head coach

Kazuhiro Shoji, a former Niigata Albirex BB player at the start of the 21st century, takes over as the team's new head coach as the franchise prepares for the inaugural B. League season.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 3, 2016

Past the scandals and into the songs of 2016 so far

So far this year, most of the media attention paid to the music industry has focused on scandal rather than songwriting.
LIFE / Digital
Jun 3, 2016

That Japanese Man Yuta uses YouTube to show us what Japan really thinks

Almost every weekend, Yuta Aoki heads to Tokyo's Shibuya Ward armed with a camera, a stabilizer and a microphone. His mission is to find and speak to Japanese people, but they must look happy or, at least, not busy — "I don't want any trouble," he says with a laugh. He's hunting for opinions: "Is 'gaijin'...
COMMENTARY / World / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jun 3, 2016

Don't exterminate the zebra mussels or ruffes

'Invasive' species aren't necessarily a bad thing.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2016

Distorted news on Russia

Russia appears to be the target of black information by Western intelligence agencies.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 3, 2016

Shiseido to buy Gurwitch, adding U.S. beauty brands Mercier, ReVive

Shiseido Co. has agreed to buy U.S.-based Gurwitch Products LLC from closely held Alticor Inc., adding the Laura Mercier and ReVive brands as the more than 140-year-old cosmetics giant seeks growth overseas in the luxury and anti-aging products market.
WORLD / Society
Jun 3, 2016

Lawless Libya fertile ground for smugglers routing vulnerable migrants into Mediterranean unprotected

After a flurry of boat departures that sent hundreds of migrants to their deaths in the Mediterranean, survivors told police they had been kept for weeks on one meal a day in holding houses near the Libyan shore.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jun 2, 2016

Coaching moves already underway

The annual coaching carousel changes the landscape of who's in charge.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2016

Westinghouse in 'advanced' talks to build six reactors in India: ambassador

Toshiba Corp.'s Westinghouse Electric and India are in "advanced discussions" for the company to build six nuclear reactors there, the country's ambassador to the United States said on Wednesday, ahead of India Prime Minister Narendra Modi's planned visit to Washington next week.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2016

On streets of Tokyo, opinion divided over tax-hike delay

Passers-by polled by reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday were split over the prospect of another delay to the consumption tax hike.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 1, 2016

Abe delays tax hike weeks before election

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday announced he is pushing back a second-stage hike in the consumption tax, from April next year to October of 2019.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 1, 2016

As voters welcome Japan's tax-hike delay, experts warn on costs

Economy mavens are split over the merits of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision to delay the consumption tax hike to 2019.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 1, 2016

Calls to revise SOFA in wake of Okinawa murder unlikely to bear fruit

As a result of the recent murder of a 20-year-old woman in Okinawa, allegedly at the hands of a U.S. base worker and former marine, calls are once again growing for a revision to the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 1, 2016

No warrant needed for cellphone location data, U.S. appeals court rules

Police do not need a warrant to obtain a person's cellphone location data held by wireless carriers, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Tuesday, dealing a setback to privacy advocates.
JAPAN / Politics
May 31, 2016

Aso falls into line on Abe's tax hike delay

Finance Minister Taro Aso says he will support the expected decision to delay the increase in the consumption tax, backpedaling from earlier criticism that doing so would renege on an election pledge.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 31, 2016

Abe's tax debate is an ill-timed distraction

Raising the consumption tax would once again treat the symptoms of Japan's economic malaise, not the causes.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 30, 2016

Tsuji catches fire as Brave Thunders avoid sweep in NBL Finals

The Brave Thunders are still alive in the 2015-16 NBL season.
JAPAN
May 30, 2016

Science Council of Japan considers overturning long-held opposition to military research

The nation's largest and most powerful group of scientists has started discussing lifting its decades-old ban on defense-related research as the government seeks more collaboration with civilians in the development of weapons technology.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past