Search - 2015

 
 
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 12, 2016

U.S.-led offensives drive Islamic State militants back, but worries about what's next persist

As U.S.-led offensives drive back the Islamic State group in Iraq, concern is growing among U.S. and U.N. officials that efforts to stabilize liberated areas are lagging, creating conditions that could help the militants endure as an underground network.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 11, 2016

Press freedoms under attack

Freedom of speech and of the press, a key democratic right, is increasingly under threat around the world.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 11, 2016

The surrender of Japan's peace Constitution

Domestic opposition to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's effort to alter Japan's defense posture, though broad, does not run very deep.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 11, 2016

Abenomics rebuked as major foreign investors join $46 billion Japan pullout

For global equity investors and Shinzo Abe, it's splitsville.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2016

Government to use donation system to help young people settle in rural Japan

The internal affairs ministry plans to collect donations for people willing to move from cities to rural areas through the existing furusato nozei system, which provides tax breaks for donations to hometowns and other municipalities.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 9, 2016

Exploring Tabaruzaka's idyllic but forgotten samurai battleground

The gray spring clouds have given way to a gentle drizzle by the time I pull my car into a spacious parking lot bordering the Tabaruzaka battlefield. It's fitting weather, considering the massive battle that took place here in 1877 in this rural corner north of Kumamoto city was fought in similar conditions....
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 9, 2016

Appreciating unforgettable career of broadcaster Scully

One sidelight for those living in Japan this season is we will get to see more Los Angeles Dodgers games on TV. NHK and J-Sports will no doubt be televising live the Dodgers games when Japanese pitcher Kenta Maeda is the L.A. starter. When the team is at home, and we choose the sub-channel audio for...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2016

For orcas, menopause is just the beginning

Killer whales and humans are among the only animals known to experience menopause, and scientists are learning how this phenomenon benefits orcas.
Reader Mail
Apr 9, 2016

Hidebound school boards cripple Japan

Japan is a nation built on virtue. Perhaps one of most important is efficiency; the senselessness of wasting resources. Yet I have come to witness colossal wastage in Japan. I talk of the boards of education in certain regions that corrupt the teaching of English, driving dedicated teachers away.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 9, 2016

Reusable SpaceX rocket booster makes breakthrough landing at sea

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Florida on a NASA cargo run to the International Space Station on Friday, and its reusable main booster landed on an ocean platform minutes later in a dramatic spaceflight first.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 8, 2016

Masuzoe denies overspending after JCP reveals soaring cost of overseas trips

Tokyo Gov. Yoichi Masuzoe on Friday said he is doing his utmost to trim the cost of his overseas trips, following the revelation that each one costs taxpayers ¥26.6 million on average.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2016

Turkey's President Erdogan gambles and loses

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's personal ambitions are causing Turkey incessant, avoidable problems.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 6, 2016

Retired military commander charged with massive graft in China

A retired top general of the People's Liberation Army has been formally charged with taking bribes and will face court martial in China's highest-level military corruption case in more than six decades.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 6, 2016

MUFG's trust bank to boost assets administered overseas by 30%

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.'s trust banking arm plans to increase the assets it administers overseas for institutional investors by about 30 percent to $400 billion over the next two years to boost fee income, the unit's new president said.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2016

Son-in-law of Trump is a real estate investor, newspaper owner and effective informal adviser

Before introducing Donald Trump to a dozen Republican lawmakers at the Washington law offices of Jones Day, Sen. Jeff Sessions paused to acknowledge the man he said had facilitated the closed-door talks.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 5, 2016

Tigers rookie Takayama pounds out four hits in rout of Giants

The latest matchup between two of the oldest teams in Japan saw two of the youngest players on the field shining brightest under the lights at Tokyo Dome.

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