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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Sep 10, 2014

If the Japanese are so clean, why is there so much crap on my beach?

Do Japanese take their rubbish with them only when people are watching? The view from one small beach on the Miura Peninsula suggests that is the case.
WORLD / Society
Sep 10, 2014

U.S. falls behind in college competition, OECD says

The United States has slipped behind many other countries in college completion and "educational mobility," with fewer young Americans getting more education than their parents, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's "Education at a Glance" report.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 8, 2014

Sadayuki Sakakibara confirms Keidanren will return to recommending political donations

The nation's biggest business lobby is set to resume recommending for the first time in five years that its member companies make political donations, in an effort to strengthen ties with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration to gain a bigger say in policy.
EDITORIALS
Sep 8, 2014

Can Kansai airport take off?

As business picks up thanks to the launch of new low-budget airline flights and a surge in the number of foreign passengers, the government-owned operator of Kansai International Airport plans to sell its management rights in a bid to get out from under a massive 20-year debtload.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Sep 8, 2014

Letters: the history, challenges and rewards of adoption in Japan

Readers respond to a recent article on foreign residents adopting children in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Sep 8, 2014

Mind the 'geb': Little word is a big problem for Japan's German residents

Inflexible residence card system leaves married Germans with ridiculously long names on their IDs — along with an annoying little extra word.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 8, 2014

Kyoto and Osaka: What problems have you had with your name in Japan?

Foreign residents and visitors in Kansai talk about their moniker-related mix-ups.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 8, 2014

Latinos furious at Obama on immigration delay, vow more pressure

Hispanic lawmakers and immigration advocates harshly criticized President Barack Obama's decision to delay executive action on immigration and vowed to keep pressuring him to make bold changes.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2014

Tohoku students showcase area's products at New York fair

Students from Tohoku University in Sendai on Saturday showcased artifacts and other products from the disaster-hit Tohoku region at the Japan Block Fair in New York's West Village to help companies in the recovering region drum up more business overseas.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Sep 7, 2014

Yoko and author's other furry friends help kids cope with childhood challenges

Rosemary Wells' stories — including a series about a Japanese kitten's experience at an American school — have been delighting children and adults alike around the world for over 40 years.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Sep 6, 2014

Save ourselves ... cos nobody else can

Sometimes when you want to do something right, you have to do it yourself.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 6, 2014

Showmanship trumps substance during Modi visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is re-energizing Indian diplomacy and trying to carve out a more dynamic role for his country in global affairs. He has just wrapped up a visit to Kyoto and Tokyo, playing the role of pitchman-in-chief and holding a summit with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2014

Will China's tough stance backfire in Hong Kong?

The Beijing government may think that by blocking Hong Kong's progress toward the democratic election of a chief executive, it is safeguarding both the region's and the nation's economic interests. But it is quite likely to have the opposite effect.
EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 2014

Stronger measures against stalking

In its budgetary requests for fiscal 2015, Japan's National Police Agency includes expenses to beef up measures against the persistent problem of stalking.
WORLD / Society
Sep 5, 2014

WHO calls for action to reduce global suicide rate of 800,000 a year

More than 800,000 people each year worldwide commit suicide — around one person every 40 seconds — with many using poisoning, hanging or shooting to end their own lives, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.
WORLD
Sep 4, 2014

Boko Haram battles for land in northeast Nigeria, 26,000 displaced

Boko Haram militants have driven more than 26,000 people from the northeastern town of Bama amid fierce fighting, witnesses and security sources said on Wednesday, as the Islamists focus more on taking and holding territory.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Sep 3, 2014

Fan-favorite Inaba jumping into sunset

Atsunori Inaba may have been Japan's most popular player among foreign fans during the 2013 World Baseball Classic. The quadrennial competition doesn't just bring 16 nations together, it allows the baseball cultures of various nations to come together. Prominent among these is Japan's ouendan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Sep 3, 2014

Visible minorities are being caught in police dragnet

Around noon on Aug. 13, in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, a local apartment manager notified the police that a "suspicious foreigner" was hanging around the nearby JR train station.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Sep 3, 2014

Giving up your seat on a train is a public affair

A recent article in the media in Japan about the attitudes and behavior of able-bodied passengers toward reserved seating on trains reminded me of one of the few negative experiences I have endured as a disabled foreigner in Japan, and it pertains to the tricky art of acquiring use of the "priority seats."...
EDITORIALS
Sep 2, 2014

War criminals don't deserve praise

Reports that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed sympathy for Japan's World War II war criminals during a memorial service for them in April will only deepen the perception that Abe is a revisionist when it comes to Japan's wartime behavior.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 2, 2014

Wrong path to full sovereignty

The change in the government's long-standing interpretation of Article 9 of the Constitution may lift some restrictions on Japan's use of military force, but Japan will not become a full-fledged sovereign state as long as it has a leader who can neither think autonomously nor press a case on behalf of Japan with a negotiating partner.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 2, 2014

Modi goes to Japan chasing a foolish crush

It is hard not to suspect naivete in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan to model India's economy on Japan's postwar achievements. After all, Japan owes much of that economic miracle to America's willingness to open its own markets to Japanese manufacturers while turning a blind eye to Japan's blatantly protectionist trade policies.
EDITORIALS
Sep 1, 2014

A cease-fire in the Gaza Strip

Israel and Hamas have agreed to an indefinite cease-fire after 50 bloody days of fighting in the Gaza Strip. It is estimated that 10,000 buildings were destroyed by the Israeli assault, and entire neighborhoods razed. And for what?
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 1, 2014

Pragmatism, charm are Tusk's hallmarks

Donald Tusk relied on a mix of charm and pragmatism to rise to the top of Polish politics and stay in power longer than anyone since the Cold War. Being the European Union's president will test the extent of those talents.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 1, 2014

Zuma summons Lesotho leaders for emergency talks after army attempts coup

Lesotho's political leaders were summoned by South African President Jacob Zuma for emergency talks after the military in the landlocked kingdom carried out an attempted coup.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 31, 2014

Health workers strike at major Ebola clinic in Sierra Leone

Health workers have gone on strike at a major state-run Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone, hospital staffers said on Saturday, a further blow to efforts to contain the deadly virus.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2014

Fukushima fallout: solidarity turns to resentment in city hosting evacuees

Like many of her neighbors, Satomi Inokoshi worries that her gritty hometown is being spoiled by the newcomers and the money that have rolled into Iwaki since the Fukushima nuclear disaster almost 3½ years ago.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 30, 2014

Asahi rivals pile on over sex slaves retraction

It has been almost a month since the Asahi Shimbun printed a long, two-part retraction of its reporting in the 1980s and '90s on the "forced mobilization" of so-called comfort women during World War II based on the published confessions of a man named Seiji Yoshida.
BASKETBALL
Aug 29, 2014

Ishikawa Prefecture awarded bj-league expansion team for 2015-16 season

The bj-league will add a 23rd team for the 2015-16 season, it announced on Friday.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan