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CULTURE / Music
Nov 17, 2018

Mariya Takeuchi: The pop genius behind 2018's surprise online smash hit from Japan

On the 40th anniversary of singer-songwriter Mariya Takeuchi's debut, The Japan Times sits down with the musician responsible for such classics as 'Sutekina Holiday,' 'September' and the track that has taken the internet by storm, 'Plastic Love.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Nov 17, 2018

Live-action Pokemon trailer reaffirms Pikachu's enduring popularity

Ever since the original release of the “Pokemon” games for the Nintendo Game Boy back in 1996, the series’ central character — the electric, yellow rodent Pikachu — has found a permanent place in the world’s pop-culture zeitgeist. Pikachu has since shown up everywhere, including on countless...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Nov 17, 2018

'The Tale of the Heike' delivers a path for salvation

Some wars spawn myths. Some spawn epics. Some spawn both; others, neither. The 13th-century Mongol invasions of Japan spawned a myth — the "divine wind" that repulsed the invading fleet — but no epic. The 12th-century Genpei War spawned an epic — the "Heike Monogatari" ("The Tale of the Heike")...
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Nov 16, 2018

Saudis implicate ex-royal aide, top spy in Jamal Khashoggi killing, plan to execute five

A former Saudi royal adviser and ex-senior intelligence official played key roles in the mission that ultimately led to the killing of government critic Jamal Khashoggi, and authorities will seek the death penalty for five people who confessed to the murder, according to a top official in the kingdom....
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 15, 2018

Hundreds still missing as National Guard joins search for victims of California's deadliest wildfire

The search for remains of victims in the charred ruins of the Northern California town of Paradise was set to intensify on Wednesday, while firefighters stepped up their nearly week-long efforts to contain the state's deadliest-ever wildfire.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 15, 2018

Thousands of Shiites flee as Taliban attack Afghanistan's 'safe' districts

Thousands of members of Afghanistan's mainly Shiite Hazara ethnic minority have fled their homes in the central province of Ghazni as the Taliban have pressed into two previously safe districts, officials and witnesses said on Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 14, 2018

Nobel Prize winner Tasuku Honjo calls for better-funded and more imaginative pharma industry in Japan

On the evening of Oct. 1, Dr. Tasuku Honjo was in his office at Kyoto University discussing a manuscript with two of his colleagues when a secretary came dashing in to announce there was a call from Sweden. Could he take it?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2018

Trade war and censors spell reckoning for China's giant tech scene

Wang Miaoyi's small one-bedroom apartment, which doubles as her design studio, is overflowing with game magazines, figurines and boxes of sci-fi novels.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 13, 2018

Deaf filmmaker Emilio Insolera flexes his superpowers with 'Sign Gene'

Emilio Insolera's "Sign Gene" gave the world its first deaf superheroes. But after writing, directing, producing and starring in the film himself, you might argue that Insolera is the one with the superpowers.
EDITORIALS
Nov 13, 2018

Step up battle against rubella

Prompt action must be taken to contain the latest outbreak of the rubella virus, which poses a serious threat to pregnant women.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 12, 2018

How Tokyo saw the U.S. midterm elections

Japan remains concerned about what U.S. President Donald Trump will do or not do next.
Japan Times
Spain report 2018
Nov 12, 2018

150 years on, Spain and Japan strengthen their commitment to one another

To mark the 150th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Spain, Synergy Media Specialists (SMS) interviewed Masashi Mizukami, the Japanese Ambassador to Spain.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 11, 2018

Death toll rises to at least 23 in California wildfire after 14 bodies found

The charred remains of fourteen more victims have been found in and around a Northern California town overrun by flames from a massive wildfire, officials said on Saturday, raising the death toll to 23.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 10, 2018

Japan's news outlets weigh in on Jumpei Yasuda's culpability in Syria kidnapping

Freelance reporter Jumpei Yasuda gave a three-hour news conference at the Japan National Press Club on Nov. 2 about his hostage ordeal, describing in detail how he was kidnapped after entering Syria in 2015 and then held for more than three years. He also discussed the situation in the Middle East and...
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 10, 2018

Northern California fire, one of worst in state history, leaves at least nine dead

Wildfires burned out of control on Friday across California, killing at least nine people in a mountain town and forcing residents to flee the upscale beach community of Malibu in the face of a monster fire storm.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 9, 2018

Three fast-moving California blazes cause thousands to flee

Three fast-moving wildfires burned in California on Friday morning, including one that spurred the evacuation of 75,000 homes near a city that was still reeling from a mass shooting.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2018

Japanese buzzwords of 2018 nominees reflect myriad influences and issues

Thirty candidates for buzzword of the year, announced Wednesday, highlight the numerous scandals that rocked Japan's amateur sports, the brutal summer of natural disasters as well as the country's response to the worldwide #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 7, 2018

SoftBank IPO seeks $18 billion from retail investors

SoftBank Group Corp. is seeking to raise a record ¥2 trillion ($18 billion) from Japanese individuals in the initial public offering of its mobile phone unit, targeting investors who often get no interest on their savings, sources have said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2018

Rakuten's English drive a case study of success, but wider adoption by Japan Inc. much slower going

Rakuten Inc. CEO Hiroshi Mikitani's 2010 announcement of English becoming the official internal language of the online retailing giant shocked many of the firm's employees, including Fumie Suzuki.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 7, 2018

Partners in grime: The Butterz label thanks Japan with a birthday bash in Tokyo

With its rapid-fire rapping, lyrics that are often impenetrable to outsiders and raw, synthetic timbres, grime was never an obvious candidate for international success. But from east London's tower blocks to the stages of California's Coachella festival, the genre has grown from humble origins to become...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 3, 2018

From vulnerability to violence, Yukiko Motoya enchants with ‘The Lonesome Bodybuilder’

Like a bouquet of exotic flowers, the stories in 'The Lonesome Bodybuilder' are varied and full of surprise, starting out with mundane situations and then turning strange in a way that feels uniquely Japanese.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 31, 2018

The death of a Japanese countryside festival

Ancient rites bend to an aging, shrinking population, but how much longer can local traditions hold out?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 31, 2018

What election system best suits Japan?

To make it easier to bring about a change in government, all seats should be elected in the single-seat electoral district system.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 30, 2018

U.S. political violence starts at the very top

Every U.S. president deploys violence on a vast scale. How on Earth can they act surprised when ordinary citizens follow their example?
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 30, 2018

Suspect in Zama serial murders says the nine victims were 'objects of desire'

Takahiro Shiraishi, a 28-year-old man charged in September with murdering and robbing nine people in his apartment last year, said in recent interviews with Jiji Press that he committed the crimes for money and sex.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 30, 2018

Lion Air jet made erratic altitude changes before final fatal plunge hit 350 mph: transmitted data

Investigators are beginning the grim task of determining why a brand-new Boeing Co. 737 Max jet flown by Indonesia's Lion Air plunged into the Java Sea minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 people on board.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 29, 2018

Mass media and democracy in prewar and postwar Japan

Now, more than ever, the free press must avoid the perils of populist pandering and fulfill its responsibility as one of the key pillars of democracy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2018

No, sitting is not worse than smoking

Raising awareness is good, but overplaying a scare will foster distrust in science.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person