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Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Dec 11, 2017

A chance encounter led Hiroki Watanabe to Dhaka, where he is tackling child poverty through education

It was a sight that presented such a stark contrast to his own fortune; a young boy standing at the entrance to a slum in Phuket, Thailand, as Hiroki Watanabe passed by in a luxury bus on his way to a yacht race.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 11, 2017

Electronic music artist LLLL gets more intimate on latest chain of releases

Kazuto Okawa, who performs as LLLL (pronounced "four-el"), has spent the past two years since releasing his sophomore album, "Faithful," getting in touch with his personal side.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2017

E-sports to chocolates: Chinese cities rush into risky specialization projects

The first plan was for an "eco-city" that would help pull Zhongxian, a remote city on the hilly banks of the Yangtze River in southwest China, out of poverty.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Dec 8, 2017

Warming to Sugamo's venerable shopping street

Gifting, and therefore shopping for gifts, seems part of the gestalt of winter. In Tokyo, though, retail wonderlands tend to be packed and pricey, full of ersatz Christmas music, harried customers and long lines. I opt instead for a low-key commercial street near Sugamo Station in Toshima Ward, known...
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 8, 2017

Female chief priest and her two attackers dead in Tokyo Shinto shrine stabbings

A violent attack with Japanese swords and survival knives at Tokyo's famed Tomioka Hachimangu shrine has left three dead — including the chief priestess and her brother — in an apparent family feud that turned deadly.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 8, 2017

Abe's free day care pledge may be an appealing solution for the wrong problem

Just before the recent Lower House election in October, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to make public day care services and kindergartens free for children between the ages of 3 and 5 and free for children below the age of 3 if they were from lower income households.
EDITORIALS
Dec 7, 2017

A victory for clean sports

Punishing Russia for its behavior is only part of the Olympic task: It is must also ensure that this does not happen again.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 7, 2017

Kanayama rice terraces 'an impressive feat of human ingenuity'

Looking out the window as the bullet train crosses into northern Iwate Prefecture, the mighty Tohoku mountains stand tall behind deep forests, rice paddies and the occasional sleepy town. Long gone is the constant buzzing of cars and a view that stops on the other side of the street. If it weren't for...
Japan Times
LIFE / EVENTS AND INFORMATION
Dec 7, 2017

British weekend in Tokyo

Stop by the Roppongi Hills Arena from Dec. 8 to 10 and be transported to "merry old England" at The Great British Weekend. The largest British festival in Japan gives visitors a taste of England and all things British during the three-day event. Starting on Friday, Dec. 8, Roppongi Hills will be transformed...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 7, 2017

As Trump was sworn in, Michael Flynn texted Russia sanctions to be 'ripped up' to speed reactor deal: whistle-blower

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn promised a business associate before the inauguration of Donald Trump that U.S. sanctions with Russia would be "ripped up" by the incoming administration, according to a witness account described by House Democrats.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 6, 2017

Rape allegation against high-profile journalist, dropped by prosecutors last year, returns in civil suit

A female journalist who is suing a high-profile journalist over an alleged rape in 2015 expressed hope that the truth will come out in open court as the oral hearings of her civil lawsuit began at the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 6, 2017

Looking back at 2017's Trump-triggered resurgence in American activism in Japan

The Women of the World March in January that brought hundreds onto the streets of Tokyo was the highlight of a year of action.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Dec 6, 2017

Frontale worthy J. League champions despite Antlers' slip-ups

Kawasaki Frontale captain Yu Kobayashi said he believed his team was "cursed" when it lost to Cerezo Osaka in last month's J. League Cup final, but that must have made the club's first-ever J. League title all the sweeter when it arrived last weekend.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 6, 2017

'52Hz, I Love You' upends the stereotype that Asian cinema can't do romantic musicals

Once upon a time (a decade ago), the unspoken consensus in the movie world seemed to be that Asians couldn't do love stories, much less musical love stories. Happy, soaring, blockbuster types that would send audiences home with goofy smiles and humming a tune from the soundtrack? Not happening.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 6, 2017

Stepanov: doping culture will take years to change

Russia's doping "culture" will take years to change, regardless of the nation's ban from the Winter Olympics, whistle-blower Vitaly Stepanov said on Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 5, 2017

Ibsen's 'Peer Gynt' gets a cultural twist when director Yang Jung-ung teams up with actor Kenji Urai

South Korean director Yang Jung-ung's career has spanned several continents. From his theater work, with casts of numerous nationalities, to his role as artistic director for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, it's clear he has long had the world in his sights.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 5, 2017

Nobel Peace Prize winner's son likens North Korean ICBM to 'a flare signaling the start of negotiations'

The youngest son of former President Kim Dae-jung is one of just a few South Koreans to have met Kim Jong Un. He hopes a second meeting isn't far away.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2017

Japan looking to fuel 'productivity revolution' by doubling growth in labor productivity

The Abe administration will aim to double labor productivity growth to 2 percent in the three years through 2020 from 0.9 percent, the average for the five years through 2015, according to informed sources.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 4, 2017

Hiroshi Hase says Japan's NCAA must address safety

With Japan's version of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Japanese NCAA) set to be established during the 2018 fiscal year, there has been an increase in the number of sports and collegiate administrators who have become involved in the discussions of its purpose and the benefits to be had...
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Dec 4, 2017

Chinese think tank calls for 'democratic' internet governance system

China ranks fifth among 38 nations globally in standards of cybergovernance, a top state-backed internet think tank said Monday, calling for a "democratic" internet governance system to eradicate inequalities it said marginalizes developing nations.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2017

A cake is food, not speech, so why bully the baker?

Less bullying and more magniminity from the victors in the fight for same-sex marriage would be seemly.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2017

Don't worry, China isn't taking over the world just yet

Some of China's greatest economic advances depend heavily on local conditions.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 4, 2017

36-year-old strikes gold with instant web Japanese flea market

Yusuke Mitsumoto had a hunch: What if you paid people instantly for their used goods over the internet, with no guarantee that they would hand them over?

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