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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 28, 2013

Tax-free gifts unlocking retiree savings

Shoko Iwasaki looked for years for a tax-free way to pass down a lifetime of savings to her grandson. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has offered the 71-year-old an answer with a program now helping unlock pensioners' hoarded wealth.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 27, 2013

Sony seeks patent for high-tech 'SmartWig'

Sony Corp. is seeking a U.S. patent for "SmartWig" hairpieces that could help navigate roads, check blood pressure or flip through slides in a presentation.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 26, 2013

Place university academics on an annual wage system

In academics as in other fields, traditional Japanese systems and practices are hampering the nation's globalization.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2013

Space industry faces choice for next direction

The air is so clear the mountains in the distance look almost fake, as if added digitally. The desert floor is runway-flat, with a few Joshua trees popping up randomly, like lost cowboys. The dominant feature is the sky, preposterously vast, beckoning test pilots, rocketeers and would-be space travelers....
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2013

Three ALPS systems undergoing tests at Fukushima No. 1

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said all three systems of an advanced water processing machine known as ALPS are now in a test operations for the first time simultaneously.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 22, 2013

Sony's Hirai plans $250 million in entertainment cuts

Sony Corp. will cut $250 million in costs at its entertainment units over two years, part of Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai's plan to boost profit and keep full ownership of the movie, TV and music businesses.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 22, 2013

U.S., Pakistan tussle over drone strike's target

American and Pakistani officials disagreed sharply Thursday about whether an Islamic school was struck by a U.S. drone, in an unusual attack that inflamed tensions over the CIA drone campaign.
BUSINESS
Nov 21, 2013

Ghosn joins hydrogen car skeptics

Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn says consumers won't take to fuel-cell vehicles before the decade's end, joining Tesla Motors Inc.'s Elon Musk in questioning the future of hydrogen-powered cars.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2013

U.N. event hits lack of toilets in 39% of the world

Three toilet stalls were at the center of attention Tuesday in a park in Tachikawa, west Tokyo, as the United Nations tries to raise awareness of the lack of basic sanitation infrastructure in many parts of the world.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2013

For first time, NHK seeks Caucasian actress to star in morning drama

Wanted: A female aged 25 to 40 who grew up in the West and boasts a better than average singing voice to star in a NHK drama about Rita Taketsuru.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Nov 17, 2013

Fukushima evacuees' housing units crumbling

The temporary housing units sheltering those displaced by the March 11 quake, tsunami and nuclear disasters are falling apart just as winter sets in.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2013

Cheep shot: Mascot Totto-chan's lewd radio comments may be its last chirps

While the craze over regional mascots continues, recent mishaps involving some characters shows not everything is rosy in the "yuru-kyara" (soft character) industry.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2013

Odds of mother-child survival in north Nigeria

Nigeria is the second-largest contributor to the under-5 and maternal mortality rate in the world. And most of the deaths could be prevented with simple, low-cost interventions.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 9, 2013

Opponents derail Obama’s dream of high-speed trains, and jobs

The gleaming red-and-white trains sit motionless in a cavernous warehouse in Century City, an industrial neighborhood that cranked out 100 million car and truck frames in its heyday. The seats are draped in plastic; an electronic screen on one reads, "Quiet Car. 11:10 a.m. 000 MPH."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2013

Office vacancies in Tokyo decline to the lowest level since June 2009

Tokyo's office vacancy rate fell in October to its lowest level in more than four years as demand for space outpaced supply, broker Miki Shoji Co. said.

Longform

A mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing on Hiroshima taken from a U.S. military aircraft on Aug. 6, 1945. Copying the photo without permission is prohibited.
80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped