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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 30, 2015

Dozens perish in Indonesian military plane crash

At least 55 people were killed when a military transport plane crashed into a residential area shortly after take-off in northern Indonesia on Tuesday, but the toll looked set to rise after it emerged that more than 100 people had been on board.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 29, 2015

For many black Americans, Confederate flag debate merely a distraction

As calls grow to remove the Confederate flag from public spaces across America's South, Vanessa White says she questions whether that would mark real progress for black Americans like her.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2015

Japanese gay rights activists, academics say U.S. marriage ruling may help their cause

Gay rights activists and legal experts said Monday they hope the historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage will give impetus to moves in Japan to embrace sexual diversity and go a long way toward initiating calls for legalization of gay marriages here.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2015

Japan weighs 'almost suicidal' pension squeeze for growing band of seniors

Sipping beer and listening to a guitarist at an event for retirees in western Tokyo, Sadao Sekine said he backs government plans to cut the nation's ballooning debt — as long as he can keep his benefits.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jun 28, 2015

Has striking in Japan become extinct?

"Strike." Dear reader, what do you think when you hear this word? What impression do you get? Do you see the blood, sweat and tears? Do you see an angry, vicious mob disturbing our civil society? I bet a majority of Japanese people under the age of 40 have neither a positive nor negative impression of...
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 27, 2015

Fertility experts divided over benefits of freezing eggs cryogenically

Public broadcaster NHK aired a current affairs program on fertility in 2012 that caused a stir nationwide. Titled "The Impact of Aging Eggs," the program warned viewers that women in their 30s and 40s were flirting with disappointment by delaying any attempt to conceive until they are older.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 27, 2015

Visualizing Japan's 'ugly' online desires with cultural critic Hiroki Azuma

In 2009, critic and philosopher Hiroki Azuma had a dream. It was a recurring dream (as befitting of someone well-versed in the psychoanalysis of Freud and Jacques Lacan), and riddled with complexities. In his own words, which open the introductory chapter of "General Will 2.0: Rousseau, Freud, Google,"...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jun 27, 2015

Natsuko Aoike: ‘Appreciate the moment you are living in’

Japanese announcer on ukiyo-e, Kiss and living in the moment
Japan Times
WORLD / Society / FOCUS
Jun 27, 2015

Legal battles remain for U.S. gay rights despite momentous ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court's declaration on Friday of a right to same-sex marriage resolved a momentous question, yet the ruling left many others unanswered and is likely to spark future legal battles over gay rights.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Jun 27, 2015

Landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizes gay marriage nationwide

The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the U.S. Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry, handing a historic triumph to the American gay rights movement.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 26, 2015

Deconstructing GOP candidate Donald Trump

Donald Trump's announcement of his candidacy for the U.S. presidency is a testament to the vagaries of the capitalist system and the unpredictable turns of history.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 26, 2015

Allegedly entering from Turkey, Islamic State attacks Kurds in Kobani, Syrian forces in north

Islamic State fighters have launched simultaneous attacks against Syrian government and Kurdish militia forces, moving back onto the offensive after losing ground in recent days to Kurdish-led forces near the capital of their caliphate.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 24, 2015

'Selma' director Ava DuVernay unveils women activists of civil rights era

A filmmaker needs more than directing skills to make it in the big league, and an activist needs more than a political agenda to change the world. Ava DuVernay brings this point home in "Selma," the first major motion picture portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 23, 2015

Why the pope cares about the Earth

By invoking St. Francis in his encyclical on the environment, the pope calls us to remember the fundamental interdependence of all life.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 23, 2015

U.S. and China to seek patch of common ground as key talks begin

The U.S. and China will have no trouble filling the agenda as they meet this week for their seventh Strategic and Economic Dialogue. The challenge will be finding topics on which they can agree.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 23, 2015

Girls with bombs kill 30 at Nigeria mosque; jihadis feared detonating abductees remotely

Two girls blew themselves up on Monday near a crowded mosque in northeast Nigeria's biggest city, killing about 30 people, witnesses said.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 21, 2015

Time for the European Union to let Greece go

The world, which owes much to ancient Athens' legacy, including the idea of democracy, is indebted to today's Athens for the reminder that reality does not respect a democracy's delusions.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 21, 2015

Residents of South Carolina town once home to Charleston shooting suspect say they are not like him

At Dooley's Bait shop in Lexington, South Carolina, the talk around the worm bins and minnow tanks was dominated by one subject: Dylann Roof, a previously unremarkable local young man now accused of one of most shocking murders in state history.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 20, 2015

Tabloids revel in South Korea's MERS misery

Schadenfreude, a word of German derivation, is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as "a feeling of enjoyment that comes from seeing or hearing about the troubles of other people." A more succinct definition would be "malicious glee."
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jun 20, 2015

Can #socialmedia boost music sales in Japan?

Last week, Line Corp.'s, the operators of Japan's most popular messaging app, launched an in-app music streaming service called Line Music. Japan is the second-largest music market in the world after the United States, but its consumers have so far been global outliers, clinging to physical products...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2015

Can the BRICS fulfill their former promise?

The ability of the BRICS countries to develop institutions that support greater economic freedom, with more reliance on market competition and less on government, will likely be the main determinant of their long-term success.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2015

Russia's totalitarianism 2.0

The Putin regime's approach can best be described as 'hybrid totalitarianism.'
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 18, 2015

Hong Kong vetoes China-backed electoral reform proposal

Hong Kong's legislature on Thursday vetoed a China-vetted electoral reform package that had been criticized by opposition prodemocracy lawmakers and activists as undemocratic, potentially easing the prospect of fresh mass protests.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Jun 17, 2015

A mother's ordeal, passed down as an anti-war lesson

A daughter stays true to the anti-war message left in her mother's harrowing account of the Battle of Okinawa.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jun 17, 2015

Eight new MERS cases in South Korea; 20th patient dies

South Korea on Wednesday reported eight new cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), while another person infected with the virus died, health officials said, bringing to 20 the number of fatalities in the outbreak that began last month.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers