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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 27, 2014

Abe vows to get more women into workforce after dismal global ranking

The prime minister told an audience of female business executives that he is committed to boosting the number of women in the workforce in a bid to help Japan's ailing economy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 26, 2014

Spousal tax break targeted to get wives out of house

The government is considering cutting a tax benefit that critics say deters wives from seeking full-time employment, as part of efforts to spur the economy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 26, 2014

World Cup 2014 views from Tokyo: Nigeria, Ecuador and Mexico

A Nigerian student, an Ecuadorean diplomat and a self-employed Mexican in Tokyo discuss their national teams' chances in Brazil.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
May 25, 2014

Japanese low-cost carriers hit hard by pilot shortage

Japan is going to have to compete with other countries for airline pilots.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
May 23, 2014

Motel owner provides rooms to the roaming

Makoto Kai, 62, is the founder and CEO of Hatagoya Co., which operates Japan's only motel chain. Kai, an avid biker, started the business in 1994 out of frustration with the lack of comfortable and inexpensive accommodation across the Japanese countryside. After traveling around the United States and...
JAPAN / Politics
May 22, 2014

Komeito to LDP: Self-defense not same as collective defense

The Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito remain at odds as the ruling coalition debates the contentious proposal to revamp defense policy by reinterpreting the Constitution.
JAPAN / Politics
May 22, 2014

With wary eye on China, SDF drill simulates retaking of island

Japanese land, sea and air forces combined to simulate the recapture of a remote island on Thursday, a small drill that nonetheless underscores the country's concerns about far-flung territory claimed by China.
JAPAN / Politics
May 22, 2014

Okinawa mayor invokes red tape, dugong deaths to stop U.S. base

Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine acknowledges his failure so far to prevent the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to ecologically sensitive land in his city.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 21, 2014

Retailers scrambling to empty fat foreign wallets

In graying Japan, retailers are waking up to a hot new demographic: foreign visitors.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 21, 2014

World Cup 2014 views from Tokyo: Bosnia, Switzerland and Italy

A Bosnian teacher, Swiss student and Italian businessman weigh up their teams' prospects in next month's FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
JAPAN / Politics
May 19, 2014

Concerns grow in ruling coalition as debate over Article 9 begins

Ruling coalition lawmakers voice concerns about reinterpreting Article 9 in the name of collective self-defense on the eve of a long debate on the matter.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 19, 2014

From Fukushima to Syria, CWAJ supports scholars

The College Women's Association of Japan awards a variety of annual scholarships in higher education, backing, among others, women from abroad studying in Japan and Japanese women getting an education overseas.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 18, 2014

Translating movie titles into Japanese can get a bit wairudo

For one of my classes recently, I needed to get the Japanese movie version of Harper Lee's classic novel "To Kill a Mockingbird." When I looked for it on Amazon Japan, I was a little confused because they didn't seem to have it. Instead they kept offering me a DVD titled "Arabama monogatari" (「アラバマ物語」)....
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 17, 2014

Foreign fans revel in ballpark fun

A beat writer for one of the Japanese papers called the other day and said, "I am seeing a lot of foreign fans at Japanese baseball games recently. What's going on?"
JAPAN
May 16, 2014

Population fixes have anti-foreign bias, official says

The government is in denial over Japan's looming demographic disaster and adopting unrealistic solutions to keep immigrants at arm's length, a former senior immigration official reveals.
JAPAN
May 13, 2014

Abe to get Article 9 proposals Thursday

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Article 9 panel will propose its conditions for using collective self-defense under a reinterpreted Constitution on Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 13, 2014

Pachinko parlors face taxing times

Moves toward legalizing casinos in Japan have reignited a debate over the legal status of pachinko, with a potential new tax mooted for a $200 billion gaming industry that has existed for decades on the fringes of the law.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
May 13, 2014

Message themes woven into songs by J-pop's Hart

Chris Hart's appearance on "Kohaku Uta Gassen," NHK's annual New Year's Eve music extravaganza last December, "became one of the two most memorable stages (of his career) so far," he said in a recent interview.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 11, 2014

Constitution revision vital: Abe adviser

The idea that Japan can improve its security without dropping a long-standing ban on aiding friendly countries under attack is a miracle that just won't happen, the acting head of an advisory panel to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / SYMPOSIUM ON SOUTH KOREA
May 11, 2014

S. Korea's economy and the elderly

The South Korean economy has shown positive signs recently, but prospects may not be so bright due to the increasing costs of handling an aging society, five South Korean think tank researchers met at a recent symposium in Tokyo to discuss issues facing South Korea.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 10, 2014

Rhododendrons, azaleas: blooming marvels of the plant world

Nothing tops turning a corner on a trail and encountering a sudden splash of pink, red or gold amongst the greenery.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 10, 2014

Convenience stores give our nation pride

Japan's prime minister is an unabashed patriot, as outspoken in his love for his country as in his desire to instill that love in his compatriots. Are his compatriots receptive? Opinion polls on attitudes toward pending revisions of long-standing interpretations of the pacifist Constitution, prologue...
Reader Mail
May 10, 2014

Deniers won't let war wounds heal

Regarding Koichi Katsuta's May 8 letter, "Fictions aimed at milking Japan": Nationalists like Katsuta love to claim that Japan was the victim nation in World War II and that [claims of atrocities] were all lies to hurt Japan. He says the use of the term "sex slave" is incorrect, because no women were...
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
May 9, 2014

Manga becomes a major draw at Toronto Comic Arts Festival

The 11th annual Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) kicks off May 10. As its title suggests, it's less a fan-focused pop convention than a platform for comics and graphic novels as art, and for the artists who create them. It has also emerged as a great friend to manga over the past few years.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?