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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Aug 26, 2014

Afghan-born doctor keeps adopted Japan city healthy while still helping his native land

Since his first year of medical training at the Kyoto University-affiliated Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Afghanistan-born Khaled Reshad has worked harder than others to gain Japanese patients' trust.
EDITORIALS
Aug 25, 2014

Difficult time for pensioners

Pensioners' lives are likely to become even more severe in fiscal 2015 as scheduled increases in pension payments track lower than the rise in general prices.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 25, 2014

Arming yourself with the legal system's greatest weapon

For American lawyers accustomed to struggling with massive walls of law books and expensive database services, one of the great things about Japanese law is that it is so compact and accessible.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 24, 2014

U.S. National Zoo puts on birthday bash for panda cub Bao Bao

A rambunctious panda bear cub celebrated a rare first birthday with a special cake and traditional Chinese gifts at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington on Saturday.
WORLD / Society
Aug 24, 2014

U.K. Muslims lash out at 'jihadi cool' after beheading

A British Muslim leader has called for action to tackle a jihadi subculture after an Islamic State video showed a suspected Briton beheading U.S. journalist James Foley in Syria.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 23, 2014

Criminal notoriety for the sake of fame

Hirofumi Watanabe, the man convicted Thursday of threatening publishers, stores, universities and basically anyone or anything that had something to do with the popular manga "Kuroko no Basuke (Kuroko's Basketball)," has enjoyed a peculiar sort of celebrity since he was arrested in December. Prior to...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 23, 2014

Masks

Born in the late Meiji Era (1868-1912), Fumiko Enchi was not simply the peer, but the equal of writers in the order of Naoya Shiga and Jiro Osaragi. There was praise for her work from such authors as Junichiro Tanizaki and Yasunari Kawabata, towering figures in Japanese literature. Enchi, in other words,...
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 23, 2014

U.S. says Russia must pull convoy from Ukraine or face more sanctions

The United States on Friday demanded Moscow remove an aid convoy it has sent into rebel-held eastern Ukraine without permission, accusing Russia of a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of its former Soviet neighbor and threatening more sanctions.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 22, 2014

Polarizing Abe learns the long game

Shinzo Abe is one of Japan's most polarizing prime ministers in decades. He may also have a good shot at becoming that rarity in Japanese politics — a long-serving leader.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Aug 22, 2014

NATO's new challenge: 'ambiguous warfare'

Since Russia's annexation of Crimea in March, NATO has been publicly refocusing on its old Cold War foe, Moscow. The threats it now believes it faces, however, are distinctly different from those of the latter half of the 20th century.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 22, 2014

National Guard to withdraw from riot-torn Ferguson as tensions ease

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon ordered the withdrawal on Thursday of National Guard troops from riot-torn Ferguson, where tensions have eased after sometimes violent protests were staged nightly since police killed an unarmed black teenager.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 21, 2014

Sukiyaki Meets the World ... and the world gets to meet Toyama

In June of 1963, Kyu Sakamoto's "Ue wo Muite Aruko" — better known as "Sukiyaki" overseas — became Japan's first, and only, No. 1 hit single in the United States.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Aug 21, 2014

Chef brings Italian steak to Tokyo; drinking in Tokyo night views

Chef brings Italian steak to Tokyo
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 21, 2014

In case of slain journalist Foley, negotiations, silence — then a chilling warning

After months of silence from the captors of American journalist James Foley, his family received a chilling message on the night of Aug. 13: Foley would be executed in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes on the militant group Islamic State.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 20, 2014

In the ethnographic realm of the senses: An interview with Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor

You may think you know what a documentary film is — "Life as it is," as Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov once put it — but you probably haven't seen any documentaries like the ones being produced by the filmmakers at Harvard University's experimental Sensory Ethnography Lab.
WORLD
Aug 20, 2014

Scene of fighting, grandiose Mosul Dam always beset with problems, threat of collapse

The Mosul Dam was always meant to be a symbol of Iraq's grandiose ambition to escape poverty and underdevelopment.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 19, 2014

Old and new mingle sweetly at Summer Sonic

After Queen finished "Another One Bites The Dust" — 10 minutes before 8 p.m. on the Sunday of this year's Summer Sonic in Chiba — hundreds of fans darted for the exits of QVC Marine Field Stadium. Security guards and staff with megaphones tried to direct them as some dashed to the left for Kraftwerk,...
WORLD
Aug 19, 2014

Renegade Libyan general claims airstrikes on Tripoli

Renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar's air force was responsible for strikes on Islamist-leaning militia in Tripoli on Monday, one of his commanders said, after weeks of fighting for the capital in Libya's worst violence since Moammar Gadhafi was toppled in 2011.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Aug 19, 2014

As Taliban push for territory quickens, Afghan troops get new kill orders

As U.S. forces withdraw from Afghanistan, the battlefield they leave behind is changing dramatically and becoming more deadly.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 19, 2014

Obama sending Holder to Ferguson; National Guard deploys

President Barack Obama said he has dispatched Attorney General Eric Holder to meet with federal and local authorities in Ferguson, Missouri, where the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by police has sparked days of protests and violence.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 18, 2014

A rational conversation on whaling

On both sides of the Japanese whaling debate, there is a pressing need for critical reflection on the logic used and the realities presumed.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2014

Mt. Gox insider's Kraken exchange to open in Japan next month

Jesse Powell knew Mt. Gox was not long for this world more than two years before the once-dominant bitcoin exchange went bankrupt in February.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Aug 17, 2014

Could the lingua franca approach to learning break Japan's English curse?

Learning English as a lingua franca (ELF) involves approaching the language as a tongue shared by non-native speakers around the world rather than as a lingo that must be mastered to native-speaker level.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 16, 2014

What kind of life could live in the clouds?

Do you remember seeing clouds from an airplane for the first time? Even if that first time was as an adult, you were probably struck by the appearance of solidity. Seen from above, a cloudscape looks like a landscape — it looks like a place where things might live.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2014

Vodka: market riches after communism's fall

Early on, Russia's Yeltsin government (1991-1999) imposed heavy tariffs on the import of medicines and staples while granting societies of the handicapped and sports clubs the ability to import vodka without tariffs. It marked a new era in the country's economic history.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 15, 2014

Developing countries get lesson in basic health from Japanese schools

Developing countries are studying health measures used in Japanese schools, such as regular body measurements, lunch distribution and the use of school infirmaries, to promote the health of their own schoolchildren.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo