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JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 21, 2014

Selective consumption tax weighed

It's only been three months since the consumption tax was hiked to 8 percent, but the ruling coalition is already expediting talks on another increase scheduled to come into effect in October next year.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2014

The real victims of U.S. sanctions on Myanmar

Myanmar's opening attracted much interest not only from Asian neighbors but also from those in the West that once considered the country a pariah.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 21, 2014

Bosnia buries 284 war victims unearthed from gruesome death pit

The remains of 284 victims of the Bosnian war were laid to rest on Sunday having been unearthed from what is believed to be the largest mass grave of Europe's worst conflict since World War Two.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jul 20, 2014

Malaysia Airlines may face global legal claims

Malaysia Airlines may need to convince judges from several countries that it was not negligent to send a plane over war-torn eastern Ukraine if the airline hopes to avoid an outsize legal exposure for the downing of Flight MH17, aviation lawyers said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Jul 20, 2014

NPO chief builds a barrier-free world for the disabled and disadvantaged

The founder of two nonprofit organizations in Japan working across Asia, Michiyo Yoshida has become an expert on international philanthropy, teaching courses on NPOs at universities in Sapporo and traveling all over the nation to counsel others.
EDITORIALS
Jul 20, 2014

Godzilla's message still relevant

Ahead of the first run of the latest, Hollywood-produced version of 'Godzilla,' the digitally remastered edition of the original 1954 movie has been making the rounds at theaters across the country to mark the 60th anniversary of the birth of the pop culture icon. After some 30 sequels, Godzilla's message remains relevant today.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2014

Big budget F-35 fighter 'can't turn, can't climb, can't run'

The U.S. military recently grounded all of its new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters after one caught fire on a runway. There is reason to worry that basic design flaws vex what is on track to become the military's most numerous warplane.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2014

Few biting so far on special visa for workers

Indefinite stay, ramped-up privileges so far failing to attract highly skilled foreign workers said to be key to the nation's economic revival.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / OLYMPIC NOTEBOOK
Jul 19, 2014

New sports center symbol of Haiti's recovery

Haiti's recovery from the 2010 earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation is a slow, difficult process.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 19, 2014

The murky call on a hardball interview with Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga

The tabloid press plays fast and loose with the truth, so anyone who gobbled up last week's NHK story in the weekly Friday should have added a dash of salt. An unnamed employee told Friday that the prime minister's office demanded the public broadcaster apologize for questions asked in its interview...
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Jul 19, 2014

Time for legislation to prevent spread of hate speech

On July 8, the Osaka High Court ruled that, yes, standing in front of a primary school while kids are in class, shouting through a megaphone that they and their parents are not human, and then vandalizing the school's property, is legal discrimination.
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2014

More needed than NRA safety nod

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority has effectively given the green light for restarting an idled Kyushu Electric nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture under safety standards updated a year ago. After a period of public comment and local government approvals, two reactors of the plant, in the city of Satsumasendai, could restart by yearend.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2014

The real shale revolution

It was the mastery of horizontal drilling around 1990 — originally for oil rather than gas exploration — that lit the long fuse for the so-called shale revolution that erupted 15 years later.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jul 18, 2014

Magazine draws attention to small firms' products overseas

Young owners of small and midsize businesses from Chubu and other regions are publishing their own English magazine, Indexrights, to market their products abroad.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2014

Female workers may finally get foothold

When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe showed up last Sunday for the 19th International Conference for Women in Business, Kaori Sasaki — who has been organizing the gathering to empower women since 1996 — finally felt that society was changing.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 17, 2014

Time Warner win would make Murdoch U.S. media king

Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. made an audacious offer for Time Warner Inc. that, if it succeeds, would transform the American media landscape and cement the 83-year-old's status as the most powerful magnate in U.S. media and entertainment.
Reader Mail
Jul 16, 2014

Biggest responsibility for adults

I read with interest Hitomi Nagahashi's July 10 letter, "English for third graders lagging." I agree completely with Nagahashi's statements that "English education is not just about words and grammar" and that English education "at an earlier age is key to globalizing Japan."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 16, 2014

Europe rewards edgy dramatists

Tim Etchells, artistic director of Forced Entertainment, the English company whose "The Coming Storm" was a highlight of last year's Festival/Tokyo, told me then that they now play abroad more than at home — mainly because festival organizers pay their costs. In contrast, producers are loathe to take...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2014

Young artists grow through international exchange

Japanese and foreign high school students had the honor of winning prestigious awards at a ceremony for the 15th International High School Arts Festival at a Tokyo hotel July 5.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 16, 2014

Hong Kong leader says city must abide by strict Chinese election rules

Hong Kong's leader told Beijing on Tuesday that the city's residents wanted a full election in 2017, but said the financial hub would have to abide by the restrictive framework set down by China's communist authorities.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2014

Data leak highlights shortcomings

The massive data leak of private information on millions of Benesse Holdings customers has highlighted Japanese firms' inadequate security measures, revealing just how easily data can be taken outside of an organization by employees.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2014

Why capturing CO2 emissions remains frustratingly expensive

Deploying carbon caputure and storage technology will be essential if the rise in average global temperatures is to be limited to no more than 2 degrees Celsius by the middle of the century. Yet CCS remains frustratingly expensive.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 14, 2014

Minesweeping in Mideast 'OK under changes'

The Cabinet's recent decision to reinterpret the pacifist Constitution means that Japan would be allowed to engage in a minesweeping operation in the Strait of Hormuz even without a cease-fire in place, as long as three self-imposed legal conditions would be met, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tells a special Diet session.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 14, 2014

Will rice cookers save the Japanese home electronics industry?

The Chinese have discovered Japanese rice, and it could be a big deal.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2014

Squeezing the friendly fire out of ol' King Coal

There is no way to meet growing global demand for electricity that does not rely on large amounts of coal-fired power generation for the foreseeable future. The challenge is to burn coal more cleanly, producing more electricity with fewer emissions of CO2 and other harmful pollutants.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 12, 2014

'Bone-house wasp' builds nest with ant corpses

Here's some useful advice for the world's ants: Whatever you do, stay away from the "bone-house wasp."
CULTURE / Music
Jul 12, 2014

Bump of Chicken to make a return to TV

Rock act Bump Of Chicken has announced it will perform live on the small screen for the first time since its major debut in 2000.

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