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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech / ADVANCES IN PROGRESS
Jul 13, 2015

Major players are bringing voice assistant tech to the fore

In sci-fi movies, it's common to see a character having spontaneous conversations with robots and humanoids, like C-3PO of "Star Wars" fame.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 13, 2015

Pope heads home to Rome after urging youth in Paraguay to help their peers, seek dignity

Pope Francis, drawing to a close his three-country tour of South America, on Sunday urged tens of thousands of youths in Paraguay to look after their less fortunate peers and fight for a dignified life filled with hope and strength.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 11, 2015

Dark humor won't shield us for much longer

'I hope," read an email from a colleague boarding an Osaka-bound shinkansen in Tokyo last week, "nobody sets himself on fire."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 11, 2015

Steve Spencer Baker: 'No one in their right mind gets on a frantic elevator'

Freelance company director on science fiction, social media and early incarnations of Simply Red
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 11, 2015

European heat waves 'boosted by climate change'

As Germany and Spain sweated and London sweltered through its hottest July day on record in the first week of this month, scientists said it is "virtually certain" that climate change is increasing the likelihood of such heat waves in Europe.
SOCCER
Jul 11, 2015

Schweinsteiger reaches agreement to join Manchester United

Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has agreed to join English Premier League side Manchester United from Bayern Munich, the Bundesliga champions' chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said on Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jul 10, 2015

'Gotham' gives TV audiences a glimpse of the man before the mask

Comic book fans in Japan may think they've seen every version of "Batman" to date, but actors Ben McKenzie and Sean Pertwee — stars of the new Batman-oriented TV series "Gotham" — believe there's still a "bumpy ride" to be had.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 10, 2015

World's top chefs swap lives and restaurants for a day

Afternoon turns to evening in Tokyo's plush Aoyama district. At Narisawa, one of the city's finest contemporary French restaurants, the final preparations are being made for dinner service. There is both tension and anticipation in the air as the first customers arrive.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Jul 10, 2015

Orderly 'Grexit' poses a puzzle for lawyers

A "Grexit" on Sunday? Not so fast, say the lawyers.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 10, 2015

Global warming shrinking presence of vital bumblebees in Northern Hemisphere

Global warming is shrinking the terrain where bumblebees live in North America and Europe, with these vital pollinators departing the southernmost and hottest parts of their ranges while failing to move north into cooler climes, scientists say.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 9, 2015

Repairing Japan-China ties

Are the domestic politics of Japan and China antithetical to continued peace between Asia's leading powers?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2015

Obama's new Iraq strategy: don't lose Baghdad

Rather than seek the defeat of Islamic State, Obama will limit U.S. military involvement in Iraq to a level sufficient to keep the militant group from taking Baghdad while he's in office.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 9, 2015

Tackling the Bard's world in one go: Kuranosuke Sasaki teams up with director Andrew Goldberg for a one-man 'Macbeth'

With a piercing yell, Kuranosuke Sasaki bursts out of the rehearsal studio, his hands covered in (fake) blood. Then seeing me, he smiles and says, "Sorry to keep you waiting" — before returning to intensive preparations with American director Andrew Goldberg for his starring role in their one-man "Macbeth,"...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 9, 2015

Drought-hit Thai farmers struggling as subsidies, like paddies, look to dry up amid water curbs

Rice farmer Boontham Chei-pa switches on a water pump in the evenings to irrigate his parched field from a canal in Thailand's central province of Suphanburi. The soil is hardly moistened before the motor is switched off.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2015

Residence card swap deadline brings crowds to immigration centers

Foreign residents have been flocking to immigration centers in a last-minute rush to replace now-defunct certificates of alien registration with new residence cards.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2015

Saving Tibet's unique heritage

With China's mega-dams, mines and military activities in Tibet set to increasingly affect Asia's environment and security, the world's leading democracies must consider playing a discreet role to help save the Tibetan plateau's unique heritage from becoming extinct.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2015

What now for Greece, euro?

Most Greeks know the current approach isn't working, that's why they voted against a third bailout.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2015

China's bull market in conspiracy theories

China's financial world has officially entered the paranoia zone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 7, 2015

'Motion Science' sways toward kids

There is a bit of a Renaissance feel to "Motion Science" at 21_21 Design Sight. Consciously compounding science, technology, art and design for the greater good of promoting curiosity and discovery in general, the exhibition is targeted at children and students. Automated devices and installations whirl,...
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Jul 6, 2015

Life gets more beautiful when you know how to use 'kirei'

Kireina Tanabata kazari-ga dekita (We've done well decorating our bamboo tree.)
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Jul 6, 2015

Let's discuss changing child care laws

This week's featured article
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2015

Failure of new U.S. weapons systems may be more than science fiction

There is a belief that the U.S. and China will never go to war because they are economically interdependent. But a closer look at history should worry everyone.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jul 5, 2015

Japan using robots as fix for labor, growth woes

Factory worker Satomi Iwata has new coworkers, a troupe of humanoid automata that are helping to address two of Japan's most pressing concerns — a shortage of labor and a need for growth.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jul 5, 2015

Thai sex shops, street bars survive graft crackdown; some call it a junta show

Fern's cocktail bar appears each night on a sidewalk between a group of scantily clad women from the go-go club next door and a noodle stall near one of Bangkok's infamous red-light districts. By morning it has vanished.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 4, 2015

Female chefs give sushi a new lease on life

A chef dressed in white stands behind the immaculate counter of a sushi restaurant with a vast array of raw seafood spread out in front of her. It sounds like a typical scene you might find at any sushi restaurant in Japan ... except in this case the chef is female.

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