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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / FOCUS
Feb 19, 2018

China's Hui Muslims fear Lunar New Year education ban a sign of further restrictions to come

For some in China's ethnic Hui Muslim minority here, a recent ban on young people engaging in religious education in mosques is an unwelcome interference in how they lead their lives.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 19, 2018

Father who forgave son for family's murder asks Texas to spare his life

A Texas man who survived a deadly domestic attack hatched by his son is pushing the state to grant clemency to the condemned man, although it has never spared a death-row inmate solely at the formal request of the victim's family.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Feb 18, 2018

Washi workshop: Good on paper, better firsthand

"Mummy, where does paper come from?" This was a question recently asked by my young daughter that was easier to answer than her usual string of whats and whys ("Do insects cry?" and "Why were we born?" among them).
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2018

Britain's May wins backing for EU security pact, but timing unclear

British Prime Minister Theresa May made her case Saturday for a new security treaty with the EU from next year, winning support from EU and U.S. officials who agreed the issue was too important to risk getting subsumed in broader Brexit negotiations.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 16, 2018

Hackers stole $6 million from Russian bank via SWIFT system, central bank says

Unknown hackers stole 339.5 million roubles ($6 million) from a Russian bank last year in an attack using the SWIFT international payments messaging system, the Russian central bank said on Friday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 16, 2018

Fire, ash and a bicycle ride around the volcanic Sakurajima Island

Active Kagoshima Prefecture volcano a hot destination for cycle tourists, best viewed from the safety of Sengan-en, an Edo Period circuit garden.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2018

Volkswagen's monkeys

Could the vehemence of the response to revelations of the carmaker's experiments on the effects of diesel exhaust indicate a tectonic shift in ethical attitudes toward animals?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2018

Education ministry to introduce new compulsory subjects at high schools in Japan

The education ministry released a draft Wednesday of revised curriculum guidelines for high schools, including the introduction of rekishi sōgō (comprehensive history) and kōkyō (public affairs) as new compulsory subjects.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 15, 2018

Terrorism ruled out as trio held after trying to drive onto National Security Agency campus, drawing fire

Three people who tried to drive onto the campus of the U.S. National Security Agency near Washington, drawing gunfire from guards, were taken into custody on Wednesday in an incident the FBI said had no link to terrorism.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2018

2018 elections already 'under attack' by Russia: U.S. intelligence chief

Leaders of U.S. intelligence agencies warned on Tuesday that Russia will try to interfere in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections by using social media to spread propaganda and misleading reports, much as it did in the 2016 campaign.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2018

Yasuaki Shimizu's artful jingles

An effective commercial jingle wedges itself into your brain. There's the incessant repetition of Meow Mix, the harmony of McDonald's "I'm lovin' it" or the youthful chorus of "Biiiku, biku, biku, Bic Camera."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 13, 2018

An excavation of hu-man traits

The excavation of the tomb of the Tang Dynasty general Mu Tai (660-729, buried in 730) took place in Qingcheng County in China's Gansu Province in 2001. Unearthed were colorfully painted and realistically detailed small-scale sculptures of "foreign" peoples and their animals, such as horses and camels,...
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2018

Japan saw record number of refugee applicants in 2017, Justice Ministry says

The ministry attributes the surge to a rise in economic immigrants — what the government calls those who apply for refugee status to land jobs.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2018

For young Japanese seeking romance, beauty is in the eye of the dating app

Japan's millennials are apathetic about romance, and everyone knows it.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 13, 2018

5G is here: Super speed makes worldwide debut at Winter Olympics

The first to experience the future of wireless technology, well before most humans, will be South Korea's wild boars. That's because 5G, the fifth-generation wireless network, is making its worldwide debut at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 12, 2018

The point of sharp power

The view that despotism is incompatible with 'soft power is a popular one. Yet Russia and China are projecting more influence beyond their borders than at any time in recent memory.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Feb 12, 2018

Mie and Gifu take delivery of Mobile Pharmacy vehicles to improve medical provision in the wake of natural disasters

Demonstrations were held last week allowing residents in the city of Tsu, Mie Prefecture, to explore new mobile pharmacy vans delivered to the prefecture at the end of 2017.
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Feb 11, 2018

Kind act sprouts into grass-roots movement to feed kids

Hiroko Kondo is credited with coining the term kodomo shokudō: makeshift eateries for disadvantaged kids that morphed into a national grass-roots movement to address the growth of poverty in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2018

NHK World updates app to issue disaster alerts in English

Tourists and residents in Japan who don't speak Japanese no longer need to be concerned about missing out on earthquake and tsunami alerts.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2018

How soaring U.S. exports to China are transforming the global oil game

Bit by bit, the U.S. petroleum industry is turning world oil markets inside out.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 10, 2018

Did press reports of a lawsuit spur an amendment to the welfare ministry's policy on benefits?

On Jan. 16, the Fukushima District Court ruled in favor of a woman and her daughter who had sued the city of Fukushima for cutting their welfare benefits. When the woman’s daughter was in high school, the woman received a grant scholarship to help her child prepare for university by covering expenses...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 10, 2018

Pyeongchang Olympics organizers probe possible minor cyberattack on games' opening day

Pyeongchang Olympics organizers were looking into a disruption of noncritical systems on the games' opening day but could not yet confirm if it was a cyberattack, spokesman Sung Baik-you said on Saturday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 10, 2018

U.S.-backed Syrian rebels open to handing over two captured 'Beatles' British IS militants

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has not received a request from any foreign government to hand over two British Islamic State militants in its custody, a senior SDF official said Friday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 9, 2018

Fuji Rock takes a turn toward hip-hop in first lineup announcement that includes Kendrick Lamar and N.E.R.D.

Grammy award-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar and hip-hop group N.E.R.D. were among the acts announced Friday morning to appear at this year's Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 9, 2018

Gravediggers say Myanmar forces and Buddhist villagers executed Rohingya after torching their homes

Bound together, the 10 Rohingya captives watched their Buddhist neighbors dig a grave. Soon afterward, on the morning of Sept. 2, all 10 lay dead. At least two were hacked to death by Buddhist villagers. The rest were shot by soldiers, two of the gravediggers said.

Longform

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