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EDITORIALS
Jul 6, 2017

Apple's iPhone turns 10

The iPhone has changed the world, transforming the lives of billions of people around the world and facilitating a social and economic transition that is still underway.
Japan Times
JAPAN / HONG KONG SAR ANNIVERVERSARY
Jul 2, 2017

Abundant flora and fauna await visitors

With the popular image of Hong Kong being one of a bustling metropolis forested with skyscrapers, visitors to the city would be pleasantly surprised to discover the green side of Hong Kong. About 40 percent of Hong Kong is designated as country parks and special areas, where people enjoy this lesser-known...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2017

Global cyberattack just a cover for malware installation in Ukraine computer infrastructure: police official

The primary target of a crippling computer virus that spread from Ukraine across the world this week is highly likely to have been that country's computer infrastructure, a top Ukrainian police official told Reuters on Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2017

Despite weak spots in steel, nuclear experts say EDF's Flamanville reactor safe to start: sources

Utility EDF's Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor in northwest France has been cleared by a group of experts for start-up despite weak spots in its steel, confirming the findings of the ASN nuclear regulator, a source close to the situation told Reuters.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 28, 2017

Philippines says beheaded civilians found in rebel-held town

Five decapitated civilians were found in a Philippine city occupied by Islamist rebels on Wednesday, the military said, warning the number of residents killed by rebel "atrocities" could rise sharply as troops retake more ground.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 27, 2017

The scope of cultural displacement

Mercedes Benz Art Scope is an exchange program that allows Japanese artists to spend time in Germany and German artists to visit Japan. The Hara Museum of Contemporary Art has been a partner in this project since 2003, and in this year's group show, Stuttgart-based artist Menja Stevenson and Tama Art...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / CULTURE SMASH
Jun 25, 2017

Director Sunao Katabuchi shares his corner of this world

Last summer saw the release of what would become the highest grossing Japanese animation film to date, Makoto Shinkai's "Your Name.," which was also the country's top box-office draw of 2016. The surprise hit's main characters are a pair of body-swapping teenagers. A survey conducted by the Fields Research...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 25, 2017

British lawmakers hit by sustained cyberattack

Britain's Parliament was hit by a "sustained and determined" cyberattack on Saturday designed to identify weak email passwords, just over a month after a ransomware worm crippled parts of the country's health service.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 21, 2017

Article 9 revision justifying SDF under review by LDP

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party kicked off deliberations among rank-and-file lawmakers Wednesday over a revision proposed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / A MATTER OF HEALTH
Jun 21, 2017

Japanese researchers collect first-person accounts of experiences with disease

When you have a health problem, there's a story that only you — not your doctor or family — can tell.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 17, 2017

Reddit's rumored fundraising may value startup at $1.7 billion

Reddit is one of the few relics of the mid-2000s internet that has not only survived but thrived in recent years. Now venture capitalists are giving a major boost to the link-sharing website, with funding that will give the company a valuation of about $1.7 billion, two people familiar with the matter...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 17, 2017

'In the Woods of Memory': Okinawan novelist makes history visceral

It is almost impossible to find a serious novel that does not touch on the subject of death. "In the Woods of Memory," taking for its theme the death of the soul, is no exception.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 16, 2017

Officials deny remarks attributed to them in Kake papers

Two senior government officials deny making the smoking-gun remarks linked to them in the Kake Gakuen document leak, pitting the education ministry against Prime Minister Abe's Cabinet.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 15, 2017

Education ministry says Kake papers exist after follow-up probe, dealing a blow to Abe's Cabinet

Education minister Hirokazu Matsuno said Thursday that the ministry has found digital copies of 14 of 19 documents related to the Kake Gakuen scandal, including those suggesting the Cabinet Office pressured the ministry to approve a university project citing "the intent" of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe....
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 5, 2017

Ban treaty offers chance for a world free of nuclear arms

Nearly 130 states are participating in U.N. negotiations to prohibit nuclear weapons, but nuclear-weapons states and nuclear-dependent states, including Japan, are not among their number.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Jun 3, 2017

Takashi Miyazaki: Food ambassador to Ireland

Chef Takashi Miyazaki has a Cork accent.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
May 31, 2017

Takayasu's rise built on solid family support

When yokozuna Hakuho was interviewed ringside on Sunday, after wrapping up his first title in a year, he congratulated the people of the Philippines on the imminent promotion of Takayasu to ozeki. It was a nice nod to the Taganoura stable man's mother, who hails from an island in the south of the country....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 30, 2017

A Leiter shade of New York

Mix up Miles Davis, some French post-impressionism, Max Ernst, haiku by Matsuo Basho, experimental scores of Morton Feldman, Cubism, Utamaro shunga (erotic art) and Hokusai ukiyo-e, plus some Norman Rockwell, Mark Rothko and Franz Kline. Steep for 60-odd years. Saul Leiter's work is all that, but also...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 27, 2017

Magazine snares rival 'scoop thief' red-handed

In its May 25 issue, Shukan Shincho set pens a-pushing and tongues a-wagging throughout the nation by accusing rival weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun of engaging in sneaky schemes to steal its thunder.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 25, 2017

Russians reportedly discussed how to influence Trump via his aides

Senior Russian intelligence and political officials discussed how to influence Donald Trump through his advisers, according to information gathered by American spies last summer, The New York Times reported on Wednesday,
WORLD
May 24, 2017

U.S. appeals court rules in favor of Wikipedia's right to challenge NSA surveillance

A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a Wikipedia lawsuit that challenges a U.S. National Security Agency program of mass online surveillance, and claims that the government unconstitutionally invades people's privacy rights.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 22, 2017

Olympic mascot contest to start in August with over ¥1 million in prize money

The contest to design the official mascot for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will kick off in August, and Japan's schoolchildren will pick the winner.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 20, 2017

'Another Kyoto': Alex Kerr's roving thoughts on Kyoto as it stands today

It appears that when the Japanologist Alex Kerr was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, his tutors despaired at his unorthodox use of his time there, with one particularly testy don complaining, "He researches only the ephemera that draw his interest," going on to rail against Kerr's fascination with "superstitions,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
May 13, 2017

Designer Yuri Suzuki chases his dreams through sound

As a boy in the 1980s, Yuri Suzuki fell under the spell of video games and his father's record collection. The family home was in bustling Shibuya Ward, near the border with Shinjuku, and the influence of global cultures within its walls was strong.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 13, 2017

'The Ryukyu Kingdom: Cornerstone of East Asia': A look at Okinawa's distant past

On May 15, Japan will mark the 45th anniversary of the return of Okinawa. For 27 years prior, the U.S. administered the islands, a continuous period of occupation that began after the Battle of Okinawa in June 1945. This makes the new translation of Mamoru Akamine's 'The Ryukyu Kingdom: Cornerstone of East Asia' both welcome and timely.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past