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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 4, 2015

Tomy, Docomo unveil conversational robot toy

Tomy Co. on Thursday introduced a conversation robot jointly developed with NTT Docomo Inc. that it claims can hold "natural" conversations with people.
EDITORIALS
Jun 4, 2015

Russia cracks down again on NGOs

Russian President Vladimir Putin's latest crackdown on NGOs is just one more attempt to silence any opposition to his rule.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 4, 2015

Myanmar tells women when to have babies

If mother of two Sandar Myat Min chooses to have another child, Myanmar's government could decide when she can become pregnant.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 4, 2015

'Pyonghattan': Unofficial economy brews up bling for North Korea's growing middle class

Nail salons, massage parlors, cafes and other signs of consumerism were unheard of in rigidly controlled North Korea just a few years ago, but they are slowly emerging in one of the world's last bastions of Cold War socialism.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 4, 2015

Kin breach police cordon, head toward Yangtze shipwreck site as survivor hopes fade

Dozens of people broke through a police cordon on Wednesday as they marched toward the site of a sunken cruise ship in the Yangtze River to demand news of missing relatives.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 3, 2015

Japan beefs up measures in bid to pre-empt arrival of deadly MERS virus

The central government is strengthening measures to minimize any potential impact from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) within its borders, amid an outbreak in neighboring South Korea that had claimed the lives of at least two people as of Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 3, 2015

Stop ducking security bill questions

The Abe administration is doing everything it can to avoid getting pinned down on the details of its security legislation — to the detriment of public understanding.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 3, 2015

Fix fundamental TPP flaws to fit 21st century

The TPP is fatally flawed, and would allow big corporations to run roughshod over national regulations, flattening workers and family farmers alike.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jun 3, 2015

Festival of off-center European films comes to Tokyo and Kyoto

One of the main goals of a film festival is to show movies that audiences won't get to see otherwise. For the festival operators there's another objective: testing reactions to films and stories, and using that information for marketing purposes. And with the number of film festivals being held in Japan...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 3, 2015

Pink pill: First female libido drug awaits U.S. OK as safety, merits face scrutiny

The safety of an experimental pill to treat low sexual desire in women, potentially the first of its kind in the U.S., is under scrutiny as regulators raised concerns the drug can act as a sedative and cause fainting.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 3, 2015

Kin press Congress to gain release of Americans held by Iran

Relatives of four Americans missing or detained in Iran told Congress on Tuesday of milestones missed — weddings, graduations, birth of grandchildren — and asked U.S. officials to push for their release in negotiations with Tehran on a nuclear deal.
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2015

Japan tops China as world's biggest lender for coal, study says

Japan and China lent more than $35 billion to finance coal power in the eight years through the end of 2014, according to environmental groups in a study that urged countries to stop supporting the fuel.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Jun 1, 2015

Zuibun is more useful than you could have possibly imagined

Today we will introduce some uses of the adverb 'zuibun,' which is used when the speaker wants to say that the degree of something is higher than they were expecting.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2015

METI considers 'kimono day' to revive industry, cash in on tourism

Sometime next year, expect to see colorful kimono-clad commuters winding their way through the morning rush hour in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki Station, the main hub for government workers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jun 1, 2015

Home for aging guide dogs, owners in works

The Chubu Guide Dog for the Blind Association based in Nagoya is working to build the nation's first intensive care nursing home where elderly people and retired guide dogs can live together.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 1, 2015

Syrian barrel bomb raid believed killed dozens of civilians; U.N. slams attack, ups toll

A Syrian air force raid killed at least 59 civilians at a market in a town held by Islamic State militants in northern Syria on Saturday, according to a monitoring group.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 1, 2015

Myanmar navy holds migrant boat in limbo, blocks journalists from gaining access

Myanmar's navy briefly detained and turned back journalists on Sunday near a migrant boat being held off the country's southern coast, according to Reuters witnesses, as officials remained guarded over what would be done with the people on board.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 31, 2015

Islamic State group blows up empty prison complex in Syria's Palmyra

The Islamic State group blew up a major prison complex in the central Syrian city of Palmyra on Saturday, according to a group monitoring the war, destroying an important symbol of government control in the jihadi-held city.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
May 31, 2015

Creature comforts: a cat named Rosabaya

Some of the best times come in the company of coffee, chocolate or wine, and for those who can relate, Rosabaya may be the cat for you.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 31, 2015

U.S. police have shot dead 385 people in five months

U.S. police have shot and killed 385 people during the first five months of this year, a rate of more than two a day, the Washington Post reported Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
May 30, 2015

'Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings' reveals intricacies of Edo Period architecture and interiors

"Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings" was first published in 1886, less than two decades after the Meiji Restoration, a time when Japan reopened itself to the world. But the same openness that allowed Morse to document Japanese architecture as a living tradition would soon transform the urban landscape...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
May 30, 2015

Life inside a juvenile correction center

Young offenders are encouraged to acknowledge the crimes they have committed before learning how to survive in the outside world after their release.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 30, 2015

Is nicotine addiction bad for your health?

Since he ditched Marlboro Lights five years ago, Daniel's fix is fruit-flavored nicotine gum that comes in neat, pop-out strips. He gets through 12 to 15 pieces a day and says he has "packets of the stuff" stashed all over. But he doesn't see himself as a nicotine addict.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
May 29, 2015

Prefontaine's legacy still growing 40 years after death

'I'm not afraid of losing. But if I do, I want it to be a good race. I'm an artist, a performer. I want people to appreciate the way I run.' — Steve Prefontaine

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan