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Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
May 13, 2014

Activist seeks to tap power of youth for political change

The world's top economies and financial watchdogs have repeatedly warned Japan to take action against its snowballing debt, but it's the younger generations of Japanese who stand to be most affected by the repercussions as a shrinking and rapidly aging population bleeds social security dry.
EDITORIALS
May 13, 2014

Get serious on interrogation reform

A Justice Ministry legislative proposal for dealing with criminal investigations and trials evades the duty of electronically recording all interrogations of criminal suspects while broadening the range of tools that investigators may use.
JAPAN
May 12, 2014

Journalist now stands by Nanjing book

In a reversal, journalist Henry S. Stokes stands by the revisionist conclusion of his Japanese book that the Nanjing Massacre never occurred, after accusing his translator of right-wing sabotage.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2014

It's a Thai thing: ditching the new for the old

More than almost any other political crisis on the face of the earth today, it is the crisis in Thailand that saddens American columnist Tom Plate.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2014

The mothers against gun violence in America

As the abuse of guns continues to exact a heavy toll on the American population, the group One Million Moms for Gun Control is battling the influence of the gun lobby and its supporters.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 11, 2014

Casino moguls gamble on Japan

Two U.S. billionaires bet on rival cities to be the first to open casino resorts in Japan if the government legalizes gambling.
ENVIRONMENT
May 11, 2014

Waste plant protesters win in China

A government in eastern China will shelve plans to build a huge waste incinerator if it does not have popular support in an apparent victory for protesters who had clashed with police, fearing the plant would be harmful to their health.
COMMENTARY / World
May 11, 2014

Bring back 40-hour week as a matter of life and death

A small but impassioned group of psychologists and business academics are making a plea for changing the daily working routine away from the ethics of the nerds and geeks of Silicon Valley and back toward the 40-hour working week.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 10, 2014

U.S. FDA approves 'Star Wars' robotic arm for amputees

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a robotic arm for amputees that can perform multiple simultaneous movements, a huge advance over the metal hook currently in use.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 10, 2014

Osamu Hayashi teaches memory aids; painter Balthus's love life explored; CM of the week: Aflac

Osamu Hayashi is the most famous juku (cram school) teacher in Japan thanks to his frequent TV appearances and trademark phrase "Ima desho" ("Why not now?"). His main claim to fame as a teacher, however, is his ability to retain huge amounts of information.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
May 9, 2014

Stress tests urged to gauge lenders' risks in JGB crisis

Japanese lenders should take stress tests to assess their ability to withstand swings in bond prices as the central bank's unprecedented monetary stimulus saps trading volumes, one of its former executives said.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2014

Waiting for a coup that'll install 'good people'

All the street demonstrations and legal obstructionism by Thailand's opposition are ultimately intended to create political paralysis that will provide the pretext for a coup. One problem with that is that a whole generation of Thais has now grown up expecting to have a political voice in their government.
WORLD / EU SPECIAL 2014
May 9, 2014

Horizon 2020 fosters knowledge

Horizon 2020 is the EU's biggest ever research and innovation framework program with a seven-year budget worth nearly €80 billion intended to help boost Europe's knowledge-driven economy and tackle issues that will make a difference in people's lives.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 8, 2014

Pioneer photojournalist blazed trails for women

In a career stretching back to 1940, Tsuneko Sasamoto, considered the nation's first female photojournalist, bore witness to Japan's dramatic shift from a totalitarian regime to an economic superpower.
JAPAN / Politics
May 7, 2014

Ex-leaders revive no-nukes crusade

Three months after his defeat in the Tokyo gubernatorial race, former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa has teamed up once again with fellow ex-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to renew their effort to abolish nuclear power, even as the central government takes steps to revive it.
EDITORIALS
May 7, 2014

Easing work-hour regulations

Key government panels for the Abe administration are looking into easing work-hour regulations so that some workers could be rewarded on the basis of performance rather than hours spent in the office.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
May 5, 2014

O'Malley all smiles about return to NPB with Tigers

A wry smile played across Tom O'Malley's lips as he nodded in the direction of a group of Hanshin Tigers players stretching on the ground outside of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows' indoor facility on Sunday as the Swallows wrapped up practice inside.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 5, 2014

'Ordinary' billionaire behind canal project

Wang Jing, the enigmatic businessman behind Nicaragua's $50 billion Interoceanic Grand Canal, shrugs off skepticism about how a little-known entrepreneur can be driving a huge transcontinental project, insisting he is not an agent of the Beijing government.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
May 4, 2014

How consumerism turns babies into monsters

If you have been planning a shopping trip with the kids, you might not want to read any further, because teaching your children consumerism is helping to turn them into selfish, immoral creatures without a streak of empathy, according to a new study.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
May 3, 2014

Oysters offer pearls of wisdom within

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, our C.W. Nicol Afan Woodland Trust, based in Kurohime, Nagano Prefecture, has been helping to relocate an elementary school in Miyagi Prefecture that was destroyed by the huge tsunami that followed.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2014

Freedom of expression under fire in America

If you can lose your job in the U.S. as Mozilla's CEO did — because those in charge found his politics repugnant — there are only two options available to those of us who need to earn a living: Keep our opinions to ourselves, or lie about them.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 2, 2014

White House seeks privacy balance in a 'Big Data' world

The White House on Thursday suggested updates to laws and other measures to enhance privacy and prevent discrimination based on the data trail left by consumers on their phones and computers that companies and researchers collect and analyze.
BUSINESS
May 1, 2014

Corporate tax rate to be reduced by April '15, Nishimura says

Tokyo will start making significant cuts to the corporate tax rate by April 2015 in line with its aim of making the economy more competitive and of spurring a recovery driven by spending and massive monetary stimulus, deputy economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said.
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2014

Beyond the OECD challenge

As Japan celebrates 50 years of membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which has seen Japan rise to one of the world's largest economies, the nation needs to respond to some tough challenges of its own.
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2014

Heavy metal contaminants stalk China's farms

China released a report in April disclosing that much of its arable land is contaminated with heavy metals that are entering the food chain. It doesn't bode well for consumers and suggests that China increasingly will have to import food.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 30, 2014

To boost economy, recruiting stay-at-home dads

Manabu Tsukagoshi, a Tokyo-based consultant, took a month of paternity leave after his second child was born. That prompted his wife, a homemaker, to get a full-time job in the financial industry.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 30, 2014

Ex-judge lifts lid on Japan's 'corrupt' judicial system

Abandon all hope, ye who enter Japanese courts.

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