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Japan Times
JAPAN / 5-YEAR MEMORIAL OF GREAT EAST JAPAN EARTHQUAKE
Mar 11, 2016

Symposium examines disaster risk reduction

March 11 marks five years since the devastating Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, and one year since the Third U.N. World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction was held in Sendai, the center of the disaster-hit Tohoku region.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Mar 7, 2016

With new toe-operated fan, students put their best feet forward

Three students at Aichi Prefectural Toyohashi Technical High School have designed a new type of standing fan that can be operated by using one's toes — and it's set to be produced and sold nationwide this spring.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 2, 2016

'Oyster Factory' dredges up the dreams and fears of Japan's rural workers

Japanese documentaries tend to be blandly inoffensive, especially those dealing with sensitive topics. Typically, a velvet-voiced narrator sets the scene and a sympathetic interviewer lobs questions to her subjects as gently upbeat music plays in the background.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Feb 29, 2016

Healthy Balentien ready to make up for lost time

Wladimir Balentien laughed his familiar laugh as he held court in the visitor's dugout at Tokyo Dome, making rapid-fire transitions between a number of topics, from the yakiniku he ate in Okinawa, to teammate Tetsuto Yamada or whatever else popped into his head at the time.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 29, 2016

Lower House ready to pass record ¥96.7 trillion draft budget

The Lower House is set to pass the government's fiscal 2016 budget proposals Tuesday, making enactment of the record draft totaling ¥96.7 trillion all but certain.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 29, 2016

Parental push for children to pass exams borders on abuse: experts

Many parents are strict regarding their children's education because they want their offspring to succeed in the future, but sometimes this discipline is excessive and goes beyond what kids can endure.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 27, 2016

Tokyo's literature festival resurfaces

The Tokyo International Literary Festival got off to a good start. Both the inaugural 2013 event and the 2014 edition were successful, an auspicious beginning to forging cultural and artistic connections between Eastern and Western writers on a global stage. But since the festival's forced hiatus in...
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 22, 2016

Just take a snap and let Aichi smartphone app explain what's seen, and where

An Aichi-based electronic parts manufacturer has developed a free smartphone app that allows people to obtain information on tourist spots simply by taking photos of them.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 15, 2016

Temples putting donated snacks to good use: feeding Japan's impoverished kids

With 1 in 6 children in Japan living in a household with financial difficulties, a growing number of temples nationwide are donating snacks that they have received as offerings to impoverished youngsters.
JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Feb 15, 2016

Five years on, tsunami debris on ocean floor near Fukushima nuclear plant remains untouched

The Fisheries Agency will continue to subsidize efforts by Fukushima Prefecture to remove tsunami-related debris from the ocean floor.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Feb 12, 2016

For the goodness of sake: international sommeliers test their senses

Early one morning in Japan last month, Taipei sake educator Michael Ou took a deep breath as he prepared to deliver a presentation about the stages of fermentation before a panel of experts from the U.K.'s Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET). It was the last day of an elite sake instructors' training...
EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 2016

Intimidation via the Broadcast Law

Communications minister Sanae Takaichi's statement strengthens the case for creating a neutral, independent body to take charge of broadcasting administration, including the issuance and withdrawals of licenses.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 8, 2016

Aichi university group helping refugees with language study

A group of university students from Aichi Prefecture has started a volunteer group to assist refugees.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 1, 2016

Aichi service area to offer halal foods for Muslim travelers

The Okazaki service area on the Shin Tomei Expressway will start selling halal bento (boxed meals) when it opens in February to accommodate the needs of a growing number of Muslim tourists.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 31, 2016

Ningen Isu explores death, lust on new album

When the members of hard rock band Ningen Isu left the stage at Ozzfest Japan in 2013, they thought that was it for their Ozzfest experience. Little did the "Japanese Black Sabbath" know, Ozzy Osbourne himself would soon be calling them back for an encore.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2016

Implications of the U.S. Navy's FONOP program

When the U.S. last fall sent a warship on a Freedom of Navigation Operation near a Chinese-occupied reef, the message was unfortunately both confused and confusing.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 25, 2016

Ise theme park uses ninja, samurai in G-7 tourist pitch

Ise Azuchimomoyama Bunkamura, a theme park in Ise, Mie Prefecture, that showcases traditional Japanese buildings and customs, is working on increasing the number of foreign visitors ahead of the Group of Seven summit in May.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / DAVOS SPECIAL 2016
Jan 20, 2016

Turning challenges of cybersecurity into new opportunities for growth

As information and communication technology (ICT) has extended into all areas of society, we have become ever more reliant upon it. The subtle ways in which it is changing the world, though both exciting and frightening, are not widely recognized or understood. This year, Japan will host the G-7 summit...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / DAVOS SPECIAL 2016
Jan 20, 2016

Globis initiates Japanese innovation

The World Economic Forum is hosting its annual conference in Davos, Switzerland, from Jan. 20 to 23, once again set to remind leaders from around the world they have roles to play in improving the state of the world — the nonprofit organization's stated goal.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2016

Toward a new Islamic golden age

Muslim nations must reverse their sorry state of science if they are to provide better lives for their booming populations and keep up with global development.
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 18, 2016

Photo of Helen Keller's 1937 visit to Gifu school discovered

A photo taken during a visit by Helen Keller, a noted humanitarian who overcame being deaf and blind, to Gifu Prefectural School for the Blind in 1937 has been discovered at a late student's house and was donated to the school.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Jan 17, 2016

Fukushima town hopes to translate kanji and sake into tourism cash

Residents of Kitakata, a northwestern Fukushima Prefecture city known for promoting antiquated Japanese kanji, are stepping up efforts to attract more tourists by linking the pictographs to sake breweries in the area.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 11, 2016

Aichi Prefecture city rolls out new pay phones in disaster-prevention move

The city of Tahara in Aichi Prefecture is bringing back public pay phones in response to widespread mobile phone disruptions following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 6, 2016

Parliament to debate petition seeking to bar Trump from U.K. over Muslim slur but no vote planned

British lawmakers are to hold a debate on a petition signed by more than half a million people calling for U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to be barred from Britain after his proposal to stop Muslims entering the United States.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Jan 4, 2016

'Onigirazu' chosen as 2015's top dish

'Onigirazu,' an innovative take on the traditional onigiri rice ball, was chosen as 2015's dish of the year after the sandwich-like rice dish became a sensation.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 2, 2016

Seeing 2015 through a fragmented media lens

Media literacy means understanding that objective reality is impossible to comprehend, and that the best you can do to make sense of the world is to know how to interpret signals. Part of that process is identifying what's at stake: Newspapers and broadcasters have parties they think they need to please,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Dec 31, 2015

The issues that grabbed you or got your goat in the Year of the Sheep

Readers praise and pan Community articles from the past 12 months.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight