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EDITORIALS
Feb 9, 2014

Wages of an economic upturn

Indications are that Japan may finally be on its way out of deflation, but prices are rising faster than workers' wages and the consumption tax hike in April will add to the burden on households.
WORLD
Feb 9, 2014

A glance at the world's major drought hot spots

1. California: The state's water resources are at critically low levels and a drought emergency has been declared. The health department says 17 rural areas are dangerously parched.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 8, 2014

Blast from the past: Lucky Dragon 60 years on

Sixty years ago, on March 1, 1954, a Japanese fishing boat named Lucky Dragon No. 5 was doused by radioactive fallout from a U.S. hydrogen-bomb test, codenamed Castle Bravo, on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Although the bomb was over 1,000 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima...
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2014

Activists fear gubernatorial-race standoff could split anti-nuclear vote

Switzerland hopes to serve as an intermediary for potential dialogue between Japan and North Korea on the issue of Pyongyang's past abductions of Japanese nationals, Swiss President Didier Burkhalter says in Tokyo.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 5, 2014

Do you think the nuclear issue should be the focus of the Tokyo election?

Tokyoites go to the polls Sunday to elect a governor to replace Naoki Inose, who quit his post in December amid a political funding scandal. So who will — or would — they vote for?
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 5, 2014

Tamogami finds right-wing niche

Last Sunday, a week before Tokyo residents go to the polls and choose a new governor, prominent candidates were campaigning hard in Ginza, showcasing their ability to manage a ¥13 trillion annual budget that almost equals Indonesia's national budget.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2014

South Korea's Japanese mirror

Japan and South Korea have similar social and economic problems. The difference is that South Korea may still have time to ameliorate some trends and avoid a quagmire of permanent low growth and long-term decline.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 3, 2014

National or not, nuclear issue ranks high with Tokyo voters

Nuclear power is one of the top three issues in the Tokyo gubernatorial election and experts say the winner will be able to indirectly influence national energy policy.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 3, 2014

Don't split vote, anti-nuke group says

The two most popular anti-nuclear candidates running for Tokyo governor should decide between them who ought to drop out of the race for the good of the movement, a group of anti-nuclear activists said Monday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 3, 2014

Continue pension investigation

It is inexcusable that the government plans to wrap up the seven-year effort to identify as many as 51 million records of pension premium payments when more than 20 million pension records are still unidentified.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2014

Tokyo election goes nuclear

Ignoring the powers that be, nuclear power takes center stage during an online debate involving the four major candidates for the Tokyo gubernatorial election — with three firmly against.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 2, 2014

Give foreign nurses in Japan a boost by treating accord as long-term remedy for labor shortages

If there is any seriousness in overcoming the nursing shortage in Japan, the welfare of foreign nurses should be prioritized, including allowing further visa extensions.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 1, 2014

For Japan's foreign residents, the little things make such a big difference

American political ideals may be grander, European philosophy may be deeper, Islamic faith may be firmer than anything native to Japan — but Japan, perhaps uniquely, knows the value of small things.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2014

Fears widen over Kadena toxins

Just days after the commander of U.S. Kadena Air Base, near the city of Okinawa, promised parents their children's schools were safe from dioxin contamination, a further 50 chemical barrels have been unearthed from adjacent land and a retired U.S. Air Force major has come forward with claims the school...
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2014

Tokyo gubernatorial candidates speak on Olympics, nuclear power, disasters

Candidates running in the Feb. 9 Tokyo gubernatorial election are making the rounds of the capital, trying to reach out to as many voters as possible.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2014

'Dakishimetai: Shinjitsu no Monogatari (I Just Wanna Hug You)'

Of Japanese medical melodramas there is no end. Targeted largely at the female audience, they appear on the lineups of Toho and other major distributors with the regularity of cherry blossoms in April.
JAPAN / Q&A
Jan 29, 2014

Flu menace again reaching peak

While this year's influenza season is predicted to peak around early February, anybody of any age group, sex or nationality is at risk of infection all the way through March.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NATURE'S PANTRY
Jan 28, 2014

Local pioneers of natural farming strong after 60 years

"Soil is a living thing" is almost a mantra for Sakae Suka, wife of Kazuo Suka, who has practiced shizen nōhō (natural farming) in Kamisato-machi, Saitama Prefecture, for more than 60 years. Truly the father of natural farming in our Kanto area, Kazuo has quietly and gently mentored most of the organic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 28, 2014

Ten years on, Hyperdub finds that it pays to be weird

Most journalists hope to get a few decent quotes from an interview. Steve Goodman ended up getting a record label.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 28, 2014

Slovak Trio hopes to foster ties with Japan through a pair of classical concerts

The armed forces isn't a typical place to form a band, but that's exactly where the latest combination of the Slovak Trio first met.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 28, 2014

New dawn breaking over Japan

Writing from Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says it is not twilight, but a new dawn, that is breaking over Japan, thanks to his administration's overcoming the notion that certain reforms could never be carried out.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years