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Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 10, 2014

Obama faulted over thinning bench of China policy experts

Three years after President Barack Obama vowed to shift his focus toward Asia in response to China's growing power, the advisers who set that policy in motion are gone. So is their expertise.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 6, 2014

An opportunity for Abe and Xi

One reason for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping's newfound flexibility toward each other may be domestic political shifts in both countries that have created a more equal balance between conservative, nationalist groups and more internationally oriented business interests.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 26, 2014

StartEd offers a legal leg-up for tech startups

Every so often, Japanese- and English-speaking legal advisers meet with entrepreneurs in Tokyo to dispense free one-on-one legal guidance.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2014

China need not dominate new bank for Asia

If America's allies — and even the U.S. itself — would join China's initiative for an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Beijing could not dominate it as some fear.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 11, 2014

Kim is still in charge of North Korea, injured leg in military drill: source

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is in firm control of his government but hurt his leg taking part in a military drill, a source with access to the secretive nation's leadership said, playing down speculation over the 31-year-old's health and grip on power in the nuclear-capable nation.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 30, 2014

U.S. takes cautious line in response to Hong Kong protests

The United States is carefully calibrating its response to pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong, showing support for peaceful protests while signaling it has little interest in seeing the situation escalate and risk a harsher crackdown by Chinese authorities.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2014

Thai junta hounds opposition across borders

Even as the Thai junta claims to promote democracy despite having overthrown the previous elected government, its representatives hound anti-coup groups in Thai neighborhoods across borders.
OLYMPICS / OLYMPIC NOTEBOOK
Sep 20, 2014

Legendary gymnast Uchimura preparing to defend world title

Kohei Uchimura will return to the spotlight after the Asian Games.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Sep 11, 2014

Vietnam creating submarine deterrent to Chinese expansionist efforts in South China Sea

Vietnam will soon have a credible naval deterrent to China in the South China Sea in the form of Kilo-class submarines from Russia, which experts say could make Beijing think twice before pushing its much smaller neighbor around in disputed waters.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 21, 2014

Liberian police shoot to disperse Ebola quarantine protest; virus deaths reach 1,350

Police in the Liberian capital Monrovia fired live rounds and teargas on Wednesday to disperse a stone-throwing crowd trying to break an Ebola quarantine imposed on their neighborhood, as the death toll from the epidemic in West Africa hit 1,350.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 9, 2014

Okinawa: pocket of resistance

The battle over Henoko Bay looks set to challenge the power of the archipelago's protest movement.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2014

Success of Chinese reform is key to BRICS' rise

Last week, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) took a decisive step toward building institutions that could plausibly challenge the long geopolitical and economic ascendancy of the West. But Vladimir Putin's posturing at the meeting just hours before a Malaysia Airlines jetliner was shot down in Ukraine was one indication of the group's inability to offer an acceptable moral and political alternative to Western hegemony.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2014

World needs to right Israel's wrongs

The Israeli bombardment of the Palestinians has proven a policy failure, demonstrated by the Israeli government's resumption of bombing. The Israelis tried to give up, but failed.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2014

U.S. policy triggered latest border crisis

The U.S. does everything it can to screw up the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, then acts surprised when desperate people from there, including thousands of children, show up at the U.S. border, trying to escape the carnage.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 11, 2014

Megacities offer toxic mix of modern apocalypse

Exhibits at the 14th Venice Biennale of Architecture demonstrate that the urgent challenge for many societies is to prevent the megacity from becoming a byword for multifaceted apoclypse, mashinging together poverty, corruption, violence and fundamentalism.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 5, 2014

Ongoing Obokata story seeks out scandal

The paper, titled "Stimulus-triggered fate conversion of somatic cells into pluripotency," was accepted by the British science journal Nature on Dec. 20, 2013, and published online on Jan. 29, 2014. The authors were listed as Haruko Obokata, Teruhiko Wakayama, Yoshiki Sasai, Koji Kojima, Martin P. Vacanti,...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 30, 2014

China suffers karoshi, as white-collar workers die from overwork

Chinese banking regulator Li Jianhua literally worked himself to death. After 26 years of "always putting the cause of the party and the people" first, his employer said this month, the 48-year-old official died rushing to finish a report before the sun came up.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 23, 2014

Abe hopes to roll out red carpet for foreign startups

Japan wants to lure more foreign entrepreneurs by easing visa requirements only in special zones, but experts doubt that will be enough incentive to make a difference.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2014

Corruption rumors sideline Beautiful Game's rewards

New squalid facts, claims and rumors are emerging every week suggesting that the game of soccer may be beautiful but some of its leading figures are too close to dark and shadowy criminal forces.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 10, 2014

U.S. man held in North Korea 'was on vacation tour'

The U.S. citizen detained in North Korea, Jeffrey Fowle, 56, is a father of three with a passion for adventure who was in the country as part of a vacation tour, his lawyer said Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2014

Too high a price for Sherpas

The 16 Sherpa lives lost in an avalanche on Everest six weeks ago highlight the growing divide between well-heeled climbing expedition members and the mountaineering guides. Sherpas must re-articulate their concerns and establish a sensible code of operation.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2014

Understanding Boko Haram

Action against the senseless violence of the so-called Boko Haram movement without understanding the group's attraction risks backfiring, as much of the Nigerian government's response to Boko Haram has done to date.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 27, 2014

Taking aim at Japan's gender problem

Media coverage of the rise and fall of Japanese scientist Haruko Obokata illustrates the problem with the third arrow of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policy — and its otherwise laudable goal of expanding the participation of women in positions of power.
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2014

China and Russia strike a deal

The $400 billion deal that China signed with Russia for natural gas has caused Western handwringing as expected, but a broader view suggests that Beijing has other interests that may outweigh this partnership.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2014

Putin's sanctioned oil czar emerged from shadows to wield vast power

When Vladimir Putin brought Igor Sechin out of the shadows and into the Kremlin 14 years ago, Russian newspapers said they had no photographs of him and alluded to his behind-the-scenes influence by calling him Darth Vadar.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 26, 2014

'Granta' opens a window into Japanese literature

With such a piddling amount of Japanese fiction finding its way into English translation each year, you learn to make the most of what you can get. So when this year's Tokyo International Literary Festival marked the launch of not one, but two compendia of Japan-related writing, it felt like an embarrassment of riches. In addition to the latest issue of 'Monkey Business,' the annual journal edited by veteran translators Motoyuki Shibata and Ted Goossen, the festival welcomed the arrival of a Japan-themed issue of the British quarterly, 'Granta,' released simultaneously in English and Japanese.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 24, 2014

China chlorine suspected in new Syrian gas attacks

China's Foreign Ministry said it is investigating reports that a chlorine canister bearing the name of the country's biggest arms maker was shown in footage believed to document a gas attack in Syria this month.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Apr 18, 2014

Weibo's Nasdaq debut highlights Chinese censorship

Weibo Corp. executives on Thursday toasted the Chinese social media firm's debut at Nasdaq's New York headquarters.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami