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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2013

Lay judges get a peek at prison life

When lay judges hand down a prison term, many focus on the merits of the case itself and not about the life behind bars that awaits the guilty.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 6, 2013

Metal act Gotsu Totsu Kotsu swap vikings with samurai to instill fear in fans

When pop fans hear the words 'death metal,' they may cringe as they imagine songs about nails in the neck or impalements by bands with names like Cannibal Corpse and Dying Fetus. What may not spring to mind are songs about feudal Japan.
Reader Mail
Jun 6, 2013

Revisionist who lost credibility

The recent exchanges among various readers regarding religious matters have been interesting, but Thomas Clark's May 30 letter on the subject, "The power of ideas over time," brings up a most important point that readers should bear in mind — namely, in every war, be it secular or religious, there...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Jun 5, 2013

It's lots of tasty, messy fun when babies bake

The master chefs are hard at work: slicing bananas, whisking a sticky mixture in a bowl, squeezing piped cream across a cake.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 5, 2013

Do self-driving cars need to cost so much?

"The best is the enemy of the good," said the 18th-century French writer Voltaire. It's a maxim that has a particular resonance for tech designers, because it highlights the intrinsic tension between ambition and pragmatism that haunts them. Many perfectly viable products have never made it beyond the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 5, 2013

Invest in South Africa, Zuma tells Japanese firms

South Africa's economy is rapidly growing and it welcomes investments from Japanese firms, South African President Jacob Zuma said Tuesday in a speech in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2013

Debunking five myths about chemical weapons

The exact nature of what is going on inside Syria is tough to determine. The United States, Britain, France and Israel have focused on the question of whether forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad have used chemical weapons. To answer that question and understand its implications, some myths...
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2013

Tokyo trains halt while GSDF blows up old shell

Bullet and commuter trains are suspended for hours as personnel from the Ground Self-Defense Force detonate a wartime antiaircraft shell found at a northern Tokyo construction site.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 4, 2013

'Okinawa bacteria' toxic legacy crosses continents, spans generations

Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City houses one of Vietnam's busiest maternity clinics, but hidden in a quiet corner, far from the wards of proud new mothers, is a room stacked floor to ceiling with every parent's nightmare.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2013

Supercomputer used to simulate disaster evacuations

University of Tokyo researchers have used the K supercomputer to develop a simulation for mass evacuations in case of tsunami.
BUSINESS
Jun 4, 2013

Mitsubishi eyes Ceagro takeover

Mitsubishi Corp. will take control of grain supplier Los Grobo Ceagro do Brazil as Japan's biggest trading company seeks to boost corn and soybean supplies to meet Asian demand.
WORLD
Jun 3, 2013

In Britain, a debate over freedom of the tweet

After the recent slaying of a British soldier in a suspected Islamist extremist attack, angry social media users took to Twitter and Facebook, with some dispatching racially and religiously charged comments that got them quickly noticed on the busy boulevards of the Internet.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2013

Projected baby boom needs immediate action

With one-third of the world's children in 2050 predicted to be born in Africa, the international community must invest in their parents now, not down the road, UNICEF's executive director said in an interview with The Japan Times.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2013

U.N. experts see no increased risk of cancer for residents near No. 1 plant

Vienna KYODO
Reader Mail
Jun 2, 2013

A history of political stupidity

The Japanese have a place in their hearts for politicians who say outrageous and stupid things. There is a long history of it. First, the Japanese seem to confuse constitutional freedom of speech with the freedom to say absolutely anything with impunity. Hence there is a disposition to admire leaders...
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2013

After Japan joins talks, China considering TPP

China says it is studying the possibility of joining the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks, about a month after the existing 11 members allowed Japan to join the negotiations.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 1, 2013

Tech elite's wealth sows divisions in San Francisco

Every morning and every evening the fleet glides through the city, hundreds of white buses with tinted windows navigating San Francisco's rush hour. From the pavement you can see your reflection in the windows, but you can't see in. The buses have no markings or logos, no advertised destinations or stops....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 1, 2013

Destroyer of domestic chaos charts way for others to lead organized lives

Jo Ebisujima describes herself as "a hybrid of MacGyver and Martha Stewart."
COMMUNITY
Jun 1, 2013

ASIJ student helping women rebuild community

Sophia Slater, 17, felt she couldn't just sit back and do nothing when the monster earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011. So she tried to find a way a teenager like her could help, apart from giving money or donating supplies for Tohoku.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 1, 2013

Space radiation makes any Mars mission hazardous

Of all the hazards facing a human mission to Mars — something NASA and countless other space buffs would love to see at some point — one of the hardest to solve is the radiation that saturates interplanetary space.
JAPAN / Politics
May 31, 2013

Hashimoto prevails over condemnation motions

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto prevails over his city assembly foes when two condemnation motions against his remarks justifying Japan's 'comfort women' system are voted down.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 31, 2013

Size doesn't matter: Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia celebrates 15 years

The short film gave birth to the cinema — the first narrative film, 'The Great Train Robbery' (1903), is all of 11 minutes long, but the format is now in the shadow of the full-length feature.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 31, 2013

Director Yukinori Makabe has high hopes for his 'Tokyo Sky Story' at film festival

A staffer of the Robot production house, where he has worked as an assistant director on entries in the hit "Always" and "Odoru Daisosasen (Bayside Shakedown)" series, 29-year-old Yukinori Makabe has also directed award-winning short films, including "The Sun and the Moon," which beat out 250 others...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 31, 2013

Africa fair spices up TICAD venue

Garments and baskets woven in bright colors, spicy cuisine and energetic music played on traditional instruments are livening up the vast Pacifico Yokohama convention center in Yokohama.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’