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ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 27, 2017

Taiwan says Chinese air force held exercises near island 16 times in last year

China's air force has carried out 16 rounds of exercises close to Taiwan in the last year or so, Taiwan's defense ministry said on Tuesday, warning that China's military threat was growing by the day.
Japan Times
SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Dec 26, 2017

NFL seems to be getting stranger by the week

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. A classic Clint Eastwood spaghetti Western flick.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 26, 2017

Topless 'sextremist' Femen activist tries to snatch Jesus statue from Vatican crib

A topless activist from the feminist group Femen tried to snatch the statue of the baby Jesus from the Nativity scene in St. Peter's Square on Monday but was stopped by police as she grabbed it.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 26, 2017

Putin calls for social media activities of 'some' firms to be monitored during 2018 election

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday the Russian authorities should monitor the activity of "some companies" on social media during next year's presidential election and assess the extent of their involvement in domestic politics.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2017

Coast guard's Maizuru base stands on the front line of Japan's poaching and nuclear concerns

Located less than 900 kilometers from North Korea and beside Fukui Prefecture's nuclear power reactors, Japan Coast Guard's 8th Regional Headquarters in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, finds some of the nation's challenges close at hand.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Dec 24, 2017

Hawks catch break with Yanagita

On one hand, Yuki Yanagita will be one of the most well-paid players in Japan next season. On the other, he'll be kind of a steal.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Dec 24, 2017

Tony Cetera, 'Lone Ranger' of Tokyo's homeless, calls for a good deed a day

Tony Cetera is 79 years of age and has bad legs, but that doesn't stop him helping the homeless whenever he can.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / OBITUARY
Dec 24, 2017

Ryan Smith: Father, husband, communist

During the early hours of Tuesday, Dec. 12, Tozen Union member Ryan Smith (aka Jon Doe) took his own life. He was 37.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Dec 24, 2017

Exceptional skills, passion needed to sell luxury goods

A 2017 report released by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. on luxury consumers identified two major interrelated trends for the year. The first shows how the essence of luxury is moving to an experiential focus, with the second seeing changing luxury shopper behavior demanding a more individualized response.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Dec 23, 2017

Yokosuka native Haruna Kamezaki attains the American dream

Kamezaki was born in the mid-1980s and grew up in a household 'full of American records and movies, because my parents — and especially my dad — loved American culture.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Dec 23, 2017

A picture of food is worth 1,000 words for businesses on Instagram

With end-of-year parties now in full swing, social media users are curating their profiles with "Insuta-bae" photographs that capture them enjoying enviable times.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 23, 2017

Accounts and Images of Six Kannon in Japan

An 11th-century text, "A Tale of Flowering Fortunes," described the Six Kannon who "filled the worlds in the 10 directions with innumerable rays of light, which manifested in their colors the bodhisattva resolve to benefit all living beings everywhere."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 23, 2017

A year of discoveries gives scientists something to aim for in 2018

In my round up of this year's science stories I'm going to choose some big ones as well as some stories that made less of an impact but still resonated with me.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2017

Cabinet OKs record-high ¥97.71 trillion 2018 budget to cover rising social security and defense costs

The Cabinet approves a draft budget of u00a597.7 trillion for fiscal 2018, breaking the record for the sixth year straight.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 22, 2017

Reenact history at Yakage's fabled daimyo festival

A small town in Okayama Prefecture is seeking to reestablish its relevance.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2017

5G: China's dream to dominate world technology

President Xi Jinping's growing consolidation of power is giving ever more momentum to the ambitious Chinese plan to gain dominance of high-tech industries.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2017

Kansai Electric to decommission Nos. 1 and 2 reactors at Oi plant in Fukui Prefecture

The decision, expected to be officially endorsed Friday, will bring to 14 the number of reactors earmarked to be scrapped since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
Reader Mail
Dec 21, 2017

Protect all precious life on our planet

The articles "Nobel Peace Prize says to Korea nuke players: We are watching" (in the Oct. 8 edition) and "Empress Michiko praises ICAN's Nobel Peace Prize" (Oct. 21) made me ponder the crises and peace of our world.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 21, 2017

'Brain on Fire': Film chronicling U.S. woman's fight with rare brain disease makes Japan debut

A U.S. film about a rare but serious disease that impairs the body's autoimmune system is being shown in Japan, boosting hope among patients and their families that it will help raise awareness of the little-known illness.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 21, 2017

Plastic found in mussels from Arctic to China — enters human food

Tiny bits of plastic are contaminating mussels from the European Arctic to China in a sign that the global spread of ocean pollution can end up on people's dinner plates.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 21, 2017

Philippine police chief defends high body count racked up by 'Davao Boys' squad in drug war

The police chief of the Philippines on Wednesday stood by the head of a secretive unit behind dozens of killings in the country's war on drugs, saying officers fired only in self-defense and the death toll reflected the danger and the scale of the narcotics problem.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 20, 2017

What the world can learn from Japan's factories

Countries hoping to revive their manufacturing sectors should look east for answers.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 19, 2017

JAAF recognizes top athletes at annual awards banquet

Post-Olympic years are usually considered down years. But it wasn't necessarily the case for Japan's track and field scene, which was highlighted by some notable feats and accomplishments in 2017.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 19, 2017

An outside perspective may be just what the Japanese stage needs

There aren't many non-Japanese people working in the world of Japanese theater. That's a shame, because often an outside perspective can help spot weaknesses that the majority aren't able to see.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2017

Now, a different and darker clash of civilizations

Far right, anti-immigrant parties have a new ideology that poses grave dangers to liberal democracy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 18, 2017

Hit products of 2017 home in on uchi

Nikkei Marketing Journal ranks the hit products for 2017, with Amazon and Rakuten sitting pretty among the grand champions.

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