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EDITORIALS
May 30, 2013

'My number' is dangerous

The Diet enacts the 'My Number' ID card system, which ostensibly will ease payment of taxes and distribution of welfare benefits for citizens. But there's a price.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 27, 2013

Sibling spy case spotlights North Korean defectors

Earlier this year, one of the most prominent North Korean defectors, Yoo Woo Sung, walked out of his apartment building in Seoul and found four South Korean government vehicles waiting for him.
COMMENTARY / World
May 24, 2013

No heroes in AP news leak

Whoever provided the initial leak to the Associated Press in April 2012 not only broke the law but caused the abrupt end to a secret, joint U.S./Saudi/British operation in Yemen that offered valuable intelligence against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 13, 2013

Exoskeletons allowing handicapped to regain abilities

The first kick of the 2014 FIFA World Cup may be delivered in Sao Paulo next June by a Brazilian who is paralyzed from the waist down. If all goes according to plan, the teenager will walk onto the field, cock back a foot and swing at the soccer ball using a mechanical exoskeleton controlled by the teen's...
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
May 11, 2013

Aoi Festival will be held Wednesday in Kyoto

The Aoi Festival, one of the three largest in Kyoto, will take place Wednesday.
Japan Times
WORLD / EU SPECIAL 2013
May 9, 2013

Croatia set to become 28th EU member

Following the successful ratification of its European Union Accession Treaty by the national parliaments of the 27 Member States, the Republic of Croatia is set to join the EU as the 28th member on July 1 this year. This event will mark an end to the Croatian EU integration journey, which formally started...
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2013

Better simulation of complex events raises bar for predicting individual needs/preferences

With today's computers, we can look at massive amounts of information and make pretty good predictions about individuals — from health care to furniture preferences.
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
May 4, 2013

International cultural festival on tap in Suita

A fair is being held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, on May 11 and 12 to offer various cultural experiences from around the world.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 1, 2013

A most dangerous spy

Ana Montes has been locked up for a decade with some of the most frightening women in America. Once a highly decorated U.S. intelligence analyst with a two-bedroom co-op in Washington, Montes today lives in a two-bunk cell in the highest-security women's prison in the nation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 21, 2013

Local media must play a bigger role in alerting public on product recalls

Last week, four Japanese carmakers announced a worldwide recall for vehicles with faulty airbags. According to USA Today, "Toyota, Honda and Nissan need to track down 3 million vehicles around the globe," and with Mazda later added to the roster, the number rises to almost 3.4 million. The defect has...
EDITORIALS
Apr 20, 2013

Online campaigning nears

Enactment of a bill to allow candidates' campaigns to use the Internet is expected to increase people's interest in politics and voters' turnout at the polls.
WORLD
Apr 13, 2013

Gitmo dogged by new controversy

The U.S. military justice system at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which has been dogged by charges of secret monitoring of proceedings and defense communications, became embroiled in a fresh controversy Thursday when it was revealed that hundreds of thousands of defense emails were turned over to the prosecution....
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 8, 2013

A template emerges for prosecuting terror suspects

Aboard the USS Boxer, somewhere in the Indian Ocean, Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame was sitting across from a team of interrogators, talking and talking. In secure meeting rooms in Washington, senior officials in the Obama administration were wringing their hands over what to do with him.
Events
Apr 6, 2013

Children's workshop will feature fabric dyeing

The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture will hold a workshop April 21 in which children learn to dye fabrics using cherry trees.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 30, 2013

Summly highlights how smartphones are upending media models

Many this week celebrated the latest tech wunderkind, a British teenager who made a fortune selling an app that boils down news reports, no matter how important or complex, into a pithy 400 characters. But for some of those who prefer heartier servings of news, the development carried at least a whiff...
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Mar 25, 2013

Risks of using 'my number'

Japan's information technology industry could be the biggest beneficiary of the government plan to introduce a personal ID number system for citizens.
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Mar 16, 2013

Kyoto to screen German nuclear documentary

The German documentary "Under Control" about nuclear plants in the country, with Japanese subtitles, will be shown for free from 2 p.m. on March 23 in Kyoto.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 10, 2013

Filmmaker captures the 3/11 stress of Tohoku's deaf

Nobuko Kikuchi, a 72-year-old resident of Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture, couldn't hear the emergency sirens that followed the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that struck on March 11, 2011.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 24, 2013

U.S. federally funded research to be freely available

The White House moved Friday to make nearly all federally funded research freely available to the public, the latest advance in a long-running battle over access to research that exploded into view last month after the suicide of free-information activist Aaron Swartz.
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Feb 23, 2013

Free calligraphy lesson offered in Toyonaka

Foreigners can take a Japanese calligraphy lesson March 9 in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture .
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Feb 22, 2013

InterContinental to open in Osaka; haute cuisine at Mercedes-Benz Connection; White Day gifts at Cerulean Tower

InterContinental to open in Osaka
BUSINESS / NOTEBOOK
Feb 13, 2013

Study abroad, working holiday fair; special seminar on infrastructure maintenance

EVENTS
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2013

Securing Japanese safety abroad

Allowing intervention by the Self-Defense Forces in conflicts and terrorist attacks overseas is not the way to raise the safety bar for Japanese nationals.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Feb 4, 2013

Navigating the Tokyo high school minefield: a foreign parent's tale

Not too long ago, I heard from a foreign resident of Tokyo looking for a high school for her daughter, a 14-year-old who will begin her final year of junior high in April. Both parent and child were extremely excited about recently discovering a nearby public school featuring a cosmopolitan atmosphere...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 1, 2013

Mummies yield ancient clues to origins of disease

As a pathologist, Michael Zimmerman was familiar with dead bodies, but when he was asked to autopsy a mummy for the first time he wasn't sure what to expect. There were a dozen layers of wrapping that he peeled off one at a time "like Chinese boxes," he said. When he finished, he found the body was dark...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Jan 27, 2013

You read about them here first

Ever since 1897 The Japan Times has reported daily in English on people, places and goings-on in and beyond this country. During those 116 years, our articles have often included information that never made it into the Japanese-language press — as in 1934, when the Society Page carried an interview...
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2013

Naming slain captives raises privacy issues

The victims' right to privacy was pitted against the public's right to know as the media pressed for the names of the Algerian hostage crisis victims to be disclosed while the government and JGC Corp. remained tight-lipped, but Tokyo finally caved Friday, revealing the identities of the firm's 10 slain...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji