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JAPAN / Society
Sep 17, 2016

Silver gifts to centenarians get cheaper as ranks rise

One perk of getting old in Japan is a gift of a silver cup from the prime minister in the year you celebrate your 100th birthday. But from this year, new centenarians will be sipping sake from cheaper vessels.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 17, 2016

Trump finally backs off Obama birth claim, falsely says Clinton started it

Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday abandoned his false claim that Barack Obama was not born in the United States after spending five years peddling conspiracy theories that the country's first African-American president started life as a foreigner.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2016

Officials give first look at Toyosu market flooding problem in bid for transparency

Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials on Friday played down flooding beneath a proposed flagship food market in Toyosu as the result of heavy rain that will be pumped out or will seep away.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Sep 16, 2016

In sexless Japan, almost half of single young men and women are virgins: survey

In a survey of young people, around 42 percent of the men and 44.2 percent of the women who responded said they'd never had sex.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 16, 2016

Color of 'cute' bristly dinosaur deciphered

Scientists guided by small structures preserved in fossilized skin have deciphered the color and camouflage pattern of a little dinosaur with a parrot-like beak and bristles on its tail that roamed thick forests in China about 120 million years ago.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 16, 2016

In Asia, female entrepreneurs steer business toward social work: poll

Across Asia, women are re-examining society's problems through a business lens, playing a more leading role than women in other regions in harnessing the power of markets to tackle poverty and social ills, according to the first experts' poll on the best countries for social entrepreneurs.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2016

Signs of graying Japan: pensioners in the gym and a shortage of denture experts

As graying takes hold in Japan, the changes it brings go far deeper than the impact on social welfare and the labor force.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 15, 2016

Builders go back in time to construct a castle the medieval way

Blacksmiths, stonemasons and quarry men are hard at work in a Burgundy forest building a 13th-century-style castle using the most basic tools and materials, replicating the methods used hundreds of years ago to better understand them.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Sep 14, 2016

Japan's dual citizens get a tacit nod but keep their status in the shadows

Is the 'don't ask, don't tell' status quo the ideal situation for a country that tends to be reflexively conservative on issues of race and nationality yet benefits from the dual-citizen population?
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 14, 2016

Views from Tokyo: What are your thoughts on the new biracial Miss Japan?

Japanese citizens of various backgrounds speak about the victory by Priyanka Yoshikawa, born to an Indian father and a Japanese mother, in the Miss World Japan contest.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 14, 2016

'The BFG': With an emphasis on the friendly

The Japanese have never really warmed to the stories of Roald Dahl, with the exception of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Even then, they're probably not thinking of Dahl, it's more about Johnny Depp and the Wonka Chocolate bars sold at most high-end supermarkets around Valentine's and Christmas....
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 14, 2016

Quest for a moral compass

The Cultural Revolution tore China's social fabric and transformed the society into a dog-eat-dog world, the vestiges of which are still felt today.
WORLD
Sep 14, 2016

Turkmenistan removes legal barrier to leader's indefinite rule

Turkmenistan amended its constitution on Wednesday in a way that will allow President Kerbanguly Berdymukhamedov to stay in power indefinitely, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, who ruled the gas-rich Central Asian nation until his death.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2016

East Hokkaido waits on Abe-Putin talks over Russia-held isles

In Hokkaido's far east, Nemuro feels nothing like a typical Japanese city. Mist and fog often shroud the area in the summertime. During July and August, while much of the country bakes in 30 degree-plus temperatures, it's just over 20 degrees in Nemuro.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 14, 2016

U.S., Israel to sign record military aid deal

The United States and Israel have agreed on a record $38 billion package of U.S. military aid and will sign the pact on Wednesday, enshrining defense funding for Washington's closest Middle East ally for the next decade, officials said.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 14, 2016

Transgender inmate Manning to end hunger strike after U.S. Army OKs surgery

U.S. soldier Chelsea Manning, serving a 35-year prison term for passing classified files to WikiLeaks, ended her hunger strike on Tuesday after the army said she would be allowed to receive gender transition surgery, the American Civil Liberties Union said.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 13, 2016

Central bank's policies impeding recovery

Central bankers' 'central planning' of the financial sector with controlled prices for credit are failing for the same reason as central planners of communist economies failed. It's time to allow financial markets to determine interest rates.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2016

The Islamic State's problem with women

While its craven massacre of women helped put Islamic State on the map, its gradual downfall is coming partly at the hands of Kurdish women fighting against it on the front lines.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 13, 2016

Nam June Paik has the last laugh

Rapid, multilayered, fluid — the high-tech images created by Nam June Paik earned him the epithet the Father of Video Art. He may be most often associated with banks of television screens and intense, distorted video images, but as a new retrospective of his work at the Watarium (The Watari Museum...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 13, 2016

China names new Tianjin Communist Party boss amid corruption probe

China has appointed former Communist Party secretary of Hubei province Li Hongzhong as the new party chief for the strategic port city of Tianjin, days after announcing a corruption investigation into the northeastern city's former mayor.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 13, 2016

Germs, bugs everywhere virtually guarantee getting sick on the U.S. campaign trail

Hillary Clinton's bout of pneumonia has shed light on a problem seldom seen by American voters: The long days, little sleep, cross-country travel, bad food and kissing babies add up to a recipe for illness for presidential candidates and aides.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 12, 2016

Compromising on Imperial succession reform

An acceptable compromise would be a reversionary model that allows the oldest child of an emperor to take the throne, but gives the oldest male child in line to the throne the right to pass on rights of succession to his children.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2016

The illiberal international

Will the marriage of messianic and opportunistic populism spread across the EU, or remain confined to Central Europe
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2016

Time to seize the climate's low-hanging fruit

An amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase out hydrofluorocarbons could be a boon for climate-change mitigation.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 11, 2016

Carp fans savor end of 25-year championship itch

The Hiroshima Carp have strived for the moment for 25 years, and their fans are full of emotion about the team's long-awaited league championship.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 10, 2016

Is Japan waking up to the menace of stalking?

Health professionals are trying to be more proactive in rehabilitating stalkers before their actions escalate to something more sinister.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Sep 10, 2016

Hiking with kids is not an uphill climb

Hiking in Japan is always fun with family, and with summer subsiding, some of the best months for a mountain walk are around the corner. Japan offers countless choices in its vast mountain ranges, but one of my favorite family hikes is only 90 minutes north of Kyoto. The mountain villages of Kibune and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 10, 2016

'The Eternal Zero': Naoki Hyakuta's best-selling novel reveals the transformative power of war

Revisit the end of World War II with Japan's all-time best-selling paperback, "The Eternal Zero" by Naoki Hyakuta, originally published in Japanese in 2006. Although the movie adaptation sparked controversy with its nationalistic ending, the book does not glorify war. Hyakuta's storytelling structure,...

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