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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 6, 2015

Tentative TPP rewrites trade rules for autos, drugs, produce, rice and IP, but faces legislative OKs

The tentative agreement on trade negotiated by a dozen Pacific Rim nations will slightly pry open Japan's famously closed rice market, protect brand-name drugs from generic competitors for at least five years and lower tariffs on automobiles.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Oct 5, 2015

The more you study 'sureba suru-hodo,' the better you'll speak

Today we introduce the proper use of Xu3070Xu307bu3069Y, which means 'the more X, the more Y.'
TENNIS
Oct 5, 2015

Nishikori regains composure to beat Coric at Japan Open

It was not the perfect first-round victory that Japanese fans expected from their hero, Kei Nishikori.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Oct 5, 2015

Yamada deserving of MVP award

Last Friday, after the Tokyo Yakult Swallows were crowned as the best team in the Central League for 2015, Tetsuto Yamada wasn't quite ready to weigh in on the topic of the CL's best player.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 5, 2015

Shortcomings identified in new reporting system into hospital deaths

On Thursday, the government launched a new reporting system for deaths resulting from medical care. The iryojiko chosa seido (medical accidents investigation system), created based on last year's revisions to the Medical Care Law, is aimed at preventing recurrences of medical accidents and ensuring patient...
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 5, 2015

Nauru opens gates at Australian camp for asylum seekers

The tiny South Pacific nation of Nauru unexpectedly announced Monday that all 600 asylum seekers held at a controversial Australian detention center will be given freedom of movement on the island, and that all their asylum applications will be processed this week.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2015

Brazil: cutting emissions by fighting deforestation

With an incredible 41 percent reduction in emissions since 2005, Brazil is creating an environmental model for the entire world.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 3, 2015

Women of Japan unite: Examining the contemporary state of feminism

On Oct. 21, 1970, hundreds of women marched through the streets of Tokyo, an occasion that is often referred to as the birth of the women's liberation movement in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Oct 3, 2015

Don't be green about the charm of tatami

When we were thinking of buying a condominium, we visited several old danchi — apartments built by Japan's former public housing corporation — because they were cheap and, we thought, easy to renovate. One of the units we inspected had bedroom floors made of tatami mats, and we wondered if we could...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Oct 3, 2015

Sled dogs in an age of climate change

When I first went to the Canadian Arctic in 1958, sled dogs were a part of life for the indigenous Inuit and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and part of the scenery and the soundscape for everyone in those frigid far-northern reaches.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 3, 2015

The long and short of male circumcision in Japan

For most of its history the Japanese archipelago knew nothing of circumcision. Contact with missionaries and merchants from Europe did little to raise awareness of the custom, and the procedure does not seem to have been a high priority for the promoters of Western ideas and technology during the Meiji...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Oct 3, 2015

'Halo of Golden Light' reveals how Japan's ancient leaders harnessed Buddhist rituals

Like Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, the current Japanese emperor represents royalty in unbroken perpetuity, reformulated today into a fusion of timeless tradition and progressive democracy. And yet, the case of Japan is more complex, opaque and, at times, divisive.
COMMUNITY / Voices / OVERHEARD
Oct 3, 2015

Unclear on the concept

What are all these people (in front of the Diet) protesting about?
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Oct 3, 2015

Size of B. League will present challenges from the outset

There is no one-size-fits-all formula — no magic pill exists — for the Japan Basketball Association to create a new men's pro hoop circuit that will become an instant success.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 3, 2015

Robbs reflects on connection to Japan

A recent visitor to Tokyo was old Japan hand and long-time Honolulu sportscaster Don Robbs. The 78-year-old radio voice of the University of Hawaii baseball games and other sports in the islands has been a frequent traveler to this country since he first came here in 1960 as a member of the U.S. Army....
WORLD
Oct 3, 2015

U.S. military airstrike may have hit Afghan hospital

A U.S. airstrike may have hit a hospital run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a NATO forces spokesman said, after the medical aid group blamed an aerial attack for the destruction in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz that killed three staffers.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 2, 2015

Swallows claim first CL pennant since 2001

The Swallows fans packed into the stands at Jingu Stadium had already been cheering about as loud as they had all season for the past four hours
JAPAN / Society
Oct 2, 2015

'Racist' illustration of refugee girl sparks ire among Japan's netizens

An online furor has broken out over a controversial illustration that depicts a refugee girl from Syria as a selfish freeloader, with some labeling the work, drawn by a conservative manga artist, as racist.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 2, 2015

Nobuaki Kaneko heads in darker direction on 'Lobo' and rises to the occasion

A singer, drummer, actor, model and occasional game reviewer, Nobuaki Kaneko is clearly a man that likes to keep himself busy. So when we meet up for a chat at his studio in Tokyo's Yutenji neighborhood, the first thing I want to know is where his true passion lies.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2015

Kuroda's retreat from bonds stymied by expectations for more BOJ stimulus

With the economy weakening markedly, banks are flocking to longer-dated government debt on expectations the Bank of Japan will expand its stimulus program. That's creating fresh challenges for BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda, who's trying to get banks to buy fewer bonds and lend more.
Reader Mail
Oct 2, 2015

Hitachi deserves strict investigation

It is with utter shock and dismay I read about Hitachi being targeted in a U.S. regulatory report for bribing the financial front of the African National Congress ("Hitachi to settle for $19 million charge over South Africa power plant 'fees' " in the Sept. 30 edition) to get big contracts at the Medupi...
Reader Mail
Oct 2, 2015

NHK has plenty of good content

The letter headlined "TV force-feeding trash to viewers" in the Sept. 20 edition attempting to demean the totality of NHK-TV broadcasts ("worthless programing . . . obviously created by right-wing old men") only betrays the woeful ignorance of its author. The writer would have been well-advised to spend...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 2, 2015

Mighty VW was undone by Japanese firm Horiba's portable emissions-gauging systems

Hiroshi Nakamura heard the news early Saturday morning last month from a U.S. colleague: Volkswagen AG had just admitted to years of cheating on emissions tests.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Oct 1, 2015

Eto, Kimura await world-title bouts in Sendai

Boxers Koki Eto and Yu Kimura wil enter the ring in Sendai for world-title shots in late November, Teiken Promotions announced on Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 1, 2015

Former child soldier and refugee Ger Duany finds a future in Hollywood

Ger Duany was only 13 years old when he became a child soldier in his home country of what is now South Sudan. Spending his childhood living in constant fear of being killed, he did what he had to — he picked up a gun and shot back, the only way to survive in a war.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2015

Catalonia's breakaway vote

Artur Mas, president of the regional government of Catalonia, is creating a crisis for Spain as he strives for independence.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 1, 2015

Photographer aims to explain Okinawa's tensions in pictures

It is not easy to regard oneself as an oppressor.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 30, 2015

Audacious attack by Taliban tests limits of Afghan security forces

Under cover of darkness, groups of Taliban fighters carrying rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons sneaked through fields and villages toward the northern Afghan city of Kunduz from four directions.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers