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WORLD
Sep 19, 2014

Islamic State sells seized Syrian oil on cheap to profiteers to fuel its advances

In an oil field in northeastern Syria, a line of trucks lines up daily to load crude sold cheaply by Islamic State militants who have hijacked parts of the country's energy industry in their bid to build a caliphate.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Sep 18, 2014

Ex-Apache coach Hill supports FIBA mandate for JBA

Bob Hill hasn't coached a game in Japan since March 10, 2011. A lot has changed since then, but a lot hasn't; for instance, Japan basketball's systemic dysfunction.
EDITORIALS
Sep 17, 2014

Learn from the 3/11 transcripts

The transcripts of the interviews of 19 people who dealt with the March 2011 triple meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, including the late Masao Yoshida, then chief of the plant, may offer little new information about the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl...
JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Sep 14, 2014

Fukushima buoyed by rise in medical interns

Fifty-three of the 90 students who graduated from Fukushima Medical University in March are working as interns at hospitals in the prefecture, the most in the past 10 years.
BASKETBALL
Sep 13, 2014

Former NBA big man Ely joins Gunma Crane Thunders

Melvin Ely, the 12th overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, has accepted a contract offer to play for the Gunma Crane Thunders for the upcoming season.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 12, 2014

Burger King 'black burgers' set to return darker than ever next week

Those who patronize their local Burger King next week might have black teeth by the time they leave.
EDITORIALS
Sep 12, 2014

Raise wages, not party donations

The Japan Business Federation's decision to resume urging roughly 1,300 member companies to make political donations is aimed at rebuilding the influence of the nation's largest business lobby on the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Critics of that tack say raising wages and boosting investments would work better in that regard.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2014

Mayor of Kyoto has big plans for tourism

For Kyoto to continue growing as a tourism-oriented city, it must take steps that combine landscape planning with services, the mayor says.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2014

Japanese youths becoming less engaged with U.S., observers warn

The U.S.-Japan relationship remains extremely close due to shared interests and common strategic concerns. But issues ranging from trade negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership to a perception on the U.S. side that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is too focused on the past, have created immediate political...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / 'SUMMER DAVOS' SPECIAL 2014
Sep 10, 2014

Suzuki promotes Mie Pref. globally

Mie Gov. Eikei Suzuki, selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum this year, is trying to promote his prefecture on the global stage.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 8, 2014

Sadayuki Sakakibara confirms Keidanren will return to recommending political donations

The nation's biggest business lobby is set to resume recommending for the first time in five years that its member companies make political donations, in an effort to strengthen ties with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration to gain a bigger say in policy.
EDITORIALS
Sep 8, 2014

Can Kansai airport take off?

As business picks up thanks to the launch of new low-budget airline flights and a surge in the number of foreign passengers, the government-owned operator of Kansai International Airport plans to sell its management rights in a bid to get out from under a massive 20-year debtload.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Sep 8, 2014

Mind the 'geb': Little word is a big problem for Japan's German residents

Inflexible residence card system leaves married Germans with ridiculously long names on their IDs — along with an annoying little extra word.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Sep 6, 2014

Automakers may miss boat on modularization

Toyota successfully defended its status as the world's largest automaker in the first half of 2014. However, Volkswagen has gotten very close and is widely expected to overtake Toyota either by the end of the year or in 2015 at latest.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 6, 2014

O'Malley, Ramirez are worth a look as skippers

Now in the final month of the 2014 Japanese baseball regular season, the "A-Class" teams in the Central and Pacific leagues look forward to October's Climax Series of playoffs, while the three also-rans in both divisions begin thinking about next year.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Sep 4, 2014

Toyota edges Ryukyu in exhibition

The preseason began in earnest for the league's 10th season on Wednesday. But this time with a twist.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 4, 2014

Mazda unveils new Miata as top-selling two-seat Roadster turns 25

Mazda Motor Corp. unveiled a new version of its iconic MX-5 Miata sports car Thursday for the first time in nine years, counting on the model to help sustain rising sales.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 3, 2014

Bourne's 'Swan Lake' puts a dance revolution on stage

To the delight of the nation's ballet fans, "Swan Lake" will shortly be gracing the Tokyo summer for two weeks — not in its traditional classical form, but in the new-classic guise of "Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake," a revolutionary twist on ballet's most tried-and-true tutu tale.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2014

Moscow views world as war theater

Even if Ukraine is defeated militarily, that's just one small battle won in an eternal, multi-modal war that Russia is fighting against the West because Russia's leadership is convinced the West is waging one against Russia.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Sep 1, 2014

Veteran Aoki to return next season

Cohey Aoki contemplated retirement this offseason, but has decided to extend his playing career.
BASKETBALL
Aug 29, 2014

Ishikawa Prefecture awarded bj-league expansion team for 2015-16 season

The bj-league will add a 23rd team for the 2015-16 season, it announced on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 29, 2014

Takefuji arsonist, ex-yakuza hanged for eight murders

A would-be robber who torched five Takefuji employees in 2001 and a yakuza who gunned down three people from 2001 to 2005 are executed for murder.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 28, 2014

Xi using drug campaign as new political tool

The highly publicized arrests and confessions in President Xi JInping anti-drug use campaign play an important propaganda role, contrasting Xi's administration against the supposedly more permissive governments that preceded it.
EDITORIALS
Aug 26, 2014

Opposition strength through unity

The current Japanese political landscape shows the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito alliance dwarfing all opposition forces in both chambers of the Diet. Could the merger of two opposition parties now in negotiations make a difference?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 25, 2014

The unsung heroes of Fukushima

What really went on among the workers inside the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami should be held up as an epic story with the theme of 'Man Saved in Japan.'

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake