Search - news

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 23, 2014

Obama arrives for summit, to assure security ties are solid

U.S. President Barack Obama arrived Wednesday evening at Haneda airport at the start of a seven-day Asia tour in which he is expected to reaffirm America's commitment to maintaining regional security.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 21, 2014

Captain of ill-fated Korean ferry praised safety in promotional video

The captain of the ferry that sank off South Korea's southwestern tip, with hundreds feared dead, said in a promotional video four years ago that the journey was safe — as long as passengers followed the instructions of the crew.
Japan Times
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Apr 20, 2014

'STAPgate' shows Japan must get back to basics in science

On Jan. 30, as NHK kicked off its evening news program with upbeat music, footage aired of a young woman with immaculately coiffed brown hair wearing pearl earrings and her trademark "kappogi," a Japanese-style white apron.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 16, 2014

Obokata mentor, co-author: STAP cells just a ‘hypothesis’

Though evidence points to the existence of STAP cells, they are still only a hypothesis worthy of study, a co-author of the papers on the revolutionary but unproved method to create pluripotent stem cells says.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / NET NEWS WATCH
Apr 15, 2014

The buck stops here: ‘Hunting girls’ on the rise

Here's a new buzzword for you: kari-gaaru (hunting girls).
EDITORIALS
Apr 14, 2014

More disclosure needed at Riken

The besieged doctor of 'STAP,' Haruko Obokata, has come out swinging in defense of her papers on pluripotent cells, which appeared in the journal Nature, but her attempt to justify her research seems naive, leaving many questions unanswered.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 22, 2014

Can waste-made chic save the oceans?

Search online for "Pacific gyre" and you'll get about 455,000 results in 0.15 seconds. Try "Pacific trash vortex" and you'll get 474,000. Here's another: Do a search for "Pacific garbage patch" and, in 0.40 seconds, you'll have 593,000 hits.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 15, 2014

Stem-cell leap defied Japanese norms

It's not surprising that last week Haruko Obokata issued a plea for privacy. On Jan. 29 she published a scientific paper on stem cells that could revolutionize medicine, and overnight the researcher based at the Riken Center for Developmental Biology (CDB) in Kobe became a domestic and international...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 13, 2014

Nago mayor remains defiant over Futenma plan

Susumu Inamine, mayor of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, vowed Thursday to use every weapon in his arsenal to block the central government's efforts to construct a replacement base in his city for the U.S. Futenma airfield.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 8, 2014

Weather in Japan: from balmy to barmy

The division of Japan into distinct climatic zones means that anyone traveling around the country will normally encounter quite predictable demands in terms of clothing requirements; while for those in any one area the local weather forecast will be correct more often than not.
EDITORIALS
Feb 7, 2014

NHK's credibility at stake

Two of the more recent appointees to the NHK Board of Governors show their stripes so to speak by denying that the 1937 Nanjing Massacre happened, on one hand, and writing an essay in praise of the Emperor as a 'living god' on the other. Might employees for Japan's national broadcaster start to feel pressure to develop programs from a particular perspective?
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Feb 6, 2014

Nanbu takes control of men's national volleyball team

A day after the stunning news of Gary Sato's dismissal, the Japan Volleyball Association announced Thursday that Masashi Nanbu would replace the American as the men's national team head coach.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2014

Samuragochi's ghostwriter speaks

The man who ghostwrote works credited to “deaf” composer Mamoru Samuragochi for the past 18 years stepped forward Thursday as his “partner in crime.”
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Jan 30, 2014

Apologetic Balentien faces long road back

Wladimir Balentien has apologized twice now — once in the United States and, on Wednesday, back on Japanese soil — with much of his time spent atoning to the Tokyo Yakult Swallows fans and the organization.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 28, 2014

Abe's deceptive rice reform

On Dec. 9 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared that his government has abolished the subsidy system for reductions in rice acreage, yet subsidies for growing rice as animal feed will greatly increase.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2014

China makes sure Putin knows who his friends are

The scale of a Chinese reporter's pained obsequiousness in front of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi last week was a visible reminder of just how important Russia has become to Chinese policymakers, and how few risks the Chinese media will take in covering the country.
COMMENTARY / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 21, 2014

Is the Obama administration prioritizing ties with China?

The different tones of the U.S. and Japanese reactions to China's recent establishment of an air defense identificatin zone raises the question of whether the Obama administration is prioritizing ties with Beijing.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Jan 17, 2014

Nomo inducted into Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame

People don't remember Hideo Nomo by his records. They remember him as a trailblazer.
BUSINESS
Jan 7, 2014

Business leaders call on firms to hike pay

In line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's campaign to break the grip of deflation through aggressive economic policies, business leaders on Tuesday called on companies to hike wages.
WORLD
Dec 31, 2013

Egypt arrests four Al Jazeera journalists for Brotherhood ties

Egypt's government has detained four journalists working for the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera English news channel, arresting them during raids on a five-star hotel and at least one private residence Sunday night.
EDITORIALS
Dec 26, 2013

All eyes on the new NHK chief

The governing board of NHK has appointed a supporter of the new state secrets protection law as the next president of Japan's public broadcaster. Katsuto Momii's three-year term starts Jan. 25.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Dec 25, 2013

Tanaka given chance to pursue dream in majors

Major League Baseball fans and executives finally found what they were looking for under the Christmas tree.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2013

'Crossing' Beijing has lasting consequences

The sad irony is that, since the early 1990s, people like Liu Binyan, Su Xiaokang, Chen Yizi, Su Shaozhi and others who know the elite communist culture well, who have lived in the United States and remain willing to cross the dangerous line into complete truth-telling, have never had much of a hearing in Washington.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2013

Politically bankrupt China dare not tolerate a free press

The practice of journalism in China, a country where 30 practitioners are in prison, has never been easy. During 2013, it has become a great deal harder.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2013

Pope misunderstands the power of free markets

Pope Francis, unlike his more diplomatic predecessors, is said to engage the world in the style of after-dinner conversation. As a result, his recent remarks about the power of free markets seemed vague or poorly considered.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2013

What would the president, pope and Jesus do about the growing gap between rich and poor?

The week before last Pope Francis and U.S. President Barack Obama separately weighed on what each would do about the growing gap between the rich and poor. The pontiff was more moral and dramatic, while the president had to couch his analysis in American self-interest.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?