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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Feb 1, 2017

U.S. military must not jeopardize Okinawan forest's bid for World Heritage status

We write to express our concern regarding the U.S. military's continued use of the Northern Training Area in northern Okinawa's Yanbaru forest, in light of the fact that the forest has been nominated for UNESCO World Natural Heritage status.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 29, 2017

In Trump era, Democrats and Republicans switch sides on states' rights

Five years ago, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, now President Donald Trump's nominee for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, sat in the front row as the U.S. Supreme Court debated the contentious Affordable Care Act.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 20, 2017

An economic policy for Trump

As Donald Trump assumes the U.S. presidency, a group of 35 prominent international business leaders is stepping forward to defend open markets, endorse the fight against climate change, and demand a massive push against global inequality.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2017

Dangerous uncertainty surrounds Taiwan Strait

The world's most dangerous flash point got much more dangerous last Wednesday when China sent its lone aircraft carrier into the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan scrambled fighter jets in response. This is how accidental wars start: provocation and counter-provocation in an environment with too much uncertainty....
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: TECH
Jan 14, 2017

Here's to a new age of 'reality'

Feel the power of VR
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 29, 2016

In China, calls for end to aggressive child custody tactics

Dai Xiaolei last saw her son in 2014 when he was 17 months old and living with her Chinese in-laws outside Beijing.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2016

Should South Korea be worried?

South Korea's domestic political turmoil is a bigger threat to its national security than U.S. foreign policy under a Trump presidency,
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 5, 2016

It’s time to address the lifestyle challenges affecting health in Asia

Poor nutrition and obesity pose a severe public health challenge across large parts of Asia.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 3, 2016

Abe, Trump and Modi get on the wrong side of climate change

Oxford Dictionaries proclaimed the word of 2016 to be "post-truth," a scary concept that was popularized by the repulsive presidential campaign waged by Donald Trump. It refers to his chronic dissembling, invention of facts and intermittent grasp of reality heralding a new era where fabulists, revivalists...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 3, 2016

$100 billion Saudi-tied tech fund 'oversubscribed,' Son says

SoftBank Group Corp. is close to tying up $100 billion for a technology fund that it announced with the government of Saudi Arabia, the company's founder and Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son has said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Nov 27, 2016

'Five-year rule' triggers 'Tohoku college massacre' of jobs

I have discussed the "five-year rule" several times before in this column — the revision of the Labor Contract Law (Rodo Keiyaku Ho) enacted in 2013. Under the amendment, any worker employed on serial fixed-term contracts (yūki koyō) for more than five years can give themselves permanent status....
EDITORIALS
Nov 5, 2016

FSA policy on regional banks

The Financial Services Agency will have to thread a narrow line as it urges regional banks to boost their lending to small and medium-size firms.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 4, 2016

Electric vehicles need cleaner energy grid: Nissan's Ghosn

Electric cars will fall short of helping the environment without cleaner energy to charge the vehicles' batteries, said Carlos Ghosn, chief executive officer of Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2016

Farmers have tech, but weeds have evolution

Some 12,000 years ago, humans started a war against weeds — and the weeds are still a step ahead.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 30, 2016

Suu Kyi may overlook qualms with Japan, give firms chance to move in: experts

The policies of Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, will likely help Prime Minister Shinzo Abe build stronger ties with Myanmar when she visits Tokyo this week.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Oct 23, 2016

Time to consign 'death by overwork' to Japan's history

As 'karoshi' continues to steal young lives, workers must stand up for their own rights and watch out for their colleagues' wellbeing.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2016

Vet pushes for shelters that can keep pets and owners together during disasters

A veterinarian from Kumamoto Prefecture who provided shelter to pets and their owners in the wake of April's earthquakes in Kyushu urges lawmakers to prepare similar facilities for future disasters.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 25, 2016

If you don't feel accepted in Japan, join the far-from-exclusive club

If you feel you've never been accepted in Japan, then welcome to the club: Many Japanese people don't feel accepted here either.
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Sep 23, 2016

Barton cites early instruction as key to Japan's success

ISU announcer Ted Barton has seen it all during his long career in the sport.
WORLD
Sep 22, 2016

Brazilian forest fires threaten uncontacted tribes

Forest fires raging in northeast Brazil are forcing indigenous people out of their traditional territories and threatening uncontacted tribes, an indigenous leader said on Wednesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Sep 21, 2016

Body image and the foreign female in Japan: survey shows frustration with one-size-fits-all thinking

Survey of nearly 600 women reveals that many feel society places pressure on them to meet narrow Japanese definition of beauty.
EDITORIALS
Sep 17, 2016

Preventing youth suicides

More than 300 schoolchildren take their own lives every year.
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.
EDITORIALS
Sep 14, 2016

Power retail deregulation

Reform of the nation's electricity business is far from complete.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 14, 2016

'Safety net' needed to get young consumers to spend more: economist

Kazuhisa Takemura has an idea for helping Japan's struggling economy: Entice younger consumers to spend more by providing them a financial and emotional cushion.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2016

How to fight secular stagnation

There are different types of forces that could be suppressing economic growth, not all of which are beyond our control.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 28, 2016

U.S. troubles with election and TPP could embolden China in Asia

United States Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned a few months back that China risked a "great wall of self-isolation" for its actions in the disputed South China Sea. That hasn't deterred President Xi Jinping.

Longform

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