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Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 20, 2016

The gene that may benefit sumo giants

Samoa, with its string of beautiful islands and coral atolls in the South Pacific, is attracting more than just tourists these days. Scientists are heading there, too. The nation holds the uneviable position of being No. 1 in the world for obesity. Among Samoan men, 80 percent are either overweight or...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Aug 20, 2016

Japan's architects are building a better future

Home-security AI cats; talking walls equipped with motion sensors; communal-living apartment blocks that promote harmonious relations; and outdoor living-room spaces powered by solar energy siphoned off hybrid cars — these previews of our future, currently on display at "House Vision 2," sound like...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2016

Can we afford the true cost of air pollution?

Policymakers tend to focus myopically on the costs of action, rather than the costs of inaction.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2016

New think tank in Japan offers tips on LGBT awareness, market potential

As the nation slowly turns its eye to the concerns and needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, more companies are starting to respect sexual minorities as employees as well as consumers.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 17, 2016

Koike can help Japan get serious about gender gap

Japan's efforts to promote gender mainstreaming have fallen short. Hopefully new Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike can give this vital concept a jump start.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2016

Only globalization can bring lasting prosperity

No country can deliver long-term prosperity to its people on its own. Closer international cooperation and economic integration is the only way forward.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 30, 2016

Sayaka Murata and the art of neutrality

When 36-year-old Sayaka Murata recently won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize for literature, the media latched onto the author's background rather than the novel itself. Murata continues to work part-time as a convenience store clerk, and gains inspiration for characters and plots from her work environment....
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 27, 2016

No 'free pass' for Indonesia on China Sea disputes, letter says

Indonesia should step up and play a greater leadership role in Southeast Asia's management of maritime disputes with China, a group of foreign policy experts and academics said in an open letter.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Jul 24, 2016

Yumi Ito of The Peanuts was a muse to both moth and men

I learned of the death of Yumi Ito, the last remaining member of 1960s pop duo The Peanuts, while battling a giant moth that had found its way into my apartment.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 23, 2016

Is the eel industry on the slippery slope to extinction?

Dwindling domestic population threatens a centuries-old tradition.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 7, 2016

Growing activity in East China Sea shines spotlight on lack of Japan-China communication protocol

The Defense Ministry said fighter jets were scrambled a record 199 times between April and June in response to Chinese aircraft activity.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 26, 2016

Afrirampo leads 'Zero Generation' into adulthood

Anarchic, anything-goes garage-punk band Afrirampo is defined first and foremost by feelings: The feelings that drive the duo as artists and the feelings they evoke in audiences. As the band returns to the live circuit after a six-year absence, guitarist Mayumi "Oni" Saeki is acutely aware of how the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 25, 2016

Gary Snyder: Asia's heavy toll on nature

Enter the mind of American poet and scholar Gary Snyder and watch as time pulls back, perspectives shift and an epoch passes in a single blink. His newest book of prose, "The Great Clod," is a series of essays on Asia's ecological history, combining culture and politics in a way that is, unsurprisingly,...
EDITORIALS
Jun 24, 2016

Capital punishment for a minor

Putting someone to death for crimes committed while they are a minor is a very serious business, one that deserves a great deal more study.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2016

Japan's first lady, Akie Abe, speaks her own mind

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has outlasted those that scoffed at his return to power as leader of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party in 2012. And yet while the prime minister appears to have established himself as an increasingly dominant force in domestic politics over the past decade, the most...
Reader Mail
Jun 9, 2016

Story on Hanako missed big picture

I was very disappointed at the coverage of Hanako's death in your newspaper ("Hanako, Japan's oldest elephant, dies at age 69," May 27). There was no mention of the international consternation and protest surrounding this female elephant's incarceration in an environment unworthy of any zoo in the 21st...
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Jun 5, 2016

West-inspired anime chief propels Polygon Pictures to success

Polygon Pictures, one of the oldest digital animation studios worldwide, has been turning its lights off at 10 p.m. sharp since 2011. Employees can turn them back on again but they automatically go dark every hour.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 4, 2016

Black Illumination: Haruo Sato's lush, gloomy landscapes

Most of us, when we feel sad, assume there is a cause for our sadness. Often there is, and the feeling can then be addressed, diagnosed, resolved. But what about sadness without a cause? This is the terrain of melancholy and, while melancholy has a rich and varied history in the West, it takes on unique...
COMMENTARY / World
May 24, 2016

Bangladesh: a new development paradigm

Bangladesh is on course to emerge as a middle-income country by 2021 when it celebrates its 50th year of independence.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 16, 2016

Nippon Steel to take control of Nisshin to weather China glut

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., Japan's largest steel maker, said it will take majority control of the nation's No. 4 mill, Nisshin Steel Co., as the industry consolidates in the face of a global supply glut.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat