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JAPAN
Sep 15, 2016

As Monju decommissioning nears reality, Fukui politicians lash out

News that the central government is finalizing plans to decommission the Monju fast-breeder reactor in Fukui Prefecture has sparked anger and fear among local politicians about what will happen to their economy, and could make Fukui's cooperation in restarting other reactors more complicated.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Sep 3, 2016

One year on, gang splinter is tough to explain

More than a year has passed since the country's largest crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, split into two. More than a dozen gangs defected from the Yamaguchi-gumi on Aug. 27, 2015, to form the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, headed by Kunio Inoue, as a rival syndicate and, even now, the reasons for the breakup...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 3, 2016

Chinese state enterprises tell workers in Hong Kong how to vote

At least two large Chinese state-owned enterprises in Hong Kong are instructing staffers how to vote in Sunday's legislative election as Beijing seeks to thwart democratic candidates.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 31, 2016

A new generation of jihadis awakens in Indonesia

During a May 2011 shootout, Indonesia's counterterrorism forces killed the leader of a militant group thought to be behind a series of failed bomb attempts around the city of Solo in Central Java.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 29, 2016

Xi reshuffles senior party posts ahead of congress next year

Chinese President Xi Jinping has reshuffled three top provincial-level Chinese Communist Party posts as he seeks to place his men in key positions ahead of a congress next year. More new appointments are likely to follow.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Aug 25, 2016

Koenji's Awa Odori festival celebrates 60 years

For the past few weeks, visitors and residents in Koenji have been haunted by a song — a plaintive, pentatonic melody that seems to circle endlessly, never quite resolving. You can hear it playing over speakers on the station platform just before the train doors close. It's there again as you walk...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 23, 2016

Risking political suicide, LDP veteran Funada challenges Abe over Constitution

Like other Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers, Hajime Funada is a strong proponent of amending the postwar Constitution, but not the way Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2016

EU must move forward after Brexit, agree Germany, France, Italy

The leaders of the eurozone's biggest economies held talks on Monday in the aftermath of Britain's shock decision to leave the European Union and said Europe had to turn its back on populists who blamed Brussels for all its problems.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / CABINET INTERVIEW
Aug 18, 2016

Hawkish education chief Matsuno to uphold government line on 'comfort women'

New education chief Hirokazu Matsuno claims he stands by the government's take on history, including the 'comfort women,' while Korean media call the suspected revisionist a hawk.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 15, 2016

If Japan slow to ban ivory trade, online shops even slower

Elephant ivory has long been used worldwide to make a host of items from jewelry, piano keys and billiard balls to art and personal seals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 10, 2016

These women ain't afraid of the 'Ghost-bros'

Excuse the time-honored phrase, but the new "Ghostbusters" is a whole new ball game. The hype surrounding its U.S. release last month was considerable, and not just because it's a long-overdue followup of a beloved 1984 Hollywood classic: It has also dared to do what few have done before, which is to...
EDITORIALS
Aug 10, 2016

A veneer of legitimacy for Thailand

Thailand's new constitution locks in the role of the military as the guiding force in Thai politics.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2016

Poor prospects for Russia's flirtation with fascism

Western powers need not undermine or destroy Putin's Russia; they simply need to outlive it.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 9, 2016

In Thailand, bruised opposition seeks solace in 2017 vote prospects

In Thailand's rural heartland, supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra say they will focus on winning an election next year, even though they would have to govern on military terms if they did.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 6, 2016

Nobel winner Stiglitz quits Panama Papers probe, citing lack of transparency

The committee to investigate the lack of transparency in Panama's financial system itself lacks transparency, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said on Friday after resigning from the Panama Papers commission.
EDITORIALS
Aug 1, 2016

Koike's post-election challenges

The first woman elected to serve as governor of Tokyo now faces her toughest task — putting her words into action.
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....
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Jul 25, 2016

Sashihara wins AKB48 general election

About 30,000 people packed a baseball stadium in Niigata for the annual event to announce the most popular members of the AKB48 family of all-female idol groups.
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Jul 25, 2016

Watered-down ASEAN statement could diminish grouping's already waning clout: analysts

A watered-down statement Monday by Southeast Asian nations that failed to mention a landmark legal ruling over China's claims to most of the South China Sea could diminish the clout of the region's key grouping, analysts say.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2016

Mirage of a rules-based order

As demonstrated by China's response to The Hague's South China Sea decision, international law is powerful against the powerless, but powerless against the powerful.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Jul 24, 2016

Kyoto pushes to retrieve share of Imperial action to honor deep cultural roots

When a young Emperor Meiji moved to Edo from Kyoto in 1868, many of Kyoto's noble families were strongly opposed to his leaving what had been Japan's capital and home to the Imperial family since 794.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2016

Trump NATO plan would be sharp break with decades-long U.S. policy

Republican foreign policy veterans and outside experts warned that the suggestion by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump that he might abandon NATO's pledge to automatically defend all alliance members could destroy an organization that has helped keep the peace for 66 years and could invite...

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