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Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 29, 2019

LDP and Komeito mark 20th anniversary of alliance as policy clash on Constitution awaits

In a partnership that stretches back two decades, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, have deepened their reliance on each other.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Dec 27, 2019

Critics assail secrecy over unexploded chemical weapons left by Imperial Japanese Army

At the end of World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army left a number of unexploded shells filled with poison gas used as munitions. In the 2000s, when such artillery shells were discovered and retrieved from the seabed off the coastal town of Kanda, Fukuoka Prefecture, the central government issued an...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Dec 27, 2019

VR builds bridge between staff and young detainees with developmental disorders in Japan

One day in mid-November, instructors at the Miyagawa medical reformatory, which treats delinquent teenage boys with developmental disorders, in Ise, Mie Prefecture, experienced how people with the disabilities perceive the world by wearing virtual reality goggles and watching a video.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Dec 27, 2019

Tokyo Olympic torchbearers from Fukushima hope event showcases recovery

Applicants across Japan have begun receiving notification that they were selected to run in the Japan leg of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay that will kick off on March 26 at the J-Village soccer facility in Fukushima Prefecture, where efforts to recover from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and...
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 26, 2019

Do whatever it takes: How Khamenei ordered crackdown on Iranian unrest

After days of protests across Iran last month, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared impatient. Gathering his top security and government officials together, he issued an order: Do whatever it takes to stop them.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Dec 23, 2019

Brave Blossoms motto 'One Team' is 2019's Japanese buzzword of the year

A Kyodo article explains why 'One Team' is the one winner of this year's buzzword award and looks at what other terms caused buzz in 2019.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 23, 2019

Trump asked about Ukraine aid before July Zelenskiy call

New documents show President Donald Trump asked about U.S. military aid to Ukraine a month before the call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that went on to trigger an impeachment investigation.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Kateigaho International Japan Edition
Dec 21, 2019

Purifying decorations welcome the new year

The end of the year is a time for thorough cleaning to ready the home for the arrival of Toshigami-sama, the god of the new year. Modern lifestyles notwithstanding, the custom remains deeply ingrained in Japan. Two leading floral designers and an in-demand stylist have created chic new year decorations with a contemporary touch that harmonizes with households today
Reader Mail
Dec 20, 2019

Preserve surviving A-bomb buildings

The article "Hiroshima to raze A-bombed buildings" in the Dec. 15 edition moved me a great deal. Now that the two buildings are an impressive 106 years old, they are too old to last without preservation work.
Reader Mail
Dec 20, 2019

Shorter hours good for work and people

I strongly support Microsoft Japan's attempt to boost workers' productivity ("Four-day workweek boosted productivity by 40%, Microsoft Japan experiment shows").
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 19, 2019

Trump impeachment: The Democrats who weren't convinced

Wednesday's impeachment vote against President Donald Trump posed a political test for 31 House Democrats who represent districts that backed Trump in the 2016 presidential election, as Republicans warned that those lawmakers could face a backlash if they supported the effort to remove the president...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2019

Don't mock Greta; listen to her

Let's put aside the finger-pointing, and let Time's choice be a reminder that the problem isn't going to solve itself. There's more carbon entering the atmosphere every day.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Dec 13, 2019

Aichi city hires non-Japanese assistants to support foreign children at elementary schools

During a recent math class at an elementary school in Aichi Prefecture, Kamila Tamy Tida Miyamoto, 31, a Brazilian school assistant, pointed to the textbooks of Aika and Ayumi, second-grade Brazilian students who enrolled this year, as she explained concepts to them in Portuguese.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Dec 13, 2019

U.S. digital publisher boosts reach of Japanese 'light novels' in English-speaking world

"Isekai Rebuilding Project," a fantasy novel by a Hokkaido-based writer who publishes under the pseudonym Yukika Minamino, has become available to English-reading audiences through a website run by an American digital publisher of Japanese novels aimed at teenagers and young adults.
Japan Times
Rugby
Dec 13, 2019

Rising wheelchair rugby star Katsuya Hashimoto looks to show the world what he's made of

At 17 years old, Katsuya Hashimoto is the youngest wheelchair rugby player on the Japanese national team. With less than 300 days until the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, he often pictures himself on the court at the 2020 venue, ready for his first competition as a Paralympian.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Dec 13, 2019

Hiroshima's middle school students wear bike helmets, so why not high schoolers?

A 33-year-old housewife in the city of Kure phoned the Chugoku Shimbun one day to convey her concern about her sixth-grade son. He will be attending a junior high school starting next spring and will be traveling there by bicycle, but he does not want to wear a helmet because he does not like its design....
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 10, 2019

Japan's Iran dilemma

Regional tensions require Tokyo to make a delicate compromise.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Dec 10, 2019

Manga on Uighur woman's testimony of torture goes viral

Kyodo news looks at a manga that tells the experience of one Uighur woman.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 9, 2019

Macron eyes European leadership

If the U.S. declines play a uniting role in the democratic world, more parochial, divisive visions will come to the fore.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 7, 2019

News outlets take time to connect the dots in Kepco gift scandal

In September, media reported that 20 executives of Kansai Electric Power Co. (Kepco) had, for a decade or so, received almost ¥320 million worth of cash and gifts from Eiji Moriyama, the former deputy mayor of Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, who died in March at the age of 90. The compensation was presumably...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / Kateigaho International Japan Edition
Dec 7, 2019

Daisetsuzan: Life in the icy white forest

Winter lasts most of the year in Daisetsuzan, the high mountain range that stretches across the center of Hokkaido. Yet some animals live successfully and apparently quite happily in this frozen world.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 6, 2019

Oceans finally take center stage at COP25

Our first and most fundamental task in combating climate change is for the world to become carbon neutral by 2050.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Dec 6, 2019

Girls revive previously male-dominated cheering squads

Typical cheerleading clubs in schools, known as ōendan, consist of men clad in black gakuran stand-up collar uniforms yelling vigorously and performing synchronized, dynamic choreographed moves to support sports teams.
Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2019

Parents should be equals in custody battles

Regarding the story "Parents sue state over custodial rights" in the Nov. 23 edition, I am a victim of the unfair system in Japan that deprives a parent of the right to share custody of a child.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2019

Trump is the least of NATO's problems

Unclear goals, bickering leaders and a changing world are pushing the alliance to the breaking point.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 5, 2019

Steve Gadd: Drummer still 'laying it down,' 50 years on

Ahead of his band's tour of Japan, Steve Gadd discusses a career drumming for the likes of James Brown, Eric Clapton and Steely Dan.

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