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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Jul 4, 2014

When should we make noise about loud neighbors?

In August 1974, a 46-year-old man living on the fourth floor of a public apartment building in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, forced his way into the unit below him and killed two little girls and their mother. After attempting suicide he was arrested, and he told police he had been driven to murder...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jul 4, 2014

Aichi researchers track doe in bid to reduce crop damage

The Aichi Prefectural Government is using GPS to track wild deer and research new ways to keep them from damaging crops in mountainous areas.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 4, 2014

With one eye on Washington, China plots its own Asia 'pivot'

The Silk Road, an obscure Kazakh-inspired security forum and a $50 billion Asian infrastructure bank are just some of the disparate elements in an evolving Chinese strategy to try to counter Washington's "pivot" to the region.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2014

China's reach for leverage

China's random and sporadic acts of provocations over territorial disputes seem to fail to intimidate its opponents in the Asia-Pacific region, but each push and probe tests retaliatory assets and calls into question the U.S. capacity, and will, to come to the aid of a beleaguered ally.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 2, 2014

U.S. hails defense revamp

Tuesday's decision by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet to reinterpret the Constitution to allow collective self-defense has divided Japan, with some people fearing it would drag the nation into a U.S.-led war.
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 1, 2014

Santos remarks spark anger in Greece

Outgoing Greece coach Fernando Santos has angered sections of the local media and soccer figures by claiming that some of his players were more interested in personal success than following instructions.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2014

Prefectural and local authorities warn government over Constitution

Over the past few weeks, swaths of prefectural and local governments have condemned Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's moves to reinterpret the Constitution, citing either disagreement with the aim or opposition to how it was carried out.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jul 1, 2014

China's 'shadow banking' challenge

A new financial service operated by China's biggest e-commerce firm Alibaba could crack open the country's economic system as it draws customers from the major state-owned commercial banks by paying higher interest rates to depositors.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Jul 1, 2014

[VIDEO] Protestors collectively raise their voices in defense of Article 9

Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 30, 2014

China suffers karoshi, as white-collar workers die from overwork

Chinese banking regulator Li Jianhua literally worked himself to death. After 26 years of "always putting the cause of the party and the people" first, his employer said this month, the 48-year-old official died rushing to finish a report before the sun came up.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Jun 29, 2014

Alcohol kills one person every 10 seconds

Each year, alcohol kills 3.3 million people worldwide — more than AIDS, tuberculosis and violence combined — the World Health Organization said May 12, warning that booze consumption is on the rise.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jun 27, 2014

Restaurant chains to make splash at Italian expo

Three restaurant operators from the Chubu region will participate in Expo 2015 Milano in Italy next year to promote Japanese food culture to the rest of the world.
Reader Mail
Jun 25, 2014

Backhanded apology accepted

Regarding the June 24 article "Lawmaker apologizes for sexist jibe": It was appropriate that Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly member Akihiro Suzuki offered an apology to Your Party assembly member Ayaka Shiomura, the woman he and others heckled a few days earlier when she attempted to discuss the special...
Reader Mail
Jun 25, 2014

Duty-free reform off the mark

Regarding the June 18 Kyodo article "Duty-free reform to boost tourism": I feel that this initiative will have little effect on tourist numbers. To Western visitors, Japan is very "foreign"; prospective tourists are nervous at the prospect of a visit. This duty-free initiative is wide of the mark.
Reader Mail
Jun 25, 2014

A plea for more public seating

"Duty-free reform to boost tourism" and the June 18 article "Narita Express train headed to Mount Fuji" are more ideas to boost foreign tourism in Japan, to encourage people to visit and shop here, and to make the country more inviting.
Reader Mail
Jun 25, 2014

Tired of supporting 'nonsense'

Regarding the June 19 Jiji article "Nation's whaling program up against the wall": I wonder about the paragraph that begins with "While the country is eager to resume commercial whaling ..." What do the writers mean by "the country"?
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 24, 2014

Abe offers concession on collective defense

The Abe administration gave some ground Tuesday to New Komeito in the ninth round of the coalition defense talks, offering tougher conditions before Japan would be allowed to exercise the long-prohibited right to collective self-defense.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 24, 2014

Sunni uprising in Iraq wins support in gulf

The Sunni uprising in Iraq has received enthusiastic support from many Persian Gulf Arabs, despite official unease over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, branded a terrorist group by governments in the region.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Jun 24, 2014

Yokohama 'museum' marks 20 years curating ramen royalty

Now that ramen has taken its place alongside sushi as the world's favorite Japanese food, it's easy to forget what the noodle landscape was like just a couple of decades ago. Back in the 1990s, foreigners knew ramen — if they knew it at all — as cheap fuel for all-night study sessions or as a belly-filler...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jun 22, 2014

All-consuming school clubs worry foreign parents

School club activities — something that most Japanese parents accept as a normal and desirable rite of passage in their child's development — can leave foreign parents quaking in their boots at what lies ahead.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 21, 2014

Too much, too little: Water crises abound

After creeping slowly northward for weeks, the rainy season finally hit Tokyo earlier this month. And rain it has.
Reader Mail
Jun 21, 2014

Everybody must take on bullying

Reading Walt Gardner's June 1 article, "Bullying weakens Japanese, U.S. schools," made me feel really sad — not only because bullying of students in Japan, no matter who they are, seems to be rife at the moment but also because it is a problem that just does not seem to go away.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / ANALYSIS
Jun 20, 2014

U.S. scientists brace for 'marijuana meltdown' as laws ease

The only marijuana available for research in the U.S. is locked down by federal regulators who are more focused on studies to keep people off the drug than helping researchers learn how it might be beneficial.

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