Search - 2016

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN / Beyond Tokyo
Feb 24, 2019

As the world drowns in plastic, Kameoka in Kyoto and other cities across Japan fight back

Plastic pollution in the ocean has become one of the world's most urgent environmental problems. Footage of vast fields of floating plastic debris between California and Hawaii — now commonly known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — have driven home the gravity of the problem, with scientists and...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / Defining the Heisei Era
Feb 23, 2019

Defining the Heisei Era: Women in Japan speak out on inequality

Last April, a female reporter from TV Asahi accused Junichi Fukuda, the top bureaucrat at the Finance Ministry, of sexual harassment.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 23, 2019

Artificial intelligence debate raises more questions than answers

"The human race, version 2" — a thought to inspire hope or fear, maybe a little (or a lot) of both. "We today," says Komazawa University economist Tomohiro Inoue, whose thought it is, "will soon be 'the former human race.'"
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Feb 23, 2019

Sho: Oden, but not as you'd ever imagine it

At Nami Kawahara's oden restaurant, Sho, she hasn't been afraid to depart from tradition in both decor and dishes, opting for simplicity and elegance over a rough-and-tumble vibe.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 23, 2019

'I was like a prisoner': Saudi sisters trapped in Hong Kong recall beatings

Two sisters from Saudi Arabia who fled the conservative kingdom and have been hiding out in Hong Kong for nearly six months said they did so to escape beatings at the hands of their brothers and father.
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2019

Empower outside directors

Merely making it mandatory under the law for companies to have outside directors isn't enough. They have to be allowed to improve their company's governance.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 23, 2019

North Korea's surprise new nuclear envoy key to Trump-Kim talks

What little is known about the man North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has tapped to prepare his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump suggests he's more familiar with defending Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal than giving it up.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 23, 2019

Wife of Guatemalan president investigated for cashing illegal checks

The wife of Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales will be investigated on suspicion of cashing illicit checks made out to her and her husband totaling more than $30,000, the country's top prosecutor said on Friday.
Japan Times
Special Supplements / The Emperor’s 30-year Anniversary
Feb 22, 2019

Exercising goodwill in symbolic role

Emperor Akihito marked the 30th year of his reign on Jan. 7, and the government will be holding a ceremony on Sunday to celebrate this milestone. On April 30, after three decades on the throne, the Emperor will be the first living Japanese monarch in about 200 years to step down.
Japan Times
GLOBAL MEDIA POST / Southeastern USA report 2019
Feb 22, 2019

Fujifilm, Teijin Find a Home in Greenwood, South Carolina

Having persuaded two large Japanese multinationals to establish operations in the community, Greenwood County in South Carolina has strengthened its case as an ideal investment location, whether they be from Japan or elsewhere.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / FOCUS
Feb 21, 2019

Crown Prince Naruhito likely to stay close to the people upon becoming Japan's first emperor born after the war

In June 2011, three months after savage tsunami devastated Japan's northeast coastline, Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako were visiting Miyagi — one of the three hardest-hit prefectures — to get a firsthand look at the gut-wrenching aftermath of the disaster and commiserate with evacuees...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 21, 2019

Pyongyang purge: Kim reportedly shuffling team for nuclear talks following defections and alleged spying

Veteran North Korean diplomats are being sidelined from nuclear talks ahead of the second summit with the United States as recent defections and allegations of spying undermine the trust of leader Kim Jong Un, South Korean officials and experts say.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 21, 2019

Daughter of missing North Korean diplomat Jo Song Gil has returned home, Italy says

North Korea informed Italy last year that the daughter of its acting ambassador had asked to return home after her father left his post in Rome, the Italian foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 21, 2019

U.S. Justice Department expecting to receive Robert Mueller report within days, sources tell CNN

The U.S. Department of Justice may announce as early as next week that special counsel Robert Mueller has given the attorney general his report on the federal Russia investigation, CNN said on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 20, 2019

North Korea's Kim to travel to Vietnam by train; Trump summit at Government Guesthouse: sources

Vietnam is preparing for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to arrive by train for his summit in Hanoi next week with U.S. President Donald Trump, two sources with direct knowledge of security and logistics planning said on Wednesday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 20, 2019

Winds of change sweep auto industry

Automakers are engaged in a fierce batttle for survival.
Japan Times
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Feb 20, 2019

Sumo in Heisei Era defined by dominant foreign yokozuna

The upcoming Spring Grand Sumo Tournament marks the end of an era.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Feb 20, 2019

The onus is still on us to be black history

A few years back, I wrote a piece for Black History Month in which I challenged people of African descent living here in Japan to "be black history." I implored them not to necessarily dwell on the past but to: "Dwell on the now instead. Because everything you do now becomes history and herstory the...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2019

What North Korea could learn from Vietnam

The Asian tiger would be an especially apt model for Kim Jong Un to emulate.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Feb 19, 2019

North Korea's 'socialist utopia' needs mass labor, but growing market economy threatens model

In January, thousands of North Korean students traveled to Mount Paektu, a sacred site where the ruling family claims its roots and where leader Kim Jong Un is building a massive economic hub in the alpine town of Samjiyon.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 19, 2019

No need for Abe — Trump is already nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is not saying whether or not he nominated Donald Trump for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, but the question may be moot: the U.S. president has been put forward by others for the prestigious award.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 19, 2019

Honda to shut sole U.K. plant in Swindon, imperiling 3,500 jobs just weeks ahead of Brexit

Honda built 160,000 vehicles at the Swindon factory last year, accounting for just over 10 percent of Britain's total output of 1.52 million cars.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 19, 2019

Presidents Day protests decry Trump's emergency declaration as power grab

Activists in Washington, Chicago and dozens of other U.S. cities protested on Monday's Presidents Day holiday against President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency to secure funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 19, 2019

India says mastermind of Kashmir bombing killed in clash along with five of its troops, as tensions with Pakistan soar

Indian forces on Monday killed three militants, including the suspected organizer of a suicide bombing in the disputed region of Kashmir that fueled tension between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, police said, with five troops also killed in the clash.

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