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Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2018

Shrinking applicant pool: Japan's Self Defense Forces struggling to recruit amid population crisis

As a Self-Defense Forces recruiter sat patiently at a booth outside a supermarket in Tokyo one recent weekend, she welcomed a rare visitor, high school student Kazuaki Matsumura.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2018

How China is losing the world

Beijing's overreach risks creating a well-spring of resistance to its global ambitions.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 25, 2018

How Abe should spend the next three years

The country still needs to reform its labor market, deal with an aging population and press for gender equality.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 25, 2018

400-year-old spice-laden shipwreck 'discovery of decade' for Portugal

Archaeologists searching Portugal's coast have found a 400-year-old shipwreck believed to have sunk near Lisbon after returning from India laden with spices, specialists said on Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Sep 23, 2018

Abe's work-style reforms give Japan's employers the green light to demand unpaid and unsafe overtime

New law caps overtime at unhealthy levels and sets up a system that will legitimize the principle of working for nothing.
Japan Times
SUMO
Sep 23, 2018

Sumo 101: Hobbies

All sumo wrestlers get a week off starting the day after a tournament ends.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 22, 2018

The problem with padding employment records in Japan

In August, it was reported that central government ministries and agencies, not to mention national legislative offices and local governments, have for years been fulfilling their legal responsibility to hire certain numbers of people with disabilities by fudging criteria for determining what qualifies...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Sep 22, 2018

Kouki Watanabe: Sparks fly between son and father

Run by father-and-son duo Toshihiro and Kouki Watanabe, Taihou remains a cozy, unfussy, family-run restaurant rooted in Kyoto's Nijo district. But that modesty can't hide what is some of the best Sichuan food you'll find in the city.
EDITORIALS
Sep 21, 2018

Progress, perhaps, in Pyongyang

The leaders of the two Koreas moved forward on a number of fronts at their summit this week — but the issue of the North's committment to nuclear disarmament remains unresolved.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 21, 2018

Proliferation of marine parks in China fueling shadowy trade in cetaceans

Eight beluga whales jump in unison out of a bright blue indoor pool, flipping their tail fins and spewing water as a packed audience cheers and snaps photographs.
Reader Mail
Sep 21, 2018

Will Japan ever truly accept 'half-Japanese'?

Regarding tennis star Naomi Osaka, when will Japan begin to see all of its citizens as truly Japanese? The expression "hāfu" means one is only half Japanese with all the subtle layers of negative or racist connotations attached.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2018

Syrian refugee chef and young tech CEO join forces to realize dream of opening Tokyo restaurant

Opening a Syrian restaurant in Japan was a dream come true for Nazem Jamal Alddin, a 55-year-old Syrian chef who fled from the war-torn city of Damascus three years ago. And it wouldn't have been possible without the help of a Japanese tech firm CEO around half his age who, by chance, had become an avid...
Japan Times
Rugby
Sep 20, 2018

Tokyo marks one-year countdown to 2019 Rugby World Cup

Rugby officials emphasized that the first Rugby World Cup in Asian would be a "game changer" that could bring the game to the next phase.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Sep 20, 2018

Delicate French treats to delight the palate

The Hyatt Regency Tokyo is holding its popular French desserts event, the Gilles Marchal Fair, until Nov. 18.
Japan Times
Rugby / RWC Countdown
Sep 19, 2018

Brave Blossoms icon Goromaru calls for better promotion of Japanese rugby

Rugby icon Ayumu Goromaru is deeply concerned with the status quo surrounding his sport since the Japan's national team's sensational World Cup campaign in 2015.
Japan Times
SUMO
Sep 19, 2018

Sumo 101: Sumo school

Sumo is a Darwinian world, but even in this harsh unforgiving environment, new recruits aren't given a "Battle Royale"-style "here's your mawashi — try to survive" induction.
EDITORIALS
Sep 18, 2018

U.S. puts squeeze on Palestinians

The U.S. believes that it can force the Palestinians to make a deal. History suggests that it will be proven spectacularly wrong.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2018

With eye on foreign tourists, Kyoto bids to expand nighttime sightseeing

At 6 p.m. on one weekday in August an enthusiastic audience had almost filled Gion Corner, a theater of some 200 seats at the center of the Gion traditional entertainment district in the city of Kyoto.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2018

Trigger warning: An embarrassing fragility on campuses

'Un-intellectual' academic bureaucrats have turned students into 'eggshell plaintiffs' traumatized by a multitude of 'microaggressions.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Sep 17, 2018

Living and working — choosing the right verb in Japanese

Introducing the differences between the verbs 'sumu' and 'kurasu,' as well as 'tsutomeru' and 'hataraku'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Sep 17, 2018

Hands-on diplomacy reveals charms of Nicaragua

Located on the ninth floor of a nondescript commercial building in Nishi-Azabu, and identifiable only because of a row of United Nations-like flags outside, the diminutive yet cheery offices of the Embassy of the Republic of Nicaragua are perhaps parallel to that country's influence on the world stage.
Japan Times
Sep 16, 2018

10-year consumer study reports 'rise of cynicism' in Japan

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Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Sep 16, 2018

Killings in famed mariachi plaza pose test for Mexico's new government

Five people died after a dramatic shootout at a famed Mexico City mariachi plaza, officials said on Saturday, the latest in a recent string of crimes in the capital that will soon put to the test the incoming government's new tactics to fight violence.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 15, 2018

Ensuring Tokyo Bay is fit for swimming ahead of the 2020 Olympics

If you squint your eyes, it almost looks like Club Med: an expanse of blue sea, a stretch of beach, white tents and umbrellas on the sand, and plenty of staff ready to help out. However, this isn't a tropical paradise, it's Tokyo Bay and Odaiba Plage is an attempt to turn it into a swimming spot.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Sep 15, 2018

Naoko Mori: From 'Miss Saigon' to 'Doctor Who'

An upbringing outside of Japan led Naoko Mori, then a teenager, to pursue varied career in acting
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 15, 2018

'Yakuza Tattoo': Inside the secretive world of the yakuza's tattoos

Andreas Johansson spent almost three weeks immersed in the world of the yakuza, photographing and talking to around 30 gang members for his book, 'Yakuza Tattoo.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 15, 2018

Udon House brings the world to Sanuki udon

Part guesthouse and tour provider and part culture and cooking class, Udon House is a full-immersion experience where guests learn about the Sanuki region where udon noodles were born.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Sep 15, 2018

The long struggle to become international

Eighth-century Japan was an infant civilization. Its prehistory had been long. Awakened at last, Japan drank eagerly from the source: China, then at its creative peak.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 14, 2018

Stoke the flames of tradition on Shimane’s ‘Iron Road’

Shimane Prefecture is an under-discovered wealth of history, natural beauty and high-quality artisan crafts — such as katana-quality steel. On this drive-yourself adventure step straight into Irontown and immerse yourself in the history and culture of tatara steel production.

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