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COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2014

China needs education revolution to compete

China's demographic advantage in economic output is diminishing quickly, owing to low fertility rates, population aging and the lagging quality of higher education.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 25, 2014

Scientists trying to develop heat-beating chickens

American scientists are attempting to develop chickens that can cope with scorching heat as part of a series of government-funded programs looking to adapt to or mitigate the effects of extreme weather patterns on the food supply.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 25, 2014

Warm Pacific may have caused U.S. cold

Unusually warm western Pacific waters linked to global warming may be the paradoxical cause of a bone-chilling winter in parts of the United States earlier this year, a new scientific study says.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 24, 2014

Youth seek new ideas to solve old problems

Young researchers today are in a pickle. Most of them have assumed that peer-reviewed science is fundamentally accepted until new, equally legitimate research proves those findings wrong. However, that was before politicians became self-declared experts on everything under the sun, from science to religion....
COMMENTARY / World
May 23, 2014

Opportunity for U.S. to extricate itself from Korea

The U.S. should reduce the possibility of impoverished, remote North Korea interfering with its own peace, stability and prosperity by simply going home: Terminate the defense treaty with South Korea.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 21, 2014

LDP touts moves to bolster 'Abenomics'

Corporate tax cuts, stronger corporate governance and closing the tax gap between one- and two-income households are among the Liberal Democratic Party's recommendations for inclusion in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic growth strategy, due by the end of next month.
Reader Mail
May 21, 2014

Vulnerability of nuclear power

On April 11, NHK broadcast a debate program concerning the right to collective self-defense. In the middle of it, all six participants and two moderators were frozen by a question from a scholar: "Each and every government official insists that the international environment surrounding Japan is getting...
JAPAN
May 20, 2014

Government silent on report Fukushima No. 1 workers fled during crisis

The government is refusing to comment on a media report that Masao Yoshida, the now-deceased chief of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant at the time of the meltdowns, was quoted as saying most of the plant's workers evacuated the site despite of his order to remain.
JAPAN / Politics
May 20, 2014

Divided coalition begins defense talks

The ruling coalition kicked off discussions Tuesday aimed at overcoming a fundamental division on whether the Cabinet should reinterpret the Constitution and upgrade Japan's defense posture in a changing security environment.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 20, 2014

Foreign domestics seen as aiding working mothers

Noriko Hitotsumatsu, a bilingual research pharmacologist with a master's from Cambridge University, considers herself lucky to have a part-time job in a Tokyo pharmacy after shelving her career to raise two daughters in one of the world's most work-oriented countries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 20, 2014

Singer Mayu Wakisaka takes inspiration from the TV drama boom

Singer-songwriter Mayu Wakisaka harbors dreams of Hollywood, but she's not about to enroll at drama school.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 19, 2014

From Fukushima to Syria, CWAJ supports scholars

The College Women's Association of Japan awards a variety of annual scholarships in higher education, backing, among others, women from abroad studying in Japan and Japanese women getting an education overseas.
EDITORIALS
May 19, 2014

Hope beats fear in India election

While the prospect of a strong Indian government led by Narendra Modi appeals to those who decry the horse-trading that has sapped the energy of previous Delhi governments, others worry that Modi could prove to be a Hindu nationalist who ratchets up tensions in South Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2014

Trash troubles pile up in China's Garbage Era

Chinese consumers, as much if not more than industry or the government, are at the root of the country's solid-waste problem. Yet protests over garbage incinerators, as an alternative to landfills, are turning violent.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
May 18, 2014

Monster hits continue to survive the Internet age

A monster lays waste to America's cities, smashing skyscrapers and tearing up passenger trains. It's the familiar tale of Godzilla, a mutant lizard last seen rampaging through cinemas in 1998 and now back on the big screen.
EDITORIALS
May 18, 2014

Boosting the female workforce

The Abe administration is pushing for a review of household tax and social security benefits under the belief that current rules discourage many women from participating in the labor force — even as the nation faces a steep decline in its working-age population.
EDITORIALS
May 18, 2014

Protecting the water cycle

The Diet has enacted a basic law on the water cycle, but the law falls short of meeting local governments' demand to legally define underground water as common public property.
JAPAN
May 17, 2014

Casino bill 'tough to pass' in current Diet session

The government will find it difficult to pass a casino legalization bill before the Diet's current session closes, a ruling coalition lawmaker predicts.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 17, 2014

Fix population problem by helping families

For the past 18 months, media outlets in Japan and abroad have looked approvingly upon Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to improve the country's economic future through proactive measures dubbed "Abenomics." The goal is to spur inflation so that companies can make more money and increase pay, thus...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 17, 2014

Alien invasion threatening native species

An invasion has been going on under our noses. It is multipronged, ruthless and very difficult to repel. It has been called an "ecological apocalypse."
EDITORIALS
May 17, 2014

Mother's Day belies realities

Japan considers itself one of the most advanced countries in Asia, yet socio-economic conditions for mothers still rank far below levels in Europe and even Singapore and South Korea.
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2014

Abe takes aim at Article 9

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he will try to change a long-standing constitutional interpretation so that Japan can exercise the right to 'collective self-defense.' His move would gut the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution without going through the amendment procedure.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 15, 2014

Up to 21 dead, doctor says, as anti-China riots spread in Vietnam

Up to 21 people were killed in Vietnam, a doctor said on Thursday, and a huge foreign steel project was set ablaze as anti-China riots spread to the center of the country a day after arson and looting in the south.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 15, 2014

Panasonic, Sharp pull up as Sony lags

Vigorous streamlining efforts paid off for Panasonic Corp. and Sharp Corp., two of Japan's three major electronics firms, in fiscal 2013, but Sony Corp. struggled to rebuild as its mainstay businesses continued to lose money.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 15, 2014

Auto industry lobby appoints Honda Chairman Ike as new chief

The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association on Thursday picked Honda Motor Co. Chairman Fumihiko Ike to replace Toyota Motor Corp. chief Akio Toyoda as the chief of the industry lobby.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 15, 2014

Mizuho most pessimistic of the big banks

Mizuho Financial Group Inc. led the nation's three biggest banks in forecasting a drop in earnings for this year as loan growth loses momentum and returns from stock investments wane.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 15, 2014

Time to get over the 'shock' of aging actresses

"Americans can be strange about aging," said French actress Jeanne Moreau, in a brief interview she gave me back in 2005. She was then at the tail end of her 70s and had just co-starred with French heartthrob Melvil Poupaud in "Le Temps Qui Reste," as his sympathetic but alluring grandmother. As the...
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
May 15, 2014

Visit some of Tokyo's top museums for free

Museums sometimes get the unfair reputation of being a bit boring, which is one reason why International Museum Day could exceed your expectations.

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