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WORLD
Aug 19, 2013

Efforts to close 'Second Guantanamo' in Afghanistan prove problematic

Of all the challenges the U.S. faces as it winds down the Afghanistan war, the most difficult might be closing the prison nicknamed "The Second Guantanamo."
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2013

'Agripreneurs' tech-savvy green thumbs

Umeshu Dining Myojo, a small eatery in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, is growing its own herbs and leafy vegetables, including basil, mint, arugula and romaine lettuce, on site as part of a hydroponic "agripreneurism" effort.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Aug 19, 2013

Mitaka pair find flexibility key in navigating values

Almost 33 years since their first encounter in 1980, Bill Achilles, who hails from Geneva, New York, and his wife, Michiko, from Tokyo say they share more or less the same values — by merging Japanese and American cultures.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2013

Bigger Sakurajima eruption not in cards despite outburst

Despite its violent outburst over the weekend, experts are guardedly optimistic that Mount Sakurajima is not due for a life-threatening eruption soon.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 17, 2013

Eco-awareness to the rescue

The village of Shimizu in Niigata Prefecture has a long history, but in a few decades it may be gone. Located 600 meters above sea level at the foot of Mount Makihata on a pass between parts of northwestern Honshu along the Sea of Japan and the Kanto region on the Pacific side, Shimizu hosted a military...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 17, 2013

Stone weighs in on Japanese defense

It's August, when the Japanese media's attention turns to peace, or, at least, the absence of war. The anniversaries of the atomic bombings and subsequent surrender occasion print and broadcast discussions of what Japan learned from its bloody mid-century military campaign. For most people the fact that...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 17, 2013

Burying the truth to survive in postwar, modern Japan

It is hardly necessary to note that comics and manga are capable of conveying just about anything. Philosophy? See Ryan Dunlavey and Fred Van Lente's Action Philosophers series. Travel? Try Guy Delisle's accounts of his sojourns in tourist hot spots such as Pyongyang and Shenzhen. Memoir? Yoshihiro Tatsumi's...
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2013

Too many abandoned animals

In fiscal 2011, local government-run animal shelters nationwide took in more than 220,000 dogs and cats abandoned by their owners. Roughly 80 percent, around 175,000, of those animals were "put down," a polite euphemism for gassing the animals to death. The pet industry continues to grow in Japan, and...
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 16, 2013

NSA broke privacy rules repeatedly, audit finds

The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 16, 2013

Flying reptiles that weren't so scary after all

For most of us, "pterodactyls" are large, vicious and ugly gargoyles with leathery wings and jaws lined with savage teeth, the sort of disreputable brutes we find in Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World," the "Jurassic Park" franchise — even a recent episode of "Doctor Who."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 16, 2013

Race to build water-grab dams endangers Himalayas

The future of the world's most famous mountain-range could be endangered by a vast dam-building project, as a risky regional race for water resources takes place in Asia.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2013

War dead kin waged peace since '45

Tamami Watanabe was 7 when her father died in 1945 in the Philippines while fighting for Japan, and her memories of him are fading.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2013

China, ASEAN at crossroads

Rising tensions in the South China Sea have roiled ASEAN-China relations. Yet there is now agreement to begin consultations on a Code of Conduct.
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2013

Shedding light on the TPP's impact

The government must not decide on what Trans-Pacific Partnership issues it is willing to compromise until it fulfills its duty of explaining to people what's at stake.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2013

Cooked meat overloads senses of taste and smell

According to those who tried it last week, lab-grown beef doesn't really taste like meat. So what exactly gives meat its flavor and makes us beg for more?
EDITORIALS
Aug 13, 2013

Opportunity to raise wages

armakers and other large Japanese manufacturers should take a cue from better business results of late, due to the weaker yen, and increase workers' wages.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 13, 2013

Running may actually protect against osteoarthritis, keep joints healthy

While out on a run recently, I passed a hiker on the trail. "My knees hurt just watching you," he told me, shaking his head. It was a variation on a comment I hear over and over: Keep running like that, and you'll give yourself arthritic knees.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Aug 12, 2013

The perennial 'half, bi or double?' debate rolls on

Confounding 'half' stereotypes
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 10, 2013

Ninagawa's golden oldies reach a whole new stage in life

"After a performance at the 232-seat Maison de la Culture du Japon in Paris, one of the Japanese staff there said I had a 'splendid voice.' I didn't buy anything in Paris, but that was the best possible souvenir," said Kiyoshi Takahashi, 85, the oldest male member of Saitama Gold Theater.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 10, 2013

Koda's baby gaffe may find different reception now

Five years ago, singer Kumi Koda caused an uproar when she joked on a late-night radio show about how a woman's amniotic fluid (yōsui) becomes "spoiled" as she gets older. The subtext of the comment was the advantage of having babies at a younger age, but those quick to ridicule Koda's lack of gynecological...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2013

Dethroning King Coal for the sake of the planet

Our continued high level of greenhouse-gas emissions protects the interests of one group of humans — mainly affluent people alive today — at the cost of others.

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