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JAPAN
Jul 29, 2013

Dioxin found in buried barrels near Kadena

The Okinawa Defense Bureau recently found dioxin and other hazardous chemicals from barrels unearthed at a former U.S. military installation in the city of Okinawa, officials said Monday, suggesting they may have contained herbicides or agricultural chemicals.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Jul 28, 2013

Woman with Down syndrome pushes for her independence

It wasn't her turn to talk, but early on in a hearing that will determine the limits of her independence, Margaret Jean Hatch stood up in a Newport News, Virginia, courtroom and cut the judge off in midsentence.
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jul 28, 2013

Where to go to survive the day? the corbies say

The word from a longtime Tokyo resident is that the jungle crow population, the bane of garbage piles, is finally in decline. Not everyone is happy about that.
JAPAN / History
Jul 27, 2013

A drop in the ocean: the sea-dumping of chemical weapons in Okinawa

Accounts by U.S. veterans in the accompanying feature of tons of chemical weapons being dumped off Okinawa in autumn 1969 are the first time such revelations have been made public — but in fact they tally entirely with the Pentagon's standard operating procedures at that time.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 27, 2013

Exclusive: Red Hat's lethal Okinawa smokescreen

In July 1969, a leak of chemical weapons on Okinawa sickened more than 20 U.S. soldiers and laid bare one of the Pentagon's biggest Cold War secrets: the storage of toxic munitions outside of continental United States.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 27, 2013

At home on the Maasai Mara range

Asuka Takita has a passion for Africa and its wildlife that took root during her childhood in Singapore and flourished in the soils of Kenya during her third year of university.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 27, 2013

Jilted mistresses emerge as China's new whistle-blowers on corruption

As President Xi Jinping pledges to clean up government corruption in China, an unlikely group of self-styled whistle-blowers has emerged: jilted mistresses.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 26, 2013

Defense planners mull pre-emptive strike ability

Japan will consider acquiring the ability to strike at enemy missile sites, given North Korea's enhanced missile technology program, an interim defense report says.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2013

Tepco chief admits PR fiasco over water info

Tokyo Electric Power Co. waited too long to announce that radioactive groundwater from Fukushima No. 1 is reaching the Pacific Ocean, President Naomi Hirose admitted Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jul 26, 2013

Brit Scoutmaster jogs for health, charity

Running up a mountain probably wouldn't be most people's idea of a pleasant weekend leisure activity, but Brit Colin Yarker thrives on the physical and mental challenge of trail running.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jul 26, 2013

Nagoya commuters get their cycle on

Nagoya is seeing a growing number of "tsukinists," a term coined for those who commute to work by bicycle, pointing to the public's higher awareness of environmental and personal health issues.
EDITORIALS
Jul 24, 2013

TPP-ready fishing industry?

With a graying workforce and a total fish catch in decline, Japan's fishing industry will need some help before it's ready for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / BALANCING INTERESTS
Jul 24, 2013

High-end grape grower has no TPP gripe, just sees green

Grapes grown on Takanobu Watanabe's farm in Tomi, Nagano Prefecture, are still chartreuse this time of the year, as the summer heat boosts the berries' sugar content before veraison, the onset of ripening.
EDITORIALS
Jul 23, 2013

The danger zone for eels

As Japanese eels move closer to an international endangered species list, Japanese consumers had better try to curb their appetite for them.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2013

U.N. norm setters vs. takers

How long will the United Nations division of labor last in which Westerners are the norm setters and enforcers while the rest are norm takers
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 23, 2013

U.K. duchess casts traditional midwives aside for birth

Prince William's wife, Kate, cast aside British tradition when she picked the team that helped her deliver her baby on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2013

Greenpeace's Shard stunt may not help its cause

Greenpeace's staged scaling of central London's Shard skyscraper makes one wonder if the environmental organization might be even more effective if it grew up.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2013

Indonesia's cautious confidence

How does Indonesia leverage its newly acquired strength to confront the challenges facing it and its regional partners, while avoiding foreign policy recklessness
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2013

Free study abroad prep in Kumamoto

Kumamoto Prefecture will open a free cram school Sunday for junior high and high school students who want to enroll in universities overseas.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 19, 2013

The weird and wonderful world of the naked mole rat

Doctor Chris Faulkes, who has been working with them almost every day for the last 25 years, has long since learned to love naked mole rats, but, as he concedes, since they are "pretty much blind and live underground in the dark, they are not necessarily naturally selecting on good looks."
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2013

Meeting the needs of young voters

Before casting their ballots Sunday, young voters should not forget to consider the various parties' promises with regard to childcare and support for young workers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 17, 2013

DJ Miso Shiru and MC Gohan raps and roasts on 'Mother's Food'

A gig doesn't double as dinner, but at DJ Miso Shiru and MC Gohan's shows there's a good chance food will be involved. Besides a hip-hop set, the audience can sometimes participate in cooking demonstrations.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2013

Can Snowden cite rights and still applaud Putin?

It's easy to admire Edward Snowden for what he has revealed about U.S. and U.K. spying, and still feel deeply uncomfortable about his praise for Russia, of all places.
Reader Mail
Jul 17, 2013

Western work ethic is wanting

In his July 11 letter, "Abnormal way to run a workday," Grant Piper raises a philosophical doctrine that is very Western: We live not to work, but we work to live. Indeed, this supports the utilitarian theories of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, two British philosophers of capitalism who promoted...

Longform

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