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EDITORIALS
Aug 22, 2014

Improving disaster preparedness

Japan's municipal authorities must examine why their collective past experience with torrential rains failed to prevent the deaths of dozens of people in mudslides that engulfed hilly residential areas of Hiroshima early Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2014

Seabed drilling off Henoko

The Abe administration's approval of the start of seabed drilling off Henoko, Okinawa, shows that it is not much concerned with winning the support of Okinawans as it pushes for construction of a new facility to replace U.S. Marine Air Station Futenma.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 20, 2014

Exports rebound in boost for Abe's policies

Japan's exports rose more than forecast in July, bouncing back from two straight declines to support an economy that contracted last quarter by the most since the period immediately following the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2014

Asia's budding reform trinity

Three of Asia's most populous countries — China, India and Indonesia — are poised to enter a historical sweet spot, as their respective leaders build a reputation as one of his country's greatest modern reformists.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2014

Make no mistake about Thailand's problem

The Thai military has not played the role of 'democratic defender' following its recent coup. Instead, its intervention shows its desperate move to maintain power ahead of the imminent royal succession.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2014

Anniversary of WWII surrender met with varied reaction

As Japan marked the 69th anniversary of its surrender in World War II on Friday, people on the streets of Tokyo showed mixed reactions. Right-leaning visitors to Yasukuni Shrine found a new cause in their movement, while the day evoked memories of wartime suffering among older residents.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 15, 2014

GPIF law change may be shelved, Kihara says

A law to transform how the world's biggest pension fund is run can wait and may even be shelved, said a ruling party official, contradicting his deputy policy chief who called it the top priority.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Aug 15, 2014

Japan's ailing rural towns push free beer, other perks to urbanites in tax-sharing drive

Faced with the danger of elimination, hundreds of rural districts in Japan are plying gifts that include craft beer and balloon rides to entice their mini-diasporas to send tax payments back home.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 14, 2014

Israel said to be moving troops to Gaza border as truce expiry nears

Israel moved troops to the Gaza Strip border, Israeli newspapers reported, as the midnight expiry of a three-day truce drew near without word of an extension.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 13, 2014

Japan's economy suffers biggest decline since 2011 as tax hike bites

The Japanese economy suffered its biggest contraction since the March 2011 earthquake in the second quarter of this year as the hike in sales tax to 8 from 5 percent took a heavy toll on household spending, stoking fears that any rebound may be too modest to sustain a solid recovery.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 12, 2014

Islamic State using Mosul Dam to help fund caliphate

Islamic State militants who last week captured the Mosul Dam, Iraq's largest, had one demand for workers: Keep it going.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Aug 12, 2014

Power struggle on Baghdad streets as Iraq nominates new leader

Iraq's president named a new prime minister to end Nouri al-Maliki's eight-year rule on Monday, but the veteran leader refused to go after deploying militias and special forces on the streets, creating a dangerous political showdown in Baghdad.
EDITORIALS
Aug 11, 2014

An A-bomb survivor takes on Abe

At a ceremony mark the 69th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, a 75-year-old woman survivor berates the Abe administration's decision to allow Japan to take part in conflict overseas under the auspices of collective self-defense.
WORLD
Aug 11, 2014

Israel and Palestinians observe new truce; longer accord sought

Israel and Gaza Strip militants began to observe another Egypt-brokered truce, giving negotiators time to craft a more enduring accord after a month of violence in the Hamas-ruled territory.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 9, 2014

Okinawa: pocket of resistance

The battle over Henoko Bay looks set to challenge the power of the archipelago's protest movement.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 9, 2014

A Russian bureaucrat rebels on Facebook

President Vladimir Putin's standoff with the West, which has turned Russia into a corporate state in defensive mode, makes the rebellion of a lone bureaucrat in the Economics Ministry all the more impressive.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2014

Latin America, Israel trade after trading insults

As Gaza smolders, the anti-Israel drumbeat in Latin America is likely to continue, but the smart money says the damage will remain confined to the rhetorical battlefield. Trade will go on.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2014

Women armed with chain saws head to the hills under Abe's growth plan

Junko Otsuka quit her job in Tokyo and headed for the woods, swapping a computer for a bush cutter and her air-conditioned office for the side of a mountain.

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