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JAPAN
Jul 3, 2015

METI eyes label-reading smartphone app for tourists

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday that it is planning to introduce a system for smartphones that allows visitors to Japan to get information in several languages on products they want to buy simply by scanning them.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 26, 2015

Washington Post reporter goes on trial behind closed doors in Tehran

Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian went on trial on espionage charges behind closed doors in Tehran on Tuesday, 10 months after he was arrested at his home and imprisoned, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Apr 27, 2015

Drone mistake underscores difficulty of tracking where hostages are being held

The U.S. drone strike that accidentally killed two hostages in Pakistan exposes intelligence shortfalls that former and current U.S. officials say appear to be growing more frequent as militants expand their safe havens and as Washington gathers less on-the-ground human intelligence.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 13, 2015

Chinese hackers likely behind decade-long cyberattack on Southeast Asia, India: report

Hackers, most likely from China, have been spying on governments and businesses in Southeast Asia and India uninterrupted for a decade, researchers at Internet security firm FireEye Inc. said in a report released Monday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 4, 2015

Koga's parting shot may not hit its target

In February, Reporters Without Borders published its annual list of countries ranked in terms of press freedom. Japan came in at No. 61, down two places from the previous year and lower than Taiwan (51) and South Korea (60). The reason for the decline was the state secrets act, which came into force...
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 22, 2015

Islamic State urges backers to kill U.S. military personnel after posting names, addresses, photos online

The Islamic State group has posted online what it says are the names, U.S. addresses and photos of 100 American military service members, and called upon its "brothers residing in America" to kill them.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2015

The real lesson from the Clinton email imbroglio

The flap over Hillary Clinton's use of private email reflects the tension between the drive for transparency and the instinct for privacy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / UN WORLD CONFERENCE ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
Mar 14, 2015

Promoting disaster risk reduction

Japan Times
JAPAN / UN WORLD CONFERENCE ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
Mar 14, 2015

Helping cities brace for disaster

Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 11, 2015

NSA sued by Wikimedia, rights groups over mass surveillance

The U.S. National Security Agency was sued on Tuesday by Wikimedia and other groups challenging one of its mass surveillance programs that they said violates Americans' privacy and makes individuals worldwide less likely to share sensitive information.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Mar 6, 2015

Cheap rural homes come at a price

Though the hollowing-out of population in regional areas in Japan has become a major issue for the central government, it's been a problem for regional governments for more than three decades. Twenty years ago there was a popular promotional method called "I-turn," devised as a supplement to the "U-turn"...
EDITORIALS
Feb 24, 2015

Labor law needs sharper teeth

The labor ministry should devise more effective measures to be taken against 'black companies' and more strictly enforce existing labor laws to halt abusive labor practices.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 13, 2015

Obama to encourage companies to share cyberthreat data

President Barack Obama is set to sign an executive order on Friday aimed at encouraging companies to share more information about cybersecurity threats with the government and each other, a response to attacks like that on Sony Entertainment.
EDITORIALS
Jan 25, 2015

NHK must maintain independence

NHK has announced a three-year budget plan that includes strengthening its overseas services. But has Japan's national broadcaster figured out yet whether it exists as a news organziation or as a propaganda arm of the government?
JAPAN / Society
Jan 17, 2015

Home away from home: the plight of refugees in Japan

On a cold winter's day in December, an African man sits in a meeting room at the Japan Association for Refugees, a nonprofit organization in Tokyo. The man, whose name and country of origin have been withheld to protect his identity from those who wish him and his family harm, has been seeking refugee...
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 17, 2014

Former Sony employees sue studio over 'nightmare' data breach

The massive hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. computers has spurred two lawsuits by former employees accusing the company of failing to protect the personal information of thousands of workers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 16, 2014

Sony warned of network breaches a year ago

Sony Corp. was warned about a year ago that hackers had infiltrated its network and were stealing gigabytes of data several times a week, underscoring a pattern of lapses predating the recent attack that has spilled Sony Pictures' secrets onto the Internet.
EDITORIALS
Dec 1, 2014

Judging Abe's policies

Along with the bread and butter issues of the economy, voters are urged to take a serious look at the Abe administration's actions in the areas of defense and freedom of information over the past two years.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FOCUS
Nov 26, 2014

Tabelog.com's customer-generated restaurant reviews prompt food fight

By getting diners to post over 5.9 million reviews of nearly 800,000 eateries, Tabelog has brought unprecedented transparency to one of the world's best dining scenes. It has also infuriated chefs and owners along the way.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 23, 2014

Hackers to probe cybercrime defenses at British banks

In the next few months, hackers will try to penetrate the cyberdefenses of Britain's major banks and steal information about millions of customers. But for once they will be welcome.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Oct 28, 2014

China announces plans to set up anti-terrorism intelligence system

China will set up a national anti-terrorism intelligence system, state media said Monday, as part of changes to a security law expected to be passed this week after an upsurge in violence in the far western region of Xinjiang.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 26, 2014

More distrust, less harmony if law pits local patriarchs against Tokyo secrecy fetishists

With the state secrets law about to take effect, a fundamental question awaits: When is a “state” secret no longer merely national and starts to infringe upon “local” autonomy?

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.