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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Mar 26, 2017

Overtime deal marks total capitulation by labor

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, long the champion of labor law deregulation, last year announced it was time to place a legally binding upper limit on overtime hours.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 25, 2017

Radiation brings fear, and kids let it all out

Children too young, one might think, to even know the word 'radiation' have picked it up and flung it with gleeful malice at disoriented new classmates who have enough to cope with already.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 25, 2017

Tillerson tells 'frenemies' Japan and South Korea to heal 'comfort women' rift

With Seoul in political paralysis and amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Japan's ambassador to South Korea remains in Tokyo — all because of some statues.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 20, 2017

Hard-line priest's elevation a sign Modi is putting India on path toward becoming a Hindu nation

A saffron-robed Hindu holy man was sworn in Sunday to lead India's most populous state, sealing what appears to be a shift in course by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that could redefine the world's largest democracy as a Hindu nation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 18, 2017

Asking the tough questions on Fukushima

In January, regional newspaper Fukushima Minpo interviewed Yosuke Takagi, state minister of economy, trade and industry. While talking about reconstruction plans for areas near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Takagi mentioned resurrecting Dash-mura (Dash Village), a farm created from...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 18, 2017

The Japan tabloid guide to health and happiness

An alien first encountering Japan's weekly tabloid magazines might conclude he has come to Earth in a nation of inquisitive hypochondriacs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Mar 18, 2017

Breaking the comic book glass ceiling

Four years ago, Chinese-American writer Marjorie Liu had a simple but persistent idea: create an epic fantasy comic book series about a classic Japanese kaijū (strange beast) movie monster that has a connection to a girl.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 16, 2017

Radwimps were the perfect choice when it came to soundtracking 'Your Name.'

Yokohama Arena feels special on this chilly Tuesday night in early March. It's here that Radwimps — a rock outfit from Kanagawa Prefecture whose members could bike to this very venue when they were teens — are playing the first of two sold-out shows.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Mar 10, 2017

Hidehiko Ishizuka takes his love of sake on tour in streaming TV series

Gourmandizing television personality Hidehiko Ishizuka has a famously large appetite. Apparently, the portly comedian also has a taste for Japanese sake. On a clear February afternoon in the sake-producing region of Fushimi, just south of Kyoto, a camera crew forms a tight circle around Ishizuka as he...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2017

North Korea doesn't belong on state terrorism list

The U.S. and its allies should respond to what Pyongyang is rather than what it isn't.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2017

On-site investigation at Moritomo Gakuen suddenly cut short; new fraud claims emerge

Thursday night visit by prefectural officials shut down when the school's staff allegedly interfered with the investigation.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League / B. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 9, 2017

Rebounding skills a vital part of Joji Takeuchi's game

Joji Takeuchi consistently provides solid numbers for the Alvark Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Mar 8, 2017

New Zealander is on a mission to turn Japan green, one balcony at a time

Quakes of 2011 in Christchurch and Tohoku put Kiwi on the path to self-reliance and sustainability.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Mar 4, 2017

Learning to stand up to domestic violence in Japan

Satoru Tanaka tentatively pulls from his briefcase a well-thumbed sheet of plain paper, onto which has been sketched three smiling faces along with a simple but astute message: "Daddy's promise," it begins. "Always smile, and if you feel the urge to fight, take a deep breath."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 4, 2017

Yellen points to March rate hike as Fed signals end of easy money

The U.S. Federal Reserve's long-stalled "liftoff" of interest rates may finally get airborne this year as policymakers from Chair Janet Yellen on Friday to regional leaders across the United States signaled that the era of easy money is drawing to a close.
EDITORIALS
Feb 25, 2017

Ambitious curriculum guidelines

The education ministry's proposed curriculum guidelines for elementary and junior high schools may be overly ambitious.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Feb 22, 2017

Standing up to alienation on Tokyo's comedy scene

Japan is an easy place to foster self-delusion, and a failure at comedy is like a bucket of ice water to the face.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Feb 19, 2017

For African-American ‘idol’ Amina du Jean, difference is a double-edged sword

Amina du Jean been in Japan for only 2u00bd years, but in that time has become a bona fide idol, joined a J-idol group and even branched off into a bit of gravure (bikini) modeling.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 18, 2017

Wasteland: Tokyo grows on its own trash

Waste management authorities are working constantly to ensure that garbage in the metropolis is put to better use.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 18, 2017

'Confessions of a Yakuza': Vice and survival in postwar Tokyo

The author of the best-selling "Memories of Silk and Straw" brings the same documentary approach to bear in "Confessions of a Yakuza," a study of an aging gangster by the name of Eiji Ijichi.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Feb 18, 2017

Hachimura biding his time with top-ranked Gonzaga

The Gonzaga University men's basketball team is having a remarkable season — one of the best seasons in U.S. college basketball history. And freshman reserve forward Rui Hachimura has been along for the magical ride.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 15, 2017

Kremlin denies meddling in French election, targeting top candidate Macron with 'fake news'

The Kremlin denied on Tuesday that it was behind media and internet attacks on the campaign of French presidential front-runner Emmanuel Macron though his camp renewed the charges against Russian media and a hackers' group operating in Ukraine.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 13, 2017

Deja vu as currency traders forced to brush up on trade data skills

Currency traders accustomed to analyzing the Fed's dot plot and monthly U.S. jobs figures to divine the direction of the dollar are having to learn, or in some cases re-learn, a forgotten skill: how to scrutinize trade data.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 13, 2017

'Boy-band governor' surges in S. Korean presidential poll as Ban Ki-moon drops out of race

A provincial governor nicknamed after a leading boy-band is surging in South Korean presidential polls following former United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon's announcement that he would not run in an election that could come within months.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 11, 2017

Defiant Apa paints a target on its back

"The Japanese airplanes attacked, and a total of 1,200 men, roughly half the victims of Pearl Harbor, died in action on the USS Arizona. ... In general, the powder magazine at the ship's bottom is not induced to explode in a bombing and it would not have caught fire and blown up six minutes after the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 31, 2017

'Fear gauge' up as Trump travel curbs send stocks, dollar down sharply

Major world equity markets fell on Monday and the dollar slipped against the safe-haven yen after new U.S. immigration curbs stirred concerns about the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's policies on global trade and the economy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 25, 2017

Your school may be international, but what values does it teach?

If you are vested in an international school as a parent, student, member of staff or management, here are four questions to consider.
Japan Times
SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Jan 24, 2017

Wideouts Beckham, Bryant showing new maturity

Despite Odell Beckham Jr.'s recent misadventures, MAS believes the New York Giants receiver is in the process of ditching his diva persona.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?