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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Jun 19, 2019

China's most advanced Big Brother experiment is a bureaucratic mess

The city of Suzhou, known as "the Venice of the East" for its web of intricate waterways, captured the imagination of Marco Polo when he journeyed through China more than seven centuries ago.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 10, 2019

Are Japanese ready to make their mark on the world?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to make Japan a signficant player on the world stage, but many young Japanese people don't seem to care about global issues.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 2, 2019

Coming to Japan to escape alcohol is risky, but help is available

When Casey 'dropped dead' on his kitchen floor, he realized he hit rock bottom. Luckily, he got the support he needed to get his drinking problem under control.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 31, 2019

Proactive actions crucial to attain workplace diversity

Diversity is at the core of many of the labor and economic policies designed by the current government, including work-style reforms and promotion of women's participation in society. How much has actually changed in Japanese workplaces? Are they becoming more diverse in all aspects?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
May 26, 2019

An Olympics crowdsourcing project may be the answer to making Japan a more accessible country

Tokyo is up against the clock when it comes to creating a city that's accessible for everyone. Its deadline? Next year's Olympic Games, though that really shouldn't matter when it comes to transforming Japan into a nation where anyone can use any space.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 12, 2019

Time to make diversity and inclusion a reality

Recent changes in Japan's labor market, as well as changes in people's mindsets, point to a move toward greater diversity and inclusion.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
May 8, 2019

Photographing Tokyo's human side: Isaac Aquino finds an 'interloper' in us all

Isaac Aquino has just quit his job as a reporter, and he seems quite pleased with himself. The soft-spoken Filipino recently decided to go all in on Tokyo Interlopers, an Instagram account he launched three years ago, by focusing on a business MBA.
JAPAN
May 1, 2019

Emperor Akihito abdicates with prayer for peace as Heisei Era ends

The abdication by a living Japanese monarch was the first since 1817.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 18, 2019

Innovation needs to be a Reiwa goal

To move past the Heisei Era's economic malaise, Japan must invest in an education system that fosters people who can breed new ideas and launch new industries.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2019

What you're not eating is killing you

Which is just a dramatic way of saying that you could live longer if you ate more healthy foods.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Apr 9, 2019

Gatekeepers, listeners, tax money: How Akita, once the prefecture with highest rate, halved suicides

Taeko Watanabe awoke one cold March night and found a trail of blood in the hallway, a bloody cleaver on her son Yuki's bed and no trace of him in the house. Then police discovered a suicide note in his bedroom.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 3, 2019

Hanami a reminder of life's fleeting nature

As cherry blossoms remind us each year, life is too short to waste.
JAPAN / History / Defining the Heisei Era
Mar 30, 2019

Defining the Heisei Era: Japan deals with death, disasters and a feeling of insecurity

Post-disaster Tohoku has been rife with supernatural sightings.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 29, 2019

Censorship pays: the Chinese Communist Party's newspaper expands lucrative online scrubbing business

People.cn, the online unit of China's influential People's Daily, is boosting its numbers of human internet censors backed by artificial intelligence to help firms vet content on apps and ads, capitalizing on its unmatched Communist Party lineage.
Japan Times
Events
Mar 16, 2019

Irish eyes are smiling in Japan

The first ever St. Patrick's Day parade in Tokyo made history for a number of reasons — least of all for the fact that it was the first such parade in Asia, and it unfolded on a sidewalk in Roppongi.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Mar 11, 2019

Have Japan's yuru-kyara reached critical mass? Minds behind the mascots discuss

Over the past few decades, towns, cities and prefectures throughout Japan have been churning out mascots to represent and promote themselves, resulting in an annual contest, the Yuru-kyara Grand Prix, that has come to symbolize their popularity.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 6, 2019

Creating opportunities for 'inclusive dance' with Stopgap Dance Company

"I believe people with almost any kind of physique can do contemporary dance. Yet though there are many courses for able-bodied people, there is almost nothing for people with disabilities," says Sho Shibata, executive producer of U.K.-based Stopgap Dance Company.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 14, 2019

The 100-year life and public pension reform

Is it possible for people who live to 100 to receive sufficient pension benefits for 35 years?
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Feb 12, 2019

Plastic fantastic: Examining the obsession over Japan's soft vinyl toys

It's a cold afternoon in mid-January and, inside a factory operated by Maruyama Toys in a quiet residential area in Tokyo's Katsushika Ward, Cory Privitera is making sofubi (soft vinyl toys).
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jan 19, 2019

Organizing guru Marie Kondo sparks plenty of joy on social media

A new year in Japan means it’s time for ōsōji, the annual cleaning of one’s home. And, right on schedule, Netflix has released “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” to give us all some inspiration — or make us feel guilty for putting it off.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 17, 2019

#StandUpJapan and other hashtags allow for new voices to be heard

On the morning of Jan. 14, 20-year-old women decked out in brightly colored kimono scrambled to catch trains to take them to ceremonies across the country to mark Coming of Age Day.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 16, 2019

The critical importance of staying connected

Preparing for what has been touted as the '100-year life' is not a task for elderly people or the government alone.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2019

No social skills required: Autistic staff help global IT consultancy thrive

From a British call center to an Alaskan satellite facility, Lars Backstrom has had a lot of jobs, but says he always felt like a hexagonal peg in a square hole — he just didn't fit in.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Jan 15, 2019

Japanese volunteer's initiative allows Cambodians to see future beyond dumps where they scavenged

In Anlong Pi, a village on the outskirts of famous tourist destination Siem Reap in northwestern Cambodia, a group of women gather each day to peel bark from 3-meter-long sections of banana tree trunks. The bark pulp taken during the process, akin to peeling onions, is steamed to recover fibers and then...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 10, 2019

Can the social security system be sustained?

Due to demographic changes, the welfare state that many developed countries aimed to create in the mid-20th century is now out of reach.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 9, 2019

Abe's plan to battle Japan's regional brain drain draws mixed reviews

Like other major cities around the world, Tokyo acts as a magnet for the rest of the country, attracting people whose energy and talents spark new businesses and forms of art and culture, which, in turn, attract even more people.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 5, 2019

Examining Japan's traditional paper trail

As temperatures drop across the country, washi makers nationwide enter their peak production season.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2018

An enthusiast of toy trains gives kids, young and old, a chance to play

Ten-year-old Koharu Yagi gazes at the meters and meters of plastic train track laid out in a room at the Plaza North culture center in the city of Saitama and lets out a sigh of wonder.

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.