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JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 20, 2001

Extra-terrestrial squid seen in the abyss

The world's largest ecosystem? Not the Amazon rain forest, nor the Great Barrier Reef. It is the abyss.
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2001

Yasuda cracks the whip on merger procedure

Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and two other nonlife insurers will try to hasten work on their coming merger, the insurer's president said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2001

Evidence of microbes from outer space

LONDON -- The biggest news so far this year is not George W. Bush's plans for intergalactic defense, or even the Code Red virus that was supposed to eat our computers and then our brains. It is the discovery of bugs in the upper atmosphere.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 22, 2001

Dead-end lives in the suburbs of Tokyo

LIFE IN THE CUL-DE-SAC, by Senji Kuroi. Translated by Philip Gabriel. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 2001, 231 pp., $12.95. To read this version of "Life in the Cul-de-Sac" is to experience two conflicting emotions. On the one hand, there is admiration for the storyteller, as the dozen linked...
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2001

Insurance-yield cuts put forward in plan

A government panel presented a plan Tuesday that would enable life insurers to reduce yields promised to policyholders as a way to help weak insurers restructure.
COMMUNITY
Feb 18, 2001

Forest flamenco and snake salsa

Ana Maria Cristina starts her classes at the Asahi Culture Center in Shinjuku with stretches, bends, dynamic shakes of the upper torso and even punchier wiggles of the hips. She then demonstrates how to produce a voice from deep inside, as if reaching into her very soul. Japanese students have trouble...
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

Chiyoda's debts likely much higher

Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance Co.'s liabilities are estimated to have exceeded its assets by some 500 billion yen, about 15 times higher than its earlier publicized negative net worth of 34.3 billion yen, industry sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2000

DoCoMo ordered to pay 11 billion yen for tax dodge

Tax authorities have said NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc. (NTT DoCoMo) and its group failed to properly declare a 26 billion yen-plus taxable investment in equipment for its personal handy-phone system over a one-year period beginning in April 1998, NTT DoCoMo announced Tuesday.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 5, 1999

Fantasy, drama: visions of a blind artist

When Carter's, the biggest children's clothes maker in the U.S., chose to use blind artist Emu Namae's pastel drawings on their children's line, new doors opened in Namae's life.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 1999

The politics of love and hate

LONDON -- Here we are on the second anniversary of the death of Princess Diana, and neither her life nor her death seems as momentous as it did this time last year. Does this mean she really was just a media phenomenon, ephemeral, superficial, appearing and disappearing in our lives without consequence?...
Director Hirobumi Watanabe (second from left) stars alongside his brother Yuji (far right), who has served as composer on all of his films, in his new feature “Techno Brothers,” which follows a sibling trio on the road to Tokyo to find success in the music business.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 21, 2023

Foolish Piggies Films keeps humor at its heart

Indie director Hirobumi Watanabe looks back on 10 years of making distinctive, micro-budget films with his brother and seeking out new challenges on and off screen.
A woman takes a picture of the poster for the new Hayao Miyazaki film, “The Boy and the Heron.”
PODCAST / deep dive
Aug 2, 2023

Hayao Miyazaki’s confusing new masterpiece

Our critics Thu-Huong Ha and Matt Schley discuss what they thought of the new Hayao Miyazaki film, “The Boy and the Heron.”
Nymphonella tapetis has become a pest for Manila clam (Ruditapes philippinarum) farms in Tokyo Bay.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / OUR PLANET
Aug 6, 2023

There are spiders in the sea surrounding Japan … sort of

Most sea spiders look like a tangle of legs, with little, if any, body to speak of. But they are not actually spiders.
Matt Daniels of the Buffalo Bills Wheelchair Football Team moves with the ball during a scrimmage against the Cleveland Browns Adaptive Sports team in Cleveland on Aug. 5, 2023.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 24, 2023

Wheelchair football provides camaraderie amid metal-on-metal clashes

Dawson Broad was instantly drawn to wheelchair football after attending a game in Buffalo.
While privilege may always exist to some extent, efforts can be made to create a more equitable and humane society.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2023

We can move toward a post-privilege era. Who’s in first?

Privilege should be earned and shared, and it's not something that can be confined to a quiet street or an isolated island.
Kazuki Paul Tsuyukusa with his dog Sunny in Fukuoka
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 9, 2023

Kazuki Paul Tsuyukusa: 'It’s better to live without being noticed everywhere.’

A former rikishi, Kazuki Paul Tsuyukusa has swapped his sumo stable for the life of a salaryman.
History recorded the thoughts and actions of rulers and warlords, but what did the average folk think in that time? Were their days filled with angst, passion or poignancy?
JAPAN / History
Sep 17, 2023

Writers find a new muse in the 20th century: the ordinary person

The past at its very best spread its benefits thinly, leaving the masses to make the best of things beyond the reach of civilization’s light.
Oleg Panchurin, 32, head of the Union of Veterans of the Special Military Operation, speaks during an interview in the town of Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, on Aug. 25.
WORLD
Sep 18, 2023

Back from Ukraine war, Russia's veterans begin reintegration

In the last few months, Russian media have reported a rise in incidents involving veterans from the front.
Hakuoho's (left) impressive performance at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament saw him nearly win the Emperor's Cup in his top-division debut.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Oct 4, 2023

JSA on right track with new rules to increase pro sumo participation

Revisions to the tsukedashi system will see more spots reserved for top amateur performers in the third and fourth divisions.
Mysteriously suspended on the water of the Fugan Canal in Kansui Park, Hiroko Kubo’s “Mountain Dogs” (2023) are made from materials that reflect the industries of Toyama.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 7, 2023

An introspective Go For Kogei turns its attention to Toyama

The craft-art festival focuses on the historically industrial city to explore the Hokuriku region's crafts in an urban setting.
Writer Baye McNeil (left) poses for a picture with Cameron Peagler, who organized the Black Gold event in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward.
COMMUNITY / Voices / Black Eye
Oct 16, 2023

An OG's tips for Japan: Create beauty and don't fake your smile

Speaking at Black Gold, an event aiming to connect the Black and Japanese communities, our columnist offered seven tips to enjoying life in Japan.
Ichikawa Ennosuke IV bows in front of media after being released on bail set at ¥5 million in July.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 20, 2023

Kabuki actor Ichikawa Ennosuke pleads guilty to assisting parents' suicides

“The feelings of regret, remorse and gratitude (to my supporters) are something I will carry for the rest of my life,” Ennosuke said.
An Albanian communist hangs a banner with Enver Hoxha's image in a public cemetery in Tirana in April 2012 to mark the anniversary of the hard-line Stalinist dictator's death.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2023

When freedom does not bring about justice

From communism to capitalism, Lea Ypi's book,"Free: Coming of Age at the End of History" reflects on Albania's transition to freedom.
A man wearing a t-shirt in support of QAnon, participates in a 'Back the Blue' rally in New York on Aug. 9, 2020.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 16, 2023

U.S. political violence driven by new breed of 'grab-bag' extremists

Such radicals eschew firm creeds. Instead, they embrace notions, no matter how divergent, that blends with their particular grievances.
Internally displaced Palestinians keep warm by a fire at a school where they are sheltering in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
WORLD
Nov 23, 2023

Displaced Palestinians search for warm clothes as cold draws in

When fleeing their homes in the northern Gaza Strip under Israeli bombardment in early October, some were wearing just shorts and T-shirts.
Toyosu, a reclaimed area and former industrial zone in the Tokyo Bay area, has become popular with a new wave of Chinese immigrants for its breathtaking views of the Tokyo skyline.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 28, 2023

A new wave of Chinese elites is flocking to Japan

Recent newcomers are affluent and financially savvy, and choose Japan after weighing the pros and cons of other potential overseas destinations.
The question of when a person dies is a scientific and moral issue with far-reaching implications in the area of organ transplants, among others.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2023

When does science say we die?

Debates about when a human being dies are yet unresolved, with profound implications for the medical profession and areas such as organ transplants.
Many moods come and go, inspiring our art. Though love could be fleeting, it proved the most inspirational of all.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Nov 27, 2023

Tales of a Closed Country: Part 2

Even Japan's "sakoku" policies couldn't deter the lovers, artists and poets from their muses. After all, we humans tend to look for beauty where we can.
A view inside of Sai Life Sciences' manufacturing facility in Bindar, Karnataka, India, in September.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 27, 2023

Indian drugmakers benefit from Big Pharma interest beyond China

Rising tensions with China have prompted more Western governments to recommend that firms "de-risk" supply chains from exposure to the Asian superpower.
A statue depicting Brazilian football legend Pele, designed by Brazilian artist Luis Costa, at Rei Pele pier in Brazil's Sao Paulo state. Friday will mark the first anniversary of the former player's death.
SOCCER
Dec 26, 2023

Pele 'would have been sad' at state of Brazil team, says son

"This crisis didn't appear overnight, there are big and complex problems," said Edinho, 53, who is one of Pele's seven children.

Longform

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