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FOCUS

Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 21, 2017
Koike's Tokyo market transfer plan draws fire as election tactic
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike's Tuesday announcement that the city plans to retain both the Tsukiji fish market and the planned relocation site in the Toyosu district sparked some pointed questions over how the capital will be able to fund the plan.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Jun 21, 2017
Delivery firms team up with convenience stores as labor shortage bites
Faced with a severe labor shortage and grappling with heavy workloads amid a surge in online shopping, courier companies are teaming up with convenience stores to distribute parcels and relieve some of the burden on drivers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jun 14, 2017
JR West derailment case has victims calling for legal reforms
The acquittal of former presidents of JR West over a tragic 2005 train derailment has prompted calls for legal reforms that would enable prosecutors to hold corporations criminally liable for causing large-scale accidents.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Jun 14, 2017
Radiation, risk and robots: Ripping out a reactor's heart
As head of the Muelheim-Kaerlich nuclear reactor, Thomas Volmar spends his days plotting how to tear down his workplace. The best way to do that, he says, is to cut out humans.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jun 14, 2017
Japan's free preschool education plan requires a fiscal balancing act
Education is a process that needs both long-term commitment and investment. So the government's move toward making preschool education free must sound attractive to many.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 13, 2017
On global stage, has Xi's clout grown at Trump's expense?
U.S. President Donald Trump has been weakened on the international stage by political dramas at home, while Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping's clout is growing, according to former diplomats at a symposium on U.S.-China relations.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Jun 12, 2017
Militant Philippine brothers highlight Southeast Asia's Islamist 'time bomb'
On his Facebook profile page Omarkhayam Romato Maute describes himself as a "Walking Time-Bomb."
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Jun 5, 2017
Unsure of U.S., Asia builds new alliances to counter China
Several Asian nations are seeking to bolster informal alliances among themselves, regional diplomats and officials said, unsettled by growing fears that the United States could not be relied on to maintain a buffer against China's assertiveness.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Jun 2, 2017
Uncertainty over U.S. policy might cap gains in Japan stocks
Optimism over the Japanese and U.S. economies has lifted the Nikkei 225 stock average above the 20,000 line, but lingering uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's economic policies may prevent investors from chasing higher ground.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 31, 2017
Abe government clashes with U.N. rapporteurs critical of Japan
Weeks after a U.N. special rapporteur released a surprise open letter slamming a state-backed conspiracy bill that critics warn could erode privacy and free speech rights, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has shown no sign of letting up on its targeting of the statement.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
May 29, 2017
Japan needs 'bargaining leverage' as U.S. likely to push for bilateral trade deal
Given U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for breaking down trade barriers and expanding American exports as part of "fair" international commerce, his administration appears likely to push Japan to further open its agriculture and automobile markets.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 28, 2017
G-7 unity on North Korea puts China in spotlight
At their meeting in Italy, Group of Seven leaders harden their stance on North Korea but analysts say this is just a start in efforts to persuade China to use its influence.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 26, 2017
Strange Yomiuri story signals Maekawa being targeted for authenticating Kake papers
An unusual story in a conservative daily raises suspicions that a former education official is being targeted for verifying the documents behind Prime Minister Abe's latest influence-peddling scandal.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
May 26, 2017
Kim's rocket stars: the trio behind North Korea's missile program
After successful missile launches, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un often exchanges smiles and hugs with the same three men and shares a celebratory smoke with them.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
May 23, 2017
Inheritance tax avoidance, cheap mortgages driving a rental housing bubble
Apartment construction is booming as the wealthy rush to invest in rental housing as a way to reduce inheritance tax and banks hand out easy mortgages, but concerns are mounting that excessive supply paired with a shrinking population could soon lead to the bursting of the bubble.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
May 22, 2017
Three years after coup, junta deeply embedded in Thai life
On Friday evenings in Thailand, sandwiched between the evening news and a popular soap opera, is a prime-time program that has been running for three years, or ever since the military took power in a May 22, 2014, coup.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
May 22, 2017
Abe's pursuit of 11-party TPP likely to benefit Japan
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's renewed pursuit of the Trans-Pacific Partnership may eventually benefit Japan as the likely accompanying trade expansion would provide a boost to Japan's economic growth.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
May 21, 2017
North Korea's Unit 180, the cyberwarfare cell that worries the West
North Korea's main spy agency has a special cell called Unit 180 that is likely to have launched some of its most daring and successful cyberattacks, according to defectors, officials and internet security experts.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
May 18, 2017
TPP enactment hangs in balance as 11-member ministers begin talks Sunday
Ministers from 11 Trans-Pacific Partnership countries are scheduled to gather Sunday in Hanoi, with Japan to push for the massive free trade pact to be put into force as soon as possible without the United States.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
May 15, 2017
Effect of changes in modern motherhood has economists worried
Motherhood is changing, as are mothers' working lives — and those changes have economists concerned.

Longform

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