Transport authorities launched a full-fledged investigation Sunday into the derailment of a bullet train on the Akita Shinkansen Line in Daisen, Akita Prefecture, on Saturday afternoon.
It's a dangerous, unpredictable world. Twice in January Chinese warships in the East China Sea challenged Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces patrols in a manner deemed threatening. And on Feb. 12 came North Korea's nuclear test.
Here's an open secret: Japanese men have a bad international reputation on the romance front.
SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover) In the vast cultural landscape, Japan fascinates the mainstream with manga and anime, the martial arts, Zen and kimono. Of course, ...
Kenta Maeda shook off worries about his form with five shutout innings as Japan beat China 5-2 in first-round Pool A of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Fukuoka Dome. Japan improved to 2-0 following a tough win over Brazil in Saturday evening’s ...
For Hisahiko Okazaki's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
It's hard to understand why some elements in Japan and overseas argue that the Abe Cabinet is causing Japanese politics to swing dangerously right.
Since I have been requested to express my views on the territorial issues concerning the Takeshima islets and Senkaku Islands on several occasions recently, I thought it opportune to compile them into one coherent argument. At the outset, readers should be informed that I ...
Four months after the presidential elections in Taiwan, there is a big difference when comparing the aftereffects of the elections in 2008 to those in 2012. Four years ago, there was a sense of crisis over the situation surrounding the Strait of Taiwan. Now ...
Although the original version of this article was written for a Japanese daily, I initially had American readers in my mind as the main target of my argument. In his first telephone conversation with the newly appointed Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko, U.S. President Barack ...
Recently, I had a most bizarre experience. I was walking down a street when a total stranger approached me and asked, “What will become of Japan?” And this happened not once but three times. Under a normal circumstance, those three people would have simply ...
It has taken the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) two long months to settle on the continuation of Kan Naoto as prime minister. Whatever past grudges or future intricacies might exist, the Kan Cabinet must get down to work without further delay. It is ...
The baseball team from Konan High School, Okinawa, emerged from the dramatic final game as the winner of the annual National High School Baseball Championship for spring 2010. There is an untold story behind this victory. When, much to the dismay of the players, ...
The relationship of trust between Japan and the United States is in its worst state ever. After U.S. President Barack Obama refused to see Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in Copenhagen and listen to his excuse over his mishandling of bilateral ties, the latter ...
For those who are concerned that democratic Taiwan should continue to have the freedom to choose its own future, President Barack Obama’s coming visit to Beijing brings back the memory of a regrettable episode during President Bill Clinton’s visit to China in June 1998. ...
Until the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)’s win in Sunday’s election, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had dominated Japanese politics for more than half a century except for short intervals. The impact on the U.S.-Japan alliance is still not clear. It is hard to ...
