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Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Aug 1, 2014

After Iraqi army crumbles, Maliki turns to state TV for help

State television is working overtime to persuade Iraqis to help Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki confront an al-Qaida offshoot that has seized wide tracts of the country, but its unifying call has been blunted by his sectarian reputation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 28, 2014

Sexist remarks seen through a clouded lens

It's assumed that the heckling of Tokyo assembly member Ayaka Shiomura by some of her male colleagues on June 18 became a major news story in Japan only after the foreign press picked it up as an example of intractable Japanese sexism. The situation is more nuanced than how Western media described it,...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2014

Pope warns of hazards in browsing 'God's gift'

Pope Francis rightly warns that although the variety of opinions being aired over the Web can be seen as helpful, it also enables people to barricade themselves behind sources of information that only confirm their own ideas.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / NOTES ON A SCORECARD
Feb 13, 2014

An inside look at the first week in Sochi

Some thoughts and observations after a week at the Winter Olympic Games:
COMMENTARY
Jan 19, 2014

Criminal envoy or rogue state?

If Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade's alleged offenses in New York City were criminally outside the norm, Washington should have worked with India to file charges in the U.S. or in India. If Delhi proved noncooperative, Khobragade could have been expelled persona non grata.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2013

China gets Apple's 'iKowtow'

Leading computer maker Apple has responded to weeks of remorseless criticism in China's official media with 'iKowtow' — aka a groveling apology.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 3, 2013

China signals tighter Internet control

Chinese citizens were last year treated to an unaccustomed number of hard-hitting exposes and investigations detailing the private lives and corrupt financial dealings of the most senior Communist Party officials and their family members.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2012

Arab leaders ignore crowd dynamics at their peril

In 1896, the social psychologist Gustave Le Bon warned his contemporaries of the dangers of crowds, writing that, "It is necessary to arrive at a solution to the problems offered by [crowds'] psychology, or to resign ourselves to being devoured by them." As spontaneous protest overtakes organized political...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 22, 2012

Strength in numbers for protesters, but just how many are there?

Ever since last summer, when antinuclear demonstrations materialized in response to the Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown, there's been an ongoing argument about just how many people show up for these protests. Conventional wisdom says the organizers exaggerate the numbers while the major media underestimate...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 8, 2012

A decade serving the community

Wednesday marks the 10-year anniversary of the Community pages, which have been providing news, analysis and opinion by, for and about the foreign community in Japan since May 9, 2002.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 3, 2012

Keene should engage brain before fueling 'flyjin,' foreign crime myths

Congratulations to Donald Keene, who was granted Japanese citizenship last month with great media fanfare. At 89 years young and after a lifetime contributing to world scholarship on Japan, he truly deserves it.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 20, 2012

Reflections on 3/11: reporters' dispatches

Initial hopes turn to frustration In the immediate aftermath of 3/11 I penned several optimistic pieces for European newspapers predicting that the disaster might jolt Japan out of its long period of economic torpor and social ennui. I wouldn't write the same today.
COMMENTARY
Aug 1, 2011

The rightwing terrorism threat

Three articles about Muslims ran in the same paper on the same day (The Independent, July 25):
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 26, 2011

English mags approach milestone, crossroads

Those members of the expat community in Japan who are addicted to their weekly or monthly fix of English-language magazines will have surely noticed all the changes going on lately. These are troubled and exciting times and, just as it has in the past, the local media world is trying to rise to the challenge...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2011

FCCJ retools to remain relevant

With the Internet pressing down on traditional media and interest in news from Japan apparently in decline, many foreign journalists say reporting with a Tokyo dateline is increasingly becoming a challenge.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 2, 2010

He's unusual, so why not just kill him

In a review of the book "Shikei de Ii desu" ("The Death Sentence Is OK With Me") that appears in the Feb. 26 issue of Kinyobi, critic Tatsunori Yagashiwa asks if a society that "disregards illness" can properly judge criminal suspects.
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Apr 28, 2010

Hikosaemon

New Zealand-born Hikosaemon (who prefers to go by his YouTube moniker) was raised an army brat. His father's overseas postings allowed him to see a bit of the world at an early age, and a two-year stay in Singapore when he was 7 years old helped spark his interest in Asian cultures. After returning to...
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2010

Group seeks 'kisha club' shutdown

A group of intellectuals including academics and journalists called Monday on the government and major news associations to open news conferences to a wider spectrum of media, saying the closed nature of the ministries' press club system has compromised the public's right to know.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Feb 26, 2010

Communication breakdown at the top

A lack of crucial information in the top ranks of Toyota Motor Corp. may have prevented the world's largest automaker from swiftly responding to many defect claims and accidents overseas before massive recalls.
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 2010

DPJ versus public prosecutors

Following the arrests of the chief secretary and two former secretaries to Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa on suspicion of violating the Political Funds Control Law, plus public prosecutors' expanded search of construction company offices, more than a few DPJ and Cabinet members...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 25, 2009

Ishihara was ignorant of fact Olympics bid never had a hope — and we must pay price

Ever since Tokyo lost out on hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics the local media has been discussing what the Japan Olympic Committee (JOC) did wrong. In particular, they analyzed the presentations given by Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara and a group of former and future Olympians before the International...
EDITORIALS
May 10, 2009

World press freedom

In the middle of the Golden Week Holidays, newspapers around the world recognized their own special day on May 3: World Press Freedom Day. Officially established in 1993 by the U.N. General Assembly and organized annually by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), the day offers an annual report on...
LIFE / CLOSE-UP
Apr 5, 2009

Hiroshi Mikitani: Retail revolutionary

On a bitterly cold mid-February day, in the midst of an even harsher economic climate, Hiroshi Mikitani — founder, president and CEO of one of Japan's largest online retailers, Rakuten Inc. — shook off a slight cold to announce at a concise news conference that in fiscal 2008 his company had achieved...
COMMENTARY
Dec 19, 2008

Chinese reporters push bad-news envelope

HONG KONG — Strange things are happening in the Chinese media. Articles that would normally be expected to be censored have appeared in the establishment press, exposing the possibly illegal behavior of Communist Party officials.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 7, 2008

Hoshino still getting skewered over Olympic failure

The Beijing Olympics is history, but the debate continues over Japan's showing. Last week, Fuji TV's Sunday night newsmagazine, "Sakiyomi," held a discussion on whether or not the government should increase its budget for Olympic athletes. Three of the four celebrity guests in the studio thought that...
COMMENTARY
Aug 27, 2008

Showcasing best of China

It's been like watching the coverage of the Beijing Olympics on a split screen. Much of the Western media comment in the main news and opinion pages has been written up by the "nattering nabobs of negativism," in the immortal words of Vice President Spiro Agnew (albeit written by William Safire). The...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 11, 2008

The authorities gain complete control of the stories

Prior to the recent retrial of a man who was eventually sentenced to death by the Hiroshima High Court for killing a woman and her 1-year-old child in 1999, the Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organization complained about the coverage of the case. The BPO said that media outlets concentrated...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 24, 2008

New values rise from the ashes of conformity

Second of two parts
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2007

'Profile ads' riding back of SNS boom

If in recent days you happened to visit the Mobile Game Town community, a social networking site for cell phone users, you may well have bumped into a character named Fanta.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 25, 2005

Hit piece on Valentine, Marines another black eye for journalism in Japan

Is it just me, or has the level of media assaults on prominent foreign sports figures in Japan increased markedly in the past few months?

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb