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Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 23, 2015

The 'Daughters of the Samurai' who changed the face of Meiji Era Japan

Tsuda College, occupying a leafy campus in the western suburbs of Tokyo, is a private college where female students are educated in languages and the liberal arts. In one corner of the site, overshadowed by the stately trees that surround it, lies the final resting place of Umeko Tsuda, an early pioneer...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
May 23, 2015

Ahmed Mohamed Elmardi: 'Today is today, but work for tomorrow'

Sudanese artist on patience, determination and depicting Ray Charles on TV.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
May 23, 2015

With capture of Ramadi, Islamic State expands its hold over region

Almost a year after the Islamic State's shock capture of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, the black flags of the jihadis have been raised over Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province to the west of Baghdad, seat of Iraq's increasingly theoretical central government.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 22, 2015

BOJ refrains from boosting stimulus after growth picks up

The Bank of Japan refrained from increasing monetary stimulus, as Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda bets on stronger growth fueling inflation that is one-tenth the BOJ's target.
CULTURE / Music
May 22, 2015

Mono guitarist Goto revisits past compositions on 'Classical Punk and Echoes Under the Beauty'

In 2014, instrumental rock band Mono released two LPs simultaneously: "The Last Dawn" and "Rays of Darkness." The albums stripped the band's sound down to its bare essentials, eschewing the orchestral sounds it had become known for and instead going for the sound of a raw rock band with two emotional...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
May 22, 2015

Matsumoto Eiraku's lunch course is a seasonal delight

The establishments around Matsumoto Eiraku in Osaka's Kitashinchi neighborhood have names like La Madonna, Salon de Miyu, Lady Hawk and Blanc de Blanc. This may suggest the restaurant keeps ostentatious company, but you should never judge a building by its marble colonnades; the aesthetic inside is austere...
EDITORIALS
May 22, 2015

Security bills raise critical questions

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe must discuss the potential downside of security legislation that would usher in a major shift in the nation's postwar defense posture.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2015

Orix, Vinci said to bid for ¥2.2 trillion Osaka airport concessions

Orix Corp., one of the nation's most acquisitive financial firms, plans to team with French infrastructure operator Vinci SA in a bid for airport rights in Osaka Prefecture, people with knowledge of the matter said.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 22, 2015

Queen of Japanese media; king of singer-songwriters; CM of the Week: P&G

Queen of all Japanese media, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, will celebrate the 10,000th installment of her long-running daily talk show, "Tetsuko no Heya" ("Tetsuko's Room"; TV Asahi, Wed., 12 noon), with two very special guests, Masahiko Kondo and Noriyuki Higashiyama, considered, respectively, the No. 1 and No....
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
May 22, 2015

Oil-fouled California beach could take months to clean up; slicks spread offshore

Cleanup crews labored through a third day to scoop up patches of crude oil from a pipeline spill that closed two California state beaches and fouled offshore waters, shattering an environmental balance that U.S. Coast Guard officials said on Thursday may take months to restore.
CULTURE / Film
May 21, 2015

The must-see list is long at Short Shorts film fest

When it comes to getting a movie fix these days, more people opt for their computer screens than venturing outside to a theater. Hollywood has countered this trend with a slew of 3-D blockbusters and cinematic largesse, but how does the short film fare?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / SYMPOSIUM ON SOUTH KOREA
May 21, 2015

Examining Korea's 'Japanization'

The South Korean economy is facing slow growth on the back of an aging population and other factors. Some South Korean companies are recalling overseas production, which they once sought in China and other Asian countries with lower wages, while high student loans are lowering the quality of life for...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2015

Hillary Clinton's lucrative life of crime

Corporations and banks bribe the Clintons to buy political favors. The speaking racket that has earned them at least $30 million over the past 16 months is a (flimsy) cover.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
May 19, 2015

U.S. court: YouTube can show 'Innocence of Muslims' film despite complaint by actress, outrage

Google Inc. should not have to remove an anti-Islamic film from its YouTube website because a woman complained that she was duped into performing in the film that depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a pedophile, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 18, 2015

With yoji jukugo, four little characters can say so much

Saying it in four characters seems to be a pervasive stylistic device permeating all areas of life in Japan, from the pedestrian to the profound.
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2015

Kim Jong Un's penchant for deadly purges

Kim Jong Un's efforts to stabilize his regime could just be what end up provoking a crisis.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2015

Russia's indefensible budget

Vladimir Putin is playing with dynamite if he thinks Russia can maintain its military spending amid low global oil prices.
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2015

A richer Asia will be poorer without elephants

Asia's indigenous animals are increasingly under threat, none more so than the iconic Southeast Asian elephant.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 16, 2015

Cruising the waves of Japan's culture

As the great ship surges into Tokyo Bay I'm on the prow, hair streaming in the wind, like Kate Winslet in "Titanic." Wooded crags come into view, dotted with buildings and the odd factory chimney. The buildings are modern, not wooden houses, but the crags are still much the same as Commodore Matthew...
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
May 16, 2015

May 16, 2015

EDITORIALS
May 15, 2015

Defense bills remain problematic

The Abe administration's legislative package to expand the SDF's role finally reaches the Diet — but still remains poorly explained.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 14, 2015

League legend Newton reveals he's decided to retire

Jeff Newton, the winningest player in league history, has quietly retired.
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2015

Germany is Mercury, the U.S. is Mars

Washington has to realize that it is increasingly neglecting America's geoeconomic power in favor of its military dimension, at the cost of its influence.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 13, 2015

Terry Gilliam back on form with 'The Zero Theorem'

Terry Gilliam's "The Zero Theorem," like most of his films, focuses on the all-too-thin line between sanity and insanity, reality and delusion. Its steampunk-meets-cyberpunk visual style is a wonderful jumble that's reminiscent of his much loved "Brazil," with touches like a computer mainframe that looks...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
May 13, 2015

Sign of the times as yakuza classic gets kudos at Cannes

In the early 2000s, when I was writing a book about yakuza movies, veterans of the genre's 1960s and '70s heyday I met had a fierce pride in their work but no illusions about its low ranking in the film-world hierarchy. In particular, the Toei studio's films about sword-swinging or gun-toting gangsters...

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past