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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 30, 2014

Tokyo's robotic eyes are everywhere

You are not alone.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 30, 2014

Richard Katz on the failures of 'Voodoo Abenomics'

Richard Katz, editor-in-chief at The Oriental Economist, is the author of "Voodoo Abenomics: Japan's Failed Comeback Plan," an article published in the July/August issue of Foreign Affairs magazine. Katz went into more detail about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's "Abenomics" policy in a recent email interview...
COMMUNITY / Voices / OVERHEARD
Aug 30, 2014

Pasta pan

Customer: What type of bread is this?
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2014

California ban on plastic bags is full of hot air

California legislators' efforts to impose America's first statewide ban on single-use plastic bags smack of an easy way to demonstrate concern for the environment without requiring too much of their constituents or local businesses.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 30, 2014

Kiev seeks to join NATO; Putin calls Ukraine Nazis

Ukraine called on Friday for full membership in NATO, its strongest plea yet for Western military help, after accusing Russia of sending in armored columns that have driven back its forces on behalf of pro-Moscow rebels.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Aug 29, 2014

Evessa greats commemorate team's 10th anniversary

As the Osaka Evessa make preparations for their 10th season, they've started commemorating the franchise's rich history. They were, after all, the first champion in league history, winning the 2005-06 title.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: ARCHITECTURE
Aug 29, 2014

Checking in on Tokyo hotels old and new

The news that the Hotel Okura in Tokyo will be redeveloped in time for the 2020 Olympics has been greeted with dismay by surprisingly far-flung and influential group of admirers — an indication of the status of clientele that has patronized the hotel since it opened in 1962, U.S. President Barack...
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 29, 2014

For many Californians, cost of earthquake insurance outweighs the risks

During Sunday's 6.0-magnitude earthquake, about $75,000 worth of bottles of wine, rum and whiskey flew off the shelves of Aiyaz Masani's liquor store in Napa, California. He estimates about half his inventory was damaged, winding up in three-foot piles in the aisles.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 29, 2014

West Africa Ebola outbreak could infect 20,000 people: WHO

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa could infect more than 20,000 people, the U.N. health agency said Thursday, warning that an international effort costing almost half a billion dollars is needed to overcome the outbreak.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 28, 2014

Sawamura fires two-hitter against Tigers

Hirokazu Sawamura let out a shout and thrust both arms in the air. The Yomiuri Giants pitcher had been bitten in his first two starts against the Hanshin Tigers, but the third time turned out to be the charm.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 28, 2014

Pop star Aska pleads guilty to drug charges

Prosecutors demand a three-year term for singer Shigeaki Miyazaki, the disgraced pop star better known as Aska, as his trial over illegal drug use opens in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 28, 2014

JAL orders 32 Mitsubishi Regional Jets

Japan Airlines Co. said Thursday it will buy 32 planes from Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. to make its fleet more fuel-efficient.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 28, 2014

She came, she stole and she conquered

In my family of many brothers, the "Lupin III" animated TV series was the only program we could agree to watch. Once the electric guitar riffs of the Yuji Ohno-penned theme song began, a blissful peace descended on our living room. The fighting stopped and all eyes were glued to the family's beat-up...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 28, 2014

Johansson brings some superhero savoir faire to 'Lucy'

If Scarlett Johansson were to have one superpower, perhaps it would be the ability to master any language possible.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2014

The Goude, the bad and the ugly

On Aug. 15, 1977, an issue of New York Magazine was released with an image of Jamaican singer and model Grace Jones on the cover: She is almost naked, standing on one very long leg; her oil-coated torso twisting to face the camera, with one hand lightly holding a microphone and the other effortlessly...
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 28, 2014

NTT Docomo seeks to lure users with new content amid iPhone push

NTT Docomo Inc., Japan's largest mobile-phone carrier by subscribers, plans to move further into the content business to differentiate itself from rivals that offer similar pricing plans and phone models.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2014

A broken man living on dreams pulls Japan into Islamic State hostage drama

When Haruna Yukawa was captured in Syria earlier this month, a video apparently released by his captors showed them pressing the Japanese man to answer questions friends say he had struggled with for years: Who are you? Why are you here?
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Aug 28, 2014

Somali users of amphetamine-like 'paradise flower' khat enjoy low prices after Britain bans its import

"The president has arrived, the president has arrived," chant youths in Mogadishu's Beerta Khaatka market as armed men in trucks mounted with machine guns escort trucks with horns blaring through the throng.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 27, 2014

Farewell to Taiwanese cinema, but not to love

If Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang threw a dinner party, it's easy to guess who would be invited. Tsai has staunchly and consistently worked with the same small cluster of actors from his 1992 debut film "Rebels of the Neon God" through to "Stray Dogs," which will open in Tokyo on Sept. 6, under the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 27, 2014

Lucy

"Lucy" is a big movie with a narrow mind; it speaks of all that used to work in a Luc Besson film and doesn't anymore because we're no longer in 1989. Besson ignores that, but he's kept up with current times in other ways. Witness how "Lucy" borrows liberally from recent movies such as "The Dark Knight...
CULTURE / Film
Aug 27, 2014

Lone Survivor

Director: Peter BergLanguage: English
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Aug 27, 2014

UFC star Tate prepared to take fight to Nakai

Miesha Tate wants Rin Nakai to remember her after their fight next month. Nakai, who is undefeated (16-0-1), likely already knows all about Tate, a superstar in women's mixed martial arts, but Tate wants a special place in Nakai's world.
Reader Mail
Aug 27, 2014

Why universities can't compete

In his Aug. 25 article, "Japan's universities can't win," professor Takamitsu Sawa has once again written on the all-important topic of university education in Japan. He emphasizes that the noncompetitiveness of Japanese universities internationally is due to relatively poorer funding, especially by...
Reader Mail
Aug 27, 2014

See that changes fit the culture

Professor Takamitsu Sawa is an economist who should know better than to use statistics to extrapolate conclusions that could be misleading or erroneous. In his Aug. 25 article, he neither indicates tuition costs at European universities nor makes comparisons with EU dormitory housing.
Reader Mail
Aug 27, 2014

Bank's customers deserve better

Regarding the Aug. 20 Kyodo article "Citibank Japan to withdraw from retail banking business": Both Japanese and foreign customers of Citibank Japan should pressure the bank to remain in Japan. As most U.S. corporations show zero long-term loyalty to a local community, the bank's departure would not...
Reader Mail
Aug 27, 2014

Dining outdoors Italian style

The usage of the expression "al fresco" to indicate eating outdoors, as in Robbie Swinnerton's Aug. 20 presentation of "Bakka: Neapolitan-style pizza al fresco in the heart of Shibuya," is really starting to bother me.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2014

Abe sent message to ceremony honoring war criminals

A message from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that was read out at an April ceremony memorializing Japanese war criminals referred to them as “the foundation of our homeland,” an organizer of the event says.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person