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WORLD / Society
Jul 31, 2014

Nigeria opens battle of ideas with program to combat Boko Haram ideology

In classrooms facing a sandy courtyard in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna, Maska Road Islamic School teaches a creed that condemns the violent ideology of groups like Boko Haram.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jul 30, 2014

Enoshima: Do you think Japan should legalize casino gambling?

Charles Lewis asks interviewees in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, what they think about the idea of relaxing the long-standing ban on gambling and and allowing the establishment of casinos.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 30, 2014

Paris-based Oida still lives out his dreams

Yoshi Oida has appeared in many works by the famed Paris-based English director Peter Brook, and in 2013 the Japanese actor who has, like him, also lived in the City of Light for more than four decades, was made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government.
EDITORIALS
Jul 29, 2014

Reflecting citizens' views on justice

Japan's Supreme Court decision to reduce the prison terms of a couple convicted of fatally abusing their daughter highlights the difficulty in balancing the need, on one hand, to have ordinary citizens' views reflected in criminal trials through their participation as lay judges and, on the other, to maintain consistency with judicial precedents.
WORLD
Jul 29, 2014

Web tycoon Dotcom says he'll reach 5% in New Zealand election

Kim Dotcom, the Internet tycoon facing extradition to the U.S. on piracy charges, said his political party is on course to win more than 5 percent of the vote in New Zealand's general election by appealing to young and first-time voters.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 28, 2014

China pushes soft power with hospital ship at RIMPAC

On a Chinese hospital ship off Hawaii, crew members demonstrate traditional massage techniques to U.S. sailors. The mood is one of collegiality, even after China opted out of Japan-led humanitarian drills at the world's largest international naval exercise.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Jul 27, 2014

JBA vacillates as clock ticks on possible FIBA suspension

It's nice to know there are people who will elucidate what's really happening with the Japan Basketball Association-led merger talks between the bj-league, NBL and NBDL.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 26, 2014

Art vs. morals debate plays out in the press

In her semiautobiographical feature film "Who's Afraid of Vagina Wolf?," Anna Margarita Albelo plays a struggling film director who makes ends meet by screening her movies in art galleries where she shows up dressed as a vagina. Though the story is mainly about relationships, the prominence of the female...
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 26, 2014

Scores of bodies pulled from rubble as short Gaza truce takes hold

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip poured into the streets on Saturday to recover their dead and stock up on food supplies after a 12-hour humanitarian truce agreed by Israel and Hamas took hold on the 19th day of their conflict.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2014

Putin might have just killed Russia's brand

Has the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 put Russia on its way to taking on the Soviet Union's one-time status as an object of fear and hatred?
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / Q&A
Jul 25, 2014

A closer look at the Supreme Court's welfare benefits ruling

Opinions are divided over how the Supreme Court ruling last week declaring permanent foreign residents of Japan ineligible for welfare payments will affect the foreign communities in Japan.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 25, 2014

Islamic State crushes, coerces opposition

Using its own version of soft and hard power, the Islamic State is crushing resistance across northern Iraq so successfully that its promise to march on Baghdad may no longer be unrealistic bravado.
WORLD
Jul 24, 2014

Ukraine rebel commander acknowledges fighters had BUK missile

A powerful Ukrainian rebel leader has confirmed that pro-Russian separatists had an anti-aircraft missile of the type Washington says was used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and it could have originated in Russia.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 24, 2014

Taiwan says weather not seen as cause of plane crash that killed 48

Taiwan authorities said on Thursday that it was unlikely bad weather was the cause of the crash of a TransAsia Airways turboprop plane the previous day in which 48 people, including two French nationals, were killed.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jul 24, 2014

Young Islamic State robs al-Qaida of militant prestige

In hiding, targeted by drone strikes and unable to land a blow in the West, al-Qaida's aging leaders are losing a power struggle with ultra-radical young militants in Iraq and Syria who see themselves as the true successors to Osama bin Laden.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 23, 2014

The Scottish song heard around the world

"Sunshine on Leith" was a much-loved stage musical, featuring the songs of Scottish band The Proclaimers, that ran from 2007 to 2013. But when Dexter Fletcher signed on to direct the film adaptation of the musical, he had never seen it.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 23, 2014

To appear or not to appear on Japanese TV . . .

If you're in Japan long enough, you're bound to get the opportunity to appear on Japanese TV. But you might want to think twice before you make the leap to 'TV gaijin.'
Reader Mail
Jul 23, 2014

Pressures to bear with cold beer

Regarding the June 27 article "Drink responsibly when you're out with friends this summer": In 2007 my hometown's temperature reached 40.9 degrees Celsius. It was the hottest place in Japan. At my age, a well-chilled beer is absolutely indispensable for overcoming such sweltering weather. I think a lot...
MORE SPORTS
Jul 21, 2014

Murata determined to make major impact

For Ryota Murata, the middleweight gold medal he earned in London wields power.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jul 21, 2014

Atami: What do you make of this statue of a jilted gent kicking a girl while she's down?

Gracing the shoreline in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, is a statue unique among the many in Japan that celebrate local legends or famous historical figures: A work depicting a man kicking a woman.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Jul 21, 2014

Malnutrition kills 3 million toddlers a year

More than 3 million children under the age of 5 die annually of malnutrition, the U.N. food agency and World Health Organization said on June 12. 'Malnutrition is responsible for about half of all child deaths under 5 years of age, causing over 3 million deaths every year,' the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said. Some 162 million children are left stunted by chronic malnutrition and 99 million children are underweight across the world, it added. The FAO and WHO urged governments to 'make strong commitment to ensure healthier diets for all' at an international conference on nutrition to be held in Rome in November.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2014

U.S. presses case against Russia on downed jet as horror deepens

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry laid out what he called overwhelming evidence of Russian complicity in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 as international horror deepened over the fate of the victims' remains.
WORLD
Jul 20, 2014

Malaysian lottery outlets halt 'hot' bets on MH17-related numbers: newspaper

Some Malaysian shops selling lottery tickets and illegal gambling syndicates have rejected "hot" bets on numbers linked to the downing of a Malaysia Airlines airliner.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight