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COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2014

China wields history as weapon, except on June 4

For China, history is a weapon to use against other countries, but it keeps a curtain of silence drawn around the events that transpired in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EMBASSY AVENUE
Jun 3, 2014

New educational facility funded by Qatar opens in Iwaki

A new educational facility recently opened in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, with the help of a grant from the Qatar Friendship Fund (QFF).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 3, 2014

Especia takes a road less traveled by idol acts

The eldest member of six-member idol unit Especia was born in 1989, so when I ask them about life during Japan's early '90s bubble era they can only imagine what it was like.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2014

What really happened at Tiananmen?

In recent years the Tiananmen Square 'massacre' story has taken something of a beating as people in the square that night, including a Spanish TV unit, have emerged to tell us that there was no massacre in the square.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 2, 2014

Japan urged to make its cosmetics 'cruelty-free'

While Japanese consumers clamor for items that will make their skin smoother or their hair shinier, relatively few people are aware of the horror behind the products in their cosmetics cases.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2014

India's diversity is Modi's burden

Whether new Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Gujarat state recipe can work well for all of India is problematic. India needs more competition, new ideas, new entrepreneurs — not new privileges for the rich
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Jun 2, 2014

Generation gaps filled by brick and mortar

Though their numbers have dwindled in the developed world over the past century, multi-generation households are still common, and in fact may become even more common in countries where income gaps are increasing. In Japan, multi-generation households have social relevance owing to cultural norms, the...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 2, 2014

British official denies that Cameron threatened to move up EU vote

A British official on Sunday dismissed a report that Prime Minister David Cameron had threatened at an EU summit last week to bring forward a referendum on British membership of the EU if Jean-Claude Juncker became European Commission president.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 1, 2014

Warming up for the Soccer W-Cup

For real soccer fans, the upcoming World Cup in Brazil will be the highlight of the past four years. On top of that, many lukewarm supporters will surely soon discover that they are, in fact, true sports fans. But even those who consider it entirely pointless to watch 22 people running after a ball for...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2014

Too high a price for Sherpas

The 16 Sherpa lives lost in an avalanche on Everest six weeks ago highlight the growing divide between well-heeled climbing expedition members and the mountaineering guides. Sherpas must re-articulate their concerns and establish a sensible code of operation.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2014

Obama's cold-eyed 'management' of policy

The White House faces a strange conundrum. Polls show that many Americans want a foreign policy that does not go out looking for fights and Obama is delivering on that. Yet his approval ratings remain generally low.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 1, 2014

Thai forces descend on central Bangkok to stifle coup protests

Thailand's military government sent thousands of troops and police into central Bangkok on Sunday to stop any demonstrations against its seizure of power, and some shopping malls and train stations closed to avoid trouble.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 31, 2014

AKB48's business model is likely to survive media attacks

The universe shifted on the afternoon of Sunday, May 25, when a young, unemployed man attacked two members of the all-female idol collective AKB48 and a male security staffer with a folding saw during a fan event in the city of Takizawa, Iwate Prefecture. Or, at least, that's how the media reacted. Some...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 31, 2014

Thai forces fan out to stifle unrest in capital

Thai police and soldiers flooded downtown Bangkok on Saturday to pre-empt further protests against a May 22 coup after the army chief said a return to democracy would take more than a year.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
May 31, 2014

Syrians fret over taste of war food

As Syria approaches a surreal presidential election in the midst of civil war, the capital has avoided the worst of the conflict but reminders are increasingly coming out the water taps and appearing on the dinner table, to the dismay of Damascenes.
JAPAN
May 30, 2014

New agency to modernize Japanese arms procurement in works

Japan plans to set up an arms procurement agency to streamline Tokyo's spending on defense-related hardware for exports and take charge of advanced weapons research.
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2014

Drone memo author should be in jail

Finally we will get a peek at the twisted legal opinion that the White House uses to justify using drones to blow up anyone, anywhere, including American citizens on American soil, for any reason the president deems fit.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 28, 2014

'The Bee' in Paris: Take #2

Last week, the Stage page featured a Paris resident's take on an English-language version of "The Bee," a disturbing drama cowritten by Hideki Noda and Irish playwright Colin Teevan that was performed there this month in a 300-seat section of the Theatre de Chaillot.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2014

Ukrainians are more European than the French

If the European ideal is to create a citadel of tolerance and universal human values, who are the true Europeans?
Reader Mail
May 28, 2014

Foreign workers are not robots

Regarding the May 19 article "Success of 'Abenomics' hinges on immigration policy": Japan's demographic, economic and social future must be planned beyond Abenomics. What the Abe administration seems to be hinting at — an "immigration" policy divorced from an "immigrant" policy — is a symptom of...
Reader Mail
May 28, 2014

To live in a place free of garbage

The May 20 Bloomberg article "Trash troubles pile up in China's Garbage Era" reminded me of my first trip to China as a student of Chinese four years ago. It was a trip mainly to the former "Manchukuo," a Japanese puppet country before and during the war. In the major cities of Harbin and Changchun,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 27, 2014

Space-based power stations on the horizon

Space-based solar power could eventually prove to be an alternative source of electricity for Japan, as the country struggles to find the best energy mix to lessen its dependence on thermal and nuclear power.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 27, 2014

Nationalistic sentiment keeps Abe's popularity ratings high

The Abe Cabinet continues to enjoy an approval rating of more than 50 percent, according to a recent survey, because of the knock-on effect of 'Abenomics,' the dearth of other viable leaders and, like it or not, nationalist sentiment.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 25, 2014

Soccer's crown jewel can't hide Brazil tensions

Brazil, by both area and population, is the fifth-largest nation on Earth. Its economy is perhaps the sixth- or seventh-largest and will soon surpass those of France and Britain. Yet this great state has barely registered its presence globally. In the complex flux of globalized popular culture or the...
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2014

Reflect on Fukui nuclear ruling

The Fukui District Court's ruling that prohibits the restart of two nuclear power reactors run by Kansai Electric Power Co. challenges the Abe administration's energy policy of relying on nuclear power as a key source of the nation's electricity supply.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 22, 2014

Marty Friedman takes a fiery break from J-pop on 'Inferno'

"When you're a 'rock' guy, there's something that makes you want to be in the business, as a photographer, working at a label . . . I mean, you're not going to be a fan of Cat Stevens and all of a sudden decide to be a roadie for Pantera or something. Rock gives you the inspiration to get involved."...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO BAR ADVENTURE
May 20, 2014

Mitaka's 3 Stories is a birthplace of new tales

They say that when you enter a good bar you should bring with you an anecdote that you share with the bartender or another customer sitting at the bar, who, in turn, would also have a story to exchange. By the end of the night, after a bottle of whiskey to loosen the tongue and a few laughs, a new story...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 19, 2014

Getting to the heart of Abe's vision for Japan's military

The hottest buzzwords in politics these days are "the right of collective self-defense," now that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's advisory panel on security has released its much-awaited recommendations for reinterpreting the Constitution.

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