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COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 13, 2014

Abe might be the world's best leader

An American finance professor who says he used to be a Shinzo Abe skeptic now calls Japan's prime minister the most effective national leader in the world right now.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 13, 2014

Hillary Clinton breathes, we hold our breath

Hillary Clinton's book, 'Hard Choices,' is another tease in the dance of the seven veils. Her book is neither fish nor fowl, neither an autobiography like Barack Obama's 'Audacity of Hope' nor a thrown-together candidate presentation like Mitt Romney's 'No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 13, 2014

Guide to Tokyo burgers returns with a new edition

When it comes to Tokyo food trends, four years is almost a lifetime. Back in 2010, when Yoshihide Matsubara wrote "The Burger Map," the definitive guide to burgers in the capital area, hamburgers were still generating a fair amount of buzz. Then came pancakes and then, in an unlikely 180-degree twist,...
EDITORIALS
Jun 12, 2014

Ramping up debate in the Diet

Lawmakers need to make sure that steps taken by the ruling coalition and two major opposition parties to reform Diet proceedings do not let government leaders off the hook in facing legislative scrutiny and regular debate.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2014

Politics at the root of India's power problems

India finally has an integrated nationwide power system. Now it needs to sweep away the entrenched interests in the state electricity boards and shift to a full cost-recovery model.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2014

The most important sci-fi film never made

Cinema is strewn with the ghosts of films unmade — projects that spent years in development, teetering on the brink of being greenlit before disappearing without a trace. And one such project became the stuff of legend: cult director Alejandro Jodorowsky's planned adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2014

'The Host'

At the heart of this sci-fi thriller is a long, probing look at the relationship between a girl and ... herself. "The Host" combines real romance with a philosophical approach to the familiar premise of Earth being invaded by aliens. Most of the time, it works. Other times, the hormonal confusion and...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 12, 2014

The world could be your oyster in Aichi

In Peru, the largest Incan festival, Inti Raymi (Festival of Sun), takes place on June 25 in honor of Inti, the sun god. In Japan, those in Aichi Prefecture on June 14 and 15 can celebrate, too, by enjoying performances by the Andean folk trio Ekekos, who will honor Inti by playing traditional panflutes...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2014

Foreign firms bid for $2 billion chopper deal

The government is in early talks with top global helicopter makers and their Japanese partners on a deal worth around $2 billion to build transport aircraft for the Self-Defense Forces and for sale overseas, sources said.
Reader Mail
Jun 11, 2014

New paradigm for the Olympics

Regarding the June 2 Reuters article "Architect blasts new Tokyo Olympics stadium as 'a sin, a crime' ": The pleas by the Japan Sports Council and by architect Edward Suzuki do not really contain in my mind a reasonable and convincing critique of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics stadium as proposed by Zaha Hadid,...
Reader Mail
Jun 11, 2014

EU pullout would lower wages

Regarding Barry A. Ward's June 4 letter, "Discontent among Europeans": Ward seems to have a hazy knowledge of history. If brutal dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini hadn't enjoyed popular support from an ill-informed electorate, they would never have come to power. Hitler was able to wreak...
Reader Mail
Jun 11, 2014

Abductions by any other name

The June 9 Kyodo article "Japan sends list of 470 potential abductees to North Korea" made me think. No one can begin to criticize the Japanese authorities for continuing to take a firm stand on this issue in the face of continued stalling on the part of an evil and untrustworthy state such as North...
Reader Mail
Jun 11, 2014

Outsider's remedy for Yasukuni

Occasionally an outsider might help resolve a contentious issue. As an American citizen with great respect for Japan, I would like to offer some thoughts about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit in December to Yasukuni Shrine, which is dedicated to soldiers who died in service to Japan, and how Japan...
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 11, 2014

MLB All-Star squad to face Samurai Japan in November

Major League Baseball will organize an All-Star team and visit Japan this fall to play Samurai Japan, Nippon Professional Baseball announced on Tuesday.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 10, 2014

Pavlicevic to leave Wakayama as team begins massive cost-cutting measures: reports

After a season of sensational accomplishments, the National Basketball League's Wakayama Trians are poised to undergo a complete organizational restructuring, according to published reports.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 10, 2014

Brazil ready to take on world's best on home turf

The World Cup kicks off on Thursday (Friday, Japan time) in the country that has won the tournament more times than any other — Brazil. Thirty-two teams will compete over the next month for a place in the final at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium on July 13.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 10, 2014

Putin gambles on culture war with the West

Oleg Makarenko wants to set the story straight and answer the "Russophobes" who he says are trying to split and humiliate Russia.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Jun 10, 2014

Blue-eyed Austrian finds calling at shrine

Walking through the torii, or gateway, to the quiet and serene Konnoh Hachimangu Shrine in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward — minutes away from the hustle and bustle of Shibuya's main "scramble crossing" — and being welcomed by a blond and blue-eyed Shinto priest seems almost surreal.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / TRAVEL INSIDER
Jun 10, 2014

Long haul SAS upgrades; Jetstar ups 787 routes; new directors at Cathay

Long haul SAS upgrades
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2014

Some companies still struggle with their dark WWII history

The amount of bookshelf space dedicated to the 12 years of Hitler's Third Reich often exceeds that of any other period in history, but the role and the complicity of companies in the atrocities committed by the Nazis continue to be shrouded in obscurity.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 10, 2014

Boris sums up its sonic spectrum with 'Noise'

Trying to define the sound of Tokyo-based experimental trio Boris is like asking someone their favorite kind of music. It's everything, it's nothing in particular ... it's definitely not country.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2014

Obama administration waging war on media

Insiders say the pressure of America's powerful national security apparatus and the fear among White House aides of facing the wrath of the intelligence community has made the once-media-friendly President Barack Obama appear neo-Nixonian.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 9, 2014

ASIJ announces investigation into sex abuse

An independent investigation will examine late teacher Jack Moyer's suspected sexual abuse of scores of female students and why American School in Japan officials apparently allowed his attacks to continue unabated despite students' warnings.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 9, 2014

Be-Japon recycles traditional culture to survive modernity

Perhaps it's a case of, "Be careful what you wish for."
EDITORIALS
Jun 9, 2014

Creeping Orwellian angst

Legislative attempts to criminalize the act of 'conspiracy' to commit some crimes as well as other government moves are enough to cause anxiety that Japan may be inching toward an Orwellian society.

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