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COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 22, 2014

Real costs of nuclear power

Until now, Japan's power industry and the government have emphasized the lower energy costs from having nuclear plants generate the nation's electricity. And until now, consumers and business circles have bought into that myth.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 22, 2014

Sony considers options for release of 'The Interview'

Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton is looking for a new way to release the satirical film 'The Interview' after U.S. theater chains refused to show it over threats of violence from hackers linked to North Korea.
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Dec 22, 2014

Rewinding some of Japan's top YouTubers

YouTube highlighted 14 of the Internet's best Japanese vloggers.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2014

India and China slugging it out in South Asia

As India and China compete with each other for economic and political influence in South Asia, they are likely to concentrate more on their relative gains vis-u00e0-vis each other than on the absolute gains regional cooperation could bestow.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 20, 2014

Weeklies walk a fine line in scandal reporting

In her regular column in the Dec. 11 issue of Shukan Bunshun, novelist Mariko Hayashi blasted the weekly magazines, including Bunshun, for failing to follow up on a scandal that, under normal circumstances, should have been right up their alley. The daughter of the late Osaka-based singer and TV host,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 20, 2014

Love of robots may pave way for better treatment of animals

If chimps had history books, a few individuals would have important chapters devoted to them. One would be David Greybeard, the chimp who in 1960 was observed by Jane Goodall using a piece of grass as a tool.
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Dec 20, 2014

Rage against the capital's (bureaucratic) machine

As the Dec. 14 Lower House election demonstrated, media analysis of political campaigning typically focuses on personalities and parties. In recent years, official manifests serve as TV talking points as pundits — be they boorish young comedians or serious, sober-minded, gray-haired fellows — debate...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 19, 2014

China lodges protest after Obama approves Taiwan frigate sale

China said on Friday it had lodged a protest with the United States after President Barack Obama signed into law legislation authorising the sale of up to four Perry-class guided missile frigates to Taiwan.
EDITORIALS
Dec 19, 2014

Can the opposition mend its ways?

It's time Japan's political opposition learn from their failures of the past two years, especially their crushing defeat in the Dec. 14 Lower House election, to rebuild themselves in a way that enables them to challenge the ruling bloc and to give voters a real choice.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2014

Obama's surprise for Latin America

Perhaps most remarkable about the Cuba-U.S. agreement to re-establish diplomatic relations is that Latin American leaders were caught napping by the most significant Latin American moment in the last half-century.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2014

Takata air bag crisis may spur maintenance changes in Japan

Takata Corp.'s air bag crisis could spur changes in how car owners maintain their vehicles, with Japan's automakers discussing whether drivers should regularly replace the chemicals used to inflate the safety devices.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 19, 2014

EU leaders ready long confrontation with Russia

European Union leaders warned Moscow they were ready to exercise their combined muscle over the long haul in a confrontation with an economically wounded Russia if President Vladimir Putin refused to pull back from Ukraine.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 19, 2014

Putin says economy will rebound after rouble's fall, but offers no remedy

President Vladimir Putin assured Russians on Thursday that the economy will rebound after the rouble's dramatic slide this year but offered no remedy for a deepening financial crisis.
WORLD
Dec 19, 2014

Three top Islamic State leaders killed in airstrikes, U.S. officials report

U.S.-led airstrikes against Islamic State in Iraq have killed three of the militant group's top leaders but not senior commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, U.S. officials said on Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 19, 2014

Cubans imagine new, more prosperous life without old foe to the north

From bus drivers to bartenders and ballet dancers, many Cubans are already imagining a more prosperous future after the United States said it will put an end to 50 years of conflict with the communist-run island.
WORLD
Dec 18, 2014

Cuba detente a smokin' deal? Close, but no cigar

American cigar smokers anxiously flicked their lacquered lighters this morning when news broke that President Barack Obama would be easing the decades-old restrictions on Cuban travel and goods. Since 1962, Cuba's legendary cigars have been banned from the shelves of American tobacconists and many travelers...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 18, 2014

Stephen Collins admits sexual contact with young girls: People magazine

Actor Stephen Collins, who played the family pastor in the television series "7th Heaven," has admitted to having inappropriate sexual contact with three underage girls decades ago, People magazine reported on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 18, 2014

Wall St. climbs with energy shares; Fed rate decision looms

U.S. stocks climbed in early afternoon trading on Wednesday as energy sector shares surged more than 4 percent, though investors were preparing for a Federal Reserve statement that may set the stage for interest rate hikes in 2015.
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2014

Ruble collapse could shake Putin's grip on power

Russia failed to halt the collapse of the ruble on Tuesday, leaving President Vladimir Putin facing a full-blown currency crisis that could weaken his iron grip on power.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 17, 2014

Low voter turnout mars Abe's claim of election triumph

The Liberal Democratic Party won 43.12 million votes in Sunday's snap poll, nearly 3 million fewer than in the 2009 election, which it lost.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 17, 2014

Bill Cosby's daughter, Evin, joins mother in defense against sex claims

One of Bill Cosby's daughters on Tuesday defended the comedian against allegations from more than a dozen women that "The Cosby Show" star had sexually abused them decades ago.
WORLD
Dec 17, 2014

Ukraine slams Russia over Crimea nuclear weapons comment

Russia would violate international agreements if it placed nuclear weapons in Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2014

What economics can learn from human beings

Legend has it that it's hard even to get bank staff to read the 'World Development Report' published annually by the World Bank. The report for 2015 should prove to be an exception, though, as it appears to help policymakers understand deeply ingrained habits or cultural settings.

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