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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2014

Protests in Ukraine, Thailand likely to backfire

The specter of secession suddenly haunts Ukraine and Thailand, two countries where demonstrators have uncompromisingly battled corrupt or unresponsive rulers. Are modern states in general strong enough to survive today's explosions of popular will?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 4, 2014

Owarikara takes its fans to the edge with 'Saihate Songs'

The band name Owarikara loosely translates into English as "starting from the end." However, singer and guitarist Hyouri Takahashi gives a much more specific interpretation.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2014

Base salaries up for first time in 22 months in January

Salaries increased for the first time in nearly two years in January as companies boosted pay for part-timers, aiding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's effort to end 15 years of deflation.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 2, 2014

Getting all mixed up with mixed kanji readings

Gyūdon (牛丼, beef-over-rice bowl) and tonjiru (豚汁, miso soup with pork and vegetables) have much in common. Not only are they a nice combo for a quick lunch (and that it's almost noon while I'm writing this), but on closer inspection both terms also turn out to be a little off with regard to...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Mar 1, 2014

Japan finds bitcoins can bite back, too

Tokyo has once again become the center of a world-wobbling virtual financial crisis. Let me emphasize the word virtual. That's because the world's best-known and perhaps largest exchange of the virtual currency known as bitcoin — Mt. Gox, located in Tokyo's Shibuya district — appeared to have all...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2014

Doraemon, the robot cat, gets your tongue

An earless blue robotic cat, one pocket bulging with gadgets from the future and a lifelong fear of mice: Who is he? Japan roars the answer — but English readers may be stumped. Because, even though he's a government-appointed "cultural ambassador" and a familiar face in more than 30 countries, with...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 1, 2014

Many have fallen victim to NPB's 'false spring'

As a high school student back in the early 1960s, I can recall reading a book titled, "A False Spring." It was authored by Pat Jordan, a Connecticut native and a superb teenage baseball pitcher who, according to Wikipedia, was pursued by more than 15 major league organizations in 1959. Interesting, as...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 1, 2014

Yanukovych resurfaces in Russia; claims to be Ukraine's rightful leader

Speaking for the first time since leaving Ukraine, fugitive president Yanukovych labels the parliament in Kiev illegitimate and vows to return when it's safe.
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Feb 28, 2014

Special education series for non-Japanese

The Osaka International House Foundation is seeking foreigners who have just started to learn Japanese and are interested in attending three sessions in March to learn more about Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Feb 27, 2014

What we can learn from cats and dogs

Chikao Muratani is a veterinarian and owner of Anima Animal Hospital in Tokyo's Chuo Ward. Having worked in the United States for years, Dr. Muratani is fully bilingual and his spotless and beautifully designed clinic is known as a neighborhood hangout. People with pets are encouraged to pop by weekly...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2014

'Lovelace'

"Lovelace" is a film that comes bifurcated, with a big red line down the middle separating its two acts into "The Dream" and "The Bummer."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2014

'Ai no Uzu (Love's Whirlpool)'

Sex and love — can the twain ever meet? In the world of fūzoku, a euphemism for Japan's enormous sex industry, that question is usually answered in the negative.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2014

Parents up allowances to university students: poll

Monthly allowances sent by parents to university students living away from home increased last year for the first time in seven years, according to a survey on college life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 27, 2014

Exhausting the sense of the beautiful

The Aesthetic Movement, a loosely defined tendency in 19th-century European art, operated under the slogan of 'art of art's sake' and believed beauty was the end, not the means.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 26, 2014

Flying high, but not quite buzzing

I have vivid childhood memories of two circuses: Ringling Brothers and Shrine. The latter was a delightfully shabby affair held in an old auditorium where audiences sat on concrete bleachers that were occasionally adorned with tacky plastic chairs. There were lots of animals, and the holding areas outside...
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2014

Defacing of Anne Frank diaries stirs public

The news that hundreds of copies of Anne Frank's “A Diary of a Young Girl” and books about her had been vandalized in libraries across Tokyo still spur swidespread concern, with people scrambling to help with generous donations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 26, 2014

Hi-Red Center's quiet actions still reverberate today

Few artists would consider cleaning the city streets, designing custom-built nuclear shelters or fighting charges of counterfeiting money as part of their activities. But then most artists don't share the concerns that the members of Hi-Red Center (HRC) had as one of the most radical art groups to have...
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2014

Will tougher approach reduce crime?

The government has submitted revised legislation aimed at meting out stricter punishment to minors who commit crimes. But will more severe punishment, sought by survivors and family members of crime victims, lead to a reduction in juvenile crime
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 24, 2014

Shinzo Abe isn't a nationalist in the traditionalist mold

Japan is still a country where its conservative leaders can't survive without showing glimpses of nationalism even as they advocate international cooperation. No way is Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nationalistic in the 'traditional' mold.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 24, 2014

Should young criminals face harsher penalties?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet approved a bill this month to bolster punishments issued under the juvenile law. This is partly in response to growing calls by people victimized by juvenile offenders to reduce their apparent impunity.
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 24, 2014

Arnold still getting used to life at Vegalta

New Vegalta Sendai manager Graham Arnold admits to being overwhelmed by the job so far, but the Australian is quietly confident of finding his feet over the coming J. League season.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Feb 24, 2014

Japanese medalists from the 2014 Winter Olympics

February 21
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 23, 2014

Plans don't make the grade

Don't count on the education ministry's plan to hire more foreign teachers and students to have much effect on its goal of getting at least 10 Japanese universities to place among the world's top 100.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Feb 23, 2014

Sakki-kara damarikonde-shimatte

Today we introduce some usages of the verb u8fbcuff08u3053uff09u3080 (to be crowded) and related vocabulary. u8fbcu3080 describes that a place is crowded, as in: u96fbu8ecauff08u3067u3093u3057u3083uff09u304cu8fbcu3093u3067u3044u3066u3001u3059u308fu308cu306au304bu3063u305f (The train was too crowded to get a seat).

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo