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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 25, 2013

Flying through an urban obstacle course like 007

If you're my age (meaning not in your 20s) and you've even heard of "parkour," it's probably because of that scene in the 2006 remake of "Casino Royale" when James Bond chases a bounding, bouncing bad guy up a giant construction crane, down an elevator shaft and over all kinds of obstacles on a building...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2013

Taksim Square and the new ways of mobilizing

Turkey's democratic opposition can address flaws of the system only if it recognizes the need for very different forms of mobilization from those of the past.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jun 25, 2013

Tokyo: Do you think conscription — in Japan or elsewhere — is a good thing or a bad idea?

I think conscription is a bad idea because we always say people are equal and can do what they want, and I myself am all for liberty and freedom of choice. To that end, people, whoever they are, must be able to do what they want, and if they don't want to [join the military], that is quite alright.
EDITORIALS
Jun 23, 2013

Epidemic of dementia

Japan needs to address its dementia crisis. A recent survey found that 4.62 million people suffer from it, nearly 1.6 million more than last year's estimate.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 23, 2013

Happiness: Abenomics falls short

What makes people happy? The global trend toward quantifying happiness certainly got a big boost from Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan kingdom that has championed and made a cottage industry out of the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH).
Reader Mail
Jun 23, 2013

Various languages merit study

I would like to comment on Gary Henscheid's June 16 letter, "Improving English education." I fully support his suggestions to make English an elective and to have the education ministry expand programs for studying abroad.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / IN THE RECORD
Jun 20, 2013

In the record bag: Mark Birtles

Born in Nottingham, England, Mark Birtles began DJing in Leeds before coming to Japan in 2008. He is one half of the Tokyo Indie events team, which has hosted DJ gigs with touring bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Metronomy, Mystery Jets and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. He let us have a look in his record bag and...
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2013

Growth strategy misses

The 'Abenomics' growth strategy just adopted looks like a wish list of budgets with project names that will be coveted by individual government ministries.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 18, 2013

Democracy, interrupted: How local voices were silenced in Tokyo's first referendum

On Sunday, May 26, something quite remarkable happened in Kodaira city, western Tokyo: Over 50,000 citizens voted in Tokyo's very first local referendum (jūmin tōhyō) on the issue of whether a 50-year-old plan to construct a road should be reviewed or not.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jun 18, 2013

Finnish diplomat pushes child-rearing for dads

For Finnish diplomat Mikko Koivumaa, being an ikumen (men who take an active role in ikuji, or child rearing) comes naturally.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jun 18, 2013

Okigusuri

Dear Alice,
EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2013

The dark side of Abenomics

The dark side of Abenomics is rearing its head as stock prices show erratic fluctuations. Institutional investors have made profits, but not ordinary citizens.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 16, 2013

Family-crest master fears he's one of a dying breed

Dressed in a black kimono and wearing a pair of eye-catching black, triple-framed spectacles, Shoryu Hatoba straightens his back as he sits on the tatami floor of his quaint studio in Ueno, central Tokyo, holding a pair of bamboo compasses fitted with a brush dipped in ink in place of a pencil.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 16, 2013

Sand, sea and stars on idyllic Akajima

Back in 1972 when I first lived on Denman Island in the Georgia Strait of British Columbia between Vancouver and Vancouver Island, I was one of about 300 residents. By the time I left 25 years later for Japan, its population had just topped 1,000, and each year sees a few more drawn to live in that beautiful...
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 15, 2013

Clinton re-enters limelight, plans charitable work — for now

In her first major public appearance since stepping down as secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton embraced key pillars of President Barack Obama's domestic agenda Thursday and said she will strive to act as an envoy between businesses, nonprofit entities and the federal government.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 14, 2013

The economics of men's cosmetics; top six meaty menus; CM of the week: Toyota

Though everyone is fretting about Japan's economic future, the young people who are destined to become tomorrow's leaders have had little opportunity to share their own ideas on the topic. NHK's new information program, "Oikonomia" (NHK-E, Tues., 11:30 p.m.), a madeup term based on the English word "economics,"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 14, 2013

'Great Gatsby' reunites Luhrmann, DiCaprio

"The Great Gatsby" is a classic novel from 1925 that is often a required part of the school curriculum in North America. However, it has yet to become a classic film.
EDITORIALS
Jun 14, 2013

HPV vaccine raises questions

The health ministry is being pressed to weigh the benefits of the anti-HPV inoculations for schoolgirls against the risks that they cause serious side effects.
Reader Mail
Jun 13, 2013

Resourceful ways to kill time

Regarding the June 11 article "Wait a sec: Smartphones helping more in Japan deal with irritatingly long waits, survey says": This survey is weird and interesting. I am amazed at the startling ingenuity of the surveyors concerning the subject matter.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 12, 2013

Monitoring scandals unite left, right

A late spring storm of Washington controversies has created a rare event in these partisan, polarized times: a shared I-told-you-so moment for the left and the right.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2013

There's no putting Asia's Gini back in the bottle

Protests in the reputedly 'equal' nation of Sweden — attributed in part to young, unemployed immigrants — raise interesting questions about equality in Asia.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2013

Japan may announce humanitarian aid for Syrian rebels at G-8 summit

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could announce Tokyo's intention to provide humanitarian assistance to Syrian rebels at next week's Group of Eight summit in Britain, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 11, 2013

Rising cost of imports opens doors for craft beer revival

Naoyuki Ide is betting that a weaker yen will drive more Japanese people to drink his locally made craft beers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2013

Imperial Family's car woes sparked Toyota whistleblower

In 2008, Toyota faced an embarrassing problem: The Imperial Family's luxury Century Royal, used to carry Crown Prince Naruhito around Japan, was a dud.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2013

How even the mightiest can sometimes succumb to their own success

Toyota was famously slow to respond to the glut of claims of sudden acceleration problems afflicting some of its vehicles — at least until a now-notorious recording of an emergency 911 call made from one of the passengers stuck in 45-year-old California Highway Patrolman Mark Saylor's speeding Lexus on Aug. 28, 2009.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2013

Why the Turks are rebelling

The protests in Turkey raise the question of whether a developing country can sustain rapid economic growth if the same government is undermining basic liberties.
EDITORIALS
Jun 7, 2013

Turkey boils over

A small protest over the decision to pave over a small park in Istanbul has grown into the most violent riots that Turkey has experienced in decades.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 6, 2013

Travis returns with 'Where You Stand' after five-year break

You can't sell as many records as Travis have without dividing opinion.

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