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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2014

Putin's contribution to Obama's miniaturization

Russian President Vladimir's aggression in Ukraine has contributed to the miniaturization of Barack Obama — after Obamacare shattered the general belief in Obama's competence and honesty.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 6, 2014

Happy birthday to Kumamon, Japan's favorite regional bear

You don't have to be from Kumamoto Prefecture to know Kumamon — a cute red-cheeked black bear who was officially introduced as the region's yurukyara (mascot character) in 2010. Since his appearance, he has arguably become one of the hottest yurukyara, along with Funabashi's blue-aproned pear, Funassyi....
WORLD
Mar 6, 2014

Ukraine may lead to entente between Russia, China

China's reaction to events in Ukraine will probably prove more important in the long run than the responses of the United States and the EU.
WORLD / FOCUS
Mar 6, 2014

DDoS cyberattacks grow bigger, smarter, more damaging

Crashing websites and overwhelming data centers, a new generation of cyberattacks is costing millions and straining the structure of the Internet.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 5, 2014

The Kishidas kept art in the heart of the family

The legacies of talented multi-generational families not only reveal each member's individual achievements but also offer a glimpse of how the changing currents of the times impact individual creativity. Such is the case with Ginko, Ryusei, and Reiko Kishida.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 5, 2014

Nomura's 'Don Quixote' enlists comedy to counter today's real foes

"Whenever I am creating a new play here at Setagaya Public Theatre, I aim for something that's as universal as all those kyōgen (traditional comic theater) or noh classics that are as vivid now as when they were first staged 600 years ago. If it isn't like that, it won't reach an international audience,...
Reader Mail
Mar 5, 2014

U.S. actions much less egregious

Regarding Yoshio Shimoji's Feb. 27 letter, "Just say the U.S. wasn't innocent": Shimoji's view that the United States should admit it "committed atrocities comparable to, or even exceeding" those committed by the Japanese misses an extremely significant point: that the Americans bombed Japanese cities...
Reader Mail
Mar 5, 2014

Japan wouldn't even save its own

I truly wonder at the logic in Yoshio Shimoji's Feb. 27 letter, which states in effect that the United States should admit to committing atrocities comparable to or worse than those by Japan.
Reader Mail
Mar 5, 2014

The crimes of an imperial power

It is clear from the front-page Feb. 25 article "Xi seeks WWII focus on German trip" that China has adopted a policy of drawing comparisons between German and Japanese contrition for World War II. This comparison is commonly made, but is characteristic of those with a less than complete understanding...
Reader Mail
Mar 5, 2014

Provocation of former leaders

What more compelling condemnation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's craziness can there be than the unprecedented, bipartisan outcries of three former prime ministers (Morihiro Hosokawa, Junichiro Koizumi and now Tomiichi Murayama). You would be hard pressed to find as serious an example of multidirectional...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 5, 2014

'Mt. Fuji, Cherry Blossoms, and Flowers in Spring'

Yamatane Museum of Art is saluting last year's inclusion of Mount Fuji as a World Cultural Heritage Site with this special and classic exhibition of Mount Fuji works.
Reader Mail
Mar 5, 2014

Dog- and cat-lovers get the picture

Judit Kawaguchi's Feb. 28 article, "What we can learn from cats and dogs" (about her visit with Tokyo veterinarian Chikao Muratani), made me think of our great responsibility to co-exist with all life. The last paragraph — "Many dying cats and dogs wait for the people they love to return before they...
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2014

Tokyo tries PR blitz to raise international profile

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government starts distributing PR footage of the capital to TV stations in Asian countries as part of the effort to raise its international profile.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 5, 2014

Pressure on GPIF to buy more stocks good for public, Ito says

Pressure on the Government Pension Investment Fund to buy more stocks will benefit the public as well as boost equity markets, according to the head of a panel that advised on overhauling the world's biggest retirement fund.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 5, 2014

Japan's embrace of Russia under threat with Ukraine crisis

Russia's incursion into Ukraine is setting off alarm bells in Tokyo, where officials worry that any push by the nation's Western allies to impose economic penalties will undermine its drive to improve relations with Moscow.
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2014

Uganda's shameful act

Japan should consider cutting financial aid to Uganda following the African nation's shameful enactment of an anti-homosexuality bill that calls for life imprisonment in 'aggravated' cases.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2014

A new cold war in the making?

Even if there is no war, the Crimea crisis is likely to alter fundamentally relations between Russia and the West, and lead to changes in the global power balance.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 4, 2014

Tim Deluxe makes 'Radicle' move to get healthy

We've all been there before. Sometimes it's a New Year's resolution, sometimes it's the realization that you're out of breath just running up the stairs to catch your last train — but at one point or another, we've all decided to try and get in shape.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 4, 2014

Nationalists press Abe to revisit Kono apology

Right-wing lawmakers are leaning harder on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to re-evaluate the government's 1993 apology for the enslavement of women to serve as prostitutes for Japan's wartime forces, in the face of international criticism against such an effort.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Mar 4, 2014

Dumars the likely fall guy for Detroit's recent failures

Can someone get that dumb that fast?
BUSINESS / TRAVEL INSIDER
Mar 4, 2014

SAS business class, keeping safety fun, high-flying patrol

SAS business class
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2014

Abe between rock and hard place after Putin nabs Crimea

Russia's deployment of troops on the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine put Japan in a difficult position Monday, as Tokyo, which has tried to build closer ties with Moscow, joined its Group of Seven counterparts to issue a statement strongly condemning Russia.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2014

China fights dragon of credit-allocation reform

China needs to reforming the credit-allocation mechanism to provide more capital to well-performing projects and enforce hard budget constraints on poor-performing borrowers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Mar 3, 2014

Old-school bookmarks, modern notice boards and perfectly designed kitchenware

Glasses that just might bounce
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 3, 2014

Putin takes on West over Ukraine: Who blinks first?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken a gamble on Ukraine and is betting that U.S. leader Barack Obama will blink first.
BASKETBALL
Mar 2, 2014

Streaking Grouses maintain momentum with win over Broncos

Basketball fans are witnessing a classic dogfight in the bj-league's Eastern Conference as the Akita Northern Happinets and Toyama Grouses vie for the regular-season conference crown.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Mar 2, 2014

Thinking outside the usual white box

Imagine being a meter tall and dashing around the donut-shaped roof of your school. Or picture studying math while taking in the rich smell of timber in one of a variety of wooden houses connected by a single three-story atrium, or attending a zero-carbon wooden school in the forest.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Mar 2, 2014

Composer Shibuya tests limits of music

One November evening in Paris, Theatre du Chatelet was packed with people who came to see the French premiere of a new opera by a Japanese composer.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2014

Underwater gold rush spurs fears of ocean calamity

This is the last frontier: the ocean floor, 4,000 meters beneath the waters of the central Pacific, where mining companies are now exploring for the rich deposits of ores needed to keep industry humming and smartphones switched on.
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...

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