Search - people

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2013

What Bismarck can show Red China

More than a century and a half after it was published, Alexis de Tocqueville's "The Old Regime and the Revolution" has become an unlikely best-seller in China.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 4, 2013

A term for Abe's ilk? Well, nonliberal

Foreign media and overseas Japan experts largely use 19th- and 20th-century labels to describe Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and current Japanese politics led by his Liberal Democratic Party — "right-wing," "hawkish," "conservative" and "nationalist."
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2013

Rights groups tell Japan to fully tape interrogations of criminal suspects

Human rights organizations submitted a petition Monday to the Justice Ministry urging the government to introduce full recordings of interrogations by prosecutors and police.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jun 4, 2013

By opening up the debate to the real experts, Hashimoto did history a favor

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto has been busy making headlines around the world with his controversial views on Japan's wartime sex slaves (or "comfort women," for those who like euphemisms with their history). Among other things, he claimed there is no evidence that the Japanese government sponsored the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2013

Sunny spin to an oily Earth

Politicians seem to be the last people in the world understanding clean energy or what kind of planet they will bequeath to their grandchildren.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 2, 2013

Belgian, Ugandan win Noguchi prize

Two doctors from Belgium and Uganda were awarded the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize on Saturday at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development for their great strides in helping the world combat deadly infectious diseases.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jun 2, 2013

Finding ways not to say 'mottainai!' in the woods

The common Japanese term mottainai, meaning “what a waste,” has become an international concept.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 2, 2013

Recipe for a well-fed world

Food got bigger than DIY about a decade back, but publishing took a while to hoist its tired old frame on to the bandwagon. Now the food books tumble out, unstoppable, in a startling range of sub-genres. There's the cookbook with jokes. The memoir with recipes. The polemic about food system apocalypse....
EDITORIALS
May 31, 2013

Priorities in Myanmar

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Myanmar President Thein Sein on a visit to Myanmar on May 26 and pledged ¥91 billion in fresh aid to Myanmar — ¥51 billion in loans and ¥40 billion in grants — and waived another ¥190 billion in debt to facilitate the country's democratization efforts.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 29, 2013

Britain examines why two gang members turned to jihad

Clutching a placard protesting at a "Crusade against Muslims," Adebolajo was a striking figure.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 29, 2013

Sony lab offers a peek into the future

A miniature rotor craft controlled through a head-mounted display and Lego blocks manipulated with a PlayStation controller: These were just a couple of examples of new ideas and creativity on display last week at a two-day open house held by Sony Computer Science Laboratories Inc.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 28, 2013

281_Anti Nuke's anger at authority is at a critical mass

More than two years after the triple reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, hundreds of thousands of residents of the Tohoku region of northeastern Honshu remain displaced, the power station teeters on the brink of further disaster and large swaths of northern Japan are so irradiated...
WORLD / FOCUS
May 27, 2013

Mass surveillance wouldn't help

Two former Labour Party home secretaries, a security minister and a former "independent" reviewer of terrorism laws have called for the swift review of Britain's communications data bill, following the London killing of an off-duty soldier by two radical Islamists.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
May 26, 2013

History shows one man's rape is another's wooing

"The evolution of political thought in this relatively isolated island nation during the period in question is unique to the point of being somewhat freakish."
Reader Mail
May 26, 2013

Break-time habits tell the score

Around 25 years ago, when Japan was enjoying the "bubble economy," ordinary company workers would eat out for lunch quite often and then have a cup of coffee in a "traditional" coffee shop. Company workers, who were called "corporate warriors" at the time, rarely ate instant noodles from a cup in their...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
May 25, 2013

Geary's vision, drive keyed Yokohama's title run

There was something refreshing, interesting and fun about the Yokohama B-Corsairs from the beginning. It wasn't always the easiest thing to explain in a few short words.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 25, 2013

Secrets deciphered as ancient Maya script meets the modern Internet

Researchers began decoding the glyphic language of the ancient Maya long ago, but the Internet is helping them finish the job and write the history of the enigmatic Mesoamerican civilization.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
May 24, 2013

Fighting for their lives, local governments shell out for matchmaking services

In Itoigawa, Niigata, the government has begun subsidizing online dating service membership in an effort to pair up more locals.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
May 24, 2013

Electric fireflies to light up river

The Tokyo Hotaru Festival is back for a second round. This participatory art installation involves 100,000 blue LED light bulbs that will be floated down Tokyo's Sumida River.
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2013

Mr. Murakami's tale of redemption

Mr. Haruki Murakami's latest novel, "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage," his first since the publication of "1Q84" about three years ago, sold a million copies in seven days after it hit the stands.
EDITORIALS
May 22, 2013

Managing Mount Fuji's fame

Chances have increased that Mount Fuji will become a World Heritage site in June following an April 30 recommendation by a UNESCO panel. The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) noted that the volcano is a national symbol of Japan and blends religious and artistic traditions.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 21, 2013

Ambivalent Japan turns on its 'insular' youth

Japan's decision to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade negotiations shows that at least some in government have accepted the fact that 'opening up' Japan is in the nation's best long-term interests.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 21, 2013

Yokohama: What do you think of the prime minister's 'Abenomic' strategy so far?

Businesses are getting better, and at least finance types are strong. But in my business salaries are not going up.
BUSINESS / Economy / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 20, 2013

Utility, ubiquity playing key roles in corrupting policymakers' thinking

Two mind-sets seem to be catching on in Japan these days. They worry me. One is the notion that something has to be useful to be of value. The other is that anything is justifiable on the grounds that everybody else is doing it.

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