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LIFE / Digital
Jan 30, 2014

Are Britain's plans for its patients' private data totally healthy?

A few days ago, I dropped into my doctor's surgery to pick up a prescription and was confronted by one of those large floor-mounted pop-up displays that one finds at exhibitions, trade fairs and circuses. It informed me of an exciting new scheme by which the "quality of care and health services" would...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2014

'The Wolf of Wall Street'

I'm working on a screenplay which, as they say in the industry, is "inspired by true events". It's about an actor — let's call him Leo — who at a very early stage in his career co-stars with his idol — let's call him Bobby — who's the most intense and driven actor of his generation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 29, 2014

Olé! A 'Carmen' supreme

The heroine of French composer Georges Bizet's "Carmen" is one of the most famous roles in opera, but it's also one of the most difficult of all to carry off well.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 29, 2014

Twice as nice: 'The Full Monty' and Peeping Tom

"I love the original 'Full Monty' movie, and I think Robert Carlyle is brilliant as the central character — a loser who overcomes the odds against him. In fact it's his portrayal that inspired me to tackle the role as my live-acting debut — though now I regret agreeing to it because on stage there's...
Reader Mail
Jan 29, 2014

Duty-bound in a futile battle

Regarding the Jan. 18 article "Ambassador frets over Virginia's incursion into Sea of Japan naming row": Life is too precious to point out one's "duty" every time a politically controversial Kyodo article comes out. But the Japanese ambassador's fretting over the contents of Virginia's textbooks is an...
MORE SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Jan 28, 2014

Reaction to Sherman's rant completely over the top

What would a Super Bowl be without a mountain being made of out a molehill?
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2014

Japanese firms mostly unaware of benefits of hiring from JET ranks: poll

Japanese companies are less aware than their foreign counterparts of the government-sponsored Japan Exchange and Teaching Program and are thus missing out on an opportunity to hire foreigners who have the skills they need, a recent survey by a major business lobby showed.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 26, 2014

No time for free reading? You can make it up at university

I hope 2014 has started well for all our readers. Lifelines kicks off the Year of the Horse with an email from overseas reader Hannah, who has several questions about the Japanese education system:
WORLD
Jan 25, 2014

'Abe-genda': nuclear export superpower

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is now in New Delhi to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Indian Republic. His presence speaks volumes about closer diplomatic, security and economic ties and, at least from Tokyo's perspective, a common agenda on responding to the rise of China. India remains...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jan 25, 2014

History and humor lap Hamamatsucho's shores

Tokyo hosts plenty of pint-size public sculptures, but none so "wee" as the brazen boy standing on the platform between lines 3 and 4 at Hamamatsucho Station in Minato Ward. Just back from a trip to Brussels, I am stunned to glimpse there a bronze replica of the Belgian capital's most cheeky landmark,...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 25, 2014

Silence Once Begun

If you've ever thought book reviewing was a questionable business — so opinionated! so subjective! — this may be the review to prove you right.
EDITORIALS
Jan 25, 2014

Literature prizes elevate women

Japan ranks 105th out of 136 countries on the world gender gap index even as the winners of the nation's literary prizes were all women, again.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2014

U.S. regulators undermining Net neutrality

The U.S. has the most innovative people in the world working in an increasingly information-based economy, yet its Internet service providers are subject to neither competition nor oversight.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jan 25, 2014

In Davos, gripping kabuki with little substance

Afriend asks via email: "Did you see the video of Abe in Davos?"
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2014

Pining for Lyndon Johnson, Americans got Christie

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's recent scandals won't impress anyone who has read of the political arm-twisting shenanigans conducted a half-century ago by U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2014

Legal U.S. pot won't bring real peace to Mexico

The creeping legalization of marijuana in the U.S. does not spell doom for the Mexican drug cartels. In the final analysis, Mexico doesn't have a drug problem; its institutions are too weak to protect the life, liberty and property of its citizens.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 24, 2014

Anti-nuclear Koizumi feels resolved to whatever fate comes his way

Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, 72, said Friday he is resolved to whatever fate befalls him now that he has been energized by his life's mission: staunch opposition to nuclear power.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 24, 2014

Mata's arrival likely signals end for Kagawa at Man United

There can be a fine dividing line between knowing when you are well off and lacking ambition.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 23, 2014

Tokyo voters unhappy with nuclear focus

Campaigning for the Tokyo gubernatorial race starts and voters express bewilderment over how fast the focus seems to have turned to nuclear energy.
EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 2014

Can't bury the nuclear issue

The Feb. 9 Tokyo gubernatorial election will not only decide the leader of the nation's capital but also indicate whether Japan will rely on nuclear power.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2014

Getting a hustle on the Oscars

David O. Russell's "American Hustle" is cleaning up in the early part of an awards season that was meant to belong to Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave." And that ain't no con.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2014

Searching for hidden meaning in a Kubrick classic

I'm old enough — barely — to have seen Stanley Kubrick's horror masterpiece "The Shining" when it opened in the theaters back in 1980. My strongest memory of this tale of writer's block meets cabin-fever insanity is that my girlfriend's drink wound up in my lap the first time the twins appeared....
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 23, 2014

Don't flap about when it comes to ensuring a year of good luck

This weekend, Osaka Tenmangu, a shrine in Osaka's Kita Ward, is hosting its annual festival where visitors can trade bullfinch shaped good-luck charms to bring about future prosperity.

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