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Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 27, 2013

Berezovsky: a tale of betrayal by pal Putin

Boris Berezovsky had always believed in British justice. It was, after all, a British judge who had granted him asylum, after Berezovsky fell out with his one-time protege, Vladimir Putin, and fled in 2000 to London.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2013

Abe declares Japan will join TPP free-trade process

After taking time to lay the groundwork amid intense opposition, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe formally announces that Japan will enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade initiative.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2013

Beef, wheat may be sacrificed in talks

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may sacrifice barriers protecting Japan's beef and wheat farmers to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade accord, a former government adviser on farm policy said.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2013

Leaders we can trust again

Leaders with a compelling vision whom we can trust again could turn back the tide of public cynicism in democratic governance. But where are they
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 2, 2013

Virtual autopsy: Does it spell the end of the scalpel?

Anyone who has spent any time in a courtroom knows how easy it is for a skilled defense lawyer to plant doubt in the mind of a jury. Even in a relatively straightforward case, such as a hit and run, jurors are frequently presented with such a confusing array of photographic and forensic evidence that...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2013

Vets help out foreigners with ill pets

Foreigners with low Japanese-language ability who live in Tokyo and have pets often worry about finding proper care for their animals and medical professionals who can communicate the necessary diagnostic and treatment information.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 25, 2013

The Japanese traffic light blues: Stop on red, go on what?

Road traffic in Japan is a complicated affair. Apart from those narrow, crooked streets that sometimes end without warning, you have to get used to unclear right-of-way rules and the national fetish for backward parking.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 21, 2013

For Abe, overcoming perceptions top job at Obama summit

When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe travels to Washington this week for a summit with U.S. President Barack Obama, his first job may be to convince the president he's not a rightwing fanatic seeking confrontation in East Asia, but rather a calm partner who can work with the Americans to maintain peace and...
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 20, 2013

China's Tibet dam proposals raise eyebrows in India

Plans by China to build three dams in Tibet have rung alarm bells in next-door India, where fears are rising that the northern nation's thirst for power and water will one day affect the flow of the mighty Brahmaputra River, a lifeline for tens of millions of people.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 18, 2013

Stay of execution?

Jerry Givens executed 62 people. His routine and conviction never wavered. He'd shave the person's head, lay his hand on the bald pate and ask for God's forgiveness for the condemned. Then, he would strap the person into Virginia's electric chair.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 18, 2013

Americans find taking family leave can poison their careers

Eight weeks before Danelle Buchman's baby was due, an artery ruptured in her uterus, which nearly killed her and her child. Delivered by emergency C-section in 2010, her newborn daughter, Avery, spent one month in intensive care. Buchman survived only after an immediate hysterectomy. When she tried to...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2013

Danger is mounting in Asia

The cliche that the 21st century will be a Pacific century may still prove out. But the Asia-Pacific of late has become a zone of frightening confrontation.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2013

At last, Russia wins the seal of French approval

President Vladimir Putin has finally done it. Russia has been vying for the West's esteem for centuries, with approval by the French — a sought-after prize since the time of Peter the Great — coveted the most. But, despite the defeat of Napoleon and the World War I alliance, Russia could never get...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jan 6, 2013

Happy new Year of the Snake

Before long now, coming hot on the tail of a Year of the Dragon, it will be a Year of the Snake in the Chinese zodiac; a year that's supposed to be lucky. Obviously, though, you shouldn't push your luck with any snakes you happen to meet up with at any time — especially conniving human ones in the...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 25, 2012

Sites for J-footy fans; variable service at Softbank

In response to our Oct. 23 column, " 'Prenups' uncommon but doable; aid for avid J. League fans," some of our readers wrote in with their favorite Japan soccer resources.
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2012

How desperate is Damascus?

In diplomacy, red lines are problematic. While they are needed to signal resolve, they can also invite trouble. "Red lines often become red carpets," showing that what governments do to challenge their adversaries and test their credibility turns into an indication of how far they can go without inviting...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 21, 2012

Hatsune Miku goes highbrow

On her own, Japanese pop superstar Hatsune Miku can't sing. Nor can she rap, dance or DJ. She is drug- and alcohol-free because she can't indulge in either, and she can't have affairs or engage in offstage shenanigans fit for YouTube scandals or tabloid headlines. Now entering her sixth year as a beloved...
COMMENTARY
Dec 15, 2012

A turning point in East Asia

Political transitions in East Asia promise to mark a defining moment in the region's jittery geopolitics. After the ascension in China of Xi Jinping, regarded by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) as its own man, Japan seems set to swing to the right in its impending election — an outcome likely to...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 9, 2012

Chernobyl factored in the fall of a corrupt regime — Fukushima may too

There are approximately 7,000 exhibits in Kiev's Ukrainian National Chornobyl Museum. (The location of the nuclear plant that exploded on April 26, 1986 is spelled this way in Ukrainian.) Among the documents, photographs, maps and objects at this museum that opened on the sixth anniversary of the accident...
EDITORIALS
Dec 9, 2012

The politics of pop music

South Korean pop singers and groups will not be part of the yearend NHK music show, "Kohaku Uta Gassen," this year. When NHK announced its 50 performers for the singing extravaganza broadcast every New Year's Eve, Korean performers were conspicuously absent.
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2012

A mother's message

Twenty years after Mieko Hattori's 16-year-old son, Yoshihiro, was fatally shot while studying in America, the outspoken mother has once again called for tighter gun control laws in the United States and around the world. Her latest speech was delivered in Baton Rouge, the town where 20 years ago her...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 23, 2012

Against all odds, Mormons in Japan soldier on

According to the Mormon version of postbiblical events, Joseph Smith, guided by an angel in 1823, found sacred golden plates buried in Manchester, New York, outside Rochester. The plates are claimed to have been buried around the year 400, having been brought from Central America by a man named Mormon....
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 21, 2012

Singing the praises of greenery

This year's annual hop between the hemispheres in my capacity as a globetrotting nature-tour guide took me to my namesake country, Brazil, with strange and unusual hopes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 23, 2012

Adrift from Kyoto's Amanohashidate on Heaven's Floating Bridge

The Japanese have long had a fondness for categorizing impressive features of the world around them into numbered lists. And in this enterprise, trios hold particular fascination. Thus, in addition to the Three Great Festivals and the Three Great Night Views, among well over 100 prestigious triads are...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 22, 2012

Japanese as a second body language

Continuing a lifetime study of how the Japanese can be so darn polite, today we look at body language.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers