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CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 11, 2013

An "Unknown Escape" and an explanation of the LDP's Constitution plans; CM of the week: Potenon

In June, 11 Japanese people whose family members died shortly after the end of World War II in the area now called North Korea traveled to the communist country to carry out memorial services for their kin. It was the first time they'd ever done so on North Korean soil.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 10, 2013

'Haiku killings' recall infamous horror story

Mitake, a tiny mountain hamlet located in eastern Yamaguchi Prefecture, is administrated as part of the city of Shunan (pop. 150,000). The area is so remote, cell phones don't always receive signals there.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2013

Dethroning King Coal for the sake of the planet

Our continued high level of greenhouse-gas emissions protects the interests of one group of humans — mainly affluent people alive today — at the cost of others.
Reader Mail
Aug 10, 2013

Avoiding the 'solitary death'

Reading Amy Chavez's Aug. 3 article, "The yellow flag outside the door — life or death" was instructive and impressive. In bigger cities of Japan, what they call "solitary death" has become a serious social problem because of the graying of society, the trend toward the nuclear family and people's...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 9, 2013

First talks with U.S. on TPP wrap up

The first Japan-U.S. talks held in parallel with the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade initiative ended Friday in Tokyo, setting the stage for further discussions on more specific issues.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Aug 9, 2013

Sex addiction? Sorry, chaps, it's just plain old lust

Candidate Anthony Weiner is unlikely ever to trouble British voters, that is not to say Weiner can be filed away, with complete confidence, under the category "U.S. politicians who have incautiously disseminated images of their private parts, using the alter ego Carlos Danger." For one thing, given the...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 9, 2013

Declaring war on sugar-loaded 'healthy' drinks

The tin of 7UP rolls to a stop at my feet. I pick it up, scowling at the kid on a bike who'd tossed it and missed the litter bin. The can is green and shiny: "Put some play into your every day," it says. "Escape to a carefree world ... Don't grow up. 7UP." And underneath, in tiny print, the real info...
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 9, 2013

The Central African Republic abandoned to its violent fate

It was dusk when armed Seleka rebels dragged the teenager from the road leading north toward Kobe. They pulled her into the jungle and raped her for several hours. Her friend, Lisa Moussa, 17, was more fortunate. As soon as she saw the rebels, she began running. They tried to kill her, shooting until...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2013

Cross-purpose BRICS scheme

The absence of developed cooperative ties and of commercial turnover growth within the BRICS grouping may only perpetuate existing structural differences.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2013

Fear and loathing of the Egyptian military role

No one can defend the mistakes committed by Mohammed Morsi in Egypt. But there is much to fear in the recent deaths of more than 100 Morsi supporters.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 7, 2013

Koki Mitani adds comedy to bunraku

Koki Mitani is Japan's top comedy writer, having written a number of stage plays, TV dramas and films. He also loves working with puppets, and has put together a serialized puppet drama for public broadcaster NHK. Despite a love of puppets, however, it was only about 10 years ago when he first saw a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 7, 2013

The beauty of 'man'-kind

While the ukiyo-e woodblock prints depicting beautiful young Japanese women of the Edo Period (1603-1867) are world-renowned, an equally worthy genre and common theme tends to get overlooked: that of handsome men. The imaginative exhibition "Handsome Boys and Good-looking Men of Edo," currently on show...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 7, 2013

Norwegian, Japanese musicians team up for show inspired by A-bomb anime

Norway is exporting more than just salmon this summer. A group of some 60 musicians, led by composer Magnar Am, have arrived in Japan.
Reader Mail
Aug 7, 2013

Keeping dolphins and whales

Regarding Rob Gilhooly's July 26 article, "Japan bucks trend: Captive dolphin biz big": I cannot agree with the opinion of Sakae Hemmi of the Elsa Nature Conservancy that the reduction of dolphins in captivity is the international trend. This trend is a current fashion of Western culture only. We must...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 6, 2013

Why it was right to acquit Manning of treason

If U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning had been charged with treason, it would have elevated a reckless act into a brave choice of some ideological significance.
LIFE / Digital
Aug 6, 2013

Manning case tests computer fraud laws' credibility

Do you think that, as a society, the United States has become a basket case? Well, join the club. I'm not just thinking of the country's dysfunctional Congress, pathological infatuation with firearms, addiction to litigation, crazy healthcare arrangements, engorged prison system, chronic inequality,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Aug 5, 2013

SOFA: an unequal treaty that trumps the Constitution?

The prime minister's dogged focus on amending the American-tainted Constitution might reflect an uncomfortable unspoken truth — that it may be easier to change the Constitution than revise another document of potentially greater importance: the Status of Forces Agreement between Japan and the United States, which governs the legal status of the U.S. military presence in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2013

Openings of Iwaki beaches offer semblance of normalcy

Every day, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., a part-time worker at one of Fukushima's most well-known beaches walks toward the shoreline and lowers a dosimeter to the water. The device measures radiation, and its readings this summer have delivered the best news one can hope for 70 km south of a still-leaking nuclear...
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 5, 2013

Businesses face switch as Windows XP wanes

Fire up a desktop computer at many small or medium-size businesses, and there is a decent chance it is running on a 12-year-old operating system: Windows XP.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2013

Can Egypt's past spur respect for plurality now?

One must hope that Egypt's experience of recent decades will induce a broad range of Egyptians to seek an answer based on respect for a plurality of ideas today.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2013

Inside the mind of Deng's intellectual successor

A new book at last puts Zhu Rongji, Shanghai's former mayor and the economic intellectual successor to the late Deng Xiaoping, into the pantheon of Chinese giants.

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