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EDITORIALS
Sep 12, 2012

Turkey's troubles

Like Japan, Turkey sees itself as a bridge between two worlds — in this case, between Europe and the Middle East. Not only does geography enable Turkish leadership, but its successful combination of Islam and democracy is seen as model for the Middle East as well.
COMMENTARY
Sep 8, 2012

Tokyo-Seoul: enough is enough!

Enough is enough! Obviously, the political leadership in Tokyo and Seoul never learned about the First Rule of Holes: When you find yourself in one, stop digging. Each side seems to be going out of its way to make a bad situation worse, even while providing private assurances that it won't let the situation...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 6, 2012

Soil & "Pimp" Sessions, Jaga Jazzist and Bruut! challenge jazz's conservative image

Grammy Award-winning bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding recently told the Los Angeles Times that one of the problems in bringing jazz to a wider audience was essentially one of image.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EMBASSY AVENUE
Aug 29, 2012

Philippine festival in Yokohama

The best of Philippine culture will be showcased in Yokohama during the Philippine Festival Barrio Fiesta, which is free and open to all and will be held Sept. 1 and 2 at Yamashita Park.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Aug 5, 2012

Easy-money stream scheme risks a torrent of wrath

A watercourse runs between our Afan Trust woods and a national forest up here in the northern Nagano Prefecture hills — passing, for just a few hundred meters, through our property as well.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2012

Court judgment in Canada may set guidelines for physician-assisted death in terminal cases

Gloria Taylor, a Canadian, has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Over a period of a few years, her muscles will weaken until she can no longer walk, use her hands, chew, swallow, speak and, ultimately, breathe. Then she will die.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 19, 2012

China and Japan: A 40-year friendship worth singing about

Forget allegations of spies and economic intrigue. Put aside the controversial Senkaku Islands and celebrate as the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing unites with the New National Theatre in Tokyo to commemorate the 40th anniversary of normalized relations between Japan and China. Two...
COMMENTARY
Jul 17, 2012

Britain's endangered breed

British parliamentary democracy has developed over the centuries and is often seen as a model for other countries. At its best, the system works for the public good, curbs corruption and prevents tyranny by the executive.
COMMENTARY
Jul 5, 2012

Power shifts outstrip reforms

The international institutional structure has remained largely static since the mid-20th century rather than evolving with the changing power realities and challenges. Reforming and restructuring the international system poses the single biggest challenge to preserving global peace, stability and continued...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 1, 2012

Feline fine in Iriomote's unspoilt wilderness

For the jaded traveler, arrival in one place in Japan can often seem suspiciously like arrival in any other. After quitting a station building, you can find yourself viewing thoroughfares lined with familiar-looking stores, with it all appearing instantly similar to other places beheld elsewhere the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 24, 2012

Languid Lumbini: Just visit and you'll understand

It's a pilgrimage site, a UNESCO World Heritage site — and a building site. Lumbini in southern Nepal, less than 10 km from the Indian border, should be a name as familiar as Jerusalem, Bethlehem or Mecca, the holy places of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It's where, in 563 B.C., the Buddha-to-be,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Jun 12, 2012

Couple move to the beat of a different drum

American Chris Holland and Lisa Kakinoki from Yokohama, both 26, first met in 2006 when they were studying at J.F. Oberlin University in Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 5, 2012

Rumors, lies fill void left by police in Furlong case

It is one of the more ugly tasks in journalism: trying to extract a quote from a bereaved family after a violent death. By the time I called Nicola Furlong's mother on May 25, she had learned that her 21-year-old daughter had been sexually assaulted and probably throttled by a stranger in a city 10,000...
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2012

Yuan-yen trade starts as China seeks to globalize currency

China started direct trading of the yen and the yuan Friday in Tokyo and Shanghai, another step in its efforts to expand the global use of its currency and reduce reliance on the dollar.
COMMENTARY
May 1, 2012

Hands behind Sudan's war

Once again Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir waved his walking stick in the air. Once again he spoke of splendid victories over his enemies as thousands of jubilant supporters danced and cheered. But this time around the stakes are too high.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 22, 2012

Matsumoto in May means 'crafts '

England gave the world the Windsor chair, but it was the city of Matsumoto in central Nagano Prefecture that reinvented it for Japan.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 22, 2012

Chinese National Army and the Golden Triangle

The Secret Army: Chiang Kai-shek and the Drug Warlords of the Golden Triangle, by Richard M. Gibson with Wenhua Chen. Wiley, 2011, 384 pp., $32.95 (paperback) Anyone who has stared into the devitalized eyes of an opium addict will know how grave the legacy of the narcotics trade continues to be in the...
JAPAN
Apr 12, 2012

Opposition grills Noda over tax reform details

Social security and tax reform plans were the main issues of contention Wednesday as opposition party leaders grilled Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda during a one-on-one Diet debate.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Apr 3, 2012

Polish envoy comes to terms with 3/11 via noh

Jadwiga Rodowicz-Czechowska, Poland's ambassador to Japan, says she was utterly heartbroken when she witnessed the catastrophe caused by the earthquake and tsunami that hit Tohoku last March.
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 25, 2012

Tracing the trees in a long national love affair

When five shell-pink buds open together on a particular tree in the precincts of Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo, the city explodes with the joy of spring. The cherry-blossom season has officially begun!
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Mar 25, 2012

A woman of wisdom among the energy mandarins

Ask me who should facilitate Japan's energy dialogue and the choice is easy: Junko Edahiro.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 11, 2012

Public wary of official optimism

Ambition can sometimes be measured by the amount of deference paid to the established order, so the recently published book "Genpatsu Kiki to Todai Waho," which irreverently analyzes the "parlance of the University of Tokyo" as it was utilized during the early days of the nuclear crisis in Fukushima,...
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2012

Cabinet-OK'd bill sets stage to ink Hague

The Cabinet approved a bill Friday that would create a domestic law in preparation for signing the Hague treaty on settling cross-boarder child custody disputes.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 6, 2012

Caveat emptor: Not all 'word of mouth' blogs unpaid

Is word-of-mouth information on the Internet trustworthy — or to be taken with a grain of salt?
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2012

Proposed monument misses why we like Ike

Two coming developments, one dismal and one excellent, pertain to America's memory of a great man. One of several oversight panels soon will consider a proposed memorial to Dwight Eisenhower. The proposal is an exhibitionistic triumph of theory over function — more a monument to its creator Frank Gehry,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 17, 2012

'TeZukA' animates the stage

Choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is nutty about anime and manga. Speaking to him at a cafe in his native Antwerp, Cherkaoui drops all the right names into his conversation and gets as giddy as an otaku (obsessive) discussing Japanese pop culture.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Feb 15, 2012

Cosmetics review website goes public with IPO

Tokyo-based Internet company Istyle Inc. announced on Feb. 3 its intention to list itself on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Market (Tosho Mothers). The planned date of the IPO is March 8, 2012.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2012

LDP chief pursues snap election at party rally

Liberal Democratic Party President Sadakazu Tanigaki pledged Sunday to force the ruling Democratic Party of Japan to dissolve the Lower House as early as possible so a snap election can be held to return the conservative party to power.

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