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Reader Mail
Dec 4, 2013

POWs on the Burma-Thai railway

Regarding Paul de Vries' Nov. 16 letter, "Who worked the Burma-Thai rails?" (a response to my book review of Richard Flanagan's "The Narrow Road to the Deep North"): The non-European forced laborers on the Burma-Thailand railway were prisoners of war. Noncombatants who are captured and compelled to do...
Reader Mail
Dec 4, 2013

Leaders provoking antagonism

The relationship between China, South Korea and Japan seems to be at rock bottom. What lies behind this sad situation? Japan's aggressive conduct in the first half of the 20th century is among the factors, but why the confrontation now?
Reader Mail
Dec 4, 2013

Get young people into forestry

C.W. Nicol's Nov. 3 article, "Hybrid furniture and the working horse" — about what could be done to turn Japan's neglected forests into useful, productive, beautiful areas — is inspiring.
Reader Mail
Dec 4, 2013

Prenatal test leads to abortions

It is said that since the introduction of a prenatal test, pregnant women who are anxious about the possibility of having a challenged baby have flocked to take the test. According to a newspaper report, more than 30 pregnant women who tested positive have aborted their babies. Although their decision...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Dec 4, 2013

Japan should shun treaty that will shield nuclear tech suppliers

Japan is preparing to sign a treaty known as the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, which assigns accident liability entirely to plant operators rather than equipment and technology vendors.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 4, 2013

Judge says Detroit can file for bankruptcy

A federal bankruptcy judge granted Detroit unprecedented powers Tuesday to shed billions of dollars in debt, including the ability to slash city employee pensions despite a state constitutional provision protecting them.
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Dec 4, 2013

Mao has much at stake in Grand Prix Final in Fukuoka

With only two months to go until the Sochi Olympics, two-time world champion Mao Asada heads into this week's Grand Prix Final as a prohibitive favorite while skating on home ice.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 4, 2013

Aomori building solid foundation as expansion team

First-year franchises are expected to have their share of ups and downs. In that regard, the Aomori Wat's fit that description.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NOTES ON A SCORECARD
Dec 3, 2013

Delay in agreement on new posting system just latest black eye for NPB

Pretty sad to see the negotiations over the new posting system between NPB and MLB continue to drag on. It's already December now and MLB teams are trying to set their rotations for next season.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 3, 2013

Japan's secrets bill turns journalists into terrorists

The Japanese public supports Prime Ministe Shinzo Abe's bid to defeat deflation and stand up to China, but it's not with him on the secrecy bill.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 3, 2013

Nori represents Japan at BC One breakdancing competition

This past weekend's Red Bull BC One breakdancing event in Seoul was something of a battle of titans.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 3, 2013

Power shifting in the Pacific

If China continues to strengthen its influence, will Japan, on its own or in collaboration with Australia, help reinforce the U.S. politically and militarily in the Asia-Pacific region?
BASKETBALL
Dec 3, 2013

Akita 16-2 after weekend sweep of Gunma

With three teams with double-digits wins setting the pace in the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference-leading Ryukyu Golden Kings enjoying a bye week, the 2013-14 bj-league season has entered its third month.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON: DESIGN
Dec 2, 2013

Get ready for the wintry, cold and wet season

A coffee table with a twist
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2013

Swiss voters come to their senses amid Europe's soak-the-rich mood

The sensible Swiss — by almost two-thirds — voted to stop their foray into Europe's soak-the-rich mood. Multinationals such as Nestle SA and Novartis AG can now happily stay at home rather than having to relocate.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2013

Russia's economic model losing potential for growth

In the absence of genuine political reform in Russia, there will be no end to capital drain and no adequate stimuli for invigorating a massive influx of investment capital.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 2, 2013

Tokyo: What do you think of Japan's national broadcaster, NHK?

Beloved voice of the nation or loathed drain on household finances? Vox pops from around the capital suggest a bit of both.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 2, 2013

Japan relay squad striving for consistent success

Competing as a team is something Japan is good at in sports. So why not do so in track and field?
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2013

Serbian diplomatic officer expresses hope for better relations with Japan

Nenad Glisic, charge d'affaires at the Serbian Embassy since September, expressed hope of strengthening his nation's relations with Japan, whose ties started with diplomatic contacts more than 130 years ago.
BASEBALL
Dec 2, 2013

Giants now banking on Kataoka to shore up second base

The Yomiuri Giants have, at long last, finally found their second baseman.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 2, 2013

Obama may be rare ex-leader who stays in Washington after presidency

Throughout his time in office, President Barack Obama has opened many outside-the-Beltway speeches with a suggestion that he, too, feels like an outsider in the nation's baffling, frustrating capital city. He shouts to the audience about how good it is to be wherever he is that day — Cleveland, Miami,...
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Dec 1, 2013

A record number of typhoons

The fifth typhoon in O ctober is approaching Japan, the most in the history of observation. According to the Meteorological Agency, the number of typhoons coming to Japan in October is 1.5 times that of an ordinary year; the four in 1955 and 2012, respectively, were the most so far.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 1, 2013

Who is Xi? Chinese leader enigma to world

In early November, China's most powerful man, Xi Jinping, stepped into a rustic farmhouse while on an inspection tour in far-flung Hunan province. The occupants' sole electrical appliance, a fluorescent light bulb, burned overhead. Shi Pazhuan, the family matriarch, was confused. "What should I call...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 30, 2013

The Aesthetics of Strangeness: Eccentricity and Madness in Early Modern Japan

Misfits. Oddballs. Bohemians. In Tokugawa Japan? Yes indeed, a veritable plethora of them. The Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867) was hardly the first repressive regime, or the last, to throw nonconformity out the front door only to find it creeping in through the back door, through the window, through cracks...
COMMUNITY / Voices / OVERHEARD
Nov 30, 2013

Breaking bad

Employee: Is he a ball breaker?
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Nov 30, 2013

For once, MVP voters got things right

One thing that's always surprising when NPB voters get both the Pacific and Central League MVP winners right.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person