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Reference / Q&A
Aug 21, 2013

'Barefoot Gen' pulled as anti-war images strike too close to home?

The decision by the board of education of Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, to limit students' access to the manga series "Hadashi no Gen" ("Barefoot Gen") at school libraries continues to cause a stir. While some support the move, others say it disrespects the best-selling anti-war classic, which tells the...
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 20, 2013

Leon H. Sullivan Foundation: the implosion of a legacy

A soldier in olive fatigues pulled Hope Masters into a corrugated metal trailer, locked the door and dropped the key on the floor. He reeked of chewing tobacco and beer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 19, 2013

Darren Johnston: dance's accidental controversialist

In 2003, prominent arts writer Allen Robertson wrote in The Times: "If there was a Turner Prize for dance, Darren Johnston would undoubtedly be on the shortlist."
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 16, 2013

War anniversary may irk China; why doesn't it honor fallen?

At 9:35 a.m. Thursday, Shanghai's state-owned Xinmin Evening News newspaper tweeted a reminder to its 1.8 million followers on the Sina Weibo microblogging service: "The Japanese surrendered 68 years ago today!"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 14, 2013

Yuri Nonaka takes viewers on a trip through the imagination

All things weird and wonderful were loved by the Surrealists and there is plenty of the weird and wonderful in the world of their fellow traveler Yuri Nonaka. The Kamakura Annex of the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura and Hayama, is currently holding an exhibition showcasing works that were donated to...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 10, 2013

Aso's Nazi gaffe tarnishes Abe's agenda for constitutional revision

The other night at my local sushi bar conversation turned to Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso's comments about constitutional revision — specifically, his suggestion there is something to be learned from the way the Nazis revised the Weimar Constitution in 1933.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 9, 2013

Nagoya landlord-envoy keeps Pacific island state in public eye

Passengers on the Tokaido Shinkansen can see the office sign for the state of Ngeremlengui in the Republic of Palau as the train rolls through Nagoya.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 7, 2013

Open sky, flying high

In her book "North to the Orient," published in 1935, aviator Anne Morrow Lindbergh, one of America's first female pilots, and wife of fellow aviator Charles Lindbergh, wrote of the cultural differences she experienced traveling across Asia, and on the simple act of saying farewell. She remarked of her...
Reader Mail
Aug 7, 2013

The 'blackface' political shtick

Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso's recent suggestion that Japan's politicians take a play from the National Socialist German Workers' Party and quietly try to slip constitutional revisions under the public radar have sparked a storm of international indignation.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Aug 5, 2013

Iran's Rouhani sworn in as president, vows shift in relations with West

U.S. diplomatic posts in 19 cities in the Muslim world will be closed through the end of the week as a precaution, the State Department announces.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2013

Focus on facts, not fear, in a public NSA debate

It's time for a meaningful public debate about how NSA's communications data collection programs actually operate, not just the potential dangers they may pose.
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.
EDITORIALS
Aug 3, 2013

Mr. Aso embarrasses Japan again

Remarks like those of Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso indicating that Nazis knew how to revise a sticky constitution risk creating a weird international image for Japan.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 3, 2013

Where's the love? Japanese feel unhappy, unloved and pessimistic

The results of a Pew Opinion survey released in July 2013 found that the public mood in Japan is improving but remains "mostly one of dissatisfaction." However, that dissatisfaction is 10 percent lower than the level registered in 2007 during Shinzo Abe's first spell as premier.
EDITORIALS
Aug 2, 2013

Defense plan would raise tensions

An interim outline of Japan's new defense policy points suspiciously toward deviations from the country's postwar defense-only posture that has won it friends.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 2, 2013

Guts, glory and shaved ice: Koshien baseball

Summer is not summer in Japan without two things: 1. Heat (OK, so maybe it's not the heat, it's the humidity); and 2 . . .
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2013

'Movie 43'

Somewhere in the nexus between "Family Guy," "The Hangover" and "Jackass," grossout humor became very, very mainstream. Once upon a time, a movie with jokes about pooping on one's partner or shooting Tabasco sauce up a bodily orifice would have been John Waters territory: fringe, freakish and low-budget....
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 1, 2013

Queen's secret speech for WWIII revealed

British government files from 1983, opened to the public for the first time Wednesday, include an official's view of the message Queen Elizabeth II would have broadcast to the nation in the event of World War III.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 1, 2013

Aso retracts remark on 'learning from the Nazis'

After facing criticism both at home and abroad, Finance Minister Taro Aso retracts his remark suggesting Japan should learn from the Nazis when it comes to revising the Constitution, saying it led to a “misunderstanding.”
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUJI ROCK 2013
Jul 31, 2013

Toro y Moi

You've played Japan before, were they festivals?
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 31, 2013

Israeli-Palestinian aim: A peace deal in nine months

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agree to meet again within two weeks to start substantive talks in hopes of reaching a long-elusive settlement within nine months.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 28, 2013

Fukushima: evolving fear into fact

Misinformation and flawed reporting about Fukushima radiation levels and reactor stability persisted even when scientific data had become readily available.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2013

Aso stirs pot with tax plot

The consumption tax is driving a wedge between government officials. On one side sits Finance Minister Taro Aso, a vocal advocate for sticking to the plan to hike the levy next April, while on the other high-ranking officials pussyfoot, insisting it is the prime minister's decision to make — sometime...
LIFE / Travel
Jul 20, 2013

Theaters of war and peace in Kumamoto

The pamphlet tells me this is a "castle" — but the structure in front of me defies that description. Granted, my frame of reference is greatly informed by the impressive edifices of Kumamoto, Himeji and Matsumoto that date back to the gory Sengoku (Warring States) Period spanning some 150 years from...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji