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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 22, 2013

Scots have nothing to lose going the 'indy' route

The notion that Scotland will face a kind of biblical apocalypse if it becomes independent — as most U.K. newspapers seem to imply — is unfounded.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Mar 21, 2013

Dominicans overcome by emotion after WBC victory

Fernando Rodney bounded around on a hastily assembled stage with a fresh World Baseball Classic winner's medal and a plantain that was more than a few days past its expiration date both dangling around his neck.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 21, 2013

A lovesick nun, magic sandals and a vengeful ghost

"Sumidagawa Hana no Goshozome" ("The Sumida River Adorned with Cherry Blossoms") by Tsuruya Namboku IV (1755-1829), now showing at the National Theater of Japan, was written to be a blockbuster.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 21, 2013

Islamic law takes root in Syria's rebel-held territory

The evidence was incontrovertible, captured on video and posted on YouTube for all the world to see. During a protest against the Syrian regime, Wael Ibrahim, a veteran activist, had tossed aside a banner inscribed with the Muslim declaration of faith.
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 21, 2013

Where cherry blossoms fall: Love, betrayal and tragedy at the Sumida River

The play begins with Matsuwaka (Nakamura Hayato, 19) of the Kyoto-based Yoshida family. He is disguised as Yorikuni of the Otomo family, who is the fiance to princess Sakurahime (Nakamura Kotaro, 19) of the Iruma family. Sakurahime is also the younger sister of Matsukawa's own betrothed, Hanako. (Fusuke...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 21, 2013

'Sakubei Yamamoto: Documentary Illustrations of the Coal Mining Industry'

Sakubei Yamamoto (1892-1984) grew up in Fukuoka Prefecture's Chikuho region, which was once one of Japan's most prolific coal-mining areas. He devoted his life to the mining industry, and when he retired he took up painting as a way to memorialize his experience, just as the importance of coal began...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Mar 20, 2013

Japan expresses its love for Apple and Steve Jobs, in manga

Apple Inc. has been always loved by people in Japan. Even during its toughest years, in the 1990s, after cofounder Steve Jobs had been expelled and the company was almost dead, its Macintosh computer held a much greater market share in Japan than in other countries.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Mar 20, 2013

How Google made me get into bed with Hitler

One of the wonders of the online world is the "Downfall" meme on YouTube. (For those whose time is too valuable to be wasted watching video clips, I should explain that the parody is based on remixing a scene from Oliver Hirschbiegel's film, "Der Untergang [Downfall]," which chronicles Hitler's final...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 19, 2013

Furlong's mother: 'I don't expect to ever, ever learn the truth'

Angela Furlong is trying to recall her darkest point in the trial of the man accused of murdering her daughter. Was it the moment she faced him in court after months of living in dread?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 19, 2013

Tokyo: Do you have a positive or negative image of the police?

I have a pretty negative impression of the police overall, in large part as a result of repeated cases of young women reporting stalkers, the police then failing to act, and the stalkers eventually killing the women.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2013

Choices of aides will reflect pope's reform heart

Is there a big enough broom in all of Rome to remove the years of built-up, ground-in grime inside the Vatican
BASEBALL / WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Mar 18, 2013

Maeda relaxed as Japan prepares to face Puerto Rico

If Kenta Maeda gets the start for Japan against Puerto Rico on Sunday, he'll be pitching in the biggest game of his life.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 18, 2013

Man who shot '47 Percent' video reveals identity

Until last week, Scott Prouty's only bout with fame came when he dived into a canal in Florida and saved a woman from drowning. Like many Americans, the Boston area native held down working-class jobs, ran into some financial trouble and remained generally anonymous.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 18, 2013

Irish GM spud resists blight but not mistrust

Ewen Mullins is the face of modern Ireland. Young, cosmopolitan and highly educated, he is a plant scientist whose work on a genetically modified potato looks to the future. But Mullins also must think back to one of Ireland's darkest chapters, the Great Famine of the 1840s.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2013

The sounds of neighbors being ravaged in Syria

How does one assess Syrians' losses? People are behaving at the most base level in a conflict that shows no sign of ending two years after it started.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2013

Fin de siecle crime and prejudice

This year represents a watershed in the history of France's Belle Epoque — the period of unprecedented economic growth and extraordinary cultural foment that nation enjoyed between the centennial of the French Revolution in 1889 (an occasion commemorated by, among other things, the inauguration of...
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 17, 2013

China's foreign policy shift?

China is expected to appoint two men to its top foreign policy positions who have devoted their careers to Beijing's relations with the United States and Japan, reflecting in part the rising tensions with both countries, according to former diplomats and foreign policy experts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 17, 2013

The rising of a nation

This superb book charts the improbable rise of South Korea from the devastation of war and impoverishment to rapid development and prosperity, and from brutal dictatorship to the most vibrant democracy in Asia. It is 'impossible' in terms of its economic and political achievements, 'the most unlikely and impressive story of national building of the last century,' Daniel Tudor writes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / WEEK 3
Mar 17, 2013

How an American collector brought Jakuchu to Tohoku

Including loans from each of Japan's six national museums as well as the Imperial Household Agency, 'Jakuchu's Here!' represents to a gift from Japan's art establishment to an audience that it has neglected for decades.
Reader Mail
Mar 17, 2013

Untold costs of nuclear energy

The March 14 "Views From the Street: Tokyo" survey question "Do you support Japan abandoning nuclear power even if it means increases in electricity prices?" sets a trap for the interviewee due to the bias in the wording of the question.
EDITORIALS
Mar 17, 2013

New pope faces challenging times

It is hoped that Pope Francis will be successful in restoring and strengthening trust in the Catholic Church by squarely addressing problems plaguing it.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Mar 16, 2013

How can the royal family champion women and endorse Saudi Arabia?

In its latest human rights report, not a great read, the United Kingdom's House of Commons foreign affairs committee wondered if the government attitude to "countries of concern" isn't a wee bit too "low key." Britain's relations with Saudi Arabia, for instance, would benefit from a "bolder" approach,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 16, 2013

The Sandman and other gift-bearing creatures

Easter is upon us, and you know what that means: chocolate rabbits! Each year on Easter Sunday, a magical rabbit (actually a hare) comes out of the forest and brings baskets full of eggs, candies, toys and chocolate rabbits. The Easter Bunny, as he is called, hides the baskets inside each house, and...
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Mar 15, 2013

Second-round resurgence makes Samurai Japan a legitimate title contender

Two-time defending champion Japan has shown signs of improvement after a shaky start in the World Baseball Classic. Or as infielder Atsunori Inaba put it: 'We've become a better team as the tournament has progressed.

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