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WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2013

Stress gives presidents more than a few gray hairs

Time roughs up presidents. Photos of Barack Obama on election night in 2008 look like they were taken much longer than four years ago. Now his face has deeper creases and crow's feet, while his hair is salted with white.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 19, 2013

Impossible forests where tides ebb and flow

A ripple flows gently inland across an expanse of dark-gray mud. It washes in, then drains back, dampening the surface; it briefly fills, then empties from, tiny holes made by innumerable small crabs. The ebb is over, and the flow tide has begun.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 19, 2013

Zen and the cross-cultural art of tree-climbing

In the upstairs meeting room of a camping lodge in Komagane, Nagano Prefecture, two women and about 20 men walked slowly and intently in circles one rainy day last November. At the front of the room, a weathered and wiry Englishman intoned the sort of instructions a yoga aficionado would find familiar....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 19, 2013

Meiji Japanese who sought to improve China

ASIA FOR THE ASIANS: China in the Lives of Five Meiji Japanese, by Paula S. Harrell. Merwin Asia, 2012, 407 pp., $35 (paperback)
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 19, 2013

So many small things Japan should be proud of

The new Tokyo Skytree has enjoyed immense popularity and is being credited for giving Japanese people hope for the future. Yes, having with the tallest tower (634 meters) and the second tallest structure in the world, we are all filled with a renewed sense of confirmation that — taller is better!
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2013

Agura Bokujo victims may sue Kaieda

Investors who were fleeced when the Agura Bokujo cattle farm business went under are threatening to sue Democratic Party of Japan President Banri Kaieda for damages over articles and books he wrote 20 years ago recommending investment in the ranch, according to their lawyers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 19, 2013

Kyoto gardens give up all their secrets during intimate guided tours

How do you appreciate a Japanese garden? The typical temple visit — where you ponder a seemingly random assemblage of rocks and raked gravel or push your way through a throng of tourists jostling for camera angles — can leave one confused and underwhelmed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 17, 2013

Matsue: 'Goma's positivity left me revitalized'

Since his 1999 debut "Anyon Kimuchi (Annyong Kimchi)," a documentary about his zainichi (ethnic Korean) family, Tetsuaki Matsue has been interested in those on the margins of Japanese society — though he is hardly the director-as-crusader.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 17, 2013

'Cesare Deve Morire'

Roberto Rossellini once said that a good movie has the power to change the world, and here's a film made by his compatriots (octogenarian Italian brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani) that may prove him right. It certainly alters the way one looks at the world, at history and how art can lock people in...
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 16, 2013

Somali pair admit trying to hijack ship

In the first case prosecuted under Japan's 2009 antipiracy law, two Somali men pleaded guilty Tuesday in Tokyo District Court to charges of boarding and attempting to hijack a Bahamas-registered tanker operated by a Japanese shipping company.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2013

Agricultural land grabs in developing countries?

Should rich countries — or investors based there — be buying agricultural land in developing countries?
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2013

Agricultural land grabs in developing countries?

Should rich countries — or investors based there — be buying agricultural land in developing countries?
LIFE
Jan 14, 2013

Tour guide exams another example of national licensing frenzy

Colin P.A. Jones wondered if he was alone in laughing out loud at a question about impaired thinking in the national nursing exam ("Stop thinking — the exam is about to start," Zeit Gist, Dec. 18).
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2013

Sign of the Financial Times: Will it sell independence?

Too many years ago, this young reporter was about to move from one of Britain's biggest newspaper groups to a paper with a daily sale of fewer than 200,000 copies. A hard-bitten veteran, who had spent years reporting for the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph pleaded with me over farewell drinks not...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jan 14, 2013

Canadian has English-language rakugo dream

Katsura Sunshine wants to spread the world of rakugo (traditional comic storytelling) to people all over the world, including his home country Canada, by delivering English-translated versions.
Reader Mail
Jan 13, 2013

Who will care for the elderly?

Regarding Jun Hongo's Jan. 9 article, "Foreign nurse success story has message for Japan: Open up": Why did Japan bother to invite these poorly paid, overworked and under-appreciated nurses from Indonesia and the Philippines to work here.
EDITORIALS
Jan 13, 2013

A website to combat bullying

Bullying has remained a pernicious problem in the Japanese school system. Students are reluctant to report it and teachers and administrators reluctant to admit it. A new proactive approach by the Saitama Prefectural Board of Education has the potential to start putting a stop to the problem through...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 13, 2013

Rockefeller calls time on dynasty

Jay Rockefeller's uncle Nelson was a vice president. His uncle Winthrop was a senator, as was his great-grandfather Nelson. But the great American electoral dynasty abruptly ended Friday when Rockefeller said he will not seek re-election in 2014 after nearly three decades in the Senate.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 12, 2013

Chelsea fans refuse to blame owner

When Bruce Buck came on the pitch before Wednesday's League Cup semifinal first leg against Swansea to make a presentation to Petr Cech, the Chelsea chairman was booed. Seriously booed.
EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 2013

India's national shame

Few acts are as violent, invasive and scarring as rape. Compounding the injury is the abhorrent treatment all too often afforded rape victims. Far too frequently they are greeted with suspicion and insinuations — if not outright allegations — that a vicious assault is somehow their fault.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 11, 2013

Overseas restaurants set up shop in Japan

Call it the Pancake Revolution.
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jan 11, 2013

Painter Fukunaga illustrates the artistic nature of Japanese onomatopoeic expressions

Symbolic of Tokyo's Asahi Beer Hall is a gigantic golden sculpture that sits atop the building and is the shape of, well, a roaring flame — at least that's officially what it's supposed to be. (Though ask any child and they'll give you a different answer as to what it looks like.)
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2013

At last, Russia wins the seal of French approval

President Vladimir Putin has finally done it. Russia has been vying for the West's esteem for centuries, with approval by the French — a sought-after prize since the time of Peter the Great — coveted the most. But, despite the defeat of Napoleon and the World War I alliance, Russia could never get...
Reader Mail
Jan 10, 2013

Debunking 'facts' about guns

In his Dec. 31 article, "Supreme copout: twisted justification for guns," Hiroaki Sato makes an unprincipled argument when he suggests that U.S. Supreme Court justices should allow their personal experience of victimization to factor into their interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.

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