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Reader Mail
Jul 3, 2013

Government plans for farmers

Regarding the June 28 editorial "How will Japan's farms survive?": It seems to me that the Japanese government is planning to expand farms in the future and will fight to save rice, wheat, beef, sugar and dairy products. But what do the old farmers think about this?
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Jul 3, 2013

Mandela family battles over ailing icon's legacy

A convoy of cars and buses decked with balloons streamed into Qunu on Saturday as the childhood home of Nelson Mandela hosted a wedding and enjoyed a moment of respite from the deep uncertainty caused by the health of its most celebrated son.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2013

Work-life balance? Not in politics

Tamayo Marukawa, 42, seems to have it all. A University of Tokyo graduate, she scored one of the most coveted jobs in Japan as an announcer at TV Asahi. A popular presence there for 14 years, she left for a seat in the Upper House six years ago as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2013

Salarymen's allowance falls to 1982 level

The average Japanese husband's monthly allowance slumped to the lowest level since 1982 at the start of the financial year as workers await the dividends promised by "Abenomics."
WORLD / FOCUS
Jul 3, 2013

U.K. paper punches way above its weight

For a newspaper that's small and underweight even by British standards, The Guardian has a knack for making some big noises, both in its home market and across the pond.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 3, 2013

Antidote for Abe's nationalism

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should think carefully before taking bold strides toward changing the U.S.-imposed Constitution and restoring Japan's 'greatness.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2013

U.S. makes key climate moves, but more needed

President Barack Obama's executive actions to cut carbon pollution in the U.S. have injected a new sense of hope in the global fight against climate change.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jul 2, 2013

The LDP constitution, article by article: a preview of things to come?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing for constitutional change. Yet he is playing the political huckster by proposing to first only fiddle with the amendment procedure in Article 96, lowering the threshold for the process to move forward from the approval of two-thirds of both houses of the Diet, as...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 2, 2013

Nuclear safety rules put onus on utilities

The Nuclear Regulation Authority on July 8 will begin enforcing new safety standards at atomic power stations, more than two years after Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 plant experienced three reactor core meltdowns.
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Jul 2, 2013

Former Dodgers owner reflects on Nomo, friendships

The paths of former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo and former owner and team president Peter O'Malley didn't cross during the latter's recent trip to Japan.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jul 2, 2013

Record shows U.S. officials misled public on NSA programs

Amid the cascading disclosures about National Security Agency surveillance programs, the top lawyer in the U.S. intelligence community opened his remarks at a rare public appearance last week with a lament about how much of the information being spilled was wrong.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 2, 2013

Komatsu debuts automated dozers

Komatsu Ltd., the world's second-biggest maker of construction equipment, has begun sales of automated bulldozers in the United States, the home turf of bigger rival Caterpillar Inc., in a bid to keep pace with global competitors.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 2, 2013

African-American woman traces ancestry to family of Thomas Jefferson

Reisha Raney's role in Friday night's Daughters of the American Revolution ceremony for the military was minor. She carried Virginia's flag in a procession that walked down a carpeted aisle at Constitution Hall.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jul 2, 2013

Wood, paper, leather and a brolly that branches out into a leafy bough

Hang on to a brolly this summer
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 1, 2013

Deflation watch: Kabocha

Domestically grown Japanese pumpkin is now almost as cheap as the imported kind.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 1, 2013

Blanco, Balentien putting up impressive homer totals

If there's a home run derby during this year's All-Star Series, odds are it won't be half as exciting as the one Wladimir Balentien and Tony Blanco are currently staging on a near-nightly basis during the regular season.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 1, 2013

Secret surveillance court is thrust into spotlight

Wedged into a secure, windowless basement room deep below the Capitol Visitors Center, U.S. District Court Judge John Bates appeared before dozens of senators last month for a highly unusual, top-secret briefing.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2013

Fence against cheap labor set too deep in south

If Washington wants to build a fence to keep back the dangers of cheap labor, the fence should run from Virginia to Texas — not along the Mexican border.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2013

Hezbollah leader nears sundown

Recent victories by Hezbollah militiamen in Syria will not save the regime of Bashar Assad. They could presage the political sunset for Hezbollah's leader.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2013

Ten-step program could help India develop an economy as big as U.S. economy by 2050

Even with unspectacular growth of a little more than 6 percent a year, India's economy could become about as big as America's economy by 2050.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2013

At the Battle of Gettysburg, choices mattered

The Battle of Gettysburg, fought 150 years ago this week, was not the first example of 'total war.' But it did show why choices matter in U.S. history.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jul 1, 2013

Family priorities factored into decision to stop coaching Osaka Evessa: Cartwright

When Bill Cartwright arrived in Japan to take over as the Osaka Evessa's new coach in January, he embraced the adventure of experiencing the culture and traveling around the country.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jun 30, 2013

Blazing a woodland trail through Shin Kiba

Even if you can't read the kanji for Shin Kiba, you'll sniff out its meaning of "new wood place" the moment you arrive. The Yurakucho subway line's terminus there in eastern Tokyo smells like a cedar closet. Inside the station, a display of Japanese carpentry — including beams featuring dovetail, mitered...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 30, 2013

O'Malley-Japan baseball exhibit opens

Former Los Angeles Dodgers president Peter O'Malley was in Tokyo on Saturday morning to celebrate the opening of a special exhibition of Dodgers memorabilia at the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Jun 30, 2013

Cultural agency doles out awards to those promoting Japan

Twelve distinguished figures, including eight foreigners, received awards Friday from the Cultural Affairs Agency for their efforts in cultural exchange and promotion of Japanese culture abroad.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MAKING THEIR CASE
Jun 30, 2013

JCP chief tabs party as bulwark against Abe plans

Only the Japanese Communist Party can act as a counterweight to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the Upper House election, especially against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic and constitutional revision plans, JCP Chairman Kazuo Shii declared Saturday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / MAKING THEIR CASE
Jun 30, 2013

DPJ admits lack of trust, unity undermining poll prospects

Democratic Party of Japan President Banri Kaieda on Saturday admitted that the opposition camp's leading force hasn't regained enough credibility to lead the charge against the ruling Liberal Democratic Party for the Upper House election.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 30, 2013

Preaching Endo's theme of a maternal divinity

Endo Shusaku has helped Japanese Christians to assimilate their painful past and has weaned them away from narrow concerns with dogma or sexual guilt to project instead a broad and humane vision of the faith, sensitively attuned to the Japanese context.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2013

A defeat for DOMA, and the end of the 'ick' factor

Future generations will shake their heads at how fearful Americans sounded today debating same-sex marriage. At least most of the Supreme Court justices get it.

Longform

A mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing on Hiroshima taken from a U.S. military aircraft on Aug. 6, 1945. Copying the photo without permission is prohibited.
80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped