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COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2014

Overuse weakens sanctions

As the U.S. becomes more cautious about military intervention, financial sanctions are being seen as an increasingly attractive alternative in the pursuit of national security and foreign policy goals. But their overuse could spur a major effort to reroute financial transactions away from the U.S.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 20, 2014

Limits on 'stop and frisk' open to interpretation by Japan's police and courts

The rules that apply to 'stop and frisk' questioning are set down in the Police Duties Execution Act of 1948, but since the clauses are ambiguous and contradictory, there have been a lot of arguments about the legal limits on this kind of behavior,
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jul 18, 2014

Magazine draws attention to small firms' products overseas

Young owners of small and midsize businesses from Chubu and other regions are publishing their own English magazine, Indexrights, to market their products abroad.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jul 17, 2014

Merger talks going slowly

Japan Basketball Association officials said that they would actively keep discussing how to overcome the differences between the nation's top two leagues in order to establish a new professional hoops circuit in two years.
WORLD / Society
Jul 14, 2014

Pope was told about 2 percent of priests are pedophiles: paper

About 2 percent of Roman Catholic clerics are sexual abusers, an Italian newspaper on Sunday quoted Pope Francis as saying, adding that the pontiff considered the crime "a leprosy in our house."
Reader Mail
Jul 9, 2014

The problem with change is Abe

I'll add my two pence worth on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Liberal Democratic Party and LDP coalition ally New Komeito changing the interpretation of the Constitution's Article 9 so that the ban on collective self-defense is dropped.
Reader Mail
Jul 9, 2014

Disturbing SDF recruiting drive

Regarding the July 5 article "Timing is everything in the SDF's recruitment drive": The recruitment tieup between the Self-Defense Forces and the all-girl pop troupe AKB48 is awkward. Could it mean Japan will have conscription in the future?
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 5, 2014

Cruz settling in with Marines

Luis Cruz wanted to go home. He wanted to see his family again, wanted to be back in a familiar environment. He wanted to get away from that lonely hotel room in Fort Myers, Florida, that was a long way from his native Navojoa, which lies on the southern tip of Sonora, a Mexican state that shares its...
Reader Mail
Jul 2, 2014

War decisions aren't 'collective'

Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution states that "the Japanese people shall forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2014

Abe wins battle to broaden defense policy

The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe authorizes a reinterpretation of war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution, allowing Japan for the first time since World War II to come to the aid of an ally under attack.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 30, 2014

Japan on verge of legalizing war as Komeito bends

Japan is set Tuesday to legalize waging war even when not under direct attack. It is a drastic departure from its postwar position that the war-renouncing Constitution prohibits exercising the right to collective self-defense.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 27, 2014

Collective defense deal near

The ruling coalition closes in on three new standards that would let the Japanese military use force in cases other than when Japan is under attack.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 22, 2014

University is not a business

Members of the Industrial Competitiveness Council and others are headed down a dead-end road trying to remake the governance of Japan's universities after that of business corporations.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 21, 2014

Any publicity is good news for beer firms

At a Tokyo news conference on June 4, Sapporo Beer President Masaki Oga announced his company would halt sales of its Goku Zero alcoholic beverage after current inventory was shipped. The parent company, Sapporo Holdings, had been contacted by the National Tax Agency in January regarding the manufacturing...
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 5, 2014

'Godfather of ecstasy' dies at 88

Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin, a biochemist and former Dow Chemical Co. researcher who introduced psychologists to the drug MDMA and became known as "the godfather of ecstasy," has died. He was 88.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 30, 2014

No end to Tottenham's revolving managerial door

When you have appointed eight managers during your 13 years as chairman winning only one League Cup, it is understandable that the fans view you with a certain cynicism.
Reader Mail
May 28, 2014

U.S. patience, vigilance needed

Regarding Doug Bandow's May 24 article "Opportunity for U.S. to extricate itself from Korea": I wonder if this article was written before or after last week's exchange of naval gunfire between the two Koreas.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 27, 2014

Nationalistic sentiment keeps Abe's popularity ratings high

The Abe Cabinet continues to enjoy an approval rating of more than 50 percent, according to a recent survey, because of the knock-on effect of 'Abenomics,' the dearth of other viable leaders and, like it or not, nationalist sentiment.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 27, 2014

Recent events in Asia could be tipping points

Russia's struggle to conclude a long-term gas-supply deal with China seems to suggest that China is happy to see Russian President Vladimir Putin poke his finger into the West's eye but that China is more interested in turning Russia into the sort of vassal state that Putin seeks for Ukraine.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 17, 2014

Fix population problem by helping families

For the past 18 months, media outlets in Japan and abroad have looked approvingly upon Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to improve the country's economic future through proactive measures dubbed "Abenomics." The goal is to spur inflation so that companies can make more money and increase pay, thus...
JAPAN
May 12, 2014

Journalist now stands by Nanjing book

In a reversal, journalist Henry S. Stokes stands by the revisionist conclusion of his Japanese book that the Nanjing Massacre never occurred, after accusing his translator of right-wing sabotage.
JAPAN / History
May 10, 2014

Going nuclear: How close has Japan come?

We examine the historical debate on the country's nuclear ambitions
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2014

Is it right to describe Israel as an apartheid state?

Although a de facto apartheid already exists in the West Bank, one of reasons to avoid using the term apartheid is that it doesn't start conversations. It ends them.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 3, 2014

Pop star gaffes no sweat to Cool Japan

Whatever you want to say about Justin Bieber's lack of common sense, as either a pop star or a mortal, you have to admit he has incredible timing. He managed to capture the attention of the world with his impromptu visit to Yasukuni Shrine by posting photos of it the day after more than 100 Japanese...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 30, 2014

Rough transition raises issues over F/T's future

On Dec. 18, 2013, the Festival/Tokyo website announced that following the implementation of "a new administration system," Program Director Chiaki Soma, 38, would resign from her position and be replaced at the end of March 2014 by Sachio Ichimura, 64, the then chairman of F/T's executive committee....

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan