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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 12, 2013

Death penalty: Systemic failings add to risk of wrongful executions

Japan's continued resort to the death penalty raises a number of troubling questions.
LIFE
May 12, 2013

Trendsetting U.S. craft beers pour into Germany

Almost 65 years after Allied planes flew Western supplies into blockaded Berlin, a new American import is arriving by air: craft beer.
Reader Mail
May 12, 2013

Greatest risk of human cruelty

Dipak Basu, in his May 2 letter, "Signs of 'Christian' Influence," offers nothing to dispute the argument that the area of the world where human rights are most entrenched mirrors the historic orbit of Judeo-Christian influence.
Reader Mail
May 12, 2013

Price of peace with North Korea

Regarding the May 8 front-page AFP article "N. Korea moves missiles from coast" and related stories: Is it better to rent or own? It's an age-old debate and one where the White House has drawn a line in the sand right along the 38th Parallel.
JAPAN / Politics
May 11, 2013

Suga: Abe not in denial over 'wars of aggression' stance

Facing criticism and questions both at home and abroad numerous times in recent weeks, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga tried Friday to clarify, albeit indirectly, the government position that Japan waged wars of aggression in the 1930s and 1940s.
JAPAN
May 11, 2013

Case closed over Inose's Islamic slight: Tokyo Olympics bid exec

The president of Tokyo's 2020 Olympics bid committee Friday downplayed Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose's recent criticism of Islamic countries, saying the matter had effectively been resolved by the incumbent's apology.
JAPAN
May 11, 2013

Kagoshima temple fails in bid to get loan to buy Chongryon's Tokyo HQ

The chief priest of the Buddhist temple that won the bid to acquire the Tokyo headquarters of the pro-Pyongyang group Chongryon said Friday he has failed to gather enough funds for the purchase, suggesting financial institutions were pressured not to extend loans to his temple.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 11, 2013

Genesis of a brawl: Decades of Sherpa resentment fuel confrontation on Mount Everest

It's an irresistible contrast. On the one hand, modern mountaineering superstars with their blogs and sponsorship deals, scrapping with outraged Sherpas on the slopes of Everest. On the other, one of the defining images of the 20th century, the photograph of Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary standing...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 11, 2013

Defending champion Ryukyu big favorite against Kyoto

The Ryukyu Golden Kings are one of three bj-league franchises with two or more championships. But the other two — the Osaka Evessa (three titles) and Hamamatsu Hiagshimikawa Phoenix (two) — are not playing in the conference semifinal round of the playoffs.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 11, 2013

There are plenty more fish jokes in the sea

The Go Fish! Foundation is an international organization for the protection of fish, their parents, family and friends. Go Fish! rescues, rehabilitates and gives sanctuary to fish in need.
EDITORIALS
May 11, 2013

The good and bad of a weaker yen

Corporate Japan in general is reporting good results for the business year ended March 31, but not all companies are expected to benefit from an excessively cheap yen.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 10, 2013

Nation fails to make most of refugees

Refugees in Japan are acutely underutilized and the nation should stop turning a blind eye to their skills and potential if it wants to generate economic growth, according to freelance journalist Kaoru Nemoto, who describes them as "professionals of survival."
Japan Times
WORLD / EU SPECIAL 2013
May 9, 2013

Japan, EU look to trade pact as way to lift up economies

Japan and the European Union have taken an important step toward deepening their relationship by starting formal negotiations on a free trade agreement in April, seeking to boost their faltering economies by creating one of the world's largest free-trade accords that will account for about 30 percent...
Japan Times
WORLD / EU SPECIAL 2013
May 9, 2013

The past, present, future of the EU; bloc's bilateral relations with Japan

The first seeds of the idea of the European Union were sown on May 9, 1950, by then French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman. Hence, the date is now celebrated as Europe Day.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2013

'Genetic' warfare getting less violent

Many people don't want to admit how violent our 'primitive' past was, because they are afraid that our past will define our future — despite evidence to the contrary.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 9, 2013

LA and Tokyo mix it up at Dublab

As cities, Tokyo and Los Angeles could not be more different. But as creative places, both cities resonate with one another as creative partners.
Reader Mail
May 9, 2013

Barbarism against the enemy

In her May 2 letter about the Yasukuni Shrine controversy, Brigitte Duchemin refers to the souls of the "Class-A war criminals" enshrined there.
Reader Mail
May 9, 2013

Worthy fight to right the church

Thomas Clark's April 25 letter, "Christian witness to abolitionism," is ludicrous in its attempt to link the Roman Catholic Church with human rights. One basic human right is the right to follow your own religion. The first people in Europe to try this on a large scale were the Cathars (gnostics) of...
Reader Mail
May 9, 2013

The task of embracing sincerity

Regarding Brigitte Duchemin's May 2 letter, "Let go of the sorrow and anger," I'd like to add my two pence worth.
Reader Mail
May 9, 2013

Deploy SDF unit in Senkakus

Robert Dujarric's May 3 article, "China's rift with Japan is open challenge to U.S.," posed a number of important and disturbing points with regard to not only Japan, China and the United States but also to the fact that the tiny islets could provide the spark that might well set off a regional, if not...
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2013

Possible solution to Apple's cash-flow problem

It's possible that Apple's best long-term move would be to release a hefty portion of its unused cash to shareholders who would then plow it back into the economy.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 8, 2013

U.S., South Korea show united front on North Korea

U.S. President Barack Obama and South Korea's new leader warn North Korea against further nuclear provocations, with Obama declaring that the days when Pyongyang could 'create a crisis and elicit concessions' were over.
LIFE / Digital
May 8, 2013

Google Glass, half full or half empty?

The Chinese name their years after animals — the year of the goat, the rat and so on. In the tech world, we name years after devices. Thus, 2007 was the year of the iPhone and 2010 was the year of the iPad. It's beginning to look as though 2013 will be the year of Glass. This prediction is based on...
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2013

Putin's hand in radicalizing a secular rebellion

It was Vladimir Putin's refusal to distinguish legitimate Chechen demands for independence from terrorism that created the jihadist movement in the North Caucasus.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
May 8, 2013

Cartwright gives parting thoughts on experience in Japan

Head coach Bill Cartwright returned the Osaka Evessa to respectability after a remarkable plunge in the season's first four months.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2013

Proud war on fools and sociopaths won't win over the anti-Keynesians

American economist Paul Krugman has been right about the U.S. fiscal stimulus being too small and being withdrawn too soon. But he's wrong about many of his critics.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
May 8, 2013

Britain's ports put wind in investors' sails

Methil port north of Edinburgh, once the focus of Scotland's coal exports, is set to tap a greener kind of energy as Samsung Heavy Industry Co. constructs the world's biggest wind turbine in the town's faded harbor.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic