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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 7, 2014

Songwriter James Vincent McMorrow stuns on 'Post Tropical'

When James Vincent McMorrow performs, he squashes himself up behind a keyboard, feet apart and knees together, looking a little like a collapsed laundry rack. The 30-year-old's right hand shakes from the beginning of a song to its end. You give up drink, as the Dubliner did two years ago, and "all of...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2014

Preparing for the age of disruption

By 2020, the quantity of stored data could be 50 times greater than it was in 2010. Many pundits regard this massive explosion of data as the new oil, even a new asset class.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2014

Obama's Asian 'pivot' went flying off like a divot

Even in Washington-centric Washington, President Barack Obama gets the award for having the worst year in Asia. His 'pivot to Asia' looked more like a divot.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 6, 2014

Arrival of 'bad inflation' trend bodes ill for Japan's rebound

Price increases are prompting Japanese shoppers to buy less mayonnaise, showing the fragility of any economic rebound unless wages keep up with living costs.
COMMENTARY
Jan 5, 2014

Obamacare took a beating in 2013, and this year could be worse — for the law and Democrats

As bad as 2013 was for Obamacare, the year ahead has the potential to be even worse — for the law, the Obama administration and congressional Democrats.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jan 4, 2014

To the Simien and back — 47 years on

By the time you read this I should be in the Simien Mountains of northern Ethiopia. I have been asked to go back there to tell the nation's current generation what the forests and wildlife were like in 1967, '68 and '69 when I served the government of Haille Selassie as the country's first game warden...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 4, 2014

Slippery slope to Yasukuni, Nago oiled by lucre

As with the Yasukuni story, most of the commentary on Okinawa base relocation deal focused on its contentious nature, but also like the Yasukuni story, the main impetus behind the actions reported was economic.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 4, 2014

Back and forward: Asia in 2013; predictions for 2014

Crystal-ball gazing is a notoriously inexact science, so before getting to that, let's lessen the potential exposure to ridicule by starting with a roundup of the last 12 months' key trends and events in Asia.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Jan 4, 2014

Here's eyeing Japan 2014 — warts an' all

"To know the future, look at the past," is a familiar Buddhist aphorism. However, it's also said that a prophet isn't honored in his hometown — which is why I live in Tokyo. As we ride into the Year of the Horse, I thought I'd canter awhile through times to come and report back on what I found. My...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 4, 2014

How we scored on calling 2013

A year ago, we brought you an analysis of the forces that appeared likely to shape the U.S. economy, for better and worse, in 2013. So, what did we get right and what did we get wrong? And of the things we posed as open questions, what did the answers turn out to be? Here, in the interest of pundit accountability,...
EDITORIALS
Jan 3, 2014

Dubious cure for doctor shortage

The education ministry's recent decision to approve creation of a new medical school at an existing university in Tohoku marks a new development in the government's oscillating policy on the education of doctors.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2014

Century engine starts now

The last two centuries (and possibly more) didn't 'start' with the turning of the calendar from 00 to 01. Each century began bending the arc of history, in essence, in its 14th year.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jan 3, 2014

China denies baby deaths caused by suspect hepatitis B vaccine

China has found that a hepatitis B vaccine produced by a Shenzhen biotechnology company didn't cause the deaths of nine babies who received injections, the national food and drug agency said.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jan 1, 2014

The most viewed culture stories of 2013

Pop culture ruled the roost in popular stories, but also showed its staying power: The most read online story from the JT culture section this year turned out to be a review of a manga drawn by Osamu Tezuka and first published in 1972. Meanwhile, Hayao Miyazaki's final feature at Studio Ghibli generated...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 1, 2014

The most viewed life stories of 2013

From burgers to ballerinas, LINE sending to gender bending, kawaii cute to Nadeshiko adorable, here are the life section stories that caught online readers' eyes in 2013. As a gyaru might say, “Yababa!”
Japan Times
SPORTS
Jan 1, 2014

The most viewed sports stories of 2013

The sports story most read online in the year in which Japan won the bid for the 2020 Olympics should come as no surprise. Baseball fans had plenty to celebrate, and figure-skating followers had no shortage of drama. Let's hope to see some Sochi gold medals in this round-up next year.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 31, 2013

Abe's quest to revive, reshape nation rides on the economy

Just six months ago, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was riding high after his party swept the Upper House election. Now things aren't looking so rosy.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2013

Putin plays games to salvage Sochi Olympics

Ahead of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, President Vladimir Putin is playing his own game of trying to make his autocratic regime more palatable to world leaders wondering whether they should show up at all.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 30, 2013

U.S. Army seeks bigger Pacific role

Approaching from the Hawaii coast, the mosquito-shaped helicopter buzzed around the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie twice before swooping toward the landing pad. The U.S. Navy crew on the deck crouched, the helmeted faces betraying more than routine concern as the aircraft, flown by a pilot who...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 30, 2013

Where the wild things are: the animal social network

Stumpy is a hulking fixture in seas around Ningaloo Reef off the coast of Western Australia. Photographed there often, he has a tranquil, inquisitive demeanor — despite his 10-ton heft.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 30, 2013

Ryan will return to pilot Jets in 2014

The postgame cheer from inside the New York Jets' locker room could be heard in the stadium.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo