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JAPAN / Politics
Nov 29, 2013

Inose apologizes to cantankerous assembly

Embattled Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose apologized Friday for "causing concerns and troubles" among Tokyo citizens over a money scandal but refused to step down.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2013

'Captain Phillips'

You're probably familiar with the news story that forms the basis of Hollywood's latest torn-from-the-headlines thriller, "Captain Phillips": A merchant marine ship is boarded by Somali pirates, the captain is taken hostage, and the U.S. Navy attempts a rescue with a crack-shot team of Navy SEALs. Like...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2013

'Moratorium Tamako (Tamako in Moratorium)'

Japanese college students may be the nation's leisure class, known more for their partying and playing than studying, but their seemingly carefree minds are often clouded by worries about a post-graduation job. Even serious students — yes, they do exist — have to sweat through arduous and frustrating...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / FOOD MATTERS
Nov 28, 2013

Quality rises above the menu scandals

Since the first Tokyo Michelin guide was published in autumn of 2007, the unveiling of each new edition has become one of the major events of the gastronomic calendar. Despite the initial indignation that a foreign tire company could dare to judge Japanese restaurants, the local media have embraced the...
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Nov 28, 2013

The boys are back in town to sing for Japan

When the boys' choir Boni Pueri last toured in Japan in late 2010, the group made a stop at Tagajo in Miyagi Prefecture, merely months before the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami destroyed a large part of the city. Upon hearing the news at their home in the Czech Republic, the group quickly organized...
EDITORIALS
Nov 27, 2013

JR Hokkaido in crisis

Drastic measures will be inevitable to resolve the deep crisis at JR Hokkaido, including the resignation of current executives and the introduction of completely new management.
Reader Mail
Nov 27, 2013

Germans back legal prostitution

Regarding the Nov. 23 article, "Germany is having second thoughts on legalized prostitution": I'm a German researcher and I was a co-organizer of the protest against Alice Schwarzer's recent event in Berlin.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 27, 2013

Suspicious of NSA spying, Microsoft eyes encryption

Microsoft is moving toward a major new effort to encrypt its Internet traffic amid fears that the National Security Agency may have broken into its global communications links, people familiar with the emerging plans said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2013

Quotas for bluefin catches left unchanged

Members of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas heeded calls by environmental groups and left bluefin tuna catch quotas in the Atlantic unchanged, while rejecting proposals to impose the first quotas for some shark species.
Reference / Q&A
Nov 25, 2013

ADIZs common but China's is worrisome

China's announcement Saturday of its establishment of an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea that includes the Japan-controlled Senkaku islets has worsened already tense bilateral ties.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2013

U.S. pushing new trade treaties at expense of national sovereignty

New trade treaties being pushed by the United States undermine national sovereignty.
WORLD
Nov 25, 2013

Iran deal could complicate U.S. foreign policy efforts in Mideast

As it continues to juggle balls through seemingly never-ending foreign policy crises, the Obama administration finally has brought one safely to ground, at least temporarily.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 25, 2013

Israel, Gulf states and many U.S. lawmakers share deep unease about Iran nuclear deal

The signing of a short-term nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers Sunday left ardent critics of the Islamic republic — most vocally the Israeli government and many U.S. lawmakers — deeply worried that the Obama administration and its partners were making a historic mistake.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / FOCUS
Nov 24, 2013

Chinese families still at officials' mercy despite one child policy easing

When 36-year-old Lois heard the news that China was relaxing its one child policy, she was delighted and relieved.
Reader Mail
Nov 23, 2013

Memory of JFK's death still painful

Regarding Mark Schreiber's Nov. 17 article: I was 18, two years older than Schreiber, when I heard the news. The memory is painful beyond all politics. This is one of Schreiber's best articles — and the competition is stiff.
WORLD
Nov 23, 2013

Japan's yakuza woes return to the silver screen

Hollywood has long fetishized Japanese gangsters, with their full-body tattoos, missing pinkies and harems of buxom groupies. Ever since Sydney Pollack's "The Yakuza" in 1974, the colorful mafiosi have provided regular fodder for directors including Ridley Scott and Quentin Tarantino.
WORLD
Nov 23, 2013

U.S. health care enrollment surges

After anemic enrollment in the new health insurance marketplaces in October, states have started to see a much faster pace of sign-ups in November, prompting health policy researchers to announce a "November surge."
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 23, 2013

Dealey Plaza: birthplace of a mystery that still reverberates

Dealey Plaza is a depression. It is a shallow basin on the western edge of downtown, framed by concrete structures called pergolas and peristyles that were built in the late 1930s by the Works Progress Administration. Designed as a gateway to the city, the plaza is more of an ode to the automobile because...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 23, 2013

Drama celebrates real-life hospital saving abandoned babies; an Olympic thriller; CM of the week: au

It's been six years since a hospital in Kumamoto Prefecture installed its "baby hatch," a compartment where women could anonymously abandon babies with no questions asked. So far 92 infants have been placed in the compartment, which continues to be controversial.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 22, 2013

Parliamentary democracy without a viable opposition

The lack of a viable opposition party is causing a serious crisis of democracy in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2013

Ending China's one-child policy: too little, too late?

China's population is going to drop even with the relaxation of its one-child policy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 22, 2013

Sharp seeks exit from Foxconn cellphone venture

Sharp Corp. is considering ending a contract with Foxconn Technology Group under which the Taiwanese manufacturer makes Sharp-branded phones for sale in China, according to a source.

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