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COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Oct 7, 2015

Red flags and exit strategies: advice for English teachers in Japan

It's important for new instructors in Japan to know when they are being exploited, and, if so, how to improve their lot or extricate themselves from the situation as painlessly as possible.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 3, 2015

Japan's elderly can't live off happy memories

Around the first week in December, lifelong-learning company U-Can sponsors an event that designates the top buzzwords of the year. Almost certain to be in the running for first place this year is "karyū rōjin" (low-class elderly people), a term that has been spreading like wildfire since summer.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 2, 2015

Lobby group urges Japan to join peers by accepting more Syrian refugees

A group focused on the interests of refugees in Japan urges the government to take in more asylum seekers from Syria to avoid looking bad on the international stage.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 26, 2015

Nation's youth are attempting to establish a new political norm

"Tell me what democracy looks like!"
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2015

Residents of Russian-held isles disputed by Japan await diplomatic resolution

Russian residents of an island chain at the center of a dispute that has held up a Japanese-Russian treaty to formally end World War II hope a diplomatic solution will lure tourists and investment to help refurbish rickety infrastructure.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Sep 23, 2015

Neither here nor there: the families torn between Nigeria and Japan

Caught between instability in Nigeria and isolation in Japan, African immigrants fear the loss of their children's love.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2015

Vilifying China a bad campaign tactic

The more heated the anti-China rhetoric is in the U.S. presidential campaign, the more likely Beijing is to respond in kind.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2015

Thousands gather outside Diet in heavy rain for last chance to protest security bills

Thursday's heavy rain failed to douse the rage of thousands of demonstrators who gathered in front of the Diet building in Tokyo to protest the controversial security legislation that is expected to pass by week's end.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 16, 2015

Japan waits to see whether new Australian leader will rock the boat on defense

Japan watches anxiously after one of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's closest Asia-Pacific allies in ousted in a party leadership vote.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2015

Student protests continue quest to block security bills

Student protesters continued to cry foul over what they call "unconstitutional" security legislation Wednesday in a last-minute effort before the bills' expected Diet passage later this week.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 15, 2015

Security bills won't allow for Hormuz minesweeping, Abe says

The administration does not view minesweeping operations in the Strait of Hormuz as one of the possible actions that the Self-Defense Forces would carry out if the national security bills are enacted, according to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 9, 2015

Hungary's Orban plays for high stakes with tough stance on migrants

Hungary's fiery Prime Minister Viktor Orban has always relished a fight, be it with foreign bankers, international lenders or the European Union over policy toward Russia.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Sep 7, 2015

Rich gulf Arab nations' refugee response questioned

When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, fellow Persian Gulf states raced to shelter thousands of displaced Kuwaitis. Fast forward 25 years, and the homeless from nearby Syria's war have found scant refuge in the Arab world's richest states.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2015

Trump makes a lot of sense on foreign policy

Donald Trump may be the most sensible Republican in the race, at least on foreign policy.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 31, 2015

No exit in sight from Futenma quagmire, where local resentment is deep

In early August, it appeared Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga might use his authority to cancel permission for the central government's landfill work on a U.S. facility in Henoko, where personnel from the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma are supposed to be relocated.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 26, 2015

Osaka governor demands Ishin no To secretary-general resign as party division intensifies

Ishin no To (Japan Innovation Party), the second largest opposition party, is on the brink of disintegration once again as a confrontation between its Osaka-based and Tokyo-based members intensified Wednesday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2015

The value of China's devaluation

China's currency devaluation has advanced its strategic goal of turning the RMB into an international reserve currency — and, in the long term, into a credible global challenger to the U.S. dollar.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Aug 22, 2015

Surviving the postwar Soviet detention camps

Japan's surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, marked the end of the most devastating global conflict in history.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 22, 2015

Abe catches heat from the weeklies in the dog days of summer

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces such a constant stream of stumbles and irritants, it's hard to identify which of them is causing his biggest headache.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 22, 2015

The same old story on rural depopulation

A story that is constantly upbeat quickly becomes tiring. Conflict and resolution are necessary to maintain interest, and while happy endings are still more popular than depressing ones, characters should go through some sort of emotional turmoil before arriving at them.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / 70 YEARS AFTER THE WAR'S END
Aug 14, 2015

Abe's nationalism reflected in conservative political movement, but polls show voter dissent

The hot political season is back as the nation observes Aug. 15, which is always an emotional date as it marks Japan's surrender in World War II — and this year is the 70th anniversary of that fateful event.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2015

Heed Pope Francis' call to protect the Amazon

When world leaders meet at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris later this year to craft a response to the challenges of global warming, they should put in place policies to protect tropical forests and the people who make them their home.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 10, 2015

Japan's military that isn't: a short primer in self-defense doublespeak

Article 9 of Japan's Constitution, which renounces war, has been interpreted as permitting the maintenance and use of military force for self-defense, but this has led to some interesting linguistic gymnastics.
JAPAN / History
Aug 8, 2015

Truth hurts: censorship in the media

"Truth, it has been said, is the first casualty of war." — Philip Snowden, July 1916
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 28, 2015

Erdogan seen taking big gamble fighting Islamic State and restive Kurds in Iraq

Forced into battle against Islamic State as it presses on Turkey's borders, President Tayyip Erdogan is seizing the chance to keep another foe in check, bombing Kurdish militants he sees as a threat to the integrity of the Turkish state.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 21, 2015

Heads roll at Toshiba as scandal claims top brass

President Hisao Tanaka resigns over the accounting scandal that saw the firm allegedly pad its profits over the past seven years.
Reader Mail
Jul 16, 2015

Thailand doing all it can for refugees

I deeply regret that the column "Rohingya Refugee crisis shames Southeast Asia" by Pavin Chachavalpongpun in the May 22 edition does very little to contribute to putting the issue in its proper perspective.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Jul 13, 2015

Backlash spreads as supporters of Confederate flag rise up to defend embattled symbol

An eight-mile convoy of pickups, motorcycles and cars wound through a central Florida town on Sunday in a show of support for the Confederate flag, as a backlash against its banishment from public landmarks across the South picks up steam.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan