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COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2014

When will Netanyahu nail himself to the cross?

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is not wrong to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will, sooner or later, have to stop nailing himself to small crosses (prisoner releases, minor settlement compromises) and move to the big cross: endangering his right-wing coalition to advance to final-status negotiations with the Palestinians.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 27, 2014

Abe ready for full-on military drive

With the launch next Monday of a special intraparty panel directly under his lead, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party are ready to kick off their full-fledged drive to reinterpret the Constitution to allow Japan to help defend its allies.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Mar 10, 2014

Mathieson ready for action after refreshing offseason

If there was one thing Scott Mathieson enjoyed about the offseason, it was the family time.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2014

Flexible exchange rates offset tapering effects

Since most major economies operate under a flexible exchange-rate regime, financial market concerns about capital flight from developing countries as the U.S. Fed exits its quantitative easing policy are largely unwarranted.
WORLD
Mar 6, 2014

Ukraine may lead to entente between Russia, China

China's reaction to events in Ukraine will probably prove more important in the long run than the responses of the United States and the EU.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 1, 2014

Visit Japan's ancient past in urban Kyushu

Back in the late 1970s, the city planners of Karatsu, a fishing community on the northern coast of Kyushu, decided to build a new road. This provided a rare opportunity for local archaeologists. Seizing the chance to burrow with abandon in the densely developed region, they established a dig and began...
SOCCER / J. League / 2014 J. LEAGUE PREVIEW
Feb 27, 2014

Gamba looking for payback

The following is the first of a two-part preview for the upcoming J. League season. Team-by-team previews of the nine lowest-ranked teams competing in the first division are listed.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / ICE TIME
Feb 16, 2014

Canada's Chan dignified in defeat

Canada's Patrick Chan held a press conference on Saturday, the day after settling for the silver medal behind Yuzuru Hanyu.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 16, 2014

Svante Paabo, prehistoric sleuth

Leipzig's Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology is a striking edifice.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 10, 2014

Mutual fears of China, Japan

China and Japan are perceiving more and more threats from each other, and their overactive responses are causing strong sense of insecurity for the region. The vicious circle is driving an escalating arms race.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Feb 5, 2014

U.S. and Japanese apologies for war crimes could pave way for nuclear disarmament

Acknowledging responsibility for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan's rampage across Asia could serve as first steps toward a world free of nuclear weapons.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2014

Momii's rise tests NHK's reputation

For millions of Japanese, and even Japan-watchers abroad, NHK is a trusted source of information: gray in tone perhaps, but neither black nor white on the issues. This assumption has been put to the test by new NHK Chairman Katsuto Momii, whose recent remarks have led many to wonder whether the public...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 31, 2014

Japan's cops: keeping the nation safe, in their Keystone kind of way

Most Japanese have a good cop/bad cop view of their law-enforcement services. They see a sinister side — one of smoky back rooms, coerced confessions and trumped-up charges — and they see a soft side: those helpful cops-in-the-box dotted throughout the land.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 22, 2014

The Onodera enigma

The name of the late great Pina Bausch's acclaimed Tanztheater in the German city of Wuppertal may translate as "Dancetheater," but its works often owe more to abstract emotional action and snatched dialogue than to dance. Over in London, meanwhile, Simon McBurney's Complicite company has long been at...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 21, 2014

Kobe's tofubeats moves from blogs to the big time

Like many kids growing up in the 1990s, Yusuke Kawai's initial brush with the World Wide Web happened in elementary school.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GERMAN JOURNALIST SYMPOSIUM
Jan 3, 2014

Germany's role in EU divides bloc

Does Germany hurt or help Europe?
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 2, 2014

Google's drive into robotics should concern us all

Over the past year, Google has bought eight robotics companies. Its most recent acquisition is an outfit called Boston Dynamics, which makes the nearest thing to a mechanical mule that you are ever likely to see. It's called Big Dog and it walks, runs, climbs and carries heavy loads. It's the size of...
MORE SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Dec 31, 2013

NFL playoffs could produce another surprise champion

Just make the tourney, baby!
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Dec 24, 2013

Familiar obstacles stymie change in domestic music industry

While the Japanese music industry ended last year on a promise of change, 2013 has highlighted a few of the ingrained practices that are going to be a little bit more difficult to dislodge.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2013

Is a U.K. breakup in sight?

The white paper that the Scottish government has produced in favor of independence is long on aspirations and short on detailed responses to the problems that an independent Scotland would face.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2013

Five myths about helping out the Philippines

Among common misconceptions about assistance to victims of communities shattered by storms or earthquakes are that locals wait for the international community to come save them and that goods and services are 'free' donations.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 9, 2013

Otaku culture gets under the skin

Tattoos in Japan have long moved on from the kind often romanticized by the West — that imagery of flamboyant yakuza that so many seem reluctant to relinquish. But a brief glance at the policies of Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto reveals a nation still unwilling to allow tattoos into mainstream society...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 7, 2013

Fabled strand of 500 pines

Beautiful beaches, we've all seen our share, right? But a beautiful beach that's also historic and sacred? That sounds worth driving out of our way for — especially as the way takes us over a span I've long yearned to traverse: the Ondo Bridge, a delightful crimson structure over the Ondo Strait, a...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 7, 2013

Pearl Harbor: The Day of Infamy that won't go away

Dec. 8 (Japan time) is the 72nd anniversary of Pearl Harbor, the infamous attack launched by Imperial Japanese forces against the United States that continues to reverberate in the popular imagination.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2013

Silent cinema takes a Grimm turn in 'Blancanieves'

A wise man once told me that however original and unique you may think your great new idea is, you'd better act on it quickly, because somewhere in the world someone else is having the exact same idea at the exact same time.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 5, 2013

NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show

The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals — and map their relationships —...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 4, 2013

A modern view of a neglected Impressionist

The French painter Gustave Caillebotte has suffered more than most from the fact that he wasn't Monet, Manet, or Renoir. As one of the second-ranking Impressionists, he has long been in the shadow of these more famous names with which his career is associated.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 18, 2013

It's a dog's life, but architects can find ways to improve it

What would our cities look like if they had been built with a different scale in mind? What if we considered building structures for creatures other than humans? "Architecture for Dogs" explores that idea with an exhibition of 13 architectural works made for specific canine breeds. After debuting at...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami