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COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2013

Exercising society's right to ignore the ignorant

Regardless of their reasoning, people have a right to choose ignorance. But letting that choice drive public policy constitutes a serious threat to scientific and economic development.
WORLD
Aug 19, 2013

Efforts to close 'Second Guantanamo' in Afghanistan prove problematic

Of all the challenges the U.S. faces as it winds down the Afghanistan war, the most difficult might be closing the prison nicknamed "The Second Guantanamo."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 3, 2013

Toyohiro Akiyama: Cautionary tales from one not afraid to risk all

In December 1990, journalist Toyohiro Akiyama made headlines the world over when he blasted off aboard a Soviet rocket to become the very first "space correspondent" in history.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 26, 2013

U.S. Justice to take on state laws over voting

The U.S. Justice Department is preparing to take fresh legal action in a string of voting rights cases across the nation, part of a new attempt to blunt the impact of a Supreme Court ruling that the Obama administration has warned will imperil minority representation.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 20, 2013

Abe-power: Can premier deliver on promises and growth strategy?

Once the dust settles tonight, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party/New Komeito coalition will be in control of both houses of the Diet, promising an end to political gridlock.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2013

Institutional incapacity weighs down recovery

What's holding back economic growth worldwide? Details vary from place to place, but a leading reason is a kind of self-willed institutional incapacity.
EDITORIALS
Jul 12, 2013

China and Russia practicing again

Japan should take China and Russia at their word when they say Tokyo should not be concerned by their joint large-scale naval exercise in the Japan Sea this week.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2013

America's dirty war at home

Not only have the counterinsurgency wars of the past decade failed, but their methods and hardware have ended up being used against Americans and Britons at home.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2013

Preparing for cyberwarfare

Washington expects cyberspace missions to become a dominant factor in military operations. But what will the rules of engagement be in the lawless, digital frontier
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2013

John Kerry's bid for Mideast peace

The U.S. goal of getting Israel's prime minister and the Palestinian Authority president together for direct talks about the most divisive issues is noble but quite futile.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Jul 2, 2013

Boehner 'soft' approach boon, bane

When someone crosses John Boehner, he or she can expect a couple of reactions from the House speaker. Sometimes it is a thwack on the back and a disapproving shake of his head, quickly followed by a begrudging smile to indicate that all is forgiven. Sometimes it is a fake yell and then a shrug. One recalcitrant...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 25, 2013

Unpaid overtime excesses hit young

Some companies are compelling their younger employees to work more than 100 hours of uncompensated overtime a month to maximize their profits.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jun 24, 2013

In Tokyo, all garbage is not created equal

Charging for garbage collection forces the issue of environmental awareness.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2013

Iran's presidential election augurs better future

Hassan Rowhani's election as Iran's new president augurs well for that country and for a world tired of the senseless rhetoric from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jun 18, 2013

Finnish diplomat pushes child-rearing for dads

For Finnish diplomat Mikko Koivumaa, being an ikumen (men who take an active role in ikuji, or child rearing) comes naturally.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 17, 2013

After Newtown shooting, mourning parents enter into the lonely quiet

They had promised to try everything, so Mark Barden went down into the basement to begin another project in memory of Daniel. The families of Sandy Hook Elementary were collaborating on a Mother's Day card, which would be produced by a marketing firm and mailed to hundreds of politicians across the country....
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2013

Reconstruction official canned, blasted for tweets

Disaster victims and Diet lawmakers vented their outrage Friday over disparaging comments by a senior Reconstruction Agency official via his Twitter account that got him the sack.
EDITORIALS
Jun 15, 2013

Getting U.S.-China relations right

The U.S.-Chinese summit boiled down to Beijing seeking respect as a great power and Washington wanting Beijing to take more 'responsibility' as a great power.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2013

Egypt threatens to beat war drums for the Nile

The Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will serve as the first real test of Egypt's tolerance for upstream dam-building on the Nile.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2013

China's troubling core interests

This week Chinese President Xi Jinping appears set to offer his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, an alluring deal for closer economic cooperation.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 5, 2013

Naming Lautenberg's successor puts GOP's Christie in bind

In a state where political blood feuds have been a proud tradition, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat, went to extremes trying to live up to the legend: They hated each other and made it known.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 4, 2013

'Okinawa bacteria' toxic legacy crosses continents, spans generations

Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City houses one of Vietnam's busiest maternity clinics, but hidden in a quiet corner, far from the wards of proud new mothers, is a room stacked floor to ceiling with every parent's nightmare.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 30, 2013

What Bachmann meant to politics

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's surprise retirement announcement likely brings an end to an Icarus-like political career in which she rapidly rose to national prominence before falling hard.
Reader Mail
May 30, 2013

Nature will be last to weigh in

Regarding Kevin Rafferty's May 21 article, "Weep for poor Earth itself": Why weep for poor Earth? It's a planet with a 4-billion-year history despite what evangelical rightwing Christians would have us believe. Earth has weathered far worse than anything a naked, bipedal primate, known as homo sapiens,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 28, 2013

281_Anti Nuke's anger at authority is at a critical mass

More than two years after the triple reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, hundreds of thousands of residents of the Tohoku region of northeastern Honshu remain displaced, the power station teeters on the brink of further disaster and large swaths of northern Japan are so irradiated...

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell