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LIFE / Digital
Oct 1, 2013

Wearable tech such as Google Glass, Galaxy Gear raises alarms for privacy advocates

Samsung's Galaxy Gear smart watch is set to hit stores this week, part of a new wave of wearable technology that some fear could open a largely unregulated door into users' private lives.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 31, 2013

Media must take a stand against trolls

We live in an age of contention, when any comment can spark righteous indignation. Nominally conservative or progressive viewpoints become meaningless when every response is reactionary. This situation supposedly arose along with the Internet, which provides an unmediated outlet for every voice. Traditional...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2013

A prince's push for workplace equality

Prince William's decision to take two weeks of job-protected, paid statutory paternity leave represents bold support for workplace equality between men and women.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 21, 2013

U.S. set to close another source of cash for Iran

Ever since European seaports closed their gates to Iranian oil tankers last summer, Iran has looked to the East to keep its economy afloat. Countries such as China, India and South Korea — some of them critics of Western sanctions — have offered Iran a lifeline of reliable markets and much-needed...
EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 2012

Facedown over privacy

In and around Tokyo, face-recognition cameras have started to take photos of passersby at various locations. Supermarket chains, shopping malls and vending machines inside JR East stations all have been using face-recognition software to identify the sex and age of individuals who come within line of...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 2, 2012

Michael Woodford: Japan's whistle-blower supreme speaks out

Michael Woodford glances out of the floor-to-ceiling window of his multimillion-pound loft apartment, which looks out across the River Thames toward the City of London, the so-called Square Mile that is among the world's leading financial and commercial centers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2012

BOJ should cede right to set inflation target: Abe adviser

The government should be the entity that sets the nation's inflation target and should hold the Bank of Japan governor accountable if the goal is missed, according to a former aide and economic adviser to opposition leader Shinzo Abe.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 18, 2012

It'll take more than few fine or foreign words to make Australia Asian

Australians have always been uncomfortable with their nation's geography.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2012

The strongest case against Obama's economic policy

The strongest case against the Obama administration's economic policy goes something like this:
COMMENTARY
Jul 28, 2012

Myanmar's budding miracle

More than three months ago, on April 21, amid great fanfare, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda at a Japan-Mekong summit pledged $7.4 billion in development aid to five Southeast Asian nations in an effort to promote cooperation with countries in the Mekong region. The prime minister also said Japan...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2012

Is the World Wide Web about to be 'closed'?

Within the tech community, there is much angst about whether the Web is about to be "closed." Will it be controlled by companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google, or will it remain "open" to all?
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2011

Battle line over the renminbi

Talk of a new "trade war" over the allegedly undervalued Chinese currency is yet again echoing through the corridors of power in Washington. The U.S. Senate seems determined to pass a bill penalizing China for manipulating the renminbi to keep its value artificially low. Beijing has responded by "regretting"...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 16, 2011

BOJ chief sees only bubbles on horizon

With his nation's economy contracting under disaster damage of as much as ¥25 trillion ($310 billion), Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa is signaling that his biggest worry is inflation.
COMMENTARY
Nov 7, 2010

Erosion of Argentina's wealth and work ethic

BUENOS AIRES — Perhaps there is no better observation of the government of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner than the one given by Mario Vargas Llosa, the latest Nobel laureate in literature. Vargas Llosa said Kirchner was leading a corruption-riddled government.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2010

Living life by the numbers

NEW YORK — Recently I learned that I don't have cancer. My doctor called and said, "I have some good news!" Fortunately, we were in the middle of a fire drill in my office at the time, so no one noticed as I blinked back tears of relief.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 4, 2010

Eikaiwa on the ropes after fall of Geos

RICHARD SMART Special to The Japan Times A chain of English conversation schools is closed down. Thousands of employees are left worrying whether they will get paid or keep their jobs. Students are told refunds will not be given on advance payments for lessons. G.communication steps in to pick up the...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2010

Thailand's political and social elite in denial?

BANGKOK — Thailand's political and social fabric is fraying. Indeed, the country's future looks as shaky as it has never been.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 8, 2009

As prospects darken, Japan's voters need that vision thing again

When James Carville, a political consultant to Bill Clinton, coined the phrase "It's the economy, stupid" for the candidate's 1992 presidential campaign, little did he know that he was speaking for the general election in Japan in 2009 as well.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 31, 2009

Car crazy and lovin' the fast lane

Simon Sproule appreciates the benefits of globalization. "The world has globalized so much since I left the U.K. in 1998 that I can get access to British media or Marmite on toast almost anywhere, anytime," he says, referring to the popular yeast extract spread.
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2008

BOJ keeps rate at 0.5% amid 'sluggish' growth

The Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged Wednesday after pumping more than ¥5 trillion into money markets so far this week in the wake of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s collapse.
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2008

About-face on Chinese 'gyoza'

It was learned Aug. 6 that an incident of "gyoza" dumpling poisoning occurred in China in mid-June, involving the same Chinese food maker whose gyoza caused cases of food poisoning in Japan last December and January. Although China informed Japan of the June incident on the night of July 7, the first...
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2008

Remember the black swans

The great global economic establishment is once again divided as to what is going to happen next. Half say we are lurching toward a new bout of world inflation. Half say the danger is deflation and world recession, even depression.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2008

Getting Japan to capitalize on its innovation

BOSTON/TOKYO — As they lament the West's obsession with China and prepare to host the Group of Eight in July, Japanese fear becoming a minor planet in the Chinese orbit. Trouble is, Japan still sees manufacturing as the key to prosperity, despite the fact that it is vulnerable to offshoring.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Mar 2, 2008

Inviting Big Brother along for the ride

In-car camera systems that record accidents have the potential to change our behavior — and curb the rising number of traffic fatalities occurring around the globe as more vehicles pour onto our roads. They also open a debate on the right to personal safety versus the right to privacy; such systems...
Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2008

Booming business rewards offender

Regarding the Feb. 7 article "Akafuku resumes limited sales of sweets": After Akafuku misled consumers about its food products, the same consumers lined up hours, even a day, in advance to buy them. Is rewarding criminals with sold-out shops and media hype an intelligent way to respond to unsafe or mislabeled...
Japan Times
LIFE / CLOSE-UP
Nov 4, 2007

Sue Palmer: The kids are not OK, top educator warns

To a growing legion of educated, enlightened and empowered mothers in Japan and abroad, Sue Palmer's advice on how to bring up children might sound — if not heard in context — too old-fashioned, too alarmist or even maybe too naive to prepare their loved ones for the rapidly changing, fiercely competitive...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 5, 2007

Exposing our tacky selves

Walking through an exhibition of Martin Parr's photography is an emotional experience. The Englishman's works make you laugh, snicker, cringe; they prompt self- and societal reflection; but most of all they make you marvel at the dry wit and superior eye that Parr has for things simultaneously insipid...

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past