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Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 1, 2014

Attitudes about money continue to affect marriage prospects

Unmarried men still don't expect their future spouses to contribute much financially to a household.
Reader Mail
Nov 22, 2014

Also ask voters about Article 9

When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said recently announced his decision to hold a snap election next month. He said, "We do need to ask Japanese citizens about the tax raise from 8 percent to 10 percent." His words seem to be very democratic but why not ask Japanese nationals about the change of Article...
Reader Mail
Nov 19, 2014

Teach more about the Ainu

Why hasn't LDP Hokkaido prefectural assembly group member Masaru Onodera been asked to resign? The Ainu are among the most indigenous of people to ever dwell in the archipelago now called Japan since the Jomon era. It's believed by many cultural anthropologists that the Ainu have lived in northern Japan...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2014

Republican rethink about U.S. foreign policy

U.S. military misadventures are leading Republicans to think afresh about the world and American foreign policy.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 13, 2014

MOS Burger employee posts hateful message about Chinese former co-worker outside restaurant

Fast-food giant MOS Burger has come under fire after a Japanese employee wrote a hateful message about a former Chinese co-worker on a chalk-board sign outside one of the company's Tokyo restaurants.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Nov 1, 2014

What's 'weasely' about wonderful weasels?

One of the mammals we're most likely to see in our Afan woods up here in Kurohime in the Nagano Prefecture hills is the Japanese weasel (Mustela itatsi). These wonderful little animals, known as itachi in Japanese, are master hunters that can run, climb trees, swim and dive and take down birds or other...
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Nov 1, 2014

The uncomfortable truth about 'comfort women'

Question: How did you view those people (that you infected with bubonic plague and dissected while still alive)? Didn't you have any feelings of pity?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 29, 2014

High drama at Festival/Tokyo

News in March that 38-year-old Chiaki Soma had suddenly been removed from the post of program director of Festival/Tokyo, which she had held since it started in 2009, set many theater lovers worrying about the future of the flagship drama event whose stature at home and abroad had only grown with her...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 29, 2014

Town hall meetings: Abandon logic, all ye who enter here

The first thing you want to do when you get to the meeting room, whether it be summer or winter, is open all the windows. This is because you'll have to throw all logic out the window. Open as many as possible, 'cause there's a lot of logic to heave.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2014

Tom at the Farm: 'a horror story about surviving the aftermath of a lover's death'

Is Xavier Dolan a genius? Maybe so. The Quebecois actor/filmmaker — with a beautiful, impish face and brooding eyes — is only 25 and has already made six films and appeared in 17. With his model looks and quirky sense of aesthetics, Dolan could switch careers to become a designer for Gucci any time...
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2014

GPIF to boost share allocation to about 25%, Nikkei reports

Japan's $1.2 trillion retirement fund will increase its allocation target for shares to about 25 percent from 12 percent, the Nikkei newspaper reported without attribution.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 18, 2014

Hideaki Anno: emotional deconstructionist

With dozens of the renowned filmmaker's works scheduled to be screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival over the next two weeks, we speak to the man behind the 'Evangelion' sci-fi franchise about his apocalyptic influences and prod him on the question that is on every fan's lips
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 10, 2014

Making noise about keeping the decibels down

Yoshimichi Nakajima was waiting for the train one day at his local station in Tokyo when he politely asked the station attendant to lower the volume on his microphone. He was told that would be "difficult," so Nakajima lent a hand by grabbing the mic and throwing it onto the track. He then recounted...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 8, 2014

Let's be 'Frank' about mental illness and music

Imagine a band where the singer is so painfully shy and awkward that he must wear a giant papier-mache puppet head — not only on stage, but pretty much all the time. That's the premise of "Frank," starring Michael Fassbender under the mask; a story loosely based on the beyond-cult indie musician Frank...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 4, 2014

U.S. defends response to Ebola case; about 50 people under observation

U.S. officials Friday broadly defended the response to the country's first case of Ebola, although one acknowledged that while the government is confident of containing the virus, it had been "rocky" in Dallas where the patient is in serious condition.
Reader Mail
Oct 1, 2014

What's Abe been crowing about?

Regarding the Sept. 25 article "20% of college dropouts cite financial difficulties as reason": It's a sad state of affairs when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has fun globe-trotting and lauding himself over what he claims are his great economic achievements while the reality at home becomes more desperate....
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2014

Volcanic eruption fires concern about Kagoshima reactor restarts

Saturday's eruption of Mount Ontake is likely to set back plans to restart nuclear reactors in Kagoshima Prefecture and possibly elsewhere, as local officials and residents start debating how safe the plants would be in the event of a nearby volcanic eruption.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 27, 2014

Read up on books about books about Japan

Revving up the metabolism of culture with the pulse of new artistic voices, a good literary journal doesn't usually have much to do with profit — it's all about circulation. Japanese literary journals enjoy a healthy transmission here, thanks to the financial backing of big publishing firms. How do...
Reader Mail
Sep 27, 2014

A feat Indians can cheer about

Regarding the Sept. 24 AP article "India joins elite club by putting spacecraft into Martian orbit": As an Indian, I'm very proud of this moment.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 16, 2014

Diverse compilation delivers a serious message about nuclear power

Various artists "Atomic Bomb Compilation Vol. 2" (Self-released)
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 11, 2014

Canberra buries its nuclear angst about Delhi

Australia and India bury a number of past differences by signing the long-awaited agreement on civil nuclear cooperation. It will entitle India to buy uranium from Australia.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2014

Stupid advice for women worried about rape

Anyone who doubts that politically correct online activitists are out to lunch need only read up on their reaction to a nail polish that allows women to discreetly discover whether their drink has been spiked by one of several common 'date rape' drugs.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2014

Why the shale revolution is not about to end

Doubts about the sustainability of the North American oil and gas boom center on rapidly declining output from many shale wells after they are drilled.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Q&A
Aug 29, 2014

How much do you know about dengue fever?

The health ministry has confirmed the first domestic dengue fever case in Japan in nearly 70 years. A Saitama Prefecture teen girl was found Wednesday to have contracted the virus through a mosquito in Japan, followed by news that two more people — a man and a woman in Tokyo — have also been infected....

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?