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EDITORIALS
Aug 9, 2012

Diplomacy dead in Damascus

Mr. Kofi Annan, the distinguished diplomat, has resigned as peace envoy to Syria. Upon leaving, he issued a blistering broadside that blamed divisions among the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council as much as the combatants in that troubled country for the sad state of affairs....
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 6, 2012

Gyurta offers gold-medal tribute to Dale Oen

Norwegian swimmer Alexander Dale Oen's death in late April brought forth an outpouring of emotional responses to the late breaststroker and 2011 100-meter world champion.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2012

Media at the crossroads of profits and politics

On July 24, seven key News International personnel in the United Kingdom and one contracted private investigator were charged with 19 counts of conspiracy to hack mobile phone voice mails between 2000 and 2006. At long last, the allegations will be tested in court.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Jul 31, 2012

Latynina watching Phelps' achievements with interest

For 48 years, former gymnast Larisa Latynina has held the record for most Olympic medals (18). And now that swimmer Michael Phelps is closing in on her record — he helped the United States nab the silver in Sunday's 4x100-meter freestyle relay, an upset loss to France, by the way, for medal No. 17...
OLYMPICS
Jul 23, 2012

Costas' criticism sparks discussion over tributes

Should the International Olympic Committee permit individuals or groups to make political statements during the Olympics?
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 17, 2012

Urbanites urged to head up, not down, to survive tsunami

Sitting across from me at a Naka-Meguro pizzeria, Riccardo Tossani pulled out his iPhone to check his Spyglass app. He glanced out the window to survey the adjacent taller buildings, ignoring the cherry blossoms that were in full bloom.
Reader Mail
Jul 1, 2012

Past nuclear lessons not heeded

Regarding The Washington Post article appearing on the front page of The Japan Times on June 27 titled "Nuclear redress will never approximate losses": Media such as The Washington Post and even The New York Times are finally acknowledging that nuclear energy itself was not the cause of the angst and...
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2012

A success story with or without 'Tiger Moms'

High up in the category of news that's too familiar to be newsworthy is the latest poll that finds Asians to be the most-educated and highest-earning population in the United States.
BASKETBALL
Jun 24, 2012

Chiba to quit bj-league

The Chiba Jets, coming off a mediocre 18-34 inaugural season, are jumping ship to the JBL's re-branded top league for the 2013-14 campaign.
EDITORIALS
Jun 22, 2012

Heed sentiment on Osprey

The government is trying to persuade local governments concerned in Okinawa and Honshu to accept a U.S. plan to station 24 MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to replace the same number of CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters stationed there....
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2012

Sake makes a comeback

Japanese traditional sake had a resurgence in 2011, with drinkers consuming more than in 2010. After hitting a peak in the mid-1970s, consumption gradually fell to a third. Last year, though, saw a return of enthusiasm for sake as a way of supporting Tohoku, a region with three major sake-producing prefectures:...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 3, 2012

Koki Mitani: Japan's Mr. Comedy

Koki Mitani is far and away the nation's best-known dramatist. Although theater is quite a niche medium here, most people in Japan — whether male or female, young or not so young, Japanese or not — recognize his face, even if they couldn't name many of his works. Recently, indeed, I was amazed when...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 22, 2012

Once one and only, Sony seeks to regain that status

Despite reporting a record ¥457 billion annual loss last year, Sony Corp. earlier this month said it would return to the black in fiscal 2012 with a ¥30 billion profit.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 6, 2012

Weeklies take a look at faiths, (misplaced) hopes and charities

Which religious groups were most successful in raising funds for earthquake victims in the devastated parts of Tohoku? In its Golden Week double issue, Flash (May 8-15) ran an article about the heretofore unreported nexus between last year's disaster and religion. The most generous donor by far, which...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
May 3, 2012

Bus driver salaries inversely proportional to risk involved

Cheaper bus fares means higher stress factor for drivers
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Apr 3, 2012

'Silver democracy' could undermine Tohoku's reconstruction

Dear Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda,
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 3, 2012

Keene should engage brain before fueling 'flyjin,' foreign crime myths

Congratulations to Donald Keene, who was granted Japanese citizenship last month with great media fanfare. At 89 years young and after a lifetime contributing to world scholarship on Japan, he truly deserves it.
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2012

Nuclear safety studies torpedoed

Of all the shocking revelations over the past year about nuclear power plants in Japan, the recent revelation that the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency canceled safety studies in 2006 is one of the most exasperating. The agency responsible for nuclear safety should have expanded the studies,...
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2012

Nation marks first anniversary of disasters

Japan on Sunday marked a year since the massive earthquake and tsunami rocked Tohoku and its Pacific coastline on March 11, 2011, leaving nearly 20,000 people confirmed dead or missing.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 11, 2012

The power of bad news

Weekly Playboy magazine discerns among young people a rising interest in Buddhism. This is surprising, given Japan's well-known "religion allergy" — or not, given that troubled times often inspire spiritual quests.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2012

Revenge of the Japanese mandarins

Ever since the huge earthquake that hit Japan's Tohoku-Pacific coast on March 11, 2011, the country's mass media have obsessively focused on the magnitude of the physical damage and the loss of life. Repeated broadcasts of traumatic video images of the great tsunami and the damaged reactors at the Fukushima...
COMMENTARY
Mar 6, 2012

Hamas' perilous maneuvers

Despite all of Hamas' assurances to the contrary, a defining struggle is taking place within the Palestinian Islamic movement. The outcome of this struggle — which is still confined to polite political disagreements and occasional intellectual tussle — is likely to change Hamas' outlook, if not fundamentally...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2012

Transcripts sketch out NRC's 3/11 confusion

Transcripts of phone conversations immediately after the March disasters, released Tuesday by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, reveal the early sense of urgency and confusion about the crisis unfolding at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2012

A 'stewpid' time to raise VAT

The International Monetary Fund has joined Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and leading politicians and bureaucrats in laying down a remorseless softening up barrage of facts, figures, argument and just plain determination that the country's consumption tax should rise as quickly as possible.
EDITORIALS
Feb 22, 2012

Joining the Hague convention

The Legislative Council of the Justice Ministry earlier this month submitted an outline of domestic bills related to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction to Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa. The government plans to submit a bill to approve Japan's joining the convention...

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