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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 23, 2019

Waxing philosophical in English class with 'Thinking Experiments'

If you've ever taught English at a Japanese school, you'll likely be familiar with a certain kind of silence — pervasive and tinged with teenage ennui. Authors Alexander Dutson and James Hill want to recommend breaking the ice with philosophy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jan 23, 2019

What #MeToo? Dealmaking in escort bars thrives in corporate East Asia, including Japan

In Tokyo's Ginza, Seoul's Gangnam and Beijing's Chaoyang financial district, a familiar scene plays out almost every night of the work week. As dusk falls, businessmen flock to karaoke and hostess clubs to close deals and build relationships in the liquor-lubricated intimacy of young women.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2019

Where is the European Union's Brexit policy?

The U.K. has set a new standard for political paralysis — but the EU has little to boast about.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2019

Why California's crusade against receipts is pointless

A proposal to ban the paper slips, like plastic straws, asks little of citizens and will have just as little impact on the environment.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2019

China also built a big, beautiful wall, but it failed

Political infighting and xenophobia doomed the Ming Dynasty's attempts to shore up border security. Sound familiar?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 20, 2019

Be it ever so graying, there's no place like home

On a recent bus trip in Indonesia, I struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me who told me he was Malaysian but living in Australia, which prompted me to admit that I was American but living in Japan. This seemed to pique his interest as he next said, "I am very interested to see how Japan...
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
Jan 17, 2019

Marie Kondo's new TV series cleans up

Marie Kondo is the type of person you wouldn't initially expect lots of people to go crazy over. In the cleaning consultant and best-selling author's new Netflix show, "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo," she simply lays out the basics of her "KonMari" method of organizing homes — guided by the idea of finding...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 17, 2019

How Coretta Scott King brought her husband's message to Japan

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which this year falls on Jan. 21, is a federal holiday that marks the birthday (Jan. 15, 1929) of one of the United States' most-revered civil rights leaders.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2019

Beijing's perilous Taiwan policy

The unfolding geopolitical contest between China and the United States has been described by many as a new cold war. If it ever becomes a hot one, the flash point could be Taiwan, owing in large part to Chinese policy toward the island.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2019

America's cold warriors hold the key to handling China

The West needs a plan for China like it had against the Soviet Union.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2019

India risks becoming a Hindu Pakistan

A new law targeting Muslim migrants threatens India's identity as a land for all creeds.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2019

Brexit: A cultural morphology

How the deep forces of British history, from royalism and classism to nationalism and imperialism, combined to trigger the Brexit moment.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 11, 2019

Japan an underdeveloped country for women

Despite its rich, industrialized economy, Japan has yet to achieve much progress in equality between men and women.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 11, 2019

Ocean temperatures rising faster than thought in 'delayed response' to global warming: scientists

The world's oceans are rising in temperature faster than previously believed as they absorb most of the world's growing climate-changing emissions, scientists said Thursday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 11, 2019

With farms atop malls, Singapore gets serious about food security

Visitors to Singapore's Orchard Road, the city's main shopping belt, will find fancy malls, trendy department stores, abundant food courts — and a small farm.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2019

With strong China focus, VW spearheads $300 billion global drive to make all cars electric

Global automakers are planning a $300 billion surge in spending on electric vehicle technology over the next five to 10 years, with nearly half of the money targeted at China, accelerating the industry's transition away from fossil fuels and shifting power to Asian suppliers of batteries and EV technology....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2019

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, world's richest man, to divorce wife MacKenzie after 25 years

Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, and wife MacKenzie Bezos are divorcing after 25 years of marriage, the couple said in a joint statement on Twitter on Wednesday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 9, 2019

Angry, abusive protests bring Britain's Brexit divide to Parliament's doorstep

Some protesters wrap themselves in the flag of the European Union and noisily interrupt politicians' television appearances. Others yell "Nazi" and "traitor."
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2019

America's pullout from the Middle East is overdue

Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria and reduce forces in Afghanistan has exposed the hollowness of arguments in favor of endless intervention.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jan 6, 2019

Second chance for Japan's manga museum

While official Japan may be slow to act on the appeal of its otaku mavens, the rest of the world appears keen to embrace manga and anime.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 6, 2019

Should we all be having nightcaps?

Where does the term 'nightcap' come from, and what exactly does it mean?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2019

Why people fall for fake news isn't simple

Scientists are weirdly divided over what seems like common sense.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 4, 2019

Researchers say breakthrough in plant engineering could boost productivity and feed millions more people

A new process that adjusts the way plants turn sunlight into energy could boost the yields of many staple crops by 40 percent, potentially feeding hundreds of millions more people, American researchers said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2019

'America First' puts Syria last

The Syria departure may be even more damaging than past U.S. premature declarations of victory because Trump has no idea what he is doing.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 30, 2018

Celebrating New Year's the island way

On the small island where I live in the middle of Japan's Seto Inland Sea, new year celebrations are stalwart traditional. Preparations start a week before when the holiday spirit wafts in on sea breezes tinted with chilling temperatures. The island holds a community rice-pounding event to make kagami...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2018

The year in energy — moving backward

The ugly truth is that the emissions battle will be won or lost (and at present is being lost) thanks to the energy policies of China, India, the U.S. and Russia.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2018

China at the crossroads

Deng's refusal to truly liberalize China has imposed enduring costs on the country, which increasingly bends reality to the illusions that it propagates.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 28, 2018

Invest in education and save the economy

Giving birth to dynamic companies in Japan will require nothing but education that values and nurtures extraordinary individuality.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 28, 2018

From obese to starving, nutrition crisis prompts SOS call for new approach

With billions of people either starving or obese, poor diets have become a leading cause of disease and death, prompting calls for a new approach in 2019 to how food is produced to stem rising rates of malnutrition.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2018

The market swoon isn't all about Donald Trump

It is demonstrating, though, just how poorly he will probably react when faced with real adversity.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji