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JAPAN / Politics / LOCAL POLLS '15
Apr 10, 2015

Voters in Saga face small candidate field, big issues

Saga is stuck with a paucity of candidates in the unified elections this month even as issues with both national and local implications stalk the ballot.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2015

How India can support the CTBT before signing

India's continued refusal to engaine in the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty leads many to wonder if New Delhi is keeping open the option of resuming testing.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 1, 2015

Battle over Shibuya park heats up as Tokyo Olympics loom

Mayor vows to appeal after the district court sides with his opponents over the treatment of Miyashita Park's homeless and a deal to grant Nike naming rights.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Apr 1, 2015

Do Western men have it bad in Japan?: views from the Fuji Five Lakes

Do interviewees agree with the controversial premise of Olga Garnova's recent Foreign Agenda column, 'Spare a thought for the Western men trapped in Japan'?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2015

Sustainable development goals

Evidence from the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000 demonstrates that setting global U.N. goals does help individuals, organizations and governments worldwide to focus on what really matters for our future.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2015

Singapore's iron patriarch

Lee Kuan Yew cut his teeth on politics, but his ruthlessness in ensuring the dominance of his People's Action Party removed political contenders who might one day take over. It's the age-old problem when a great philosopher-king departs.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 30, 2015

Singaporeans bid final farewell to founding father Lee

Tens of thousands of people braved heavy rain and lined the streets of Singapore on Sunday to catch a last glimpse of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew as his funeral procession wound through the country he helped build.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2015

Forgotten Balkans look set to plague the 21st century

Twenty years after 1945, Germany was at peace with its neighbors and had normal diplomatic relations with the countries it once occupied. Nearly 20 years since the massacre at Srebenica, no final settlement is in sight for the Balkan region from Croatia to Greece.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 27, 2015

Abe, Portugal's Passos Coelho agree to bolster business ties

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told visiting Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho on Friday that shoring up ties with a country that plays central role in Portuguese-speaking nations around the world is in line with what he calls "diplomacy that takes a panoramic perspective of the world map."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 25, 2015

An unrelenting depiction of Polish-Romany poet Bronislawa Wajs' merciless world

"Papusza" is a fascinating if bleak portrait of Polish-Romany poet Bronislawa Wajs, better known by her Roma — or Gypsy — name Papusza ("doll"). It's a decidedly unromantic look at Roma life, covering the 1940s and '50s, which saw two-thirds of Poland's Roma community massacred by the Nazis and the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 25, 2015

A stable Afghanistan crucial to region: Pakistan diplomat

Visiting Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry stressed Wednesday that stability in neighboring Afghanistan is critical to peace in South Asia and called on the international community for continuous economic commitment to the war-torn country.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Mar 25, 2015

Japan sees progress on sexual harassment, but some still don't get it

On the one hand we have the legal framework to tackle sexual harassment. On the other, awareness of the issue remains sorely lacking.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 25, 2015

Frenemies, screenagers, kidults — kondo your English with these trending terms

How up-to-date is your English vocabulary? New words reflect a changing society and, as a result, new words are coined every day. Reading English newspapers and media from around the world can help you keep up with the changes. Here are some words I picked up recently on my travels.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Mar 25, 2015

Indian doctors find success in tackling hidden burden of TB

When Indian street-food seller Kumar Pal first began treatment for multidrug resistant tuberculosis two years ago, he quickly spiralled into depression and gave up hope of living.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2015

Redouble efforts to close the EU-Turkey gap

Never have the European Union and Turkey needed one another more, and yet rarely have they been so distant.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2015

Security blanket: Should Japan beef up its anti-terrorism measures?

On Nov. 27, 2005, an unidentified terrorist group attacked the Mihama nuclear power plant on the Japan Sea in Fukui Prefecture, damaging the facility and creating fears of a radiation leak.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2015

Pope pays tribute to Japan's 'hidden' Christians, rediscovered 150 years ago

At the Vatican, Pope Francis pays tribute to the generations of Japan's 'hidden Christians.'
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 19, 2015

Politicizing personal beliefs will invite distrust of Japan

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will invite distrust of Japan as well as create a big risk for himself if he insists on politicizing his personal beliefs.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 18, 2015

Palestinians want world pressure on Israel after Netanyahu win

Palestinian leaders on Wednesday called for international pressure on Israel and support for their unilateral moves toward statehood after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election win.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 17, 2015

Multiparty group to examine LGBT discrimination

A group of lawmakers on Tuesday launched a multiparty caucus to examine discrimination against sexual minorities in a move expected to further intensify debate ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 17, 2015

LLLL stays 'Faithful' to honest approach

Despite his elusive online persona, Kazuto Okawa, aka LLLL (pronounced "four-el"), is strikingly open and honest about his views in person. Speaking in a small Koenji cafe, he discusses his sophomore album, "Faithful," released this week via Tokyo label Progressive Form, with a critical approach that...
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 16, 2015

Ban urges Japan, China and S. Korea to engage in 'forward-looking' dialogue

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls on the leaders of Japan, China and South Korea to engage in a dialogue 'in a forward-looking manner' and lay the foundation for peace and reconciliation in the region.
Japan Times
JAPAN / UN WORLD CONFERENCE ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
Mar 14, 2015

Japan understands threat of natural disasters

An international conference on disaster prevention kicks off March 14 in the disaster-hit Tohoku region and it is aiming to adopt a new global framework to mitigate effects from natural disasters for the coming decade or so.
Japan Times
JAPAN / UN WORLD CONFERENCE ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
Mar 14, 2015

Sustainability begins in Sendai

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Mar 11, 2015

Why robots will be granted a license to kill, in Japan and everywhere else

As long as we feel the need to occasionally harm our fellow human beings, most of us will happily let other people — or things — do the dirty work.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2015

Abe administration considering creating MI6-style spy agency

The Abe administration considers setting up an intelligence agency similar to Britain's MI6 as it moves to give the military a bigger role overseas.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 6, 2015

Common values bind Japan and Germany

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Japan next week will underscore the common values between the two nations and the potential for mutual cooperation on issues involving Germany's leadership role in Europe and Japan's efforts to achieve true peace with its neighbors.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan