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WORLD / Politics
Feb 22, 2014

Noam Chomsky: Truth to power

Often dubbed one of the world's most important intellectuals and its leading public dissident, Noam Chomsky was for years among the top 10 most quoted academics on the planet, edged out only by William Shakespeare, Karl Marx, Aristotle.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2014

'The refusal of time' is worth every minute

The former Rissei Elementary School site, nowadays an occasional cultural events center, was earlier home to the Kyoto Dento, the electric company whose technology helped industrialist Katsutaro Inabata to demonstrate the Lumière Brothers' cinématographe camera in 1897 — Japan's first experience...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 19, 2014

Shiga's Gomez provides steady veteran leadership, productivity

The Shiga Lakestars are one of five Western Conference teams with a win total ranging between 15 and 17 through Sunday. And that means half of the West's teams are in that position. Parity it is, but also a dogfight for a ticket to the playoffs.
Reader Mail
Feb 12, 2014

Making a clear cut with the past

Concerning the Feb. 4 article "Yasukuni: It's open to interpretation": I would like to add a few historic facts. Yasukuni is barely understood in its historic context. It is not just a memorial for the war dead! In the middle of the 19th century the modern nation of Japan was modeled according to the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 10, 2014

Renewable energy's future rosy if grids ever get updated

The March 11, 2011, mega-quake and monster tsunami that set off the Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant meltdowns forced Japan to rethink its nuclear-focused energy policy and explore the use of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 8, 2014

Weather in Japan: from balmy to barmy

The division of Japan into distinct climatic zones means that anyone traveling around the country will normally encounter quite predictable demands in terms of clothing requirements; while for those in any one area the local weather forecast will be correct more often than not.
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Feb 5, 2014

Sendai's White recognizes importance of team chemistry, close-knit family

The Japan Times features periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. Wendell White of the Sendai 89ers is the subject of this week's profile.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 5, 2014

East power Akita decides to make roster move: source

Despite the Akita Northern Happinets' 28-4 record and 11-game winning streak, coach Kazuo Nakamura's club is tinkering with its chemistry.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 3, 2014

Uphold basic living standards

To attain a national minimum for social welfare, some urge introducing a basic income — provision of a fixed sum of money to each citizen — to replace social security, which covers only needy people.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 1, 2014

Pursuit of happiness

The merry residents of Japan have long sought to attain the 'pleasantest of all diversions
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2014

Fears widen over Kadena toxins

Just days after the commander of U.S. Kadena Air Base, near the city of Okinawa, promised parents their children's schools were safe from dioxin contamination, a further 50 chemical barrels have been unearthed from adjacent land and a retired U.S. Air Force major has come forward with claims the school...
EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 2014

The Mac computer turns 30

Thirty years ago this month, little-known Apple Computer began to transform the world. Its signal event was a television advertisement broadcast during America's Super Bowl, announcing the introduction of a new product in two days.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2014

Pining for Lyndon Johnson, Americans got Christie

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's recent scandals won't impress anyone who has read of the political arm-twisting shenanigans conducted a half-century ago by U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
BASKETBALL
Jan 13, 2014

Iwate showcases depth, talent in triumph over Tokyo

The Iwate Big Bulls know there's only one way to climb above the Toyama Grouses and Akita Northern Happinets in the Eastern Conference standings.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 11, 2014

Communing with nature in Kumano's land of ancient gods

An old tale from Kumano tells of a hunter who was out one day with his dogs when he spotted a large boar. Stretching his bow, he took aim and loosed an arrow deep into the body of the beast.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 8, 2014

Shimane struggling after departure of coach, top star

The Shimane Susanoo Magic have dropped out of playoff contention this season, but big man Jeral Davis remains a bright spot for the fourth-year franchise.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2014

China's anti-Kim campaign

The next target of China's autocrats, already waging an undeclared war over territory against multiple neighboring countries, is likely to be fellow communist state North Korea, now an estranged ally.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2014

Preparing for the age of disruption

By 2020, the quantity of stored data could be 50 times greater than it was in 2010. Many pundits regard this massive explosion of data as the new oil, even a new asset class.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 31, 2013

Tokyo prepares to get schooled in the art of beats

Although the major spectacle looming on Tokyo's horizon is undoubtedly the 2020 Olympics, there is one event this year that will be eagerly anticipated by anyone who spends longer on their gym playlist than their workout: The Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) is set to take place here in October.
JAPAN / GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT ENGLISH
Dec 31, 2013

English to get 2020 push but teachers not on same page

A reform plan released in mid-December by the education ministry looks to bolster English study from elementary to high school from the 2020 academic year to pursue globalization.
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2013

Something worth passing down

Japan Times staff writer Reiji Yoshida has hit the nail right on the head in the Dec. 16 article, "Deceptive rice price reforms viewed as too late for industry," and in his co-authored article of the same date, "No country for small-time rice farmers."
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2013

'Crossing' Beijing has lasting consequences

The sad irony is that, since the early 1990s, people like Liu Binyan, Su Xiaokang, Chen Yizi, Su Shaozhi and others who know the elite communist culture well, who have lived in the United States and remain willing to cross the dangerous line into complete truth-telling, have never had much of a hearing in Washington.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2013

Politically bankrupt China dare not tolerate a free press

The practice of journalism in China, a country where 30 practitioners are in prison, has never been easy. During 2013, it has become a great deal harder.
WORLD
Dec 21, 2013

NSA, GCHQ targeted foreign interests, allies, heads of aid groups

British and United States spy agencies targeted the office of an Israeli prime minister, the heads of international aid organizations and a European Union official who oversees antitrust issues involving U.S. technology firms, according to secret documents.
Reader Mail
Dec 18, 2013

Japanese sleepwalk in the lights

In his Dec. 17 article, "Abe shows totalitarian bent," Takamitsu Sawa does an excellent job of summing up my fears of the direction in which Japan is heading.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2013

Pollution rife on Okinawa's U.S.-returned base land

When the last U.S. service members moved out of the Nishi-Futenma housing area at Camp Foster, in 2006, the land was slated to return to civilian use as part of ongoing attempts by Tokyo and Washington to reduce the military burden in Okinawa — host to more than 70 percent of American bases in Japan....
Japan Times
CULTURE
Dec 3, 2013

Well, she was just 17: How one girl got her dream job with The Beatles

Few people can claim to have spent the whole of their youth with The Beatles, and fewer still would have come out of the experience unscathed. Freda Kelly — who was 17 when she first laid eyes on the Fab Four at the now-legendary Cavern Club in Liverpool, is one of those people, perhaps the only one....

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