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EDITORIALS
Feb 9, 2014

Samuragochi's shameful deception

What are fans of the supposedly deaf composer Mamoru Samuragochi to make of the revelation that another composer has ghostwritten more than 20 classical music scores credited to Samuragochi for the past 18 years?
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 9, 2014

Water shortages leaving world high and dry

On Jan. 17, scientists downloaded fresh data from a pair of NASA satellites and distributed the findings among the small group of researchers who track the world's water reserves. At the University of California, Irvine, hydrologist James Famiglietti looked over the data from the gravity-sensing Grace...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 8, 2014

Yuichiro Miura: on top of the world

Ever wondered what it feels like to stand on top of the world? Eighty-one-year-old alpinist Yuichiro Miura should know: He's done it three times since turning 70. He became the oldest person to scale the world's tallest peak, Mount Everest, in May last year, a remarkable feat that spurred the government...
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2014

Asia's dangerous nostalgia

What gives with the nostaglia in some Asian countries for strongmen of the past? The yearning for yesteryear speaks to our disorienting times and a dearth of visionary leadership when it's most needed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2014

Could 'Snowpiercer' be Bong's ticket out of Korea?

There's a scene in the dystopian, post-apocalyptic sci-fi fable "Snowpiercer" that turns the tables on how Western audiences perceive non-English-speaking Asian characters in what is — for all intents and purposes — a Hollywood production.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Feb 5, 2014

Herb Brown to receive NABC Lifetime Achievement Award

Herb Brown, a longtime fixture in the NBA and global basketball, has been tabbed for special recognition by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2014

Torture happens when people are your export

It's simply easier for leaders of some countries to export their own people abroad and count the money than to take on vested interests and generate opportunities at home.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2014

Ministry official knocks down barriers to overseas study

The success of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's effort to internationalize Japan might depend on a young entrepreneur who runs his own educational business.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 28, 2014

Ten years on, Hyperdub finds that it pays to be weird

Most journalists hope to get a few decent quotes from an interview. Steve Goodman ended up getting a record label.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2014

Marijuana's sobering lessons from Prohibition

Like alcohol after the repeal of Prohibition, legal marijuana will be a profitable business kept on a tight leash. And we should expect the public health consequences tol be mixed, though hardly a disaster.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 27, 2014

War redress reversal in South Korea

Recent South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese firms to compensate Koreans who were forced to perform labor for them during the war have cast a shadow on already strained bilateral ties.
JAPAN / WEDGE
Jan 26, 2014

NISA a hit with old investors, not new

NISA, short for Nippon Individual Savings Account, in which individual investors will be eligible for tax exemptions of up to five years on their financial gains, has begun this month. Banks and securities houses are rushing to promote sales campaigns to encourage individual investors to open NISA investment...
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 26, 2014

'Masters' and 'dilettantes': The murky world of hit men in Britain

They are classified as novices, journeymen, dilettantes or masters. They are Britain's hit men — killers who ply their deadly trade in return for cash, and who for the first time have become the subject of a major academic study.
WORLD
Jan 25, 2014

'Abe-genda': nuclear export superpower

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is now in New Delhi to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Indian Republic. His presence speaks volumes about closer diplomatic, security and economic ties and, at least from Tokyo's perspective, a common agenda on responding to the rise of China. India remains...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2014

16 kick off Tokyo gubernatorial race

Campaigning for the Tokyo gubernatorial election officially kicked off Thursday with 16 candidates set to battle over national-level issues ranging from energy policy to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2014

Joze to Tora to Sakana-tachi (Josee, the Tiger and the Fish)

Director: Isshin Inudo
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 20, 2014

Citizen watchdogs see secrets law reviving tax money abuses

Democratic societies often have an ombudsman system of ordinary citizens who monitor how local and national tax money is spent.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 15, 2014

'Kaz' Kumagai brings tip-top tap to town

"Anyone can enjoy being be a tap dancer in their daily life; all you have to do is casually make a rhythm with your feet when you're walking down the street," Japan's leading exponent of the art, Kazunori Kumagai, insists — seemingly oblivious to the gulf between him and most of the rest of clod-hopping...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 15, 2014

'Missing' U.K. man turns up safe in Britain

Running in fear for his life or just to escape it? A British businessman who mysteriously disappeared from Tokyo last year, sparking speculation of misadventure, has turned up back in England, safe and sound, according to a British media report.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jan 15, 2014

Marketers capitalize on university entrance exam time

Special snacks, underwear, aquatic friends and more suddenly appear in support of academic victory for Center Test takers.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2014

Power without purpose in Moscow

By suppressing opposition in Moscow, Grozny and elsewhere, Putin has only put a lid on a boiling pot. Part of the Kremlin's difficulty stems from its remarkable lack of vision — a fundamental failure to understand what Russia is, will be, or can become.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 12, 2014

'Architect of 9/11' exchanges letters with pen pal

Details from an extraordinary exchange of letters between a care worker from Nottingham, in England's East Midlands, and the alleged architect of the 9/11 attacks were revealed Saturday, offering an unprecedented insight into the mind of one the world's most notorious Islamic militants.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 11, 2014

Ariel Sharon, Israeli 'bulldozer' who vacated Gaza, dies at 85

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli general and former prime minister as famous for his ferocity in battling Arab foes as for his turnaround decision to evacuate settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip, has died. He was 85.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 11, 2014

Dire quake forecasts fail to stir a numb public

Is there a level of fear above which the mind reflexively retreats from imagining the worst? The Great East Japan Earthquake was often described as being 'beyond imagination,' and the art and science of projecting future catastrophes has had to adjust accordingly.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / NFL NOTEBOOK
Jan 10, 2014

Divisional playoffs often produce upsets

Welcome to the divisional playoffs, aka the upset round of the NFL postseason.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan