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Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2014

Finnish PM to step down, seek new EU post

Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen announced Saturday he was stepping down in June with a view to taking a senior European Union post, a move that could further unsettle a coalition government that last month lost one of its parties.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 5, 2014

Taking a walk down felony lane

As part of the commemoration of the 140th anniversary of the Metropolitan Police Department, monthly magazine Bungei Shunju polled some 50,000 active-duty policemen on the 100 most significant crimes, incidents and disasters since 1874. The magazine received approximately 45,000 responses, and published...
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2014

Host clubs: a hotbed of human trafficking

The Japanese host. You can see them on the streets of Tokyo's Kabukicho: the dapper thin men with colored, blown-dry hair, fake suntans, snazzy suits and charming smiles, chatting up passing females and trying to get them to come and have drinks. They've been the subject of documentaries, television...
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Apr 4, 2014

Caracas poor find haven in 'skyscraper slum'

It boasts a helicopter landing pad, glorious views of the Avila mountain range, and large balconies for weekend barbecues.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Apr 4, 2014

Foreign coaches making impact in revamped NBL

While the National Basketball League of Japan is essentially the rebranded Japan Basketball League, there's one distinguishing aspect that is different from before — it's a foreign coach-filled league.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 4, 2014

Japan launches national marathon teams

Call it "Running Samurai" or "Nadeshiko Runners."
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2014

The Affordable Care Act isn't Obama's 'Iraq'

The new signup numbers — 6 million and counting — on the U.S. Affordable Care Act exchanges make it clear that the roll-out of the bungled federal website didn't destroy the law and probably didn't cost President Barack Obama much in lasting public opinion.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 30, 2014

Afghanistan at crossroads as Karzai era ends

Amid the dust and traffic of today's Kabul, three things remain almost as they were a decade or so ago. In winter, and when the wind clears the smog that is a side effect of years of economic boom, the blue sky above the snowcapped peaks that ring the city is as impressive as ever. Then there is the...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 30, 2014

Erdogan dominates Turkey election conversation

Turkey may be in turmoil and the vast city of Istanbul in ferment, bridling at the antics of a government struggling to cope with scandal and sleaze, but in Kasimpasa quarter, the prime minister's troubles raise barely a shrug.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 29, 2014

Unpersuasive logic for death penalty in Japan

The death penalty in Japan is imposed in cases of murder, and robbery and/or rape leading to death. In such cases, capital punishment is not mandatory and is usually only imposed in cases of multiple killings, though since 2006 this criteria has not been strictly observed.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2014

What does the West now want?

The U.S. has acquired a dangerous militarist outlook on world affairs in which problems are defined primarily in military terms. In the case of Ukraine, such a view could lead to catastrophe.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 27, 2014

Abe ready for full-on military drive

With the launch next Monday of a special intraparty panel directly under his lead, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party are ready to kick off their full-fledged drive to reinterpret the Constitution to allow Japan to help defend its allies.
JAPAN / Media / NET NEWS WATCH
Mar 25, 2014

Mysterious suicide goes unnoticed in police-box restroom

A man was found hanged in an apparent suicide in a police-box restroom in Mie Prefecture on March 20, police said.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 24, 2014

The abduction drama game

Clearly there are people in Japan who do not want any rapprochement with Pyongyang — who are using the abduction drama to continue the image of a Japan threatened by enemies and needing strong military forces for defense.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 23, 2014

Germans finally start poking fun at the Fuhrer

If Hitler were alive today, would he become a standup comic? Incredible though that may sound to anyone who lived through World War II, that is the scenario sketched out in "Look Who's Back," a satirical novel by Timur Vermes, which topped the best-seller lists in Germany after its publication in 2012...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 22, 2014

Dilemmas of Adulthood: Japanese Women and the Nuance of Long-Term Resistance

As the '90s settled in and the new millennium was fast approaching, Japanese society saw an increase in the governmental status of "not yet married" women. The women classified under this category saw themselves as the up-and-coming future for postwar Japan. With an almost five-year increase in the age...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 22, 2014

Okinawa redux: Democracy and an alliance at risk

U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy made a meet-and-greet trip to Okinawa last month, an opportunity to gauge the lay of the land and listen to some of the stakeholders in the longstanding controversies over plans to reduce America's military footprint in the prefecture.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 21, 2014

No love lost when Wenger, Mourinho face each other

Anthony Taylor will have his work cut out Saturday stopping two grown men trading insults.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / NET NEWS WATCH
Mar 20, 2014

Did Japan's hallowed cherry trees actually originate in South Korea?

Did Japan’s hallowed cherry trees actually originate South Korea?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 19, 2014

Deep feelings at high altitudes

The photographs, taken by artist Naoya Hatakeyama, hint at both the beauty and dangers of a mountain, as reflected in the shades of light and darkness alongside textures of soft-edged snow and sharply lined rocks.
EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 2014

A sign from North Korea

Last week's meeting in Ulan Bator between the parents of 1977 Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota and Megumi's North Korean daughter could be a sign that Pyongyang wants to resolve the abduction issue and end its diplomatic isolation.
Reader Mail
Mar 19, 2014

Shorter patent exam is welcome

As an intellectual property counsel, the March 13 Jiji article titled "Japan aims to cut patent exam lengths in half" caught my eye. Unfortunately the on-line article did not link to an underlying copy of any press release or to a synopsis of the related bill that the Abe administration has presented...

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