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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 2, 2013

Between dreams and discrimination, Japanese build new lives in the City by the Bay

How are modern-day Japanese immigrants experiencing life in America — and in particular, San Francisco? What are their dreams, their struggles and rewards? And how do they handle the need to belong, the ceaseless negotiation between assimilation and roots?
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 2, 2013

Should we put the sleep-aids debate to bed?

Every morning I am greeted by Facebook friends complaining of sleepless nights or awakenings. I know the feeling — as do many other people.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 27, 2013

Kichiemon Nakamura II : For the love of 'Chushingura'

As December draws near, the streets are decorated with Christmas ornaments and in Japan, concerts of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony are held all over the nation. In addition to these Western-inspired traditions, there is a made-in-Japan December tradition that has been held since the 18th century and is...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 26, 2013

If your baby needs a name, let the Internet decide

There's little doubt that Mei Xiang is a thoroughly modern mother, what with the fertility treatments and 24/7 video baby monitor and all. But if you need one more piece of evidence that the giant panda of the National Zoo in Washington is perfectly on trend, consider the process for naming her new cub:...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2013

Space industry faces choice for next direction

The air is so clear the mountains in the distance look almost fake, as if added digitally. The desert floor is runway-flat, with a few Joshua trees popping up randomly, like lost cowboys. The dominant feature is the sky, preposterously vast, beckoning test pilots, rocketeers and would-be space travelers....
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 22, 2013

Parliamentary democracy without a viable opposition

The lack of a viable opposition party is causing a serious crisis of democracy in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2013

Who says you're lonely just because you're alone?

When "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" was published in 1999, some schools in the United States banned it from their libraries and reading lists for its depictions of graphic sexual scenes, drugs, homosexuality and teen pregnancy — the usual suspects. Of course, this only increased its street cred....
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2013

Let's help the Philippines, just not like we helped Haiti

The international community must embrace the technology available to strengthen disaster preparedness, resilience and aid.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 19, 2013

Japan's juke scene gears up to go foot to foot with Chicago

I am at Battle Train Tokyo, the first official footwork dance tournament in Japan. It's being held at Kata, a gallery in the capital's Ebisu district. Sixteen dancers have signed up in the hope of becoming Japan's footwork champion, which comes with a ¥50,000 cash prize and a small championship belt...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 17, 2013

Teenagers deserting Facebook as mom and dad join social network

Facebook made a startling admission in its earnings announcement this month: it was seeing a "decrease in daily users, specifically among teens." In other words, teenagers are still on Facebook; they're just not using it as much as they did. It was a landmark statement, since teens are the demographic...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2013

Syrian conflict endangering aid groups

International Red Cross workers are suffering casualties as they cross the front lines of Syria to help millions of needy people amid escalating violence and worsening security conditions.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 13, 2013

Tokyo: What does Japan do better than anywhere else?

Everyone here in Japan, or in Tokyo at least, is so disciplined and always punctual. The Japanese people I have met stick by their comments and the promises they make, and in my experience excuses are not accepted as much as they might be elsewhere.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 9, 2013

'Specialness' shrouds stories of minorities

As predicted four months ago in this column, in September the Supreme Court ruled discriminatory and unconstitutional the Civil Code stipulation that says children born out of wedlock are entitled to only half the inheritance of legitimate offspring. The government is expected to revise the law accordingly,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 9, 2013

Opponents derail Obama’s dream of high-speed trains, and jobs

The gleaming red-and-white trains sit motionless in a cavernous warehouse in Century City, an industrial neighborhood that cranked out 100 million car and truck frames in its heyday. The seats are draped in plastic; an electronic screen on one reads, "Quiet Car. 11:10 a.m. 000 MPH."
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2013

Anxiety replacing confidence for many Chinese

Billionaires as well as the new middle class are hedging their bets on China. Some joke that the president's slogan of 'a Chinese dream' refers to getting your kids into an American university.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 7, 2013

Franz Ferdinand gets it right on latest album

When I speak to Paul Thomson, drummer with Scottish art-poppers Franz Ferdinand, it is just over 36 hours since James Blake's second album, "Overgrown," was announced as the surprise winner of this year's Mercury Prize, the award for the best record to come out of the U.K. and Ireland in the past year....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2013

Money, censorship and the future of Asian cinema

Flitting around Roppongi Hills during the week of the Tokyo International Film Festival, you get to meet and chat with any number of interesting people, but one of the better conversations I had was sitting down for coffee with Jacob Wong, curator of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, held each...
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 3, 2013

Unsung heroes emerge in stories of Kenyan mall attack

A little after half-past midday on a sunny Saturday a disturbing call came through to Mark and John at the Nairobi offices of the oil company for which they work.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Nov 2, 2013

Can Japanese really be such cold sushi in the sack?

Sex in Japan is a knotty issue — even if you're not a fan of tying up your lover with rope, also known as shibari. No matter how you write about it, it raises ire. If you point out that Japan has a vibrant sex industry in which every sexual act other than vaginal penetration can be legally bought and...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 31, 2013

Health care vow comes back to haunt Obama

It is a catchy sound bite that has turned around to bite the hand that fed it to the country: If you like the health insurance you have, you can keep it.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Oct 30, 2013

Volunteers staying the course in Tohoku

Upstart NGOs It's Not Just Mud and OGA for Aid continue to punch above their weight in public conversations about the future of Tohoku.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 30, 2013

Voices of Syria's war set to haunt Tokyo stage

The war in Syria has been making headlines for more than two years now, but it's made very little impact on the theater world in Japan. Next month, though, that's set to change with the Tokyo staging of "The Fear of Breathing," a hard-hitting British documentary drama about that ongoing multi-pronged...
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 26, 2013

U.S. health care website to be fixed by end of November: White House

The White House announced Friday it was putting a private firm in charge of fixing its faulty health insurance website and set the end of November as a target date for working out all the bugs, the first indication of how long repairs may take.
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2013

Mr. Abe's undemocratic secrecy bill

An Abe administration-sponsored bill to protect national security 'secrets' will undermine freedom of the press and people's right to know. Diet members should oppose it.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 22, 2013

Japan's 'helplessness' crisis

The biggest crisis in Japan's democracy today is that people know the prime minister is telling lies — intentionally or not — but they've given up even imagining alternative ways of politics.
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2013

Japan's technology ranking slips

Japan has slipped from eighth to 12th place in the rankings of global information and communications technology development. And its young people aren't as network-savvy as presumed.
LIFE
Oct 22, 2013

Mike Mills looks at depression in Japan

Among all the many trips American film director Mike Mills has made to Japan since he first started coming here in the mid 1990s, one incident in particular has remained with him.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2013

Nobel committee overlooks beguiling reality of markets

The Flat Earth Society has all but disappeared, but the Nobel Prize Committee for Economic Sciences would have us believe that the efficient-market hypothesis is alive and well.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 20, 2013

Ahead of World Cup, inequities ignite ire in Brazil

The night of June 30 was one of intense drama in Rio de Janeiro. Inside the newly refurbished Maracana stadium, still slick with plaster dust, a gladiatorial atmosphere turned to celebration as Neymar scored Brazil's second goal in a 3-0 victory over Spain in the Confederations Cup final, on the cusp...

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight