Search - (2006-01-27)

 
 
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 22, 2014

The annual pain and pleasure of punished comedians

Japan is a country of traditions. You take off your shoes when you go indoors. You rinse your body before entering the bath. And you sit around the house with family on Ōmisoka (大晦日, New Year's Eve) and do nothing but watch television and eat food before going to the jinja (神社, shrine) at...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2014

India and China slugging it out in South Asia

As India and China compete with each other for economic and political influence in South Asia, they are likely to concentrate more on their relative gains vis-u00e0-vis each other than on the absolute gains regional cooperation could bestow.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 21, 2014

10 years on, tsunami warning stumbles at the 'last mile'

In April 2012, Indonesia's Banda Aceh, the city worst hit by the tsunami that killed nearly 230,000 people on Dec. 26, 2004, received a terrifying reminder of how unprepared it was for the next disaster.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 20, 2014

Cuba's Raul Castro sees support surge as he steps out of brother's shadow, brings historic changes

Stepping out of his legendary brother's shadow, President Raul Castro has scored a diplomatic triumph and a surge in popular support with the deal that ends decades of open hostility with the United States.
BASKETBALL
Dec 18, 2014

FIBA chief Baumann strikes tough tone on JBA ban

FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann repeatedly stated that the Japan Basketball Association's "lack of vision" is a fundamental problem stunting the sport's development throughout the nation.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 18, 2014

Thai junta-backed council recommends PM directly elected

A council appointed by Thailand's ruling military junta voted Wednesday to recommend stripping parliament of the power to appoint a prime minister and cabinet, triggering accusations that the move is aimed at curtailing democracy.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 18, 2014

Dramatic U.S. shift: Obama moves to normalize relations with Havana, end Cuba's isolation

Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations in a surprising move Wednesday by the Obama administration that will loosen a trade and travel embargo that is among the last remnants of Cold War policy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 17, 2014

Hill of Freedom: 'Looking for lost love in a Seoul back alley'

Speaking in another language makes you a different person, especially, I've noticed, if you happen to be a non-native fluent in Japanese. The mild-mannered Aussie transforms into a slangy tough-guy, rolling his r's and living in his own mental version of a yakuza movie. And the frank-talking American...
WORLD / Politics
Dec 17, 2014

Russia invites North Korean leader for WWII commemoration

Russia has invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to attend a May ceremony marking the end of World War II, in what would be Kim's first foreign visit since taking the helm of the reclusive state in 2011, Japan's Asahi Shimbun daily said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2014

How regulation spurs growth

The world's richer countries created their regulatory infrastructure over generations, during a time of little direct global competition. Emerging markets need to create theirs in a greatly compressed time frame to strengthen their growth capacity.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2014

Amid reform talk, hopes grow for short-term home rental market

Japan seems to have the right mix for developing a vibrant short-term home rental market: a rapidly growing tourism industry, a cheap currency and — unlike many countries — 8 million vacant homes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 13, 2014

From a hostess club to a mountain village: Five notable Japanese photo books of 2014

While selecting some of the best photography books released in 2014, I was struck by the range of specific places that Japanese photographers captured — from a pleasure district to a mountain village and an old rooftop. Photo books with such a geographic focus might be a good way to store up energies...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / DECISION 2014
Dec 13, 2014

Amid lack of alternatives, Abe looks to win big by default

The focus of the House of Representatives election is not on how close it will be, but on how strong Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition will become.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 12, 2014

Ice Bucks strive to build brand, promote league

"Hard work, every day."
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 12, 2014

The high costs of Japan's 'Seinfeld election'

By rewarding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a job not even remotely done, voters are giving him a mandate to continue leading Japan down the wrong path.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 12, 2014

Abe's base aims to restore past religious, patriotic values

As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promises voters a bright future for Japan's economy, key parts of his conservative base want him to steer the nation back toward a traditional ethos mixing Shinto myth, patriotism and pride in the ancient Imperial line.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 12, 2014

Takayama mobilizes to protect voters from bear attacks

Polling stations in one mountain city are bracing for an unusual kind of disruption on election day: bear attacks.
EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 2014

A slippery slope in education

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing school reforms that give the government a greater role in school children's 'moral' education.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 10, 2014

CIA eased Poland's qualms over secret prisons with boxes of bank notes: Senate report

Poland threatened to halt the transfer of al-Qaida suspects to a secret CIA jail on its soil 11 years ago, but became more "flexible" after the Central Intelligence Agency handed over a large sum of money, according to a U.S. Senate report.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 9, 2014

Methamphetamine use soars in Iran as lifestyles speed up

Women in headscarves and men in tatty clothes puff on a glass pipe as smoke swirls around their faces. The pictures published by Iranian media and blogs in recent months are a sign of a new drug epidemic: shishe, or methamphetamine.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 8, 2014

Bangkok hotel is one crime scene in Sony hack

The incursion into Sony Pictures Entertainment's computer system reached its climax in, of all places, the elegant St. Regis Bangkok in the capital of Thailand.
JAPAN / Politics / DECISION 2014
Dec 8, 2014

As opposition dithers, voters mull four more years of Abe

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's chances for becoming the nation's longest-serving leader in more than four decades are increasing as the opposition finds itself hobbled by factionalism, shifting policies and funding shortages.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 8, 2014

At least 13 killed in failed U.S. bid to rescue hostages in Yemen

A woman, a 10-year-old boy and a local al-Qaida leader were among at least 11 people killed alongside two Western hostages when U.S.-led forces battled militants in a failed rescue mission in Yemen, residents said on Sunday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 6, 2014

Code + culture: new media art from Japan

Domestic media artists have been using programming code in recent years to create some astonishing works of art. We look back at how this scene developed over the years and examine four contemporary artists who have defined the way the genre has evolved.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 6, 2014

Cultural differences shade reactions to robots

It was only right that Disney's new animated feature, "Big Hero 6," opened this year's Tokyo International Film Festival, and that Disney animation head John Lasseter was on hand to introduce it. Lasseter has often said that his career has been greatly influenced by Japanese anime — in particular the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 6, 2014

On the hunt for Tono's mythical water trolls

Sushi fans will probably know that cucumber rolls are known as kappamaki in Japanese. This is in honor of what is surely one of Japan's strangest mythical creatures — the kappa.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person