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COMMENTARY
Jul 20, 2012

Overhauling the anachronistic U.N. groupings

Come October, Australia will be competing with Finland and Luxembourg for two of this year's five elected two-year seats on the U.N. Security Council. Why against Finland and Luxembourg and not others also contesting for the total of five seats up for grabs? Well might you ask.
EDITORIALS
Jul 11, 2012

Prosecution's questionable call

The Supreme Public Prosecutors Office on June 27 decided not to indict Mr. Masahiro Tashiro, a former prosecutor with the special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. He was accused by a citizens' group of falsifying a report on his interrogation of Mr. Tomohiro Ishikawa,...
COMMENTARY
Jul 5, 2012

Power shifts outstrip reforms

The international institutional structure has remained largely static since the mid-20th century rather than evolving with the changing power realities and challenges. Reforming and restructuring the international system poses the single biggest challenge to preserving global peace, stability and continued...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 21, 2012

Fan loyalty brings 2PM ups and downs

Dancing boy bands are a common feature in K-pop, but when it comes to fan loyalty, 2PM has few rivals.
Jun 20, 2012

The real reason why Russia and China back Assad

The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Syria has suspended its peace mission. "The observers will not be conducting patrols and will stay in their locations until further notice," said the commander of the 300-strong multinational observer force, Norwegian Gen. Robert Mood.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Jun 17, 2012

Gotye's moment in the spotlight

When Wally De Backer first came to Japan with his rock band The Basics, his prospects didn't seem very promising.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 17, 2012

Rock on down to a geopark near you

To naturalists and hikers, the renown of 810-meter Mount Apoi near the southern tip of Hokkaido towers mightily above its lowly elevation.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2012

Refugee pines to go back to, help Myanmar

When Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi announced her trust in President Thein Sein last August, Tin Win Akbar decided it was time to return home after spending almost 16 years as an exile in Japan.
EDITORIALS
May 21, 2012

True prosecution reform

In the trial of former Democratic Party of Japan chief Ichiro Ozawa, charged with conspiracy to falsify political fund reports, the Tokyo District Court said his testimony could not be trusted because it contained changes in time and other irregularities. (He was acquitted but faces an appellate trial.)...
JAPAN
May 20, 2012

Private rail lines want Diet ranks to pay up

Both the Lower and Upper houses have failed for the last 20 years to respond to requests from an association of private railways to pay for the free train passes member companies provide to lawmakers.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 20, 2012

'Alien' actress at home with a robot

Even today in the performing arts in Japan, gaijin (lit. "aliens"), as foreigners are called, are still often presented like something to be gawped at in a Victorian freak show.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 20, 2012

Poverty stalks the land — and its long-term victims will be today's young

Open any Japanese newspaper, listen to the radio, watch television or keep tabs on any other form of media, social or otherwise, and you are bound to find references to this country's "rapidly aging society."
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 20, 2012

Economic woes, political volatility may creep into U.S. foreign affairs

No matter who wins the presidential election in November, the United States appears headed for a prolonged period of political volatility as leaders do not seem to have good answers to voters' anxieties about their economic future. This threatens to spill over into U.S. relations with the rest of the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / IN THE RECORD
May 17, 2012

A Taut Line

Tokyo-based British DJ/producer Matt Lyne, aka A Taut Line, coruns the record label Diskotopia, with Brian Durr, aka BD1982. A Taut Line's melodic broken house, garage and techno productions are just as influenced by the Chicago jazz and postrock scenes as by the 1980s Chicago house scene. Meanwhile,...
JAPAN
May 8, 2012

Low autopsy rate seen abetting murderers

Kanae Kijima, recently sentenced to hang for killing three boyfriends, may have been arrested before the second and third murders if police had conducted an autopsy on the first victim, Takao Terada, who was found dead in his Tokyo home in 2009.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
May 5, 2012

Observatory fills small Gifu town with pride

An official opening ceremony Sunday was held to celebrate the completion of a small astronomical observatory on the grounds of Tara Elementary School in Kamiishizu, Gifu Prefecture.
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2012

Curse of not paying a woman what she wants

What happened in Cartagena, Colombia, with U.S. Secret Service seems unsavory to me, but not for the reasons you might think.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 27, 2012

Representing Japan at Art Kyoto

In the wake of the recently held Art Fair Tokyo, Kyoto is following up with its own alternative in Art Kyoto. Organizers will, however, eschew the international art fair model seen in Tokyo and do what Kyoto does best — represent Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 27, 2012

Representing Japan at Art Kyoto

In the wake of the recently held Art Fair Tokyo, Kyoto is following up with its own alternative in Art Kyoto. Organizers will, however, eschew the international art fair model seen in Tokyo and do what Kyoto does best — represent Japan.
EDITORIALS
Apr 27, 2012

Mr. Ozawa's bittersweet court victory

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday acquitted former Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa of charges he violated the Political Funds Control Law. But the ruling shows that it is a bittersweet victory for Ozawa. He needs to pay careful attention to his behavior as a politician, and make every...
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2012

Creating true nuclear watchdog exacts toll in time, trust

The Diet looks like it's finally set to deliberate a long-stalled bill to create a new nuclear regulatory agency that will serve as a true atomic energy watchdog and, hopefully, rebuild the public trust lost by its predecessors.
JAPAN / Q&A
Apr 19, 2012

Tokyo's intentions for Senkaku islets

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's plan to have the metropolitan government purchase the Senkaku Islands continued to cause ripples Wednesday, with both China and Taiwan quickly issuing statements criticizing the move.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2012

European Court of Human Rights is a necessity

At a time when the ongoing European debt crisis is fracturing public faith in the continent's political and economic institutions, one would expect Europe's leaders to strengthen as many unifying symbols as they can.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building