Search - long form

 
 
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 6, 2019

China's Xi urges military to be ready for war amid 'risks and challenges' in 2019

Just days into the new year, Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered his country's military to improve its combat readiness and prepare for the possibility of war while also warning of "unprecedented risks and challenges" in 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2019

Politics, economics and carbon in 2019

As 2019 begins, leaders must focus on bread-and-butter domestic issues, while moving toward more flexible and decentralized political models capable of governing diverse populations.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2019

'America First' puts Syria last

The Syria departure may be even more damaging than past U.S. premature declarations of victory because Trump has no idea what he is doing.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / New Year Special 2019
Jan 1, 2019

Traditional activities to ring in the new year

Shogatsu, or New Year's holidays, are a special time for Japanese, who typically revisit and take part in long-standing traditions. It's a time when those who left their hometowns go back to visit their families, invite relatives and friends to their homes and wear kimono. It's also a time for foreigners...
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 31, 2018

1912 Olympian Kanakuri helped create Hakone race

This will be the 95th winter featuring the New Year's tradition — the Tokyo-Hakone Round-Trip College Ekiden Race, or as it's more commonly known, the Hakone ekiden.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Dec 31, 2018

At least learning the term 'sukunakutomo' will help you in your Japanese conversation

A holdover from Japanese past still makes for a convenient way to express the idea of 'at least' in daily conversation.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 30, 2018

Celebrating New Year's the island way

On the small island where I live in the middle of Japan's Seto Inland Sea, new year celebrations are stalwart traditional. Preparations start a week before when the holiday spirit wafts in on sea breezes tinted with chilling temperatures. The island holds a community rice-pounding event to make kagami...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2018

An enthusiast of toy trains gives kids, young and old, a chance to play

Ten-year-old Koharu Yagi gazes at the meters and meters of plastic train track laid out in a room at the Plaza North culture center in the city of Saitama and lets out a sigh of wonder.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 26, 2018

Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui reveals deal with Komeito to hold referendum on merging city wards

Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui revealed Wednesday that his Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka) political group had signed a deal with Komeito, in April 2017, to hold a referendum on merging the city's wards during the current terms of the prefectural and municipal assembly members, which expire in April 2019.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Dec 24, 2018

Going back and forth with the language of giving and receiving in Japanese

It's that time of year when thoughts turn to プレゼント (purezento, presents) — 何をあげるか (nani o ageru ka, what to give), いつあげるか (itsu ageru ka, when to give it), and how will it affect the relationship between giver and receiver?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Dec 24, 2018

Unwrapping Toys R Us' business strategy in Japan

As someone working to affect change within corporate culture, President and Representative Director Dieter Haberl of Toys R Us Japan, is perhaps facing one of his biggest challenges yet.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 22, 2018

Rationale for extending Japan's copyright protections unclear

Several weeks ago, I was surprised to read that a revision to the copyright law would go into effect on Dec. 30, extending the current protection period from 50 years after an author's death to 70 years. When the extension was first discussed as part of the original 12-member Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 19, 2018

Sue, the world-famous T. rex, gets a new lair in Chicago

Sue, the largest, most complete and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex ever unearthed, gets to show off its new lair this week at the Field Museum in Chicago.
SPORTS
Dec 15, 2018

Wrestle mania: The changing landscape of professional wrestling in Japan

In June 1976, professional wrestler Kanji "Antonio" Inoki took on iconic American boxer Muhammad Ali at the Nippon Budokan arena in Tokyo in a fight that would be broadcast to an estimated global audience of 1.4 billion.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 15, 2018

Spreading the word of the philosophers of nothingness

The Kyoto School of philosophy — which offers stimulating ideas, a distinctive critique of Western philosophy and applies a Western methodology to Japanese thought — represents Japan's greatest contribution to world philosophy in the 20th century.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 13, 2018

A spotlight on Japan's criminal justice system

Ousted Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn's case will put Japan's criminal trial process on the global stage.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2018

By design, for manners or security, backpacks increasingly being worn on the front in Japan

Backpacks, as the word suggests, are designed to be carried on people's backs. But there are a growing number of people in Japan who hold these bags in front, especially on trains and buses.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 10, 2018

For U.S. allies dismayed by Trump's antics, Jim 'Mad Dog' Mattis is the last adult in the room

And then there was one.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2018

Holiday disruptions loom as German rail workers seen preparing to go on strike from Monday

Germany's EVG railway workers' union will start strikes on Monday that will hit local, regional and long-distance trains nationwide after wage talks with rail operator Deutsche Bahn broke down, two union sources said on Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 8, 2018

Privatizing the water supply

Japan should not rush into privatizing its water supply.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 7, 2018

Enter the Bull: Fighters mix kung fu with bullfighting in China

Several times a week, kung fu teacher Ren Ruzhi enters a ring to spar with a bovine opponent around five times his weight and capable of killing him.
CULTURE
Dec 6, 2018

Counting down to the Year of the Boar: Festivals, foxes and fireworks welcome 2019 in Tokyo

With the end of the year drawing closer, the pressure is on to figure out how to greet the Year of the Boar. If the dwindling number of viewers staying in to watch NHK's annual music showcase "Kohaku Uta Gassen" is any indication, more and more people in the Kanto region are choosing to head out for...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2018

The extraordinary life and times of George H.W. Bush

The 41st U.S. president cared more about his legacy than the 1992 re-election he lost.
Japan Times
ESG CONSORTIUM
Dec 2, 2018

Climate conference to advance Paris accord

Adapting implementation guidelines of a climate change accord to combat global warming is the crucial objective at the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Poland from Dec. 2 to 14.
EDITORIALS
Dec 2, 2018

Prince Akishino raises valid point on ritual funding

Prince Akishino's remarks over the Daijosai ritual raises a valid point that merits public discussion.
EDITORIALS
Nov 29, 2018

Dangerous science in China

Gene editing may be inevitable, but this is not the way to do science.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2018

Europe finally pulls the trigger on a military force

After two years of US President Donald Trump treating European allies as if they were adversaries, France and Germany have finally committed to the creation of an EU-wide army under a central command.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 22, 2018

'Ionic wind': Silent plane with no moving parts makes 'historic' flight

Some 115 years after the first powered flight, scientists have developed a radical new approach toward flying in the form of a small, lightweight and virtually noiseless airplane that gets airborne with no moving parts like propellers or turbine blades.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami