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COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 31, 2014

Japan and China's great African game

It's no longer Western powers vying for African land and the continent's wealth as they had until the outbreak of World War I. The power struggle now is among Asian nations, most notably China and Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jan 9, 2014

Will Cool Japan finally heat up in 2014?

After years of talk, 2013 marked a watershed moment in the government's Cool Japan campaign. Which begs the question: Is Japan cool?
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2013

Help Ukrainians stand up for Western values

Make no mistake, Ukraine's so-called oligarchs still support President Viktor Yanukovych, and they will be prime beneficiaries of the $15 billion in bailout loans and lower natural gas prices that he secured from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
WORLD
Dec 21, 2013

NSA, GCHQ targeted foreign interests, allies, heads of aid groups

British and United States spy agencies targeted the office of an Israeli prime minister, the heads of international aid organizations and a European Union official who oversees antitrust issues involving U.S. technology firms, according to secret documents.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2013

Five myths about helping out the Philippines

Among common misconceptions about assistance to victims of communities shattered by storms or earthquakes are that locals wait for the international community to come save them and that goods and services are 'free' donations.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Dec 9, 2013

Lack of back channels has China talks on ice

Vice President Joe Biden urged Japan and China last week to set up "effective channels of communication" to avoid a dangerous escalation in their increasingly fraught dispute over maritime territory. But the estrangement between the Asian powers is so deep they are barely talking.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2013

Russia's economic model losing potential for growth

In the absence of genuine political reform in Russia, there will be no end to capital drain and no adequate stimuli for invigorating a massive influx of investment capital.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 30, 2013

Philippines typhoon coverage skirts over tales of 'the men who abandoned Japan'

The majority of Japanese expats in the Philippines are men over 50. Some are fugitives from justice or debt in Japan, but many came to the country for reasons having to do more or less with sex.
Reader Mail
Nov 23, 2013

A profoundly tense, sad time for Americans

Because I've been getting The Japan Times since they added it to the New York Times International edition, I was able to read Mark Schreiber's Nov. 17 piece, "The day JFK died." It was a great summary, extremely nostalgic, if that is a good word (painful is closer). I was 12 (in 6th grade) when that...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Oct 25, 2013

Space trash tax eyed

Space is getting awfully messy. The amount of debris in Earth's orbit keeps multiplying each year, damaging satellites and putting astronauts in harm's way. If the problem gets severe enough, it could eventually make low-Earth orbit unusable.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Sep 29, 2013

Nontraditional college students juggle work, kids, bills with coursework

When President Barack Obama talks about the cost of higher education, his mentions of "college students" might often evoke images of teenagers who spent their senior years of high school searching for the four-year institution that best matched their personalities, then enrolled and moved into the dorms...
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2013

Abe, U.N. chief Ban vow cooperation over Syria, North Korea

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have agreed to cooperate on eliminating Syria's chemical weapons and on tackling North Korea's nuclear threat and humanitarian issues, a Japanese official said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / LIGHTING THE OLYMPIC FLAME
Sep 24, 2013

Tokyo puts Tohoku on games map, but will it be enough?

As Tokyo wrapped up its winning bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, one speech during the final presentation resonated with members of the International Olympic Committee.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 21, 2013

Rokkasho: nuclear white elephant or yen sucking black hole?

As one approaches Rokkasho, a small town of 11,000 on the remote, windswept coast of Aomori Prefecture at the very north of Japan's main island, Honshu, one sees dozens of power-generating windmills spinning away. Aside from this ambitious renewable energy project, Rokkasho also is the site for a national...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 16, 2013

Osaka: What on Earth should be done about the deteriorating situation at Fukushima No. 1?

As Tepco plays 'whack-a-mole' with myriad problems at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, readers offer their advice to the utility and Abe's government.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 11, 2013

Dow reshuffles ranks for first time since '04

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Visa Inc. and Nike Inc. will be added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Bank of America Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Alcoa Inc. in the biggest reshuffling since April 2004.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2013

Children pay the heaviest price in Syrian war

Given the tremendous negative effect of the conflict on Syrian children, it is obvious that international community has failed to protect them.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 31, 2013

Tepco's follies, reactor restarts and awkward plutonium stockpiles

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) is deservedly slagged as the Keystone Cops of nuclear power, and conjures up images of Homer Simpson, the iconic nuclear safety inspector in "The Simpsons." Perhaps it ought to adopt as its mascot Ocnus, the Greek god who personifies futility.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 31, 2013

Most on Abe's expert panel approve plan to hike sales tax

The government's expert panel on the planned consumption tax hike wrapped up discussions Saturday with more than 70 percent of its members supporting the plan as it now stands, saying Japan will suffer a much bigger economic blow if the tax isn't raised.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 28, 2013

Strike on Syria could draw U.S. into protracted conflict

An imminent U.S. strike on Syrian government targets in response to the alleged gassing of civilians last week has the potential to draw the United States into the country's civil war, former U.S. officials say.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 16, 2013

Race to build water-grab dams endangers Himalayas

The future of the world's most famous mountain-range could be endangered by a vast dam-building project, as a risky regional race for water resources takes place in Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 16, 2013

IMF's global forecast makes for dreary reading

The International Monetary Fund's latest global economic forecast makes for unhappy reading. You may remember that, some years back, it was fashionable to ask whether the world economy could continue "flying on one engine" — meaning the United States. America's boom and import appetite boosted other...
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jul 2, 2013

Record shows U.S. officials misled public on NSA programs

Amid the cascading disclosures about National Security Agency surveillance programs, the top lawyer in the U.S. intelligence community opened his remarks at a rare public appearance last week with a lament about how much of the information being spilled was wrong.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2013

Sony: Sanctioned Iran firms got gear it sold via Dubai

Sony Corp. said it sold almost $13 million (¥1.3 billion) in video and medical equipment to dealers in Dubai who resold it in Iran, including to groups under official U.S. sanctions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jun 12, 2013

Preserving a classic Japanese art form: tokusatsu magic

Our monster is scaly, spiky, reptilian — a cross between a dinosaur and an irradiated insect that shrieks like an angry bird. Our hero is lean, faintly muscular in a rubbery skintight suit with inscrutable praying-mantis eyes. They face one another, stomping left to right like sumo wrestlers, posing...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2013

Abe offer at TICAD: ¥3.2 trillion in aid

The fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development is set to kick off with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set to pledge up to ¥3.2 trillion in total aid over the next five years.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji