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Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
May 21, 2015

Tokyo's Kita Ward adopts hearing and speaking aids to help legislators with disabilities

The Kita Ward Assembly, where deaf-mute Tokyo author Rie Saito was elected in the quadrennial unified elections in April, has become the first legislature in the nation to develop a system that allows lawmakers with hearing or speech impediments to participate in sessions in real time.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 21, 2015

Documents seized in bin Laden raid aired, show plots against U.S., al-Qaida job application

The U.S. released a trove of documents seized when special forces stormed Osama bin Laden's hideout in Pakistan in 2011 that include references to unfulfilled plots such as an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 20, 2015

Man's portrait identified as that of young Shakespeare

A British magazine has published an image of a figure that it says is the first and only known demonstrably authentic portrait of William Shakespeare made in his lifetime.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2015

Effort to revive Soviet glory backfire on Putin

Failed attempts by Vladimir Putin to reclaim glory for Russia in areas where the Soviet Union once excelled may present a bigger threat to his regime than falling living standards.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2015

Is the world getting more peaceful? Maybe not

While some academics believe the world is getting more peaceful, new research suggests they might be getting their math wrong.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2015

Hillary Clinton's lucrative life of crime

Corporations and banks bribe the Clintons to buy political favors. The speaking racket that has earned them at least $30 million over the past 16 months is a (flimsy) cover.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2015

Democracy's missing meaning fuels radicalism

Defenders of democracy must determine not only how to create jobs and ensure material prosperity for today's young people, but also how to feed their souls on the way.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 19, 2015

Battle of Anbar looms as 3,000 Shiite fighters prepare to help retake Ramadi from Islamic State

A column of 3,000 Shiite militia fighters arrived at a military base near Ramadi on Monday as Baghdad moved to retake the western Iraqi city that fell to Islamic State militants over the weekend in the biggest defeat for the government since mid-2014.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
May 17, 2015

Black filmmakers 'find their edge' in Japan

This month's green-tinged Black Eye focuses on black filmmakers in Tokyo — a group of brothers forging their dreams into reality, getting it done here in the Land of the Rising Sun.
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2015

Why self-driving cars will always need oversight

Self-driving cars are incapable of making moral decisions so they will always need human oversight.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 16, 2015

Boston Marathon bomber's death sentence seen more as symbolic judgment

Boston Marathon bomber Dzhohkar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death Friday. But his execution may not happen for decades — if ever.
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2015

GOP hawks twist Reagan's foreign policy legacy

A de facto peacenik who was horrified by the prospect of needless war, Ronald Reagan would be angry at Republican hawks' attempts to use his legacy to justify a failed foreign policy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 14, 2015

Maya Inoue makes a play to refine her father's theatrical legacy

Hisashi Inoue's death at the age of 75 on April 9, 2010, at his home in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, was a major event in the postwar Japanese theater world. It moved many dramatists to stage works by the great author and playwright who combined comedy and searing social and political commentary into...
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2015

What can Obama salvage from Arab summit?

President Barack Obama must try to convince the Gulf Cooperation Council that the U.S. has an Iran policy that encompasses their security needs.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2015

NSA loses in court but the police state rolls on

A U.S. court rules against an NSA data-collection program is illegal, but the police state goes on.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 12, 2015

Grizzlies making noise in playoffs old-school style

Sitting on a bluff above the mighty Mississippi River is Memphis, a sleepy southern United States city known for not much more than its savory barbecue meats, being the home of famous rock and roll singer Elvis Presley and for the blues, the music celebrated in the city's history and on downtown Beale...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2015

Little Englandism goes big in British elections

The unraveling of British identify, which started when Britain lost its empire, will likely accelerate in the months to come.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2015

Why Putin treats fantasy as history

In the worldview of Russian President Vladimir Putin, winning matters more than truth.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2015

Obama's lesson in how to not make peace in Afghanistan

U.S. President Barack Obama's faltering strategy to win over the Taliban serves as a cautionary tale of how not to make peace with an enemy.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 12, 2015

Blue whales, unused to dodging, at risk from ship strikes

Blue whales are vulnerable to cargo ship strikes because they are so used to being the largest animal in the ocean that they often fail to avoid the vessels, a Stanford University biologist has found.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 9, 2015

Academics fail Abe administration on history

On May 5, in an open letter in support of historians in Japan, an international group of 187 scholars (of which I am one) urged Japan to acknowledge and atone for the forced prostitution that occurred during wartime, stating: "Denying or trivializing" what happened to the "comfort women" is "unacceptable."...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
May 9, 2015

Keeping the yakuza away from the 2020 Olympics

The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo should be a cause for celebration but this may depend on who you talk to.
CULTURE / Music
May 8, 2015

Envy makes a return after five years with new album 'Atheist's Cornea'

The 20-year career of Envy went nothing like what a band out of Japan's hardcore scene would have expected. The members never predicted chumming around with Scottish postrock act Mogwai, or landing a track in a Shiseido cosmetics commercial. And two decades later, on the verge of releasing sixth album...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 7, 2015

Daniel Radcliffe gets devilish in 'Horns'

There are few actors who can enjoy the kind of success that Daniel Radcliffe has enjoyed at his age. At 10, he became the face of the multibillion-dollar "Harry Potter" franchise, which became a cultural phenomenon. As the series drew to a close in 2011, the young British actor was faced with two dilemmas:...
JAPAN / Politics
May 7, 2015

187 scholars urge Abe to address Japan's wartime history

An international group of scholars of Japanese and East Asian studies have called on Tokyo to accurately address the country's history of colonial rule and wartime actions.
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2015

Americans understand free trade's dark side

The American people are intelligent and grown-up enough to hear the basic case against free trade, as well as the case in favor.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AT A GLANCE
May 5, 2015

Get up high to see how the past has shaped present-day Tokyo

Tokyo spreads out from the Imperial Palace in Chiyoda Ward like a massive concrete jungle. Though the numerous skyscrapers can be impressive during the day, at night the lights come on and the metropolis really begins to sparkle.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2015

Did America's drone strikes lose Yemen?

The U.S. drone program, which is responsible for the deaths of many innocent civilians, is fundamentally flawed and should not be perpetuated.
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2015

Gallipoli is a reminder of the stupidity of wars

In a war noted for bloody futility, Gallipoli stood out as an example of purposeless killing.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
May 3, 2015

Japan-U.S. effort to tell suicide pilots' stories dodges controversy, wins praise

JBC sits down for an interview with Dr. M.G. Sheftall of Shizuoka University about the kamikaze phenomenon and what makes this exhibition unique.

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