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Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2016

Angry blog post sparks movement for improved day care

What started out as a mother's online rant about Japan's notorious day care center shortage has evolved into a national movement, galvanizing angry mothers into staging a demonstration and online campaign blasting the government.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 7, 2016

To furu or furareru: In Japanese or any language, breaking up is hard to do

The girl who dumped me wasn't Japanese, so I was surprised to get a Japanese language lesson out of the ordeal.
SOCCER / World cup
Mar 5, 2016

FIFA boss wants 2026 bid process to be clean

FIFA must make the 2026 World Cup bidding process "absolutely bulletproof" because the entire organization's credibility is at stake, new president Gianni Infantino said on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2016

The Trump effect on China

If the Chinese believe that they are being thwarted from getting their due place in the global sun, their anger could fuel the rise of a populist leader.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Feb 29, 2016

Healthy Balentien ready to make up for lost time

Wladimir Balentien laughed his familiar laugh as he held court in the visitor's dugout at Tokyo Dome, making rapid-fire transitions between a number of topics, from the yakiniku he ate in Okinawa, to teammate Tetsuto Yamada or whatever else popped into his head at the time.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 29, 2016

The albatross of a Donald Trump endorsement

Republican politicians who endorse Donald Trump will find that nothing will redeem the reputations they will ruin by placing their opportunism in his service.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 29, 2016

Alarm over the death of a doctor ripples across the Seto Inland Sea

The death of the island's only doctor has come as a major shock to the islanders of Shiraishi and beyond.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 27, 2016

Tokyo's literature festival resurfaces

The Tokyo International Literary Festival got off to a good start. Both the inaugural 2013 event and the 2014 edition were successful, an auspicious beginning to forging cultural and artistic connections between Eastern and Western writers on a global stage. But since the festival's forced hiatus in...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2016

How Asia lost an economic role model

If Thaksin Shinawatra can diagnose Thailand's problems from exile, why can't the military junta fix them?
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 23, 2016

Olympic hopefuls aim to shine in J. League

The Rio Olympics are just over five months away, but with the new J. League season about to begin, Japan's soccer medal hopefuls have no time to sit back and dream of glory in Brazil.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Feb 20, 2016

CG gains a 'real' foothold in anime

Japanese audiences have long responded tepidly to the use of extensive computer graphics (CG) in anime. Even as CG has become the global standard for animation studios, anime fans prefer their homegrown artists to stick to labor-intensive 2-D illustration techniques and cel animation — or to at least...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2016

For Sanders and Clinton, politics is personal

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders represent two worldviews: one for whom wealth and privilege have long been assumed as her due, the other whose sympathies lie with those who are less fortunate because he once was.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2016

Takashi Murakami collects more than just his thoughts

"Takashi Murakami's Superflat Collection" is an exhibition of other people's work, amassed as the result of one man's phenomenally successful artistic career. It's evidence that Murakami must have done something right, or wrong, depending on your view of culture. He's sometimes portrayed as a kind of...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2016

Making the most of Obama's awkward ASEAN summit

The U.S. president needs to prod Southeast Asian leaders to get their act together on trade and security.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 15, 2016

It's the season of love: Won't someone please grab hold of my chin?

In Japan these days, it can seem as if love itself is on the decline — and that no one really cares.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 13, 2016

Japan is losing its drive to get behind the wheel

Even domestic automakers seem to be concentrating on expanding overseas as the market at home looks bleak.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Feb 10, 2016

Educate the people and keep the 'manji' (卍) on Japan's maps

Why the ancient symbol should be left where it is, despite its dark connotations from the 20th century.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2016

Hillary doesn't get what campaigns are about

Hillary Clinton's biggest flaw as a candidate is her failure to project an optimistic vision for the future.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 8, 2016

As perceptions of animals evolve, so does English

In a language like English, which implicitly categorizes animals as things rather than persons, adopting the personal pronoun would embody the same recognition — and remind us who animals really are.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 8, 2016

What the next U.S. leader should know about N. Korea

Current U.S. policy deals with the North Korea of the past, not the North Korea of today.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2016

The predators behind the TPP

Twelve Pacific Rim countries representing around 40 percent of the global economy signed the u2028Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade accord on Thursday. Dutch author Karel van Wolferen u2028examines the corporate ramifications of the divisive deal
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 5, 2016

Chiaki Hara reaches out to cancer survivors

Things were looking good for Chiaki Hara at the start of 2005. She was an accomplished actress, having starred in the 1997 tragic romance "Shitsurakuen" ("Lost Paradise") and 2002' drama "Aiki," and her profile as a social commentator was also on the rise. Then, at the age of 30, she was diagnosed with...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Feb 3, 2016

Japanese Odissi dancer masters Indian classical art form

Masako Ono's skills in this ancient style of dance have won her kudos and success in her adopted land of India.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 31, 2016

Bank remittance case suggests My Number may be tough to opt out of

A reader asks about the relationship between the My Number registration system and sending money abroad.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers