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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 19, 2017

China, ASEAN agree on code of conduct framework for disputed South China Sea

China and Southeast Asian countries agreed on Thursday to a framework for a long-mooted code of conduct for the disputed South China Sea, China's foreign ministry said, as both sides step up efforts to ease tension in the strategic waterway.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
May 14, 2017

Liberating young minds with technology

Education in Japan, within the nexus of business, science and internationalization, is currently developing progressive initiatives.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 9, 2017

Renick Bell discovers the art inside the algorithms

In 2017, algorithms are everywhere.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 2, 2017

Ryuichi Sakamoto provides a soundtrack to life at 'async' exhibition

How has Ryuichi Sakamoto been able to harness melancholy so skillfully? How has he created such desperately sad music, and then managed to get up in the morning and do it again and again, over several decades?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 25, 2017

'Tokyo: A Biography': Tracing the life of a city

Cities are intrinsically inviting subjects for a writer. Part human, part natural; arena of history and mantelpiece of memory — cities provide the setting for the archetypal encounter of the individual with the masses.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 11, 2017

'Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien': Excavating Edo's ancient memes with the power of 'yokai'

Beginning with 2008's "Yokai Attack!," translators Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt have been on a quest to bring an aspect of Japanese culture that has lurked in the shadows to the world at large.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 30, 2017

A woman's lowly place in Japan, mirrored in its language

Given that so many demeaning and negative words related to women endure, is it any surprise that sexism is still rife in Japan?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 21, 2017

The triumphant second coming of Endo's 'Silence'

Martin Scorsese's adaptation of "Silence," Shusaku Endo's tale of Catholic missionaries suffering brutal repression in 17th-century Japan, has met with mixed reviews. Some have found it ponderously overlong and, for those unfamiliar with Japanese history, baffling in context. It is, in fact, not a minute...
MORE SPORTS
Jan 2, 2017

Taguchi shoulders WBA title, additional responsibility

Ryoichi Taguchi showed up before the media at his Watanabe Gym on Monday with his WBA light flyweight belt draped over shoulder. He described it as "the only positive thing" that happened in his latest fight, against Carlos Canizales on New Year's Eve.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 31, 2016

'Tokyo Poetry Journal': an experimental space for Japan's English-language poets

The third issue of the "Tokyo Poetry Journal" takes music as its central theme and, rather in the manner of the Nobel Committee for Literature, has chosen to blur the lines between poetry and songwriting. The first half of the new volume features song lyrics accompanied by QR codes that, once scanned,...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2016

The first U.S. presidency of the post-literate age

In the wake of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the media has worked itself into a panic about the rise of fake news on social media.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 26, 2016

A dark, bittersweet childhood becomes a manga masterpiece

"Sunny" is a manga masterpiece. Page by page, it quietly transcends similar slice-of-life comics in its depiction of children in a foster home, their caregivers and estranged parents. Written and illustrated by renowned manga artist Taiyo Matsumoto, this six-volume collection, which won the prestigious...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2016

Enhancing the youth readership experience

To gather voices from young readers, The Japan Times asked a group of students at International School of Asia, Karuizawa, what they thought of The Japan Times. The following opinions were expressed during a feedback session with the students at their school.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 8, 2016

Unknown quantity: How the outcome of the presidential election in November could affect Japan-U.S. relations

"Jesus! Where will it end? How low do you have to stoop in this country to be president?" — Hunter S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72"
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 11, 2016

Noh players seek new audiences with live subtitles on tablets

Tightly traditional noh drama is loosening up, with theater groups trying out tablet computers to help baffled audiences understand what's going on.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 23, 2016

Clinton picks Kaine as Democratic vice presidential running mate

Hillary Clinton named U.S. Senator Tim Kaine as her running mate on Friday, opting for an experienced governing partner who will help her present the Democratic ticket as a steady alternative to the unpredictable campaign of Republican presidential rival Donald Trump.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 16, 2016

Bushido: The awakening of Japan's modern identity

Opinions are divided when it comes to Japan's current Constitution, issued during the U.S. Occupation of 1945 -52: Is it an American imposition that unfairly refuses to recognize the nation as a "normal country" or a precious war-renouncing document that reflects Japan's unique status as the only country...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 9, 2016

How rights and liberties may be downsized under the LDP

During a recent TV program, the vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, Masahiko Komura, insisted "there is zero possibility" that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would revise war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution even if the ruling coalition wins a two-thirds majority in the upcoming Upper...
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 11, 2016

Ex-Stanford swimmer convicted of rape denied alcohol experience in court but spoke of drugs before starting college

The former Stanford University swimmer whose sentence for sexual assault has been widely condemned as too lenient spoke of drug and alcohol use before entering college, undermining his claims to a judge that he lacked experience with alcohol, court documents showed on Friday.
WORLD
Apr 7, 2016

White House declines to support encryption legislation: sources

The White House is declining to offer public support for draft legislation that would empower judges to require technology companies such as Apple Inc. to help law enforcement crack encrypted data, sources familiar with the discussions said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 12, 2016

Recurring views of Tokyo's utopian dream

When the Nakagin Capsule Tower opened in Tokyo in 1972, it embodied the energy and optimism of Japan's postwar boom. Considered architect Kisho Kurokawa's opus, its completion was also a major moment in the development of metabolism, the much publicized Japanese avant-garde architectural movement that...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2015

Obama and the limits of executive power

The failure of U.S. President Barack Obama to achieve three major goals in 2015 highlights the limits of presidential power.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 29, 2015

Gain the courage to scream with Yoko Ono

The conceit of "From My Window" — an exhibition that covers Yoko Ono as a conceptual artist from the 1950s onwards — is to focus on her connection with Tokyo. Since it's at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Contemporary Art, maybe that's to be expected, but this does not necessarily jibe well with...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2015

A toothless treaty can't stop climate change

The only good that has come out of the Paris deal is that most of the world's nations acknowledge climate change and the need to do something about it.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 12, 2015

France issues climate draft to guide shift from fossil fuels

Hosts France issued a 31-page draft text of a deal to combat climate change on Saturday, hoping to secure adoption within hours from 195 nations and mark a turning point for the global economy away from fossil fuels.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 3, 2015

Climate talks nations close in on five-year review of pledged carbon cuts

Climate negotiators in Paris are drawing close to resolving one of the sticking points for a breakthrough emissions pact by favoring a five-year review period on promised greenhouse gas cuts, a top official said on Wednesday.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past