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COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2015

Saying goodbye to steel production in China

As China's domestic economy slows and competition increases amid widespread disgust with air pollution, one surprisingly popular option for the massive, state-owned steel mills is to bid China goodbye.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2015

China needs to embrace 'creative destruction'

As 2015 starts, China's leaders should learn from the experience of Japan in 2014. The travails of 'Abenomics' should be a warning to Chinese President Xi JInping.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2015

If Obama won't bring U.S. torturers to justice, why not compensate torture victims for life?

If President Barack Obama won't bring U.S. torturers to justice, why not compensate torture victims for lost wages, medical expenses, counseling and other costs of their detention?
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 2, 2015

Still no insurance for mental illness

The U.S. remains a country in its infancy when it comes to mental health care, despite the undeniable turning point marked by the enactment of the Affordable Care Act in 2013.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 2, 2015

From president to dictator

President Vladimir Putin's regime is on the verge of transitioning from mild authoritarianism to outright dictatorship. The country's newly amended military doctrine is an especially ominous sign.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 2, 2015

This round of low-cost oil differs from before

The world is experiencing much more than a temporary dip in oil prices. A change in the supply model marks a fundamental shift that will likely have long-lasting effects.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jan 1, 2015

Most read Culture stories of 2014

OK Go's Japanese-inspired music video and Sailor Moon's special birthday were some of the most read and shared Culture articles of 2014.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Jan 1, 2015

Readers' letters: Roppongi, Ferguson, 'Massan,' Julien Blanc and more

Some emails received in response to Community articles at the tail end of 2014.
JAPAN / History
Jan 1, 2015

Donald Keene reflects on 70-year Japan experience

My first visit to Japan was very short, only a week or so in December 1945. Three months earlier, while on the island of Guam, I had heard the broadcast by the Emperor announcing the end of the war. Soon afterward, I was sent from Guam to China to serve as an interpreter between the Americans and the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NATURE'S PANTRY
Dec 30, 2014

Niigata home brews enhance teatime

Goushi Iijima sits in front of the irori ( a traditional ash fireplace), his back ramrod straight yet somehow deeply relaxed. With measured, fluid movements, he pours cold-infused green tea into delicate clear glass cups set on lacquerware saucers.
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2014

End of the STAP dream

At the very least, the education ministry, Riken research institute officials and others must determine what went wrong with the dream of STAP cell research and push for drastic change in Japan's research environment.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 30, 2014

Their nation in pieces, Iraqis ponder what comes next

The machine gun poking out from between a framed portrait of a Shiite imam and a stuffed toy Minnie Mouse was trained on anyone who approached the checkpoint.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 30, 2014

'The Interview' top-selling 2014 flick on Google Play

Sony Pictures' "The Interview" is the top-grossing movie of the year for Google Inc., after earning $15 million in online sales and rentals from all sources through Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2014

Business Book of the Year is timely but way off target

The economics in Thomas Piketty's 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century,' chosen the Business Book of the Year by the Financial Times, leaves a lot to be desired. But its timing was fantastic.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2014

An all-Hindu vision of India

India's powerful, male-only Hindu nationalist outfit announces an intensive conversion program to recover its 'lost property' in India, feeding its dream of an India that is nothing less than '100 per cent Hindu.'
EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2014

Using errors to advance agendas

An independent panel's findings on the Asahi Shimbun's retraction of a series of past articles on the 'comfort women' issue offer important lessons to reporters, editors and newspaper management.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 27, 2014

Mishima: sliced from the shackles of time

Henry Scott Stokes, Yukio Mishima's first biographer, once told me that the thing he most remembered about the writer was his exquisite manners — one of those telling details that lend a touch of authenticity to the work of those who knew Mishima personally. Because biographies are such intensely personal...
COMMENTARY
Dec 26, 2014

What the revised jump in U.S. growth means

The strength of the U.S. economy stands in stark contrast to what is happening in the eurozone and Japan, and the resulting divergence will be accompanied by opposing monetary-policy responses.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2014

Top domestic news of 2014

The Japan Times editors selected these domestic stories as the most important of 2014.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Dec 25, 2014

Japan Times Advisory Board serves up brickbats, praise for newspaper's coverage

Ichiro Fujisaki, who formerly served as Japan's ambassador to the United States, praised the paper for its "readability." He said he senses that the editors try to choose phrases and words that are easy for Japanese readers to understand.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 24, 2014

Our critics in the crossfire

The Japan Times' three film writers got together before Christmas to discuss their top picks of movies released this year. Unusually, this year both Giovanni Fazio and Kaori Shoji agreed on their No. 1, choosing "The Broken Circle Breakdown." Mark Schilling picked Mipo Oh's "Soko Nomi Nite Hikari Kagayaku"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 24, 2014

2014: New horizons opened up in Japan's theater world

Looking back over the past 12 months in Japan's theater world, it's clear that one encouraging trend is a lessening of the capital's dominance.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 24, 2014

France waves discreet goodbye to 75% super-tax

When President Francois Hollande unveiled a "super-tax" on the rich in 2012, some feared an exodus of business, sporting and artistic talent. One adviser warned it was a Socialist step too far that would turn France into "Cuba without sun."
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 23, 2014

First Air Jordans were banned by NBA for clashing with team colors

This is the third installment from Hall of Fame writer Sam Smith's new book "There Is No Next: NBA Legends on the Legacy of Michael Jordan."
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2014

Making obesity a disability will only fuel problem

The decision by Europe's highest court that obesity can be a disability will only give the many overweight people in rich countries legal grounds to feel righteous about their condition, regardless of its causes.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2014

Christians a vanishing species in Arab world

The observance of the Christian holiday in the Middle East is a sad reminder that the region's distinctive relgious, ethnic and cultural diversity is rapidly disappearing.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2014

U.S. sanctions are a tragedy for Cuba, farce for Russians

Western leaders imposing sanctions on Russia need to ponder whether they really want to turn Vladimir Putin's Russia into something like Castro's Cuba — only far bigger and more dangerous.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Dec 21, 2014

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble: a gaijin's lot in Japan?

A selection of readers' responses to Debito Arudou's last column, 'Time to burst your bubble and face reality.'
LIFE
Dec 20, 2014

Public protest in Japan: Power to the people?

"Freedom of assembly and association as well as speech, press and all other forms of expression are guaranteed." — Article 21, Constitution of Japan

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