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CULTURE / Music
Sep 29, 2016

Yasutaka Nakata crafts a music festival in his own digi-pop image

Yasutaka Nakata's schedule tonight is packed. He's being photographed by a Japanese magazine in a basement studio after 10 p.m. on a Friday, and it's taking a little longer than expected. After this he'll have a (very) late dinner before heading to Tokyo's east end to do an early-morning DJ set at club...
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Sep 29, 2016

Delightful and delicious Xmas treats; enjoying chestnut-flavored treats; ring in the new year in style

Delightful and delicious Xmas treats
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 29, 2016

Messenger closing in on deal with Hanshin

Randy Messenger and the Hanshin Tigers are nearing a deal that will keep the right-hander with the club through 2018, his agent, Matt Sosnick, told The Japan Times on Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2016

When it comes to the Beatles, we'll never let it be

The Beatles' career as a live band came to a — literally — screeching halt in August 1966, when on their final American tour, the howling of frenzied female fans became so deafening they could no longer hear themselves play. Author Tom Wolfe, describing a San Francisco stadium gig, wrote of "great...
Reader Mail
Sep 24, 2016

Japan's war aim in China misinterpreted

In his Counterpoint column titled "Memories of Mukden Incident remain divisive" in the Sept. 18 edition, Jeff Kingston claims that Japan's drive into Southeast Asia in 1941 was initiated "in order to secure resources needed to vanquish China." This is a curious interpretation for the expansion of the...
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Sep 23, 2016

Barton cites early instruction as key to Japan's success

ISU announcer Ted Barton has seen it all during his long career in the sport.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 23, 2016

Panel formed to ease burden on Emperor Akihito but abdication issue looms

A six-member panel forms to help the Emperor through his twilight years, while the thorny political issue of allowing him to abdicate lurks in the background.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 22, 2016

Despite flaws, paperless voting machines remain widespread in U.S.

About 1 in 4 registered voters in the United States live in areas that use electronic voting machines that do not produce a paper backup despite concerns that they are vulnerable to tampering and malfunctions, according to a Reuters analysis.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Sep 21, 2016

Body image and the foreign female in Japan: survey shows frustration with one-size-fits-all thinking

Survey of nearly 600 women reveals that many feel society places pressure on them to meet narrow Japanese definition of beauty.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 18, 2016

Tokyo's safety claims for Toyosu fish market cleanup getting harder to sell

On Sept. 10, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike revealed that the people in charge of the soil remediation work for the Toyosu market, the relocation site for the famed Tsukiji fish market in Chuo Ward, ignored the recommendations of outside safety experts.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2016

Saving refugees to save the European Union

Rather than uniting to resist the populist threat they all face, EU member states have played into its hands by becoming increasingly unwilling to cooperate with one another.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2016

Hungary's refugee response just the beginning

Global refugees are more numerous today than at any other time since 1950, but in 20 years there will probably be five or 10 times as many — and the borders will be slamming shut everywhere.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 15, 2016

Hidden data: the new weapon that could beat hunger

With a single smartphone app, you can now get a pretty accurate forecast of the weather anywhere in the world. That is largely thanks to a decision by science agencies, a decade ago, to put online their satellite data and make it available for free.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 14, 2016

U.S., Israel to sign record military aid deal

The United States and Israel have agreed on a record $38 billion package of U.S. military aid and will sign the pact on Wednesday, enshrining defense funding for Washington's closest Middle East ally for the next decade, officials said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Sep 4, 2016

JBC marks 100 columns and a million page views

Column has been shining a critical light on issues affecting Japan's foreign residents since 2008.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 4, 2016

Takashi Niigaki emerges from the ashes of a scandal with a symphony to call his own

On Feb. 6, 2014, composer Takashi Niigaki faced a crowd of reporters at the Hotel New Otani in Tokyo and took a deep and apologetic bow. He had just revealed that he was ghostwriter for Mamoru Samuragochi, who was celebrated as "Japan's Beethoven" before being exposed as a fraud. Niigaki confessed to...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2016

Unintended consequences of energy and climate policy

Governments everywhere are finding that moves toward energy reliability, energy affordability and cleaner energy are having the opposite results from those intended.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 1, 2016

Brazil's new leader, Temer, is a consensus-builder who now must prepare for a fight

Michel Temer is a president few Brazilians want, replacing a leader few saw fit to stay.
LIFE / Language
Aug 29, 2016

The Emperor's speech: lucid but appropriately indirect

Emperor Akihito's choice of words and presentation speak volumes about how the relationship between the Imperial family and the people of Japan has evolved since his father's address to the nation in 1945.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 27, 2016

Demythologizing Pure Land Buddhism

The bulk of "Demythologizing Pure Land Buddhism" is a collection of essays by Rijin Yasuda (1900-1982), a Shin Buddhist thinker in the modernizing tradition of Kiyozawa Manshi (1863-1903). Yasuda "taught a conception of Amida and the Pure Land that made them existential realities in the present," as...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 23, 2016

Only the Philippines has to worry about Duterte

Human rights, the rule of law and the United Nations are getting short shrift in the war on drugs launched by 'Duterte Harry.'
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 22, 2016

In the electronics doldrums

The main culprit of Japan's economic doldrums during the past quarter century is the stagnation of its electronic equipment manufacturers.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2016

India adopts new approach to muscle-flexing China

As they embark on their journeys to become global powers, it's in China and India's interest to remove mistrust by closely collaborating with one another.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 17, 2016

BOJ firepower fizzles as currency market dares Japan to act

Traders feel the BOJ won't stand in the way of further yen strength after the currency passes 100 per dollar for the second time this year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2016

More airline travel disruptions likely as carriers grapple with aging technology

Airlines will likely suffer more disruptions like the one that grounded about 2,000 Delta flights last week because major carriers have not invested enough to overhaul reservations systems based on technology dating to the 1960s, airline industry and technology experts have said.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2016

One path to leadership in China is now closed

Instead of sharing power across factions as his two predecessors did, Xi Jinping is consolidating power for himself.

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