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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 20, 2014

Abe taps Shiller insights on breaking 'shrunken mindset'

Three weeks before the consumption tax was increased last month for the first time in 17 years, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe turned to Nobel laureate Robert Shiller to try to restore a vital ingredient of his economic revolution: optimism.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
May 20, 2014

Why not add a little booze?

Mirin is a staple of Japanese kitchens, yet few people know what it actually is.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2014

Europe's economic Iron Curtain

Twenty-five years after the Berlin Wall fell, a just-released set of gloomy economic forecasts demonstrate how the countries formerly under Moscow's sway are still painfully connected to Russia and to one another.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2014

Trash troubles pile up in China's Garbage Era

Chinese consumers, as much if not more than industry or the government, are at the root of the country's solid-waste problem. Yet protests over garbage incinerators, as an alternative to landfills, are turning violent.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
May 19, 2014

Post-Snowden, admiral seeks to repair the reputation and effectiveness of the NSA

As U.S. National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers seeks to repair the damage to the agency caused by leaks about its electronic spying programs, the abuses of government revealed in the wake of the Watergate scandal are very much on his mind.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 18, 2014

Stone, sweat and stamps: chasing Jizos in Kamakura

Amy Chavez gets to know Jizo Bosatsu — the Buddhist deity who looks after travelers and children — a little better, by embarking on a 24-site Jizo Pilgrimage jog through Kamakura.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 17, 2014

Tiananmen's silver year: from protest to massacre

Twenty-five years ago on June 4 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) turned on Chinese citizens in a ruthless display of violence, not for the first time, slaughtering many in the streets of Beijing to crush a pro-democracy movement lead by university students.
JAPAN / History
May 17, 2014

Wrong to judge early imperialist Japan too harshly?

"Korea turned out to be this nice, laid-back place..."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 17, 2014

Insufficient Direction

Moyoco Anno's manga "Insufficient Direction" is the, perhaps, inevitable result of what happens when a legendary anime director marries a well-known manga artist.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2014

The once-mighty U.S. is in decline: Get used to it

Like fourth-century Romans, Americans are beginning to realize that they are no longer citizens of an unrivaled superpower. And they're kind of freaking out about it.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2014

Why the dollar will remain the top currency

China is missing one crucial ingredient as it builds the renminbi's claim to reserve-currency status: the world's trust with regard to a broader and more credible set of public and political institutions.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2014

A new cold war or a cool power calculation?

Americans understand that if they go too far too fast in pushing sanctions against Russia in the Ukraine crisis, Europe will publicly break with the U.S. approach, because the Europeans have a lot more at stake economically.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 13, 2014

Cavs fire Brown again, move into position for LeBron

I don't know about hiring Mike Brown to be your basketball coach. Well, I do know. Don't do it. He's awful.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 13, 2014

West Antarctic glacier thaw now 'irreversible,' study finds

Vast glaciers in West Antarctica seem to be locked in an irreversible thaw linked to global warming that may push up sea levels for centuries, scientists said on Monday.
JAPAN
May 12, 2014

Journalist now stands by Nanjing book

In a reversal, journalist Henry S. Stokes stands by the revisionist conclusion of his Japanese book that the Nanjing Massacre never occurred, after accusing his translator of right-wing sabotage.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2014

How the mainstream loves to betray its heroes

Americans Donald Sterling, Cliven Bundy and Phil Robertson have more in common than dumb opinions about blacks. They're examples of working classism at work.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2014

Knack for broad alliances lets U.S. leadership endure

Many observers cite the Ukraine crisis as yet another example of America's declining global influence. Ultimately, though, the world's evolution plays to an important U.S. strength: the ability to build broad and disparate coalitions.
COMMENTARY / World
May 11, 2014

Trouble with revoking citizenship extralegally

In the absence of global citizenship, it may be best for the U.K. government to retain the principle that citizenship is not to be revoked without a judicial hearing.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 10, 2014

Rhododendrons, azaleas: blooming marvels of the plant world

Nothing tops turning a corner on a trail and encountering a sudden splash of pink, red or gold amongst the greenery.
JAPAN
May 8, 2014

Riken stands behind STAP paper probe

The Riken institute states that it will not reopen its probe into the so-called STAP cell papers, leaving biologist Haruko Obokata guilty of research misconduct.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / FOCUS
May 8, 2014

The 'yes-man' whose faith defied China's rulers

It was shaping up to be a win in the Communist Party's quest to contain a longtime nemesis — the Roman Catholic Church. In July 2012, a priest named Thaddeus Ma Daqin was to be ordained auxiliary bishop of Shanghai.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 8, 2014

'Momose, Kocchi wo Muite (My Pretend Girlfriend)'

First love, or hatsukoi, is a big topic in Japanese teen films, as well as almost everywhere else in popular culture. It's attractive because of its innocence and purity, as well as the almost inevitable fleetingness of the relationship — if indeed, it is one; someone is often far more besotted than...
BUSINESS / Economy
May 7, 2014

Ex-pension fund overseer urges cut in Japan stocks

The government pension fund should cut domestic stocks to diversify risk, said Seki Obata, who was dropped from the organization's investment committee last month.
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2014

Chinese cities' four modernizations

So far, China has largely taken a 'Field of Dreams' approach to urbanization: 'Build it, and they will come.' Now the effectiveness of these investments will depend on how skillfully they are adapted to each locality's distinct resources, needs and aspirations.
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2014

Phones may not have the right to remain silent

The U.S. Supreme Court has just heard arguments over whether police should be allowed to search a person's smartphone without a warrant to find evidence relevant to the crime for which he or she is being arrested.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
May 4, 2014

Jewelry innovator Shiraki puts ethics at the heart of beauty

Natsuko Shiraki, a jewelry designer and CEO of Tokyo-based jeweler Hasuna Co., vividly remembers the shocking experience in southern India that changed her life.
WORLD
May 4, 2014

A glance at the history of Polish immigration to U.K.

Poles are now the second-largest foreign-born group of people in the U.K., with numbers at a record high following Poland's accession to the EU 10 years ago. But the history of Poles in Britain goes back much further.
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2014

Pacific partners should push back against TPP until U.S. shows respect for financial reforms

Despite President Barack Obama's charm offensive in the region, Pacific nations should beware of the U.S. government's position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership until American negotiators show more respect for the regulation of financial services.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
May 4, 2014

Kikokushijo: returnees to a country not yet ready for them

Though the number of returnee students has tripled since 1977, and despite the recent government push to develop 'global human resources,' the existence of this group of globally educated young people has been largely ignored by policymakers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 3, 2014

Japan inked: Should the country reclaim its tattoo culture?

Tattooing is the most misunderstood form of art in contemporary Japan.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight