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COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 15, 2015

Nationality no barrier for spouses seeking protection from violence

An American resident writes: 'My husband hasn't done much physically yet, but he has threatened to kill me on one occasion. Is it possible to file a restraining order?'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 14, 2015

Japanese are quick to embrace robots

"Hello and welcome. I can tell you about money exchange, ATMs, opening a bank account or overseas remittance. Which one would you like?"
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 11, 2015

Peruvian ice cap harbors pollutants tracing conquistadors' silver slave mines

After vanquishing the Inca Empire with superior weapons and a touch of treachery, the Spanish conquistadors sought to satisfy their lust for riches by forcing multitudes of native people to toil in silver mines in dire conditions that claimed many lives.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / ADVANCES IN PROGRESS
Feb 9, 2015

3-D printers take center stage in Japan's regenerative medicine

As public expectations for regenerative medicine mount, scientists are turning to the vast potential of 3-D printing technologies in their quest to re-create skin, blood vessels, cartilage and other complex human tissue.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2015

Nigeria: an election under fire

Nigeria's president, Goodluck Jonathan, and his rival, Muhammadu Buhari, in the Feb. 14 presidential election have had good luck in cheating death in assassination attempts. But the combined effects of the presidencies of both over the past three decades have not been so lucky for Nigeria.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 4, 2015

Ending aggression in East Asia

Japan's postwar reconciliation efforts have borne abundant fruit that must be cherished and protected by the Abe government.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 3, 2015

Don Matsuo to take solo experiences into Zoobombs' new act

In September 2013, weeks away from celebrating their 20th anniversary, Tokyo rock act Zoobombs announced they were disbanding. The group's leader, guitarist and vocalist Don Matsuo, and his wife, Zoobombs' keyboardist Matta, went on to form a new group called The Randolf. However, that project was short-lived...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 31, 2015

The 2016 White House race: a list of possible candidates

The calculus for the 2016 race for the White House has shifted after 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney decided not to run again. Here are a few of the possible contenders:
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2015

Ukraine needs to realize it can't beat Putin

The longer Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko pretends to his people that Ukraine can seize Donestsk and Luhansk back from Russia by force, the more lives, sovereignty and wealth Ukraine will lose.
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Jan 30, 2015

Safety concerns cloud promise of powerful new cancer drugs

A new wave of experimental cancer drugs that directly recruit the immune system's powerful T cells are proving to be immensely effective weapons against tumors, potentially transforming the $100 billion global market for drugs that fight the disease.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 29, 2015

Scott delivers epic tale with 'Exodus'

While promoting his new film "Exodus: Gods and Kings," Christian Bale referred to his character, Moses, as "likely schizophrenic" and "one of the most barbaric individuals that I ever read about in my life."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2015

Say goodnight to the bad guy: The cost of making enemies in the age of globalized cinema

In the summer of 2010, Hollywood studio MGM had the film "Red Dawn" in the bag and ready for release. There was one little problem, though: The movie — a remake of the 1984 film of the same name, a Cold War paranoid-fantasy about a Soviet invasion of America — had rebooted itself by imagining a more...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 27, 2015

Japan's hydrogen energy hype

The clean image of hydrogen-based energy and its economic viability for Japan are much exaggerated.
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2015

Making the most of cheaper oil

The steep fall in crude oil prices has certainly benefited consumers, but Japan needs to develop a wise energy policy that shields it from the vagaries of oil-price fluctuations over the long term.
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 26, 2015

Sex slave wrangling misses human picture

When a dispute arises between the South Korea and Japan, such as the 'comfort women' controversy, the South Koreans who most fiercely criticize Japan are 'liberals' while the Japanese who criticize South Korea are 'conservative rightists.'
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 25, 2015

Pro-Russian rebels attack key Ukrainian port; at least 30 reported dead

Pro-Russian rebels launched an offensive against the strategic port of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, prompting the European Union's foreign policy chief to warn of a further "grave deterioration" in EU-Russian relations.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / NFL NOTEBOOK
Jan 21, 2015

Manning can thrive in Kubiak's system

My first impression when I heard the news that the Denver Broncos had hired Gary Kubiak to replace John Fox as the 15th head coach in team history was that Peyton Manning is one step closer to retirement.
EDITORIALS
Jan 20, 2015

Shocking Switzerland

The Swiss National Bank's move to abandon currency market intervention has profound implications for the international financial system.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Jan 19, 2015

Explaining the cause of the problem with sei

Today, we will introduce the meanings and usages of the noun u305bu3044 (because of), which expresses someone's belief about the cause of something.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 17, 2015

The City that Silk Built

Kyoto has long been generous to its writers, stretching from Murasaki Shikibu, with "The Tale of Genji," right through to Yukio Mishima, with "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion." The poet Matsuo Basho also penned several memorable haiku while decamped here.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 16, 2015

Uniqlo vows reforms as NGO deplores factory conditions in China

Fast Retailing moves to improve poor working conditions at Uniqlo's clothing plants in China after being confronted by an NGO in Hong Kong.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 15, 2015

Carnivorous plant fine-tunes the slipperiness of its trap to kill ants en masse

A tricky insect-eating plant from Borneo proves that one need not have a brain to outsmart the opposition.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jan 13, 2015

Research institute makes sake a little easier to understand

For the past few years, I've harbored a secret dream — an extremely nerdy ambition unlikely to be shared by anyone other than the hardest of hard-core sake and wine geeks. That dream is to become a master taster.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 10, 2015

Dull and authentic beats out polished TV

Another New Year's break, another two-week onslaught of inconsequential television programs based on the variety show model of comedians talking about themselves, watching videos of other people doing supposedly interesting things and playing games whose main entertainment function is humiliation. The...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 10, 2015

Cataloging the creatures of the unknown

"Yokai dwell in the contact zone between fact and fiction, between belief and doubt ... Yokai begin where language ends," says Michael Dylan Foster in the introduction to "The Book of Yokai," summing up what words often fail to conjure. His book takes readers on a journey into the inexplicable, mysterious,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jan 10, 2015

Life of a Counterfeiter

Yasushi Inoue's "Life of a Counterfeiter," translated by Michael Emmerich, contains three stories: the eponymous novella and two shorter pieces, "Reeds" and "Mr Goodall's Gloves."
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 9, 2015

Don't fight trips to the gym: Take it outside

It's January. The bars are empty and the gyms are full of people with good intentions. By February or March, of course, that situation will reverse, as new year resolutions begin to flag and it becomes increasingly difficult to justify that extortionate gym membership.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Jan 7, 2015

Never mind the facts — logic alone demolishes 'comfort women' deniers' case

Never mind all the living and documentary proof — the idea that 'comfort women' were somehow exempt from wartime coercion and organization is absurd.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 5, 2015

Prince Andrew steps up denial of underage sex with U.S. girl

Buckingham Palace stepped up its denial that Prince Andrew had sex with an underage girl introduced to him by a disgraced U.S. financier, and named the alleged victim whose anonymity was preserved in court documents filed last week.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 3, 2015

Novelist Mizumura fights to arrest fall of Japanese literature

The abiding belief among some native English speakers in Japan is that Japanese people need to use more English instead of sheltering in the comfort of a mother tongue barely spoken beyond their archipelago.

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