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COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2016

After Aleppo, can Syria achieve a kind of peace?

With the siege of Aleppo apparently drawing to an end, the question will be whether the outside powers accept Bashar Assad's victory or keep the war going.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 29, 2016

Divining the new U.S. Asia policy

Experience tells us to discount at least half of what is said during presidential campaigns. The challenge is predicting correctly which half to discount.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 29, 2016

The alchemy of the avant-garde

"Abanga-do," the Japanese loan word derived from "avant-garde" has a relatively wider usage than the original French term. The political philosopher Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825) originally coined "avant-garde" as a rallying cry for art of the early 19th century to be a medium of social reform. In...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 28, 2016

Some Japanese find frustration, others freedom in foreign tongues

The Japanese have never been skilled at communication, but they have been able to fall back on the belief that everyone understood each other without saying anything. Unfortunately, this has never applied to non-Japanese.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2016

Paper made from stone tempts Japan's top printer to invest

The nation's biggest printing company is funding a startup that makes paper out of rock, in a bid to diversify into new materials and as environmental concerns push companies to seek more sustainable products.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 28, 2016

Mikawa-Anjo Station offers foreign visitors brief, cheap shinkansen experience

The number of foreigners visiting Mikawa-Anjo Station, the next stop after Nagoya Station on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line, is increasing, particularly visitors from Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Nov 28, 2016

Half a million societal drop-outs drag on Abe's economic dreams

Nagisa Hirai was an active child who loved playing soccer with the boys. But that early happiness dissipated on her first day at elementary school when she became frightened after being unable to find her classroom.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 27, 2016

Alabama Shakes take a risk that pays off in 'Sound & Color'

With their blended appearance and a sound steeped in soul yet born of the millennial rock scene, Alabama Shakes could symbolize a post-racial dream that, as the recent U.S. election shows, remains a work in progress.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Nov 27, 2016

A reading list for Japan's music scene

Sometime in the spring of 2014, a friend of mine who works for a small publishing company asked if I would write a book about the Japanese music scene for him.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 27, 2016

Dai Hirai moves from beach to campfire on 'Love is Beautiful'

Dai Hirai "Love is Beautiful" (Avex Trax)
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2016

Nobel-winning Belarusian writer Alexievich speaks on nuclear disasters and the future of human hubris

Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in literature, called the nuclear catastrophes at Chernobyl and Fukushima events that people cannot yet fully fathom and warned against the hubris that humans have the power to conquer nature.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Nov 27, 2016

Maradona mourns passing of 'second father' Castro

For soccer great Diego Maradona, Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro was more than a friend and fellow Latin American legend, he was "a second father."
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 27, 2016

Dutch destroy 190,000 ducks in first bird flu cull

Some 190,000 ducks were destroyed on Saturday at six farms in the Netherlands following an avian flu outbreak, the country's first cull of an epidemic sweeping northern Europe.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Nov 26, 2016

Finally — the games PlayStation players have been waiting for

The years-in-the-making "Final Fantasy XV" is finally coming out. The game was originally announced back in 2006 as "Final Fantasy Versus XIII," but it has since been reworked and then rebranded as "Final Fantasy XV."
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2016

China again sends fighter jets, bombers through sensitive strait south of Okinawa

Chinese military planes again fly through a politically sensitive entryway to the Pacific Ocean, prompting Japan to scramble aircraft near Okinawa.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NEIGHBORHOOD HOP SPORTS
Nov 25, 2016

A journey to the center of Tokyo's crowded craft beer scene

It may be located in the center of Tokyo but people always seem to be passing through Kanda on their way to someplace else: north to Akihabara, east to Asakusa, south to Tokyo Station or west to the Imperial Palace. This liminal neighborhood can feel like a no man's land of offices, banal apartments...
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2016

Swiss vote on ending nuclear power raises prospect of more fossil fuels

Switzerland votes in a referendum on Sunday on whether to make a speedy withdrawal from atomic energy production, a move that would reduce nuclear risks but raise reliance on fossil fuels from Germany or imported nuclear power from France.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 24, 2016

Don't build a wall — amend U.S. Constitution

A constitutional amendment can solve the U.S.' illegal immigration woes better than a wall on the border with Mexico.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 24, 2016

A golden age of theater for Japan's seniors

At the age of 91, Saitama resident Izumi Noguchi is speaking at his first press conference — at least as an actor anyway.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Nov 24, 2016

SMAP set to skip year-end 'Kohaku'

NHK announced the lineup Thursday for the 67th edition of its annual "Kohaku" year-end music contest, but the country's top boy band SMAP was not on the list.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2016

'Spamusement' park in Beppu could become a reality thanks to viral video

Roller coasters, cable cars and Ferris wheels are typical rides at amusement parks, but the city of Beppu, Oita Prefecture, is mixing the excitement with a natural attraction — its famous hot springs.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Nov 24, 2016

Has Zika circulated quietly in Asia for decades?

Zika's rampage last year in Brazil caused an explosion of infections and inflicted a crippling neurological defect on thousands of babies — an effect never seen in a mosquito-borne virus.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 24, 2016

SoftBank's regional clean-energy ambitions find favor in Mongolia

SoftBank Group Corp. plans to build more wind projects in Mongolia as Chairman Masayoshi Son pushes to connect countries across Asia with transmission lines to supply cheap, clean energy.

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