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Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 30, 2015

Laser's co-inventor, Nobel laureate Charles Townes, dead at 99

Charles Townes, who shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in physics for invention of the laser, a feat that revolutionized science, medicine, telecommunications and entertainment, has died at age 99, the University of California at Berkeley reported.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2015

Goto gets sunset deadline extension

A new audio message purportedly from hostage Kenji Goto on Thursday morning declared that Jordan must present female prisoner Sajida al-Rishawi at the Turkish border by sunset on Thursday, or Jordanian air force pilot Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh would be executed immediately.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2015

Japanese at higher risk of kidnap, analyst says

As the latest Islamic State deadline ticked closer on Thursday, one analyst said the Abe administration's response to the hostage crisis may leave other Japanese at risk of being kidnapped as political extremists and profiteers now see them as easy prey.
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 / Art
Jan 29, 2015

Art is long, when life can be short

Given Japan's continual seismic activity, what happened at 5:46 a.m. on Jan. 17, 1995, was unavoidable. The devastation and loss of life that occurred with the magnitude 7.3 quake in Kansai became a yardstick only now surpassed by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. While the aftereffects of the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 29, 2015

Toyota gets blowback from China after Abe plugs hydrogen car

Toyota Motor Corp., already falling behind competitors in China's car market, is encountering a backlash from Chinese media over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's endorsement of its new Mirai fuel cell sedan.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 29, 2015

Abe pledges to 'correct' the record on wartime sex slaves

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Thursday to increase efforts to alter views abroad on Japan's actions in World War II by disseminating the "correct" view, as he put it.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jan 28, 2015

Kawabuchi to help lead task force charged with solving Japan's basketball impasse

FIBA, basketball's world governing body, on Wednesday announced the formation of a task force to lay a new foundation for the sport in Japan, and former J. League chairman Saburo Kawabuchi was appointed co-chairman.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2015

Back to the love hotel for ex-pink film director

Interviews with people you know well can turn awkward if you try to be the probing questioner instead of the coffee-shop companion. No such worries with 61-year-old Ryuichi Hiroki, the former pink film (i.e., soft pornography) director who made his commercial and critical breakthrough with the erotically...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2015

Big Eyes: 'The devil's pact between creativity and marketing'

Tim Burton's "Big Eyes," a portrait of real-life artists Margaret and Walter Keane, who specialized in creepy but cute paintings of saucer-eyed children and kittens, marks the first time Burton has returned to the real world since "Ed Wood" (1994). Yet while "Big Eyes" is as much an ode to kitsch as...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2015

Breathe In (Japan title: Anatatono Kiss Madeno Kyori)

Director: Drake Doremus Language: English
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2015

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Japan title: Saru no Wakusei: Shinseki — Rising)

Director: Matt Reeves Language: English
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 28, 2015

Japan-South Korea relations remain hostage to history

Japan and South Korea face a stark choice: to find ways to settle their disputes over history or stay locked in a frozen political relationship that plays into China's hands.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2015

Starting South Korea's new growth engines

With a new economic strategy that nurtures more diversified sources of growth, while reducing the country's excessive reliance on exports and large enterprises, South Korea can reinvigorate and sustain strong growth.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 28, 2015

Arab envoys in Japan condemn Islamic State killing of hostage Haruna Yukawa

Arab ambassadors to Japan released a joint statement condemning the murder of Haruna Yukawa by Islamic State militants and urging the immediate release of the group's other Japanese hostage, Kenji Goto.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2015

Journalists, Muslims say Japan is a friend, urge Goto release

Multiple organizations in Japan have issued statements on the hostage crisis. Following are selected quotes:
EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2015

Obama unleashed

U.S. President Barack Obama's State of the Union address was a campaign speech, one intended to define and frame the stakes in the 2016 presidential election.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2015

Washington suffers from a tolerance problem

For the next two years, the chances are good that the U.S. government will be almost completely paralyzed.
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Jan 27, 2015

Kuwata's left jab has nothing on the politics of ad money

If this column is going to be about one thing in 2015, it will be politics in music.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 27, 2015

Shameful practice of resting healthy players must end

"Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don't feel like doing them."
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 27, 2015

Toyota to change age-based pay scale

Toyota Motor Corp. plans to change its seniority-based pay structure for workers in Japan that will erase salary gaps between age groups, the company's human resources chief said on Tuesday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jan 27, 2015

In South Korea, women's careers take back seat to caring for kids

Ahn Ji-sun was looking forward to going back to work after she had given birth to her second child. But she had no one to baby-sit the kids.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 27, 2015

Nomura says 'Abenomics' more likely to derail amid doubt over tax pledge

Nomura Holdings Inc. says the probability that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policies will end badly is increasing.
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.'

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers