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JAPAN
Mar 18, 2010

DPJ rule raises Hague treaty-signing hope

It has been over five years since Murray Wood's two children left their home in Canada with his Japanese ex-wife for a supposed visit with their ill grandfather in Japan.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2010

As security pact with U.S. turns 50, Japan looks to redefine relations

The Japanese-U.S. security treaty in its current form turned 50 Tuesday. Throughout the decades, the two nations have had their ups and downs and occasional tension, but together they weathered the Cold War and entered a new era and new century.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Oct 29, 2007

Fatal deliverance from an 'iron storm'

NEW YORK — I was thinking once again about the intractability of Japan's part in the Pacific phase of World War II when the news came: Okinawans had staged a huge rally to protest the Japanese government's downplaying in textbooks the military's role in "group suicides" among civilians during the Battle...
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2007

Voter litmus test last thing Abe needs now

Scandals, from corruption to suicide, have been the hallmarks of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's first ordinary Diet session, which ended Thursday with support for his Cabinet at its lowest ebb.
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2007

Ways to steer public opinion

Since last year, moves by the government to sway public opinion in favor of its policies have come to the fore one after another. On June 6, the Japan Communist Party revealed that the Ground Self-Defense Force's intelligence security unit had gathered information on the activities of organizations and...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 29, 2007

Gorilla snot and Tokyo sauce

TABLOID TOKYO 2, by Geoff Botting, Ryann Connell, Michael Hoffman, Masuo Kamiyama, Mark Schreiber; Illustrations by Hirosuke Ueno; foreword by Mark Schreiber. Toyko: Kodansha International, 2007, 288 pp., profusely illustrated, 1,400 yen (paper) The success of the first volume of "Tabloid Tokyo" has...
COMMENTARY
Jan 23, 2007

U.S. presence vs. the public will

A tense atmosphere prevails in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, during its centennial this year due to the planned deployment of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2007

Foes of female reign bask in prince's birth

"It's a boy!" The news spread like wildfire on red-letter Sept. 6 with the birth of Prince Hisahito, the first male born into the Imperial family in 41 years.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 20, 2005

Brought to heel

The watchdog role of journalists in Japan is on trial in several cases with enormous implications for freedom of the press here
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2005

Welfare trumps posts as candidates' main concern

Most of the declared candidates running in the Sept. 11 general election say social welfare reform should be the policy priority after the poll, according to a Kyodo News survey released Monday.
Japan Times
Features
Sep 19, 2004

A flavor of Lima with Fujimori to the fore

Visit any Latin dance club and you'll hear the salsa music blaring well before you get through the doors. But this month at dance clubs across Japan there'll be another sound as well: the buzz over a new, free-of-charge magazine on Peruvian life in this country that's being distributed not only at clubs...
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2004

China draws the line in Hong Kong

When Hong Kong reverted to China, Beijing pledged that there would be "one country, two systems." The capitalist redoubt would be part of "one China," but it would also keep its separate political and administrative order to maintain both stability and the vitality that transformed the city into a regional...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2003

Japan Highway chief refuses to step down

Japan Highway Public Corp. President Haruho Fujii on Monday defied an order by transport minister Nobuteru Ishihara to resign, forcing Ishihara to begin the formal process of sacking him.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 11, 2002

Book industry cries murder

Although everyone agrees that the Japanese publishing industry is in trouble, there is less consensus as to the causes. Book and magazine sales have been declining for five years and book revenues for last year were at roughly the same level as a decade earlier; indeed, some say that if it were not for...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 5, 2001

'It's a complicated story,' pleads a battered press

The press has taken quite a beating over its coverage of the murders at Ikeda Elementary School. Even before the funerals, letters to the editor columns were filled with missives from enraged readers lam basting the media's lack of either common decency or common sense. Most complaints concerned interviews...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 14, 2000

Cambodian media: cowed and corrupt

PHNOM PENH -- They don't have to worry as much as before about getting shot on the street or having grenades thrown at their houses. But Cambodia's journalists still labor under a government that doesn't like dissent. And the country still has to put up with journalists who create problems for themselves...
JAPAN
Dec 14, 1998

Government nationalizes Nippon Credit Bank

The government has effectively placed Nippon Credit Bank under temporary state control, concluding the bad loan-laden institution had a capital deficit of 94.4 billion yen at the end of March.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 26, 2023

Their hair long and flowing or in ponytails, women in Iran flaunt their locks

After the death of a women held by the morality police, women have been at the center of a nationwide uprising, demanding an end to hijab requirements and the Islamic Republic itself.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Jul 5, 2023

Would you spend the night in a coffin … for art?

Want to know what it’s like to spend the night in a coffin? Culture critic Thu-Huong Ha joins us to discuss her night in artist Marina Abramovic’s nightmare-inducing Dream House.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 12, 2022

Far from defeated, Putin intends to escalate war in Ukraine

After a meeting with Putin, Austria's chancellor said he came away fearing that the Russian president intended to drastically intensify the brutality of the war in Ukraine.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 11, 2022

The mysterious man who built (and then lost) Little Tokyo

The cluster of these Japanese-style businesses on Stuyvesant Street came together organically over many years. Japan Village emerged nearly all at once.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 16, 2022

Where is Japan's Great Resignation?

This week, senior staff writer Alex Martin joins to discuss the changing face of work in Japan, and why so few people seem inclined to switch roles.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Dec 9, 2021

Japan must take a multifaceted approach to its economic security

Focusing on collaboration with Washington in a range of areas will help Tokyo to make its presence felt across the Indo-Pacific region.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 20, 2021

Lawsuit seeks to halt execution of death row inmates in Japan without advance notice

Prisoners in Japan are currently informed of their impending executions one or two hours before they are carried out.
JAPAN / Media
Sep 30, 2021

Kei Komuro’s ponytail caused a media frenzy in Japan — leaving some to ask why

To some extent, the ratings-driven coverage speaks to the Japanese public's disapproval of Princess Mako's boyfriend.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 25, 2021

Sanae Takaichi asserts her independence with the media

Sanae Takaichi is pushing back against assertions in the press that she is a right-wing figure. What stands out more is that none of her views are that new.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2021

The corporate world's favorite climate solution is mired in disagreements

Global warming is the world's biggest market failure and according to a task force, the solution might just be better trading.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2021

Russia has been the Sputnik vaccine’s worst enemy

Now that a peer-reviewed article in The Lancet has established Sputnik as safe and effective, the initial failure of many countries to believe in it looks like a missed opportunity.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years