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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 4, 2014

Manga, the Rising Sun and Abe's history problem

During his recent visit to the United Nations, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reasserted his eagerness to improve relations with Japan's East Asian neighbors, but the reaction from Beijing and Seoul was tepid.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 4, 2014

Chinese premier to attend Europe summit, sign Russia rail deal

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will attend a summit of European and Asian leaders on a trip starting this week that will also include a visit to Germany and the signing of energy and high-speed rail deals with Russia, the Chinese government said.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Oct 4, 2014

Yakuza do what Abe Cabinet pick can't

In most countries, police officers and criminals are supposed to be on opposite sides of the law, especially the higher up the chain of command you go, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe doesn't appear to think this is necessary.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2014

Problem with President Xi

Chinese President Xi JInping has insisted he won't tolerate any concessions to the calls for electoral and governmental reform now being made in mass demonstrations in Hong Kong. The analogy with the Tiananmen tragedy is now widely made.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Oct 1, 2014

Readers' letters: Ian Thorpe, the Yushukan, racism, teaching English, tipping and sunlight

Some emails received in response to recent Community articles.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 30, 2014

Japan begins soul-searching over crimes against unsupervised children

In a nation where young children are commonly encouraged to walk to school on their own, the recent shocking murder of a girl in Kobe raises questions over whether people in Japan are too trusting and should supervise schoolchildren more closely.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2014

Volcanoes may be next obstacle for Japan's atomic power industry

The deadly volcanic eruption of Mount Ontake over the weekend may strengthen the argument of activists campaigning to keep the country's 48 reactors shut.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2014

Is the Asahi a scapegoat of nationalist media or victim of own missteps?

One of the nation's leading newspapers has been in crisis mode of late — a situation that may bode ill for liberal journalism at a time when nationalism appears to be making public inroads.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 24, 2014

Red Obsession

As someone who drinks a fair bit of wine, allow me to make a heretical statement: French wine is overrated. This is not to suggest that the French are not capable of producing some truly fantastic quaffs, but let's be frank: If money is not an issue, by all means drink French wine. But if you have a...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 24, 2014

Hong Kong student activists rally ahead of threatened blockade

Hong Kong students gathered in the heart of the city for a second day on Wednesday ahead of a planned blockade of government buildings if the city's leader fails to discuss their demands for free elections.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Sep 24, 2014

Obama forges disparate coalition to combat Islamic State, but will it stick?

The Arabs are in. Turkey is on the fence. Britain, still smarting from an earlier Iraq war, is cautiously edging toward expanded action. Even Greece wants to help — if someone would tell it how.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2014

Disaffected have their say, but will Westminster listen?

The dilemma for Britain's political leaders is how to build on the public engagement generated by Scotland's referendum without rushing into ill-conceived reforms that create more problems than they solve.
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2014

Scotland stays in

Although last week's vote in Scotland preserves the U.K., expect the Union to be transformed as the Scottish people hold British politicians to their campaign pledge of giving the Scots more power over their own affairs.
EDITORIALS
Sep 22, 2014

To defeat and destroy Islamic State

Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria can be defeated, but doing so will require a serious and thoughtful strategy, not a knee-jerk, emotional reaction to its brutality.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 22, 2014

A peculiar perspective on the capricious word hen

One major event in Japan's 16th-century civil war — which is the focus of "Gunshi Kanbei (Strategist Kanbei)," NHK's current Sunday-night drama series — involves the duplicitous warlord Akechi Mitsuhide.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Sep 21, 2014

The town that's battling the demographic tide

On Oki Islands off Shimane Prefecture, a bold wave of reform seems to be having a positive effect.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 21, 2014

Iraqi Christians fly to new life in France after escaping Islamic State

On a warm evening at Irbil International Airport in Iraqi Kurdistan, some 150 mostly Christian refugees anxiously waited to flee their homeland aboard a French government plane.
COMMENTARY / World / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 20, 2014

Jokowi's victory brings high hopes and challenges

In July, Joko Widodo, universally known as Jokowi, won a decisive victory in Indonesia's presidential elections. Even before assuming office in October, he faces extravagant expectations in a nation that has endured mercurial (Sukarno), repressive (Suharto) and feckless (B.J. Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid,...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 20, 2014

Backlash fears after Scottish vote

Scotland's "no" to independence may have saved British Prime Minister David Cameron his job, but sweeping pledges of a constitutional shake-up could undermine his re-election drive and trigger more political instability.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2014

Parliaments need a say on war

Democracies urgently need to modernize procedures and structures for going to war with parliamentary debate and sanction, instead of by government fiat based on the instincts of a strong-willed prime minister or president.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2014

London's young techs find anti-immigrant mood a drag on hiring talent

When Efe Cakarel picked London as a new base for his video streaming company, he was counting on its location, capital markets and infrastructure, but also on the city's reputation as a hub for talented people from Europe and beyond.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Sep 17, 2014

Der Spiegel magazine finds print and digital mix that works

With newspaper readership on the decline worldwide as the industry faces the print-to-digital transition, a German approach may serve as a reference for Japanese media seeking new tactics to attract customers.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 17, 2014

Forensics suggest King Richard III was killed by two blows to his bare head

Scientists in Britain have given blow-by-blow details of King Richard III's death at the Battle of Bosworth more than 500 years ago and say two of many blows to his bare head could have killed him very swiftly.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2014

Scottish referendum asking the wrong question

By allowing the Sept. 18 referendum question to be framed as 'Should Scotland be an independent country?' the U.K. government may have unwittingly skewed the outcome in favor of a 'yes' vote.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 16, 2014

Gordon Brown wrestles with Scotland's fate ahead of referendum

Once mocked for claiming to have saved the world after the 2008 financial crisis, former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown may now have the fate of Scotland in his hands.
WORLD
Sep 15, 2014

Cameron to visit Scotland before vote to try to keep U.K. intact

British Prime Minister David Cameron will make one of his final visits to Scotland later Monday, four days before a historic independence referendum, to warn Scots a vote to leave the United Kingdom is a forever choice.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 14, 2014

Silent Europe aghast at possible breakup of U.K.

Britain's international partners are aghast, mostly in silence, at the possibility that one of the leading Western powers could break up and turn in on itself if Scotland votes this week for independence from London.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2014

Abe pressures North Korea at rally for abductees' families

With North Korea's report approaching on its second probe into the fate of the Japanese it abducted, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday vowed in front of their families that his administration is committed to bringing them home.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?