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JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 14, 2013

2013: A year to clone in Japanese science

In a year when the science news in Japan is still dominated by Fukushima, there have also been plenty of inspirational stories. For this final column of 2013, I have picked a few of my favorites.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 14, 2013

TPP offers early test of how far secrets law will cow Japan's media

Journalist Toshihiro Yamanaka characterizes the TPP talks as 'the most secretive trade negotiations to take place since the end of the 19th century,' an observation supported by classified documents recently released by WikiLeaks showing how the U.S. is pressuring all countries involved in TPP to make sure details of the talks are kept from the public.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Dec 14, 2013

Why didn't Japan have a revolution like France's?

Why wasn't there a revolution in Japan like the one in France? The suffering was as great in 18th-century Japan as in the realm of ill-fated King Louis XVI, the government here as callous and incompetent as the government there. How did Japan's old order — rotting internally, as its collapse under...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 14, 2013

The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya

Released in English last month, "The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya" is the 10th in the (currently) 11-volume "Haruhi Suzumiya" series of light-novels, written by Nagaru Tanigawa and illustrated by Noizi Ito.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 14, 2013

It's not enough to simply add a woman to the board

Twitter, which has garnered worldwide attention for bad corporate governance practices, should do more than add a women to its board. It should fully diversify its management.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 14, 2013

North propagandists don't mince words

The scribes at North Korea's official news agency have long elevated hyperbole into an art form, but even by their high standards, last week's pronouncement was something special.
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Dec 14, 2013

Leaders from outside box could ignite Japan

On Nov. 30, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company shocked Japan Inc. by announcing that it plans to appoint Frenchman Christophe Weber as its next president by June 2014. Until then, Japanese companies with foreigners in the top spot had fallen into two categories: those that promote foreigners who have performed...
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 13, 2013

Abe, Biden reaffirm sticking together on China air zone

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Vice President Joe Biden reaffirmed during a teleconference Thursday that Japan and the U.S. will strengthen cooperation in addressing China's air defense identification zone, according to a Japanese official and the White House.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Dec 13, 2013

For Canadian traveler, last-minute meeting led to change of heart and new start in Japan

Michelle Takahashi works as an English teacher at a school for families who hope to raise their children in bilingual and multi-cultural environments. Together with Toru, a systems engineer at an IT-related U.S. company, and their two sons, she now lives in Kodaira, western Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2013

The dawning of Pakistan's political renaissance?

Executive authority in Pakistan, a country long prone to military coup, increasingly is in the hands of elected representatives, rather than dispersed among various competing institutions. The political establishment has been revitalized.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 13, 2013

Bike-riding bureaucracy may threaten the classic 'obāchan dismount'

The new regulation decrees that bicycles must be ridden on the left side of the road, in the direction of the flow of traffic. Seems logical, doesn't it? But no one has said how this will prevent accidents or make anything safer; we're just presuming it will.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 13, 2013

Hubble spots geysers spurting from Jupiter moon Europa

The search for life in the solar system took a twist Thursday with the announcement that Europa, a moon of Jupiter first discovered by Galileo, shows signs of water geysers erupting from its south pole.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Dec 12, 2013

Grand Hyatt party plans; Southern Tower winter stays; Conrad Tokyo wine school

Grand Hyatt party plans December and January mark the busiest party season of the year. The Grand Hyatt Tokyo in Roppongi is offering party plans with all-you-can-drink menus at its restaurants.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2013

Top pension fund urged to buy airport concessions

New Kansai International Airport Co. is seeking to attract the state-run retirement fund to a sale of two airport concessions that could raise as much as ¥1.2 trillion.
BUSINESS
Dec 12, 2013

Japan tops smartphone app market

Japan surpassed the United States as the top-grossing market for apps in October as use of smartphones surged and wireless carriers started billing customers directly for downloads from Google Inc.'s online store.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 12, 2013

FCC faces outcry over allowing cellphone calls during flights

It didn't take long for Tom Wheeler, the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, to face controversy.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2013

Celebrity stands up to talent agency 'stalker'

Miss International, Ikuu00admi You00adshiu00admau00adtsu, files criminal and civil charges against one of Japan's most powerful talent agencies' executives for stalking her and attempting to ruin her career.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Dec 11, 2013

The year in labor: the Top 5 pains of 2013

For Japan's workers, the last 12 months have been a mixed bag. The Top 5 Labor Pains of 2013 will focus on what really shook things up in terms of labor relations and employment law.
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2013

Japan's future path with India

The Abe administration appears inclined to use Japan's relationship with India for expediency — as a means of checking China — when it should be cultivating longer-range cooperative ties.
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2013

An insane offset to a greedy tax

Regarding the Dec. 5 Kyodo article "Stimulus package to ease tax hike OK'd": If there was ever a more blatant plan to use power to embezzle money from the public purse than Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's insulting intention to ease the effects of taxation by proffering a stimulus package, then I have yet...
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2013

Labeling of wartime laborers

In Roger Pulvers' Dec. 1 letter, "POWs on the Burma-Thai Railway" (a reply to my Nov. 16 letter, "Who worked the Burma-Thai rails?"), Pulvers apparently reasserts the claim from Richard Flanagan's book "The Narrow Road to the Deep North" that the Asian laborers who toiled on the Burma-Thailand line were...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2013

A perfect role model for an imprisoned politician

Former Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, now the imprisoned leader of that country's opposition, writes a tribute to South Africa's Nelson Mandela, emphasizing that one of the few gifts that imprisonment can bestow is the ability to begin to see more clearly the inner workings of the human soul.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2013

Five myths about helping out the Philippines

Among common misconceptions about assistance to victims of communities shattered by storms or earthquakes are that locals wait for the international community to come save them and that goods and services are 'free' donations.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 10, 2013

Kidd being made scapegoat for King's incompetence

Brooklyn Nets general manager Billy King is a genius.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear