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COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 3, 2014

Why does the LDP prefer the GOP?

What is the justification for the Liberal Democratic Party's strange preference for America's Republican Party over the years? The two parties have little in common.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 3, 2014

Repairing the tripartite ties

Japan's relations with China and South Korea are at their lowest ebb since Japan normalized its diplomatic relations with them. One way to break the jogjam could be a tripartite free trade agreement.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 3, 2014

Putin takes on West over Ukraine: Who blinks first?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken a gamble on Ukraine and is betting that U.S. leader Barack Obama will blink first.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 1, 2014

Japan's reactionaries waging culture war

The contemporary culture wars that have erupted over Japanese identity and history are undermining the country's national interests and damaging its reputation.
COMMENTARY
Feb 28, 2014

China uses Ukraine unrest as argument for stability

China's Communist Party-controlled media appear to be using the unrest in Ukraine as a teaching moment to point out the pitfalls of clamoring for more rapid reforms in a large, multi-ethnic society — one like China's.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 28, 2014

Alienated Crimea defies Ukraine's new order

Waving the Russian flag and chanting "Russia! Russia!" protesters in Crimea have become the last major bastion of resistance to Ukraine's new rulers.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Feb 28, 2014

Another nail in the coffin of amateur sumo

Sumo currently exists in two forms around the world. Most famous, of course, is the Tokyo-based professional sport led by yokozuna Hakuho, et al. However, the amateur version, often termed “amasumo” in abbreviated form, is of interest to many in nations that lack direct access to Japanese broadcasts....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Feb 26, 2014

It's their plan for your money, so assume deception

An expat approaching a financial adviser with money to invest could be considered akin to the proverbial duck innocently waddling up to a nabe party with a bundle of leeks slung over his shoulder.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2014

Defacing of Anne Frank diaries stirs public

The news that hundreds of copies of Anne Frank's “A Diary of a Young Girl” and books about her had been vandalized in libraries across Tokyo still spur swidespread concern, with people scrambling to help with generous donations.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Feb 25, 2014

Prize-winning local dishes are the real taste of Japan

With memories of the Winter Olympics still fresh and with the Academy Awards just around the corner, Japanese food lovers are saluting some medalists of their own — prize-winning dishes from cooking competitions, public opinion polls and government surveys around the country. Here's a guide to some...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2014

How we lose our marbles — and get them back

A remark by American actor George Clooney has reignited the debate over whether removing the Parthenon Marbles (aka Elgin Marbles) from the British Museum and returning them to their ancient home in Athens would be the right thing to do.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2014

Good reasons to loathe Big Tech

Not only have Americans been reamed by Big Tech — they know they've been reamed. Which has set the stage for big-time resentment.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 22, 2014

Abe's culture wars boomerang against Japan

Japan's culture wars are heating up to the detriment of the nation. The Financial Times is right to warn that the jingoism of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and attempts to stifle public debate, are grave threats to Japan's open society. Most Japanese don't want to go where Abe is trying to drag them, but...
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 19, 2014

Crazy honey badgers don't care what you think, period

Somewhere in South Africa's Kruger National Park, Brian Jones and Stoffel continue their battle for supremacy.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 19, 2014

Singh seeks India votes with 29th state as opponents vow fight

India's lower house moved to create a new state in the south to resolve a 50-year dispute, risking unrest where Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have their offices as the ruling Congress party seeks votes before elections.
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2014

Long flawed march to 'stability'

Chinese leaders seem to be operating under the strange notion that tightening their clampdown on activists, dissidents, journalists and Internet bloggers will help to stabilize Chinese society even as people increasingly express their dissatisfaction with corruption, the economic gap, air pollution and food contamination.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Feb 16, 2014

Prepping for university straight from the crib

Aiko has just finished bouncing like a rabbit toward a white line. She has already identified photographs of fruit and will soon be told a story about a panda, after which she'll have to draw a picture and offer an ending. How she does with these activities could determine where she attends university,...
EDITORIALS
Feb 14, 2014

A bridge across the Taiwan Strait

For the first time since the end of China's civil war in 1949, official representatives from Beijing and Taipei sat down at the same table to discuss a shared future.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2014

Drift rightward has been building for years

Fashion model Junko Amo made headlines on Aug. 15, 2002, when she initiated a visit to controversial Yasukuni Shrine with a group of some 180 people she met via 2channel, Japan's biggest Internet forum.
Japan Times
LIFE / Japan Showcase / GREAT TAMBA AREA
Feb 14, 2014

Ancient hilltop shrine, venison highlight trip to Kaibara

The path to the top of the hill in Kaibara town is shaded by maple trees, still fiery in their demise so late in the season. The smooth stone steps turn once, twice, before petering out just before a large torii gate. Beyond this wooden marker lies the Kaibara Hachimangu Shrine, the oldest shrine in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2014

'The Butler'

Back in 1997, when Steven Spielberg released "Amistad," it was a pretty huge deal for a big-name Hollywood filmmaker to tackle slavery. Now the deal is a lot bigger for Lee Daniels, the second African-American filmmaker in United States history to be nominated for an Oscar (for "Precious" in 2009), who...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Feb 12, 2014

ANA caricature speaks volumes about Japan's outdated mind-set

My personal opinion is that the ad is a disappointing anachronism, and a reminder of the parochial outlook of large Japanese corporations. The ad appeals to the facile formula that 'foreigner = white = blonde and big-nosed = English-speaking = globalization.
Reader Mail
Feb 12, 2014

Career limits due to language

I have spent 14 years in Japan's academic/research fields. Every morning I get up with three questions in mind: How can I contribute to the science and technology of this country more efficiently? What can be my career path in this country? And what will become of my children after 10 or 20 years?
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / ICE TIME
Feb 12, 2014

Questions follow high scores for Plushenko, Lipnitskaia

In the wake of the judging scandal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, figure skating has done its best to revamp its scoring system. It's not perfect by any means, but seems much fairer than before.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEDGE
Feb 9, 2014

Eco-labels urged to save endangered marine life

2013 highlighted the decline in Japan's fishery resources, with baby eel trading at ¥3 million per kilogram — more expensive than silver — and the catch quota of bluefin tuna being slashed at the December meeting of the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks...
Reader Mail
Feb 8, 2014

What's eating the protesters?

My question is why not [kill whales off Antarctica]? I ask the question respectfully because I do not yet have an answer. In an otherwise nicely balanced article with quite interesting historical background and devoid of the emotional hysteria that usually accompanies articles on this subject, C.W. Nicol...

Longform

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