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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2013

Reports of pope's past silences deflate bubble

Reports that he stood silent during Argentina's 'dirty war' and on sex abuse allegations against priests have toned down the welcome for Pope Francis.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2013

Divergence of policies in Europe, Italian style

Even if the eurozone's structure is modified to achieve the desired level of fiscal discipline, countries will continue to diverge in other important respects.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 24, 2013

World faces rhino horn dilemma

Wildlife parts are valuable. A general rule of thumb is that the bigger the beast, the bigger the price. You don't get much bigger than a white rhino (3,000 kg). It is the largest grazing (i.e., purely grass-eating) animal that has ever lived. Its horn is worth, gram for gram, more than gold.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 24, 2013

Gruesome death stalks the front lines of conservation

It is one of the most poignant photos I've taken during this CITES. We are in Khao Yai (literally, "Big Mountain"), Thailand's first and grandest national park. Peaks and plunges. Huge trees. Waterfalls. And there are elephants and even a few tigers out there. Also rangers and poachers and a largely...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 24, 2013

Trafficking wildlife pays as well as drugs or guns

Wildlife trafficking is a murky, lucrative, violent trade; ongoing, increasingly organized and sophisticated, but one that still remains largely unnoticed. And it is out of control.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Mar 24, 2013

Being a zombie is a no-brainer for this Japanese actress

Unlike many of her prim-and-proper friends at Shirayuri College — a Catholic school in Kanda, Tokyo — 20-year-old Akane Kanbayashi doesn't recoil at the sight of splattered blood and dismembered human bodies.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 24, 2013

Abortion controlled by the state

TV personalities, or tarento in the vernacular parlance, wage a never-ending battle against encroaching irrelevance. They impose on our consciousness, and one of the easiest ways to do that without offering a compelling skills set is to exploit personal circumstances that are none of our business. Last...
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 23, 2013

As rival theories tumble, mystery of Stonehenge keeps scientists guessing

It already attracts more than a million visitors a year. Yet these numbers could be dwarfed once Stonehenge, one of the world's greatest prehistoric monuments, completes its radical facelift.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 23, 2013

Are Russian assassins on the streets of Britain?

Shortly after 5:15 p.m. on Nov. 10, a jogger turned into Granville Road in Weybridge, southern England, running along the hedge-lined street of one of Britain's wealthiest enclaves. Then, 50 meters from his home, he staggered into the road and died.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 23, 2013

Bizarre ideology of fringe Republican convention

Gene Wisdom, a 55-year-old conservative from Nashville, Tennessee, was no fan of Barack Obama. Clutching a book called "The Communist," he was waiting eagerly to meet the book's author, Paul Kengor, so that he could sign it. The book, which detailed the life of black American journalist and labor activist...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 22, 2013

Tokyo Teyandei: The Story Teller's Apprentice

Rakugo, the ancient Japanese art of sit-down comedy, has inspired movies including Shinpei Hayashiya's "Rakugo Monogatari (Rakugo Story)" (2010) and Hideyuki Hirayama's "Shaberedomo Shaberedomo (Talk, Talk, Talk)" (2007), but Yuji Kanda's "Tokyo Teyandei: The Story Teller's Apprentice" (simply called...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Mar 22, 2013

Why not just add a dollop of mayonnaise?

Newcomers to Japan are often a little taken aback by the many decidedly non-Japanese condiments, such as ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, that are used in everyday cooking. And in particular mayonnaise: Usually reserved for sandwiches, salad dressing and dipping sauces for chilled seafood in the West,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 22, 2013

Arbitrage

Richard Gere was offered the role of Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street" and turned it down, a decision he "always regretted" as he said at a Tokyo press conference some years ago. Now he's landed a role to vindicate that regret, in slow-burning thriller "Arbitrage," which stars Gere as Wall Street hedge-fund...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 22, 2013

The Master

I can recall how when "Apocalypse Now" first came out, viewers almost universally loathed the ending. After the forward motion of the first two hours, the film seemed to just run out of steam; Brando's shadowy rambling seemed an anticlimax, and reports that Francis Ford Coppola had agonized for months...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 22, 2013

Surviving Progress

What is progress? The powers that be espouse an almost religious belief in ever-increasing wealth, productivity and technological advances. But what if these things come at the expense of the long-term habitability of the planet? Unlimited economic progress is impossible on a planet of finite resources....
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Mar 22, 2013

Geek out on anime in Tokyo

The crux of the government's "Cool Japan" initiative to promote Japanese culture overseas mostly hangs on anime, and this weekend a major anime-based event takes place in Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Mar 22, 2013

Taste Spanish wines, listen to rakugo; share a night with art; rest in an artist-designed room

Rakugo and Spanish wine event
BUSINESS
Mar 22, 2013

Samsonite to raise Japan price tags

Samsonite International SA, the world's largest branded-luggage maker, plans to raise prices in Japan by as much as 12 percent as a weaker yen cuts the dollar value of sales in the country.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Mar 21, 2013

Friendly rivalry brings out color in WBC final

Rivalries are perhaps the superfine ingredient that works to spice up teams and athletes and make fans louder.
EDITORIALS
Mar 21, 2013

China completes its transition

With the transition to the so-called fifth generation of leaders complete, China faces formidable environmental, economic and diplomatic problems.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 21, 2013

Islamic law takes root in Syria's rebel-held territory

The evidence was incontrovertible, captured on video and posted on YouTube for all the world to see. During a protest against the Syrian regime, Wael Ibrahim, a veteran activist, had tossed aside a banner inscribed with the Muslim declaration of faith.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2013

Japan needs to rebrand for SXSW

The purpose of the South By Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas, is for musicians to woo new fans and industry insiders. The five-day festival, though, hasn't been about bands for a while — it's about brands.
BUSINESS
Mar 21, 2013

Cyprus turns down 'unjust' fiscal bailout

Lawmakers in Cyprus on Tuesday rejected a bailout plan that would have rescued the country's banks but forced savers to chip in for the cost, throwing down a gauntlet to the rest of Europe over the financial fate of the tiny island nation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 21, 2013

'The Great Journey'

"Great journey" is how British archaeologist Brian M. Fagan described the early migration of homo sapiens some 200,000 years ago from Africa to the rest of the world and their progression to become a dominant species.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 21, 2013

'Sakubei Yamamoto: Documentary Illustrations of the Coal Mining Industry'

Sakubei Yamamoto (1892-1984) grew up in Fukuoka Prefecture's Chikuho region, which was once one of Japan's most prolific coal-mining areas. He devoted his life to the mining industry, and when he retired he took up painting as a way to memorialize his experience, just as the importance of coal began...
BASEBALL / WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Mar 20, 2013

Dominicans make WBC final

Moises Sierra makes big plays in the field and at the plate as the Dominican Republic beats the Netherlands in the semifinals.

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