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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 24, 2016

A realistic view of Japan's island dispute

In the past month, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has snuggled up to two of the world's most distrusted national leaders in an attempt to prove his diplomatic mettle and boost support rates ahead of a rumored snap election next year. Abe was the first country head to gain an audience with President-elect...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 25, 2016

Can foreign media pressure force changes in Japan?

Former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's first-person "biography" of late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, "Tensai" ("Genius"), remains atop best-seller lists. It is interesting to note that when Tanaka was alive Ishihara berated him as a crude opportunist. The years have obviously tempered his view, or perhaps...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 23, 2016

Sincerely, Little Nigeria: A reporter signs off

After five years of covering Japan's African community, a writer reflects on progress since 3/11 and speculates about the future.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Nov 25, 2015

Japan: surprisingly, sensibly and endearingly low-tech

The common image of Japan abroad as a high-tech country is severely out of step with the everyday experience of those of us who live here.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2015

India's states — where reforms are working

National-level reforms may have run aground in India, but progress is taking hold at the state level.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 23, 2015

Hitachi dubs new data-mining software 'artificial intelligence'

Hitachi Ltd. says it has developed an "artificial intelligence" system that draws on a massive range of data sources, such as millions of news articles, and can provide a reasoned response to hot-button topics.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 9, 2015

It's time for troubled Sharp to sink or swim

Continuing to prop up complacent Japanese companies deadens the creative destruction that chastens stagnant industries and makes way for innovative and new ones.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 25, 2014

'Kawaii' gets a landmark

While Japanese cool hunters might lament the lack of pop cultural exports in recent years — all the more conspicuous when compared to K-Pop's successful forays westward — kawaii (cute) culture has quietly permeated into global consciousness with all the effortless grace of singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Jul 30, 2014

Massive graft, rivalry behind purge of China's oil mandarins

Oil executive Jiang Jiemin rose to power in communist China in time-honored fashion: by hitching his star to a mighty mentor.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 14, 2014

Nonsensical slogans point to a surreal 2014 baseball season

Spring is a time of two things: hope and . . . baseball. And — unless you are a Chicago Cubs fan — those two often go together.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 12, 2014

Deflation Watch: New Year's scorecard

It seems likely that the consumption tax increase will derail the government's economic boom train.
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Dec 17, 2013

Looking at 2013's Japanese social-media scene

In the Japanese social-networking scene, Facebook still isn't dominating the way it does in the United States and many other countries. There are several other networks in Japan, both old and new, that occupy unique positions, though 2013 was an unusually quiet year, with no big takeovers among social-networking...
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Oct 22, 2013

Russia eyeing NSA-like surveillance

Less than three months after granting asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, Russia is preparing to implement the kind of electronic surveillance that Snowden uncovered in the U.S.
WORLD
Sep 7, 2013

Google races to keep out government spies

Google is racing to encrypt the torrents of information that flow among its data centers around the world in a bid to thwart snooping by the U.S. National Security Agency and the intelligence agencies of foreign governments, company officials said Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 6, 2013

Reddit's opinionated audience is growing

Six percent of American adults who are online say they've visited Reddit, which encourages its users to submit links to stories, photos and other Web postings and then vote them up or down, according to results from a survey out Wednesday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 2, 2013

Media polls on constitutional change reveal bias

In a democracy, the people's will is conveyed through representative government. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to rewrite the Constitution, but Article 96 requires the approval of at least two-thirds of the national assembly to do that, so in order to hasten the process he first wants to change Article...
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 30, 2013

What sculpture reveals about sex and the Romans

Nothing is more likely to inspire us to see for ourselves than a warning about the effects of looking. Take the media interest this month when it was revealed that the British Museum's exhibition, "Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum," is to include a "parental guidance" notice. The reason? An...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 18, 2013

Man who shot '47 Percent' video reveals identity

Until last week, Scott Prouty's only bout with fame came when he dived into a canal in Florida and saved a woman from drowning. Like many Americans, the Boston area native held down working-class jobs, ran into some financial trouble and remained generally anonymous.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Feb 4, 2013

Puppy Bowl grows in leaps, bounds

When reporters from The New Yorker, "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams," "Good Morning America," The Associated Press and The Washington Post, have all converged upon one event, it must be important. An appearance by the president. A press conference about dignified matters, with plenty of throat-clearing...
Japan Times
Events
Jan 29, 2013

Preparing the foreign community for Japan's next big natural disaster

For newcomers to Japan, especially those who come from countries that don't experience frequent earthquakes, preparing for natural disasters like the megaquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region on March 11, 2011, may not come so easily.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Oct 13, 2012

Some Japanese women crave a rougher cut of man

Nikushokukei danshi are here to save the day . . . and hopefully boost the sagging national birth rate.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Aug 28, 2012

Paid leave, advice for foreign parents, JET's value: readers' views

Uncompetitive Japan Inc. Not being a Japanese person employed in a private Japanese company, it is hard for me to imagine the hardship experienced by the writer of the July 17 Have Your Say letter ("Working employees to death"). I can, however, say with a high degree of confidence that laws mandating...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 15, 2012

Rigged online food reviews should come as no surprise

NHK has a regular travel series called "Quiz de Go," which sends TV personalities to far-flung corners of Japan and then asks them questions about the area's local qualities. Several weeks ago, three celebrities were exploring Miyazu, Kyoto Prefecture, and were turned on to a local delicacy called Curry-yaki....
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2012

U.S. overlooks the true tolls of its wars

As the United States officially ended the war in Iraq last month, President Barack Obama spoke eloquently at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, lauding troops for "your patriotism, your commitment to fulfill your mission, your abiding commitment to one another," and offering words of grief for the nearly 4,500...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 6, 2011

Kuriyama facing tough transition in new role with Fighters

The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters have indicated the next field manager of the team will be former Yakult Swallows outfielder Hideki Kuriyama, with a formal announcement to be made this week following the conclusion of the Pacific and Central League Climax Series.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 30, 2011

Less acclaim, more fun for Japan's Ig Nobel Prize winners

Since Hideki Yukawa in 1949, a total of 16 Japanese nationals have been named recipients of Nobel Prizes. In 2010, when the most recent Japanese winners were announced to receive prizes for chemistry, NHK interrupted its scheduled programming with a nyuusu sokuho (breaking news) announcement.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 13, 2011

Cheat tests the exam system

A funny thing happened on the way to jail for the 19-year-old boy who was arrested Mar. 3 for allegedly cheating on a Kyoto University entrance exam: The media suddenly became all reflective of its coverage and sympathetic of his situation. Some may see this turnaround as a defensive reaction to the...
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2010

Senkaku collisions video leak riles China

A video apparently taken by the Japan Coast Guard of the Sept. 7 collisions between a Chinese trawler and patrol vessels off the Senkaku Islands has shown up on YouTube, prompting China to express "concern" over already strained bilateral relations.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo