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Reader Mail
Aug 13, 2015

Hibakusha should win Nobel Prize

Regarding the Counterpoint column by Jeff Kingston headlined "Atomic bomb survivors nominated for Nobel Prize" in the Aug. 2 issue, a Nobel Peace Prize for the atomic bomb survivors is long overdue
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Aug 9, 2015

Is Japan equipped to handle historic decisions that cost lives, limbs and loved ones?

Perhaps calendars should indicate not just holidays, but the dates on which important people in our collective pasts made decisions that caused tremendous harm.
Japan Times
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Jul 19, 2015

The cafes play jazz deep in the heart of Kyoto

Last month, it was announced the number of visitors to Kyoto in 2014 (including day trippers) topped 55 million people, a 7.8 percent increase over 2013. The total number of foreign visitors who spent at least one night was 1.83 million, a whopping 62 percent increase over 2013.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 10, 2015

Beware the perils of a 'Little Britain' and a 'Little Japan'

If Japan does not join the AIIB, it will inevitably give the impression that it has turned its back on the rest of Asia.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Jul 4, 2015

Could Hamp's detention reinforce prejudice?

The Metropolitan Police Department arrested Julie Hamp, Toyota Motor Corp.'s first female managing officer, on June 18 on suspicion of importing oxycodone, an opioid used to relieve pain. The drug is tightly controlled in Japan but can be imported into the country with a prescription if certain procedures...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 24, 2015

Turkey's master of slow-boil cinema keeps his characters simmering with tension in 'Winter Sleep'

This may seem an odd form of praise, but Nuri Bilge Ceylan does boredom awfully well. The Turkish director's last film, "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" (2011), was a police procedural that had been denuded of the drama you'd normally expect from the genre. Yet as its protagonists trudged fruitlessly from...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2015

Oil is not inexorably fading from the world stage

The age of oil will endure for the forceable future.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Jun 6, 2015

Law still a long way behind fertility boom

As the population declines, the number of domestic businesses involved in fertility is growing, giving birth to a slew of additional problems.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 9, 2015

Dancing on the waves at Miyajima

"The mystery of the Orient is legendary . . . it was in the air the moment we stepped ashore in Kyoto, and now in Tokyo it began to envelop us." That's how Charlie Chaplin described his arrival in Japan. I'm not sure if the "Little Tramp" ever visited the island of Miyajima on any of his four trips to...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 4, 2015

Japan Times contributor Mitchell among winners of FCCJ's first Freedom of the Press awards

Japan Times contributor Jon Mitchell, who for years has covered the alleged existence of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange on Okinawa and issues surrounding U.S. military bases there, was among the winners of the first annual Freedom of the Press awards at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
May 2, 2015

Japan's 'Experimental Creations' at Milan Design Week

Last month's Salone del Mobile Milano, also known as Milan Design Week, had a particularly good turnout of innovative Japanese designers.
Japan Times
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Apr 29, 2015

Hakuho out for No. 35, Henderson out just to survive

When the 2015 Summer Grand Sumo Tournament gets under way on May 10 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan, for the first time in just over three years, Hakuho's dominance over fellow yokozuna Harumafuji and Kakuryu will not be the hot topic on the lips of sumo fans the world over.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / LOCAL POLLS '15
Apr 20, 2015

Naturalized Kabukicho denizen hopes to teach China lesson in democracy

Komaki Lee gained fame as a pioneering 'Kabukicho guide' who showed foreign visitors the ins and outs of the capital's seedy nightlife entertainment district in Shinjuku Ward. Now he's going into politics.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 19, 2015

Historically, Japan is no stranger to blacks, nor to blackface

I am a black Japanese half. I was bullied because of my skin color in elementary school, so I have a strong complex about my skin color. If Japanese truly adored blacks, it wouldn't bother me. But do Momokuro really adore blacks? I think if you asked them if they wished they had been born black, they...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 6, 2015

U.S.' best Asian friend deserves a trade deal

The Trans-Pacific Partnership represents the best aid the U.S. can give to Japan, a crucial ally that could use all the help it can get.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Apr 1, 2015

Do Western men have it bad in Japan?: views from the Fuji Five Lakes

Do interviewees agree with the controversial premise of Olga Garnova's recent Foreign Agenda column, 'Spare a thought for the Western men trapped in Japan'?
JAPAN / OBITUARY
Mar 31, 2015

Obituary: Jane D. Rees

Longtime columnist for The Japan Times and other publications Jane Rees passed away on March 12 at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. She was 95.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 21, 2015

The wanderer, writer and suspected spy who embraced Japan

T.S. Eliot may have written that "April is the cruellest month," but for Roger Pulvers, this spring is an extraordinarily felicitous one. In March, an English translation of his novel "Starsand" was published and in April, translations will be released of both an anthology of tanka poetry by Takuboku...
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 20, 2015

Man City, Arsenal faced with cold reality after CL exits

According to England manager Roy Hodgson, the exit of Premier League clubs from the Champions League is "just one of those things."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Mar 11, 2015

Why robots will be granted a license to kill, in Japan and everywhere else

As long as we feel the need to occasionally harm our fellow human beings, most of us will happily let other people — or things — do the dirty work.
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Feb 24, 2015

Success after skating: Nakano's determination rewarded

This marks the 100th installment of Ice Time. To commemorate the milestone we have a special interview with retired star Yukari Nakano, who is currently a director in the Sports Division at Fuji TV.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2015

Iran's poison-penned peace letter to Obama

A letter that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is reported to have sent to President Barack Obama, saying Iran was open to a more direct alliance against the Islamic State group if negotiators could iron out a deal on Tehran's nuclear program, should be viewed as coming from a poison pen.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 21, 2015

Apologizing in Japan: Sorry seems to be the hardest word

Dressed in a light-gray suit with her hair pulled back tightly into a bun, McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) Chief Executive Officer Sarah Casanova walked stiffly into a news conference on Feb. 5 and addressed a throng of reporters.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 17, 2015

Japan needs a strong intellect that doesn't yield to terrorism

The murder of two Japanese citizens by Islamic State terrorists shouldn't be used as an excuse to eliminate the Constitution's restraints on the use of military force.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2015

Welfare state rises as exceptionalism declines

America's national character will have to be changed if progressives are going to implement their agenda to increase the size of the entitlement state.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 31, 2015

Call to arms: Hunters dwindle as animal numbers explode

Asians who crossed land bridges into today's Ryukyu Islands more than 30,000 years ago encountered plenty of game. In addition to deer and boar, they hunted elephant and steppe bison until the larger mammals were hunted to extinction in Japan about 17,000 years ago.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Jan 31, 2015

Crime and punishment: Abe's Mideast crisis

In general, crime prevention is a good thing — it helps stop crime. By punishing people for minor transgressions, you stop them from committing larger misdemeanors and discourage crime overall. If the principle is applied blindly, however, it can produce some awkward results.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2015

Shaping China's influence

It is in the best interests of Japan, the U.S., South Korea and Australia to become members of the China-established Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, to join China in shaping the future.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2015

Europe's unending crisis

The European economic crisis refuses to go gently into the night because of the danger that Greece and its creditors can't agree and because of meager economic growth in the eurozone.

Longform

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