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Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 15, 2013

Senate leaders nearer deal on raising federal debt limit after flurry of talks

In a long-awaited breakthrough, Senate leaders close in on a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling and end a two-week-old government shutdown as Washington scrambled to avoid the nation's first default on its debt.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2013

San Francisco Treaty and the South China Sea

All parties to the South China Sea island disputes can cite geographic and historical connections to back their claims, but none has solid legal title under the San Francisco Treaty.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 13, 2013

Abe set to overturn legacies of Koizumi and Nakasone

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is reviving the old Liberal Democratic Party, having undone moves by former Prime Ministers Yasuhiro Nakasone and Junichiro Koizumi toward smaller government.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Oct 13, 2013

How to say what you really want someone to do

Today, we will introduce the proper use of (verb)uff0bu3066u307bu3057u3044, which is used for informal requests or wishes.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 13, 2013

Medal of Honor seen as vindication for war hero

Four years after he survived a brutal firefight in a remote Afghanistan valley that claimed the lives of five Americans, retired U.S. Army Capt. William Swenson will be hailed as a hero at the White House on Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 12, 2013

Capturing Olivier in his contradictory essence

Laurence Olivier was the greatest British actor of his time, primus inter pares of the trio who dominated our theater from the early 1930s to the 1980s. His superiority to his chief rivals, Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, resides in the role he played in the creation of the National Theatre and in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 12, 2013

One exhilarating summer brought to fact-filled life

It had to happen. After books about individual decades came books about individual years. Now we get the book about a single season. Bill Bryson's "One Summer" is the story of just four months — June to September 1927 — in the life of America. Four crucial months, needless to say — four months...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 12, 2013

Tabloids brimming with anti-Korea diatribes

For 11 consecutive days from the start of this month, every front page of the Yukan Fuji, a nationally circulated evening tabloid published by the Sankei Shimbun, was embellished with at least one negative reference to South Korea. Some headline excerpts:
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 12, 2013

Myanmar takes helm of ASEAN while sectarian violence persists

Myanmar last week took the baton from the Sultan of Brunei, assuming the rotating chair in 2014 of Asia's most important regional organization, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Reader Mail
Oct 12, 2013

Bringing out Japan's hospitality

I am very glad to know that the word "hospitable (omotenashi)" is a very popular topic now in Japan because of television presenter Christel Takigawa's impressive speech last month to invite the Olympic Games to Tokyo in 2020.
Reader Mail
Oct 12, 2013

Cigarettes belie health campaign

Regarding the Oct. 8 article "Japanese convenience store chain going healthy": I enjoy shopping at Lawson, but it seems blatantly hypocritical for the chain to launch a PR campaign that says the company is "going healthy."
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 12, 2013

Government wondering how to tap burgeoning ebook market

The consumption tax increase gives overseas vendors an advantage.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 11, 2013

A really long name — as long as the Mississippi

Small islands in the Seto Inland Sea such as mine are visited periodically by health care boats with doctors, nurses and medical equipment on board to offer health exams for islanders. The boat makes the rounds of all the small islands that belong to Okayama Prefecture, making it possible for even the...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 11, 2013

The U.S. Civil War continues

A big hoax of American history is that the Civil War ended in 1865. Unfortunately it continues — as a battle over redistributing shares of economic power in the clothing of cultural values.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 11, 2013

Japan credit card sales seen accelerating on stock rally

Japanese credit card transactions will accelerate this year as rising stock prices boost consumer confidence and spending, according to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.'s card unit.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 11, 2013

Is that why men have low voices?

It's the rutting season. Red deer hinds will be gathering, and the stags have but one thing on their minds. A mature male that has netted himself a harem is very dedicated. He practically stops eating, focusing instead on keeping his hinds near and his competitors at bay. If you're a red deer stag, one...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Oct 11, 2013

Camera Grandma's photos document Gifu village's demise

Izu Photo Museum in Nagaizumi, Shizuoka Prefecture, is exhibiting the work of late amateur photographer Tazuko Masuyama on the Tokuyama Dam in Gifu Prefecture, where a small village vanished under the waters of a reservoir decades ago.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 11, 2013

For Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the subject is 'simply life itself'

In describing Alice Munro, the Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood once wrote: "She's the kind of writer about whom it is often said — no matter how well-known she becomes — that she ought to be better known."
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 11, 2013

Vitamin D's aid for bones doubted

Vitamin D supplements don't help boost bone density in healthy adults, judging from a review of 23 studies that suggests the supplement should be limited to people with a documented deficiency to fight osteoporosis.
WORLD
Oct 11, 2013

OPCW bags Nobel Prize for fight against chemical arms

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize, just weeks after a deadly gas attack in Syria sparked international condemnation.
EDITORIALS
Oct 10, 2013

Don't sell out Japan in TPP talks

The Abe administration's apparent rush to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks before yearend is disturbing given the lack of clarity so far on what Japan may be agreeing to.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 10, 2013

Fashion Week's side shows give the public a rare seat next to their runways

Next week is Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo but, chances are, you’re not invited. Before that teen trauma of being excluded sets in, don’t panic — there’s a ton of alternative events to get dolled up for.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 10, 2013

TIFF is your chance to catch up with Japanese film

The Tokyo International Film Festival, now in its 26th edition, has had its share of detractors, dissing it for everything from competition lineups of major festival castoffs (no longer true since TIFF stopped insisting on world premieres) to a Special Screening section that is essentially a PR showcase...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 10, 2013

'Cairo Time'

When you're young, flirting is an activity that dangles real promise, the possibility that with the right chemistry, a hook-up may happen shortly thereafter. But when you're older — married with kids, say, or just burned often enough to be sensible — the flirt becomes more its own reward. The adult...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 10, 2013

'Day is Done'

"I hope you're alive when I see you again. Ciao." That's one of the messages left on the home answering machine of filmmaker Thomas Imbach ("Mary Queen of Scots") who made a little autobiographical detour in an auspicious film career with "Day is Done."

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes