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May 14, 2025
 

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LIFE / Style & Design / ON: ARCHITECTURE
Dec 30, 2013

Building on strong foundations in 2013

The end of the year is traditionally a time of review and new prospects, a time to weave memories of the past with plans for the future to form the narrative cloth of a coherent identity.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Dec 27, 2013

From charity to chocolate, the best ways to blow ¥500

The Japan Times asked readers to email or tweet their suggestions of the best ways to use a single ¥500 coin, for a chance to win edible prizes. Here are some of the entries.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2013

Politically bankrupt China dare not tolerate a free press

The practice of journalism in China, a country where 30 practitioners are in prison, has never been easy. During 2013, it has become a great deal harder.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 15, 2013

To stay here long term, visa seekers need to prove they can pay their way

From finding a residence status that suits your circumstances to signing up a sponsor, getting a visa to stay in Japan for the long term can be a challenge.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Dec 4, 2013

In Japan, no escape from The Eye's perpetual policing glare

In Japan, The Eye compels you towards collective behavior: Mustn't be forceful or push back against the status quo, lest you get hairy-eyeballed.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2013

Eurasian nations pressured by Putin's Russia

Ten years after Mikheil Saakashvili, then a 35-year-old U.S.-trained lawyer, led a march on the parliament of Georgia that overturned a corrupt regime and inaugurated a liberal democratic surge in Eurasia, the wave has receded.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2013

Even Pope Francis waits for Putin

Being 50 minutes late for his first meeting with Pope Francis was nothing unusual for Russian President Vladimir Putin. That's just the way he is — a character trait that provides some insight into his attitude toward power.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 9, 2013

'Specialness' shrouds stories of minorities

As predicted four months ago in this column, in September the Supreme Court ruled discriminatory and unconstitutional the Civil Code stipulation that says children born out of wedlock are entitled to only half the inheritance of legitimate offspring. The government is expected to revise the law accordingly,...
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Nov 2, 2013

Can Japanese really be such cold sushi in the sack?

Sex in Japan is a knotty issue — even if you're not a fan of tying up your lover with rope, also known as shibari. No matter how you write about it, it raises ire. If you point out that Japan has a vibrant sex industry in which every sexual act other than vaginal penetration can be legally bought and...
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Oct 28, 2013

'Fired' English teacher fights cancer and HIV: readers' mail

Readers offer a range of views on the case of Briton Neil Grainger, the English teacher struggling with cancer and HIV whose contract was not renewed by his employer, Waseda International.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 24, 2013

Tokyo Designers Week uses music, art as draws

The definition of design in Japan is changing. Depending on who you speak to, what falls under its umbrella is either shrinking or expanding to include nearly all aspects of modern life.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 19, 2013

Abe ought to show a red card to hate speech now

Last week I ended this column by noting that Myanmar (also known as Burma) can ill afford bigotry and intolerance. Neither can Japan. The outpouring here of hate speech targeting ethnic Korean residents is a disturbing development even if it is not representative. And certainly, it is encouraging that...
COMMUNITY / Issues
Oct 16, 2013

The wonderful world of Japanese law: Yōkoso to endless discovery

Having kindly published my intermittent ramblings on Japanese law and the occasional other subject over the years, The Japan Times has seen fit to give me a monthly column.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 15, 2013

Behind Washington's firestorm

The story behind the story of the U.S. budget showdown is that prolonged slow growth threatens historic changes to America's political and social order.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 7, 2013

Growing Community: the JT's most talked-about section is about to get larger

From Oct. 17, the Community section in the Japan Times print edition will be expanding to four days a week. Here's a taste of what to expect.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Sep 30, 2013

Triumph of Tokyo Olympic bid sends wrong signal to Japan's resurgent right

International events undermine Japan's democracy. Shame on the International Olympic Committee for being a party to it.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2013

Don't credit Chile's economic rise to Pinochet

Although many people give credit to Gen. Augusto Pinochet for his economic modernization of Chile, the groundwork was laid by his predecessors under democratic rule.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 13, 2013

Population of North Korea gulags has shrunk: experts

The population of North Korea's city-size political prison camps could be tens of thousands lower than the estimate used for more than a decade by aid groups and the U.S. government, according to recent reports and accounts from researchers, who put the new number at between 80,000 to 120,000.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 5, 2013

Director James Mangold puts soul into Wolverine's demons

"The Wolverine" may look like just another in a long line of superhero movies to hit the screen this year — it's the latest installment in Marvel's "X-Men" franchise — but it's certainly the first one directed by a guy who cites director Yasujiro Ozu of "Tokyo Monogatari (Tokyo Story)" fame as an...
Reader Mail
Aug 17, 2013

A distraction from a tragedy

In his Aug. 11 Big In Japan column, "'Haiku killings' recall infamous horror story," Mark Schreiber does a great job of summarizing the recent beating and arson deaths in the mountain hamlet of Mitake, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Given my plodding translation skills, it certainly would have taken me a long...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 13, 2013

The data mining of social media: Get used to it

Many people love the convenience of cellphones and ever more social media applications. What many don't focus on is how easily outsiders can invade their lives.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2013

Greenpeace's Shard stunt may not help its cause

Greenpeace's staged scaling of central London's Shard skyscraper makes one wonder if the environmental organization might be even more effective if it grew up.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2013

Is the age of automation taking a toll on jobs?

American colleges aren't worse today, but the skills required for solving unstructured problems and working with new info have become more complex.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 14, 2013

Furigana: read the fine print, decode the hidden meanings

Years ago, a colleague at a company where I worked had a surname written using a character so obscure, that when handing out his business card he used to joke apologetically, 名前の漢字、ほとんど誰も読めない (namae no kanji, hotondo dare mo yomenai, hardly anybody can read the kanji in...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2013

Is U.S. still the land of the free?

It is not the United Stasi of America. Nevertheless, one still ought to ask how far one can trust the security and law-enforcement complexes to police themselves.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2013

Syria bleeds as West watches

The only proper response to those who fret about 'where do you stop?' if the international community intervenes in the Syrian conflict is 'when do you start
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 2, 2013

Recipe for a well-fed world

Food got bigger than DIY about a decade back, but publishing took a while to hoist its tired old frame on to the bandwagon. Now the food books tumble out, unstoppable, in a startling range of sub-genres. There's the cookbook with jokes. The memoir with recipes. The polemic about food system apocalypse....
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
May 26, 2013

History shows one man's rape is another's wooing

"The evolution of political thought in this relatively isolated island nation during the period in question is unique to the point of being somewhat freakish."
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2013

Creating roadblocks to cuts in nuclear arms

U.S. congressional dysfunction on defense rears its head when a subcommittee chair threatens to withhold funds for implementing the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2013

Misplaced pride in conspicuous consumption

Wouldn't you laugh at someone who paid more than 200 times as much as you did for a watch, and ended up with an inferior product? Some lawmakers don't get it.
Transport ministry issues warning to Haneda Airport operator
The operator of Tokyo's Haneda Airport has been warned by the government over its inappropriate transactions.
Xi defiance pays off as Trump meets most China trade demands
Then-Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visits a school in South Gate, California, in February 2012. Experts say Xi won big in his standoff with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Nissan shares surge as carmaker set to cut 20,000 jobs in huge overhaul
U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on cars and car parts imported to the U.S. have been painful to most global brands, but crippling in Nissan’s case.
Japan might be playing long game in U.S. tariff talks
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House earlier this year. Ishiba said Monday that farmers won't be sacrificed for automakers in Japan's tariff negotiations with the U.S.
More details emerge about stabbing near Tokyo University metro station
Yoshitaka Toda, the suspect in Wednesday's knife attack at Todaimae Station on the Tokyo Metro Nanboku Line, leaves a police station in the Japanese capital the same day for a pre-detention medical examination.
Sculpted waves, sleek updos: Showa hairstyles are back in fashion
The larger-than-life hairstyles of Japan's Showa Era are unmistakable — and they're making a comeback.
Japan should produce its own AI defense solutions, Sakana AI CEO says
Sakana AI CEO David Ha speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Nissan gets ‘wake-up call’ with $4.5 billion annual net loss
Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa in Tokyo as the company releases its results
Consumption tax set to dominate Upper House election debate
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japan set for bigger role in Philippines after SDF’s debut in key drills
Philippine Army Brig. Gen. Michael Logico, who was involved in managing the latest iteration of the Balikatan U.S.-Philippine drills, told The Japan Times that he expects military ties with Japan to surge even further once Tokyo ratifies a key visiting-forces agreement with Manila.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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What comes after 100?
By Tomoko Otake

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