Search - people

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2014

Job insecurity explains why Kim can't take a joke

North Korea's 30-something dictator Kim Jong Un's over-the-top reaction to Sony's satire 'The Interview' is rooted in his manifest insecurity about his grip on power and his need to maintain his cult of personality.
EDITORIALS
Dec 20, 2014

End the global slavery scourge

Representatives from diverse religious faiths have signed a declaration of their collective will to end modern-day slavery by 2020. Is this a first step toward removing one of the most heinous practices in human history?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2014

Broken U.S. moral compass

The most disturbing and basic question with regard to the maintenance of Guantanamo and any one of the so-called Black Sites in recent years is why American officials seemed to want so badly to torture when to do so was known — even to the CIA — to be so unprofitable.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Dec 19, 2014

South Africa struggles to tackle obesity

At lunchtime outside South Africa's biggest shopping mall, hungry workmen in hard hats pour out of a building site to buy cheap loaves of bread and jumbo bottles of fizzy drinks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 17, 2014

Silence is golden in art-comedy for all

"I've been drawing pictures for as long as I can remember," Kentaro Kobayashi said when I asked him how he came to be such a versatile and popular entertainer.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 16, 2014

Police storm Sydney cafe to end hostage siege; gunman, two others dead

Heavily armed Australian police stormed a Sydney cafe on Tuesday and freed a number of hostages being held there at gunpoint, in a dramatic end to a 16-hour siege in which three people were killed and four wounded.
WORLD
Dec 15, 2014

Hundreds missing after boat sinks in Lake Tanganyika

More than two hundred people were believed missing after a boat sank in Democratic Republic of Congo's waters on Lake Tanganyika on Thursday night, a senior Tanzanian official said on Sunday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Dec 13, 2014

Tokyo Station at 100: all change

“Tokyo Station is not just a station, it is a symbol of Japan. It has always been a part of progress in rail technology but it's much more important than that. It is a landmark that represents Japan.'
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 13, 2014

Abe's secrets law undermines Japan's democracy

On Dec. 10, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's new special secrets law took effect despite overwhelming public opposition.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 13, 2014

Donna Burke: 'Being a late bloomer is way better than peaking and burning out early in life'

Australian singer on paper party hats, accents and lengthy karaoke songs
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 13, 2014

Indonesia rescuers dig for scores missing in deadly mudslide

A landslide destroyed a remote village in Indonesia, killing at least 17 people, an official said on Saturday as rescuers used their bare hands and sticks to search through the mud for scores of missing in the absence of heavy lifting equipment.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / DECISION 2014
Dec 12, 2014

Ishikawa aims to become first openly gay member of Lower House

Openly gay politician Taiga Ishikawa says that winning a Diet seat in Sunday's election would empower him to change politics and help Japanese society recognize its diversity.
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2014

Worries about secrets law linger

As Japan's state secrets law finally takes effect a year after it was enacted, much of the concern that many people had about the legislation remains unaddressed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2014

Armies ready for battle in final 'Hobbit' film

There's a scene in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill: Volume 2" where Michael Madsen's Budd character asks Daryl Hannah's Elle: "Now you ain't gonna hafta face your enemy on the battlefield no more, which 'R' are you filled with: relief or regret?"
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 9, 2014

Aging brings gray hair ... and greater happiness

In our mind's eye, old age is to be endured as much as enjoyed, since people fear declining health, growing dependence and increasing social isolation. Then why do public opinion surveys show that, on average, people count themselves happier after age 65?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / Q&A
Dec 9, 2014

'Right to be forgotten' on the Internet gains traction in Japan

The Internet has made fact-checking easy and people routinely use it for this end, for example, to Google client names and personal backgrounds before their first business meeting, or to take a quick glance at a potential new hire's reputation.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 8, 2014

Relief in Philippines as typhoon Hagupit weakens, leaving 21 dead

Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos returned on Monday to homes battered by a powerful typhoon, amid relief that a massive evacuation operation appeared to have minimized fatalities.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 8, 2014

Protests against Eric Garner verdict pick up steam on U.S. west coast

Organizers of New York City's protests against police violence huddled on Sunday to explore fresh ways to keep people engaged in the struggle, mindful that the tide of demonstrators has ebbed over the last couple of days.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 6, 2014

Code + culture: new media art from Japan

Domestic media artists have been using programming code in recent years to create some astonishing works of art. We look back at how this scene developed over the years and examine four contemporary artists who have defined the way the genre has evolved.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 6, 2014

Poverty takes on a new look in today's Japan

In the early years of the 21st century, such neologisms as nyū puā (new poor) and wākingu puā (working poor) began appearing in the Japanese media. Like their equivalents overseas, the terms were typically applied to people unable to realize a decent livelihood while holding down a job, or even more...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Dec 6, 2014

Oh deer, what a waste of food and fashion

In summer this year, my photographer chum Conan Morimoto brought a fashion-designer friend of his by the name of Teruki Uchise to talk to me and visit our Afan Trust woods outside Kurohime in the Nagano Prefecture foothills of the Northern Alps.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 4, 2014

Designers illuminate us on their winter wonders

When you think of Japanese art forms, many cultural pursuits will come to mind. The grace of ikebana, perhaps, or the beauty of ukiyo-e woodblock prints. At this time of year it becomes clear, though, that holiday lighting displays — referred to simply as "illumination" — are where the country's...
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Nov 30, 2014

Video shop worker jolted into career as diversity advocate

When the Great Hanshin Earthquake hit in January 1995, Taro Tamura, then 23, was quick to sense the need in foreign communities for disaster-related information.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Nov 29, 2014

Milton Miltiadous: 'Now is the start of the future, and the end of the past'

Life coach Milton Miltiadous on expensive wine, Santa Claus and ancient Rome
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 28, 2014

Horie sees bitcoin as route to more security, less government

The failure earlier this year of Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox may have stirred Japanese doubts about the credibility of the digital currency.
COMMENTARY
Nov 27, 2014

In India, sadly, flying and fighting go together

Why do manners go out the window as soon as Indians board a plane?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Nov 27, 2014

Paper watch to test Sony's innovation revamp

Sony Corp. is developing a watch made out of electronic paper for release as soon as next year in a trial of the company's new venture-style approach to creating products, according to people familiar with the matter.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2014

What global warming? Pass me a blanket

Unfortunately for proponents of climate change, people subconsciously use the current local temperature as a clue to whether global temperatures are increasing.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan