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Japan Times
WORLD / EU SPECIAL 2014
May 9, 2014

EU enjoys close ties with Japan

Today is Europe Day, marking the day in 1950 when then French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman laid out a vision for post-war Europe that was to form the basis of the integrated Europe we know today.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 7, 2014

Pioneering woman leads London's Royal Court Theatre into new realms

Since she took a first degree in drama at Manchester University, then a master's in directing after she realized she wasn't cut out to be an actress, Vicky Featherstone — the first female artistic director of London's hugely prestigious Royal Court Theatre in the heart of upper-crust Chelsea — has...
Reader Mail
May 7, 2014

It's a restless jungle of critics

People seem to have become more intolerant and impatient than ever before. For example, when a Japanese scientist who had announced discovering a groundbreaking new technology related to stem cells was suspected of having manipulated and faked some data, the once lionized young woman was treated as if...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 5, 2014

English morris dancing hits Japan, with all the bells and whistles

The English form of folk dancing known as morris dates back to the Middle Ages and involves costumed groups of dancers stepping in time to music. Barely seen in Japan before, this traditional art can now be experienced in the most unexpected of locations: Shikoku.
EDITORIALS
May 5, 2014

Improving the lay judge system

As Japan's lay judge system turns 5 years old, the Justice Ministry's Legislative Council is considering excluding citizens from the duty of serving as lay judges when trials are expected to last more than a year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
May 5, 2014

Money that must go down the pan

In almost all of Japan's major cities, close to 100 percent of the population are connected to public sewerage systems, but the farther away from cities you get the more the number drops. Tokushima Prefecture is the lowest, at 16.3 percent.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 4, 2014

In your wildest lucid dreams: scientists' interest in sleep world grows

One of our most mysterious and intriguing states of consciousness is the dream. We lose consciousness when we enter the deep waters of sleep, only to regain it as we emerge into a series of uncanny private realities.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 4, 2014

Don't count on bubbles, wage hikes for more Asian growth

Japanese companies should realize the potential danger in relying on the continued expansion of Asian consumer spending, as it appears the region is headed for a period of economic stagnation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
May 3, 2014

Telephone fraud: ‘Hello, is it me you’re looking for?’

For young sociopathic entrepreneurs in Japan, the best way to get rich quick is by learning to say the following three lines convincingly:
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 2, 2014

China militants show new daring

A bombing in western China that killed three people and wounded 79 on Wednesday has raised concerns about the apparent sophistication and daring of the attack, which possibly was timed to coincide with a visit to the heavily Muslim region by President Xi Jinping.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 2, 2014

Lawyer gives Article 9 some coffee shop buzz

One morning in late April dozens of mothers, some with children, gathered at an Italian restaurant in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, hoping not only to dine, but also to learn what kind of future might await their children if the Constitution is amended.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 2, 2014

Rethinking Japan's whaling

Although many Japanese seem indifferent to the question of whether they can get whale meat, pro and con reactions in and out of Japan will affect those who still live by whale hunting on a local scale.
EDITORIALS
Apr 21, 2014

A need for special nursing homes

The number of elderly people suffering from senile dementia and other conditions that require critical nursing care is rising, yet Japan faces a serious shortage of facilities that can provide such care.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 21, 2014

Deadly gunbattle in eastern Ukraine shakes fragile Geneva accord

At least three people were killed in a gunfight in the early hours of Sunday near a Ukrainian city controlled by pro-Russian separatists, shaking an already fragile international accord that was designed to avert a wider conflict.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 19, 2014

Washington raises pressure on Moscow over Ukraine; pro-Russia separatists vow not to end occupation

A day after an international deal in Geneva to defuse the East-West crisis in Ukraine, pro-Russian separatists vowed not to end their occupation of public buildings and Washington threatened further sanctions on Moscow if the stalemate continued.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 17, 2014

Roppongi Art Night 2014: Get ready for a 32-hour art marathon

Art needn't be strictly visual. That's how Katsuhiko Hibino sees things.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 13, 2014

Conservatives Paul, Cruz test U.S. presidential waters in New Hampshire

Conservative Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz tested the 2016 presidential waters at an event Saturday in the influential state of New Hampshire at which potential opponents from the more moderate wing of the party did not appear.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 11, 2014

Tax-free NISA luring individual investors

A spring downpour last week wasn't enough to stop Norito Nagahama from heading to a central-Tokyo brokerage to study up on Japanese stocks.
COMMUNITY / Voices
Apr 9, 2014

Post-Fukushima reform throws up a few surprises

The magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011, devastated the northeast, killing more than 15,000 people and causing level 7 meltdowns at three reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Observers believed the sheer size of the catastrophe and its subsequent effects...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 7, 2014

Japan's Hutterites hold on to a dream for community

Otawara — yes, that's spelled with a "t" — is one of those places few people know and most confuse with somewhere else (in this case with Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture).
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 4, 2014

Vote might tip Afghan tribes into new war

Growing violence in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar ahead of the presidential election next week highlights a rift between Pashtun tribes that could tip the country back into civil war.
COMMENTARY
Apr 4, 2014

Scotland: a nation, not a region

For Scotland, independence — the question in September's referendum — is about democracy not nationalism. It's about righting the wrongs of a country living its life as a region.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2014

How Spain can avoid a nasty split like Crimea

There is no case for forcibly keeping territories under a country's rule if the majority doesn't want it.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2014

Suicide kills more Americans than gun violence

Being poor doesn't bum people out. Being poorer than other people — people whose relative wealth you personally witness — does.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health / FOCUS
Mar 27, 2014

Indonesian forest fires feed air pollution across Asia

High above the vast Indonesian island of Sumatra, satellites identify hundreds of plumes of smoke drifting over the oil palm plantations and rain forests.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2014

English translation tells tales of 100 Miyagi tsunami survivors

It was the inspiration and eagerness of Hitomi Nakanishi, an Australia-based Japanese scholar, that led to the publication of an English-language book with recollections and photos of the experiences of 100 survivors of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami in and around Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture....
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 23, 2014

Germans finally start poking fun at the Fuhrer

If Hitler were alive today, would he become a standup comic? Incredible though that may sound to anyone who lived through World War II, that is the scenario sketched out in "Look Who's Back," a satirical novel by Timur Vermes, which topped the best-seller lists in Germany after its publication in 2012...
JAPAN / Society
Mar 20, 2014

Aum cultists inspire a new generation of admirers

Swayed by a mixture of dark fascination with the outlaw life and dissatisfaction with their own lot, a small but passionate group of young people are bound by their professed admiration for the criminal members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult. They call themselves Aumers.

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