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CULTURE / Music / MONEY AND MUSIC
Oct 15, 2013

Download law yet to bite after a year

It has been a year since Japan introduced penalties for downloading pirated music and video files.
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).
Japan Times
TENNIS
Oct 11, 2013

Tsonga dominates Mayer, reaches Shanghai semis

Seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga roared into the semifinals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Friday with a comprehensive 6-2, 6-3 victory over unseeded German Florian Mayer.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 5, 2013

Trouble is brewing on tracks up north

Last week the Fuji TV variety show "Real Scope" covered Japanese railroads. Most of the celebrities in the studio were densha otaku (train geeks), so it was one big love-in for railways and the people who operate them. However, the entire two-hour program focused on only two systems: the super express...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2013

IT startup barters its way into niche

At around noon on a recent weekday, the Roppongi branch of Shamrock by Abbot Choice, a Tokyo-based Irish-style pub chain, had a bustling lunchtime crowd.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2013

The chance to underscore political self-dealing

By forcing Democrats to dramatize their perverse priorities in order to halt a government shutdown, U.S. Republicans can turn to completing the neutering of the Obama presidency.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 1, 2013

April to see sales tax hike, Abe confirms

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe goes ahead with raising the consumption tax while also offering a ¥5 trillion stimulus package to offset the negative impact on consumer spending.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 29, 2013

Good morning Miss Kita-Senju, konbanwa Japan

Perhaps there comes a day in many a man's life when he squints and says to himself something like this: 「まずいなぁ、もう少し度の強いメガネがあったら良かった。この距離だと、あの方が女装している北野武さんなのか、ミス・インターナショナルなのか、分からないや」("Mazui...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 28, 2013

Casinos bet on success in Tokyo

Most of the Olympics-related news reported since Tokyo won the right to host the 2020 Games is about projected economic benefits and drawbacks. A lot of construction will take place over the next seven years, but not all of it will be directly related to the sporting event.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2013

Mandatory organ donation

It is estimated that 18 people die in the U.S. every day due to a national shortage of organ donations. This crisis could be solved if organ donation were mandatory.
BASEBALL / MLB / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Sep 24, 2013

Moneyball evolves as A's keep winning

So, you've seen the flick "Moneyball" and now you think you understand how the traditionally low-budget Oakland A's still managed to capture the American League West title again this season.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 22, 2013

Syria Islamists rake in funds

Syria's Islamist extremists are getting a fresh torrent of cash from Arab donors hoping for an uprising to erupt across the region.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Sep 20, 2013

Richard Dawkins: 'I don't think I am strident or aggressive'

On the top floor of Random House's offices in London, the world's number one thinker — according to Prospect magazine's annual poll — walks in from the roof terrace and shakes my hand. Richard Dawkins is a trim 72-year-old with one of those faces that, no matter the accumulation of lines, will always...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Japan Pulse
Sep 18, 2013

Rent a dude for ¥1,000: an interview with Takanobu Nishimoto of Ossan Rental

Would you pay u00a51,000 to kill time with a hip 46-year-old guy?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 16, 2013

Osaka: What on Earth should be done about the deteriorating situation at Fukushima No. 1?

As Tepco plays 'whack-a-mole' with myriad problems at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, readers offer their advice to the utility and Abe's government.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Sep 16, 2013

Activist Chinese billionaire detained

Last month, Chinese police invited Wang Gongquan in for a "cup of tea," often a prelude to detention. He had launched a public petition calling for the release of arrested dissident Xu Zhiyong, and the authorities were not amused. But Wang effectively told the police to forget it — he had no time...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2013

China's Net crackdown shows fear trumps reform

China's new government is threatening jail terms for Web comments deemed defamatory. But by Beijing's definition, 'defamation' could mean anything that any politically connected person doesn't want to see made public.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / 'SUMMER DAVOS' SPECIAL 2013
Sep 10, 2013

Abe hoping to prove to the world that Japan truly is back

Tokyo's victory for the right to host the 2020 Olympic Games is a reassurance to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent go-to catchphrase, "Japan is Back," with the slogan having appeared as the subtitle of the government's growth strategy and even as the title in one of Abe's policy speeches.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Sep 10, 2013

UrumaDelvi learn the importance of contacts

The husband-and-wife creative team known as UrumaDelvi has been cranking out quirky, quasi-psychedelic illustrations, animated shorts and music videos for over 20 years. They met in design school in 1988. Deciding that their married surname, Kobayashi, was too common in Japan to be memorable, they took...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2013

JET alumni advocates for Japan

Clifton Strickler never thought of coming to Japan until he met his boss at the University of Texas while engaged in an undergraduate work-study. His boss lived in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, teaching English with the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2013

The battle for Moscow will shape Russia's future

Win or lose, Alexei Navalny's campaign in the Moscow mayoral election will have a lasting impact on Russia's democratic future.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 31, 2013

Balentien maintains poise, perspective as he chases single-season HR record

Wladimir Balentien flips on the television and takes in a rare moment of relaxation. Instead of his Tokyo Yakult Swallows uniform, which will be worn later, he's clad simply in a red T-shirt commemorating his back-to-back home run titles and yellow shorts from a past NPB All-Star Series.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Aug 31, 2013

Japan's nuclear comedy just goes on and on

What has been will be again,
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Aug 30, 2013

Cory Booker: hope, hype — and heir to Barack Obama?

If Cory Booker were a television character you might think the writers were over-egging things a bit. Tall, athletic, handsome, he is an ambitious politician with a flair for drama. He rescues a woman from a burning building, saves a freezing dog, chases a scissor-wielding mugger, invites hurricane victims...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2013

Power is fragmenting, but what is the true cost?

Political parties are succumbing to the rise of uncompromising single-issue pressure groups, and the corresponding decline of supporters who want common values expressed.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 24, 2013

It only takes one 'Barefoot' step to cross the line into censorship

If you want people to pay attention to a point you're making, try to bring the subject of children into the debate. Right now, the media is discussing a decision made by the board of education of Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, to limit student access to the manga "Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen)," first published...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear