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Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2013

Book showcases foreigners, Japanese affected by 3/11

The earthquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region on March 11, 2011, left more than 18,000 people dead or missing, including 30 non-Japanese.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 23, 2013

Secrets, lies, gaffes, glory: 2013 in quotes

A mix of scandals, achievements, political missteps and commemorations highlighted 2013. Here's a rundown of the quotations that shaped the Year of the Snake.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Dec 22, 2013

Osaka joins rush to attract foreign tourists

If you asked many Kansai-area foreigners, and not a few Tokyoites, to come up with a slogan to promote Osaka internationally, you might get a response along the lines of: "Osaka: When You Can't Get a Hotel in Kyoto."
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 22, 2013

Danish PM's 'selfie' snapshot of her credibility crisis

When Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt took a "selfie" on her smartphone on Dec. 14 — like millions of people do every day — she doubtless had little idea of the commotion that would ensue. In the photograph, taken at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela, the most admired political...
WORLD
Dec 22, 2013

U.S. secretly helps Colombia kill rebel leaders

The 50-year-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), once considered the best-funded insurgency in the world, is at its smallest and most vulnerable state in decades, due in part to a CIA covert action program that has helped Colombian forces kill at least two dozen rebel leaders, according...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 21, 2013

A confused future for our baby boomers

No generation in the history of mankind is more reviled than that of the baby boomers, who grew up during the age of mass media. Raised on TV and glossy magazines, they connected to a world their parents knew almost nothing about, and with that experience turned from youthful explorers of expanded possibilities...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 21, 2013

Terrorists unite: All you have to lose is your freedom

Everyone had been wondering when the real Shinzo Abe would bare the dark recesses of his political soul. There had been some glimpses, but with Abenomics in a swoon amid growing skepticism about its sustainability, Japan's prime minister finally ripped off his mask as he rammed secrecy legislation through...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 21, 2013

Santa Claus: 'It's what's on the inside that counts'

After finishing my route on Christmas Eve once, I was feeling exceptionally genki (energetic) and I rode back to the North Pole au naturel. The reindeer never even knew.
Reader Mail
Dec 21, 2013

Exactly who do you think he was?

Nelson Mandela was seen and revered not only as a political hero but practically as a living saint. The hagiography surrounding him somewhat disguises his many family tragedies, his policy failures and his political cunning.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Dec 20, 2013

Cook, writer, TV host, actress and more: Briton toasts eventful half-century in Japan

Civil servant, cook, columnist and TV personality are among the hats Jill Sinclair Ito has worn during her 50 years in the country.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Dec 19, 2013

Comiket, where otaku come to share the love

The Tokyo International Exhibition Center, better known as Tokyo Big Sight, boasts an area of more than 80,000 sq. meters of exhibition space. It's the country's largest convention center and will host wrestling, fencing and taekwondo during the 2020 Olympics.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 16, 2013

Don't throw those boring New Years cards away!

Starting this year Japan Post is offering cash prizes for its New Years lottery.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2013

Time for Bangladesh to heal political wounds of the past

Bangladesh's rapid economic growth is at risk because of demonstrations and widespread anger over death penalties imposed on some Muslim leaders for their part in the 1971 war for independence.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Dec 13, 2013

For Canadian traveler, last-minute meeting led to change of heart and new start in Japan

Michelle Takahashi works as an English teacher at a school for families who hope to raise their children in bilingual and multi-cultural environments. Together with Toru, a systems engineer at an IT-related U.S. company, and their two sons, she now lives in Kodaira, western Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 12, 2013

Ruling bloc approves tax reform plan for '14

To stave off some of the negative impacts of the expected consumption tax hike to 10 percent in October 2015, the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc says the levy should be reduced on certain daily necessities.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 12, 2013

U.S. health-insurance enrollments rise as website improves

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that the ailing health insurance website was improving thanks to "relentless" efforts to work out the bugs, and she cited an uptick in enrollment as evidence that the program is back on track after a false start.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 10, 2013

London Grammar takes a road less traveled in 2013

The big music story of 2013 hasn't been the emergence of a bright new artist or genre. When people look back on this year they'll think of Robin Thicke's creepy uncle routine, Miley Cyrus giving oral pleasure to builders' hardware or Kanye West's Nietzschean rants about his fiancée's bottom. This was...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 9, 2013

Korean volunteers put the K into kizuna

One volunteer group, based at Tokyo's Meiji University, is called Kizuna International; the other, at Kyoto University, is Kizuna From Kyoto. The coincidences do not end there: Both groups' leaders share the same surname and both are ethnic Koreans.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 9, 2013

Brits feel squeeze on income

Although the British economy seem at least to be showing signs of recovery, it remains difficult for young people to get on the property ladder despite low interest rates.
WORLD
Dec 6, 2013

Nelson Mandela, ex-president of South Africa, dead at 95

Nelson Mandela, the former political prisoner who became the first president of a post-apartheid South Africa and whose heroic life and towering moral stature made him one of history's most influential statesmen, died Dec. 5, the government announced. He was 95.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 1, 2013

Some illuminations on the red lantern

Last month, the chōchin (提灯, a Japanese traditional lantern) at Kaminarimon (雷門, the gate of Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, in Tokyo's Taito Ward) was replaced with a new one, the first time it has been renewed since 2003.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Nov 27, 2013

'Disabled' in Britain, just 'foreign' in Japan

For myself, a British citizen who has cerebral palsy living in Japan, it is the liberatory power of being a foreigner here that leaves the deepest impression on me.
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Nov 26, 2013

Look to pop culture if you want to blame someone for A-Chan's gay gaffe

All art is political. All pop culture is political.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 24, 2013

The immigration question

Despite Japan's low birthrate and rapidly graying population, only one in seven Japanese support the idea of increased immigration.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 21, 2013

JFK's message echoes today

President John F. Kennedy, more than many others then or now, recognized the exponential power that Japan and the U.S. possessed when working together.

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