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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 1, 2015

Hate, muzzle and poll: a top 10 of issues for 2014

A recap of the top 10 human-rights news events affecting non-Japanese (NJ) in Japan last year.
JAPAN / History
Jan 1, 2015

Donald Keene reflects on 70-year Japan experience

My first visit to Japan was very short, only a week or so in December 1945. Three months earlier, while on the island of Guam, I had heard the broadcast by the Emperor announcing the end of the war. Soon afterward, I was sent from Guam to China to serve as an interpreter between the Americans and the...
Reader Mail
Dec 31, 2014

Shameful decision to close parks

Regarding staff writer Tomohiro Osaki's Dec. 29 article, "Shibuya shuts parks, thwarting year-end soup distribution for homeless": I would like to thank The Japan Times for running this story. Shibuya Ward's closure of the three parks during the new year holidays will prevent supporters of the homeless...
MORE SPORTS
Dec 30, 2014

Inoue seizes WBO super flyweight title with second-round knockout of Narvaez

Japanese phenom Naoya Inoue made the crowd at the arena stand on its feet because of his explosive performance.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2014

Oil prices and Saudi democracy

Saudi Arabia's top policymakers deny they have deliberately sought lower oil prices, and there are good reasons to doubt the kingdom is wielding the oil weapon as part of some grand geopolitical strategy.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 30, 2014

Doubts over ambitious Nicaragua canal project grow as work gets underway

When one of the poorest countries in the Americas and a little-known Chinese businessman said they planned to undertake one of the biggest engineering projects in history, few people took them seriously.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 30, 2014

Their nation in pieces, Iraqis ponder what comes next

The machine gun poking out from between a framed portrait of a Shiite imam and a stuffed toy Minnie Mouse was trained on anyone who approached the checkpoint.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Dec 29, 2014

Discussing sex crimes and Japan's 'safety myth'

A selection of responses to Rachel Halle's recent column, 'Foreign student's account of treatment in rape case points to gaps in Japan's safety myth.'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Dec 28, 2014

The year in education: After all the talk, can Japan walk the walk in 2015?

With ideas coming in thick and fast in 2014 and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe having effective carte blanche after his landslide election victory, it's now or never for key education reforms.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2014

'Plant hunter' on quest to shake up horticulture with rare trees, flowers

From the isolated Socotra Islands off Yemen in the Arabian Sea to the dry forests of Argentina, Seijun Nishihata has traveled to 33 countries over the past 13 years to track down unique plant species for clients all over the world.
BASKETBALL
Dec 27, 2014

Akita continues inspired play under rookie head coach Hasegawa

The victories keep coming for the Akita Northern Happinets under first-year head coach Makoto Hasegawa, a former star point guard.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 27, 2014

Business as usual or an energy revolution?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party won a snap election two weeks ago that caught opposition parties and the public off guard. The result was a record low turnout in which the LDP lost several seats, but kept a two-thirds majority in the Lower House.
EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2014

Testing students' ability to think

An education ministry council could be presenting an over-idealized picture of its proposed reforms of Japan's university entrance exams, often criticized for placing too much emphasis on rote learning.
SPORTS
Dec 25, 2014

Top Japan sports news of 2014

The Japan Times editors selected these domestic sports stories as the most important of 2014.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 24, 2014

Our critics in the crossfire

The Japan Times' three film writers got together before Christmas to discuss their top picks of movies released this year. Unusually, this year both Giovanni Fazio and Kaori Shoji agreed on their No. 1, choosing "The Broken Circle Breakdown." Mark Schilling picked Mipo Oh's "Soko Nomi Nite Hikari Kagayaku"...
Reader Mail
Dec 24, 2014

The Christian message in Japan

Michael Hoffman's The Living Past article on Dec. 20, titled "Christian missionaries find Japan a tough nut to crack," gives a well-researched history of Japan's first encounter with the Christian faith 400 to 500 years ago, but says little of what has been happening since then. There is much to be encouraged...
Reader Mail
Dec 24, 2014

Priorities of dignity and security

Regarding the Dec. 10 editorial, "A test for Taiwan and China": I would like to bring the following points to the attention of The Japan Times readers. The "nine-in-one" nationwide local government election of the Republic of China on Taiwan on Nov. 29 marks the largest local government electoral event...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 23, 2014

Lower sales affected acts worldwide

The Japanese music market has faced hard times as of late. Starting with an announcement from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in March that the country's music sales dropped 16.7 percent in 2013, the past 12 months saw no particular upswing in physical or digital sales, therefore...
MORE SPORTS
Dec 22, 2014

Stockholm gives up football worlds

The International Federation of American Football has announced that Stockholm has given up the right to host the world championship in 2015.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Dec 22, 2014

Oxford chooses 'vape' as word of the year

The Oxford Dictionaries named 'vape' — meaning to inhale the vapor from an electronic cigarette instead of the smoke from a burning stick of tobacco — as its 2014 word of the year.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 22, 2014

Airport facial recognition system eyed but only for Japanese

As Japan braces for a surge in foreign visitors in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, pressure is mounting to expedite how visitors are processed at airports.
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Dec 22, 2014

Rewinding some of Japan's top YouTubers

YouTube highlighted 14 of the Internet's best Japanese vloggers.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 19, 2014

Putin says economy will rebound after rouble's fall, but offers no remedy

President Vladimir Putin assured Russians on Thursday that the economy will rebound after the rouble's dramatic slide this year but offered no remedy for a deepening financial crisis.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 18, 2014

The man who turned his modernist home into an art museum

It's not all roses being the director of an independent art museum, but for Toshio Hara, the human interaction of the art world is still a more attractive prospect than that of being a businessman. In 1979 he turned the family seat — a small cluster of white modernist buildings in a quiet residential...
Reader Mail
Dec 17, 2014

Nuclear arms threat will persist

Regarding Ramesh Thakur's Dec. 16 article, "Reducing the global threat posed by nuclear weapons": Uh, good luck with that! The United States and the Soviet Union came very close to nuclear conflict a number of times during the dark days of the Cold War, either because of a misunderstanding in communications...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 16, 2014

Pirouette, Craft Beer Market and more: some great new openings in Tokyo in 2014

The festive season is upon us, and 2015 beckons. But before we move on, herded into the Year of the Sheep, it's time to pause, celebrate and give thanks for the abundance of fine eating over the past 12 months.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’