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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2015

China's lack of transparency leaves Asia guessing

As China's coughing fit grows, countries in the region are wondering whether its illness will prove contagious.
Reader Mail
Jul 10, 2015

Thailand is a land of free expression

Regarding the article "Lese Majeste brings despair to Thai families" by Marion Thaibaut, an AFP-Jiji reporter based in Bangkok, in The Japan Times on May 25, I wish to clarify the following:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 9, 2015

Tackling the Bard's world in one go: Kuranosuke Sasaki teams up with director Andrew Goldberg for a one-man 'Macbeth'

With a piercing yell, Kuranosuke Sasaki bursts out of the rehearsal studio, his hands covered in (fake) blood. Then seeing me, he smiles and says, "Sorry to keep you waiting" — before returning to intensive preparations with American director Andrew Goldberg for his starring role in their one-man "Macbeth,"...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 9, 2015

Drought-hit Thai farmers struggling as subsidies, like paddies, look to dry up amid water curbs

Rice farmer Boontham Chei-pa switches on a water pump in the evenings to irrigate his parched field from a canal in Thailand's central province of Suphanburi. The soil is hardly moistened before the motor is switched off.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2015

China tries Japan's approach to stock bubble

The longer Xi Jinping delays weaning China's economy off excessive investment, the more Lehman-like the fallout will be.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Jul 8, 2015

Late marine's message lives on in Okinawa and Vietnam

U.S. Marine Allen Nelson first visited Okinawa in 1966 when the entire island was under American control and functioned as its springboard for the war in Vietnam. For two weeks, Nelson and his fellow new recruits spent their days practising guerilla warfare at Camp Hansen, central Okinawa, then in the...
WORLD
Jul 8, 2015

Chinese parliament publishes draft cybersecurity law

China's rubber-stamp parliament has published a draft cybersecurity law that consolidates Beijing's control over data, with potentially significant consequences for internet service providers and multinational firms doing business in the country.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2015

China's bull market in conspiracy theories

China's financial world has officially entered the paranoia zone.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 7, 2015

Iranian nuclear deal set to make hard-line Revolutionary Guards richer

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard have done very well despite international sanctions — and if a nuclear deal is done in Vienna this week under which those sanctions are lifted, they are likely to do better still.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 6, 2015

Hashimoto raises prospect of forming all-Kansai political party

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto expresses interest in forming an all-Kansai political party, which could split the party into eastern and western Japan factions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 3, 2015

Rice organization uses fried food and folklore to revive a Shinto purification ritual

Traditions are just innovations that happened to catch on. Culinary traditions are no different. Some self-organize out of circumstance, such as yakisoba (literally "fried noodles"), which triumphantly emerged as the iconic food of summer festivals in large part thanks to a particular combination of...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 3, 2015

Obama, on Walker's turf, talks up unions, overtime pay, jabs GOP candidate scrum

President Barack Obama ripped the policies of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and poked fun at the large crop of Republican presidential candidates on Thursday, injecting himself into the race to find his successor in 2016.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 2, 2015

Reaganomics is not the answer for Japan

If Abe doesn't rethink his approach, and develop a plan to cut wasteful spending and find new revenue sources, things are sure to get worse for Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 1, 2015

Horror of 'Child 44' is bogged down by Soviet era bureaucracy

The recurring line in "Child 44" is, "there is no murder in paradise." It's a reflection of the political image projected in the Soviet Union during the Stalin era — these were a paradisal states, free from Western ills like poverty and crime, and there was nothing more to say about it. But the backdrop...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 1, 2015

Clinton struggled to fit in under Obama, emails show

Hillary Rodham Clinton struggled to fit into the government of President Barack Obama after being appointed Secretary of State in 2009, according to emails released by the State Department on Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2015

Vote by U.S. Congress stokes hope for TPP progress in July

With the U.S. Congress formally granting President Barack Obama trade promotion authority, proponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in Japan are hoping at least the broad outlines of a bilateral deal for agriculture and auto parts may be worked out when negotiations resume in July.
EDITORIALS
Jun 30, 2015

Abe's ill-conceived university policy

The government should remember that the primary purpose of unversities is to provide students with a well-rounded education that helps them became more insightful citizens.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 30, 2015

For Europe's anti-establishment ranks, Tsipras an unlikely hero

European anti-establishment parties of all political colours are rallying behind Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in his standoff with creditors, which threatens to force Athens out of the eurozone and undermine the single currency.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Jun 28, 2015

Rift with Greece sends European Union into uncharted territory

Europe's grand project to bind its nations into an unbreakable union by means of a common currency has lurched into uncharted waters after EU governments refused funding to save Greece from defaulting on its debts.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 27, 2015

Okinawa's lobbyist-in-chief scores a subtle win in Washington

Chie Mikami's new documentary, "Ikusabanu Todomi" (which loosely translates as "Bring the War to an End"), is about the protests against the new U.S. Marine Corps base in Henoko, Okinawa. Her previous film, "Hyoteki no Mura" ("The Targeted Village"), was about protests against the deployment of the controversial...
EDITORIALS
Jun 26, 2015

Pope Francis as environmentalist

Pope Francis has issued a powerful call on mankind to protect the environment, achieving an important alignment of science and religion.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 25, 2015

Japan executes convict for murdering woman in Nagoya

A 44-year-old convicted murderer was executed by hanging on Thursday after six years on death row, the first execution authorized by Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa since she acceded to the post last October.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jun 24, 2015

The pathetic state of the DPJ

With the opposition camp, notably the DPJ, in tatters, everything is working to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's advantage.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2015

Hard questions for candidate Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton's reticence is drowning out her message, which is that she is the cure for the many ailments that afflict America during a second Democratic presidential term.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jun 24, 2015

Story of Japan's industrial rise deserves to be told, forced labor and all

Proposed Kyushu UNESCO sites could be a showcase for East Asian cooperation or festering points of contention.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 24, 2015

'Selma' director Ava DuVernay unveils women activists of civil rights era

A filmmaker needs more than directing skills to make it in the big league, and an activist needs more than a political agenda to change the world. Ava DuVernay brings this point home in "Selma," the first major motion picture portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 23, 2015

Abe's security legislation and freedom of expression

The Abe administration appears keen to sweep critical intellect out of Japanese society.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 23, 2015

Germany should buy — and show — Hitler's art

The German government should exhibit Adolf Hitler's artwork publically to help people better undersand what happened to Germany in the 1930s and '40s.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo