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JAPAN / Politics
Jan 7, 2015

Hashimoto vows to quit if Osaka merger plan fails

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said Wednesday he would quit politics if voters rejected his merger proposal for the city in a referendum likely to be held on May 17.
WORLD
Jan 6, 2015

CIA says its inspector general is resigning at end of month

CIA Inspector General David Buckley, who investigated a dispute between the agency and Congress over the handling of records of the CIA's detention and interrogation activities, is resigning effective Jan. 31, the CIA said on Monday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 5, 2015

Survival of 'freedom, democracy'

From top to bottom, Japanese society seems to be growing more introverted and to be shedding its openness toward the outside world. Can the ideal of 'freedom and democracy' survive this trend?
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2015

Saying goodbye to steel production in China

As China's domestic economy slows and competition increases amid widespread disgust with air pollution, one surprisingly popular option for the massive, state-owned steel mills is to bid China goodbye.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2015

Nixon's respect for a Democratic intellectual exemplified how to handle domestic debate

For all its faults, America's Nixon administration provided a model for professional domestic debate when the stakes are huge, exemplified by the appointment of a Democratic intellectual as urban affairs adviser.
JAPAN / 70 YEARS OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY
Jan 4, 2015

Patriotic few battle addiction to peace

The Japanese school system's treatment of modern history is so slipshod that having a rational debate on the need for war is nearly impossible, young nationalists say.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 3, 2015

The highlights of Japanese media in 2014

My choices for the most significant public phenomena of last year are associated with traditional media rather than the social kind, which isn't to say these phenomena didn't impact social media and vice versa, only that TV, newspapers and magazines still affect our perception of the world.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Jan 3, 2015

Debate over WW1 role; 21 Nazis snatched off Yokohama; new Red China policy adopted; Nagasaki mayor shot

100 YEARS AGOTuesday, Jan. 26, 1915
Japan Times
JAPAN / 70 YEARS OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY
Jan 2, 2015

As Abe pulls to the right, few go with him

How far has Japan shifted to the right? Is it trying to shed its legacy of postwar pacifism? Experts give their opinions on the LDP's latest moves as the new year opens.
EDITORIALS
Jan 2, 2015

A year to study history

In Asia, perhaps the most important political task in 2015 will be understanding the personality and the politics of China's top leader, Xi Jinping. That means studying history.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 1, 2015

Samba: 'chemistry between an immigrant and his caseworker'

In "Samba" the French writer-director duo of Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano try to rekindle the magic and phenomenal box-office success of their 2011 film "The Intouchables," with the same leading man burdened by the same kind of problems against the same backdrop of a Paris unkind to African immigrants....
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 30, 2014

Komeito backtracks on Osaka merger referendum

In a surprise move, the Osaka chapter of Komeito will cooperate with Mayor Toru Hashimoto to hold a referendum on whether to integrate the Osaka city and prefecture.
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2014

Bad feelings toward the neighbors

An overwhelming majority of people in Japan harbor negative sentiments toward Asian neighbors that the government calls 'partners responsible for the peace and prosperity of the region.' What is Prime Minister Shinzo Abe going to do about that?
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2014

Wanted: brides for millions of Chinese men

A fast-growing underclass is sure to pose an array of challenges for China. The victims are the millions of poor, mostly rural men, who cannot meet familial and social expectations that a man marry and start a family because of the country's skewed demographics.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2014

A great year for the far right

The far-right resurgence is impossible to miss, and 2014 will be remembered as the year extreme nationalists in Europe and Asia made a credible bid for power for the first time since the end of World War II.
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.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2014

Business Book of the Year is timely but way off target

The economics in Thomas Piketty's 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century,' chosen the Business Book of the Year by the Financial Times, leaves a lot to be desired. But its timing was fantastic.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2014

An all-Hindu vision of India

India's powerful, male-only Hindu nationalist outfit announces an intensive conversion program to recover its 'lost property' in India, feeding its dream of an India that is nothing less than '100 per cent Hindu.'
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2014

Texas license plate challenges sensitive people

The legal skirmish over a Texas license platet implicates a burgeoning new entitlement in the U.S.: the right to pass through life without encountering any disagreeable thought.
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.
EDITORIALS
Dec 26, 2014

Occupy Central's spirit endures

The Occupy Central movement that shut down the heart of Hong Kong for 79 days over the demand for greater democracy in the Special Administrative Region is over. But the impulses that drove the movement have not disspated.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2014

America's gun culture and the manly virtues

As growing economic autonomy among American women reshapes breadwinning and gender roles, it's getting tough out there for tough guys. So it doesn't take much imagination to grasp the appeal of holding a gun to some men.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 25, 2014

Former leader Okada to seek DPJ's presidency again

Democratic Party of Japan policy maker and former chief confirms his latest run for the presidency of Japan's biggest opposition party.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Dec 25, 2014

Japan Times Advisory Board serves up brickbats, praise for newspaper's coverage

Ichiro Fujisaki, who formerly served as Japan's ambassador to the United States, praised the paper for its "readability." He said he senses that the editors try to choose phrases and words that are easy for Japanese readers to understand.
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"...
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 24, 2014

Hashimoto makes a strategic exit, freeing up possible alignment of Ishin and DPJ

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto has dropped out of national politics, at least for now, to concentrate on his plan to integrate Osaka city and prefecture and to cease being an obstacle, he says, to a grand realignment of like-minded opposition politicians.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2014

Jihadists lose religious credibility

The horrific massacre of 132 boys at their school in Peshawar, Pakistan, embodies a new trend in Islamist terrorism that has emerged this year: Jihadis seem unconcernd with justifying their actions by Shariah law.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 22, 2014

Jeers, apologies and silence: Japan's 2014 in quotes

First of all, we're sorry. Everybody is sorry. This was the year that everyone apologized and everyone was sorry about something. The Asahi Shimbun was sorry so many times (even when maybe they shouldn't have been) that we're omitting them from the list. There's not enough space.

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