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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 8, 2016

The 'onsen' retreat that transformed Natsume Soseki

Shuzenji, an onsen (hot-spring) town in the heart of the Izu Peninsula, is a little piece of heaven. Nestled in the densely wooded hills of Shizuoka Prefecture, its collection of baths, guesthouses and shops line up on either side of the rushing Katsura River, with historic temples, shrines and bamboo...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2016

Meet the machines that know what's funny

Algorithms are outperforming human beings in a variety of unexpected contexts.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2016

Why biologists don't put too much stock in race

Race is a scientifically indefensible concept with no biological basis as applied to humans.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2016

Kim is challenging the U.S., not the entire world

If Washington and its allies hope to halt the North Korean nuclear program, they will have to address the actual purpose of the North's activities, and not blame them on some mythical attack on the world.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Oct 3, 2016

BOJ seen adopting American WWII rate-pegging ploy to spark inflation

In deciding to target bond yields, Japan is deploying a monetary strategy to combat deflation used by its former enemy in World War II. The trouble is that America's experience back then suggests the tactics probably will not work on their own.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 1, 2016

Who advises Japan's business leaders?

Take a wild guess: Who's the second most influential management guru in Japan, after — it almost goes without saying — Peter Drucker?
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Sep 17, 2016

Emoji: The evolution of emoticons

The ideograms that were once eyed with skepticism have transformed into a universally accepted part of daily communication.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 17, 2016

Okinawan chronicles: 10 books that show the many faces of Japan's 'island paradise'

Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Sep 17, 2016

The rise of a toxic machine named fascism

Why not fascism?
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 14, 2016

Quest for a moral compass

The Cultural Revolution tore China's social fabric and transformed the society into a dog-eat-dog world, the vestiges of which are still felt today.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2016

America should exit the Korean imbroglio

A U.S. withdrawal from South Korea would undercut Pyongyang's justification for its massive military spending.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2016

Seaweed farming, a sudden slimy success, needs greener rules, U.N. study finds

Seaweed farming needs tighter regulation to limit damage to the environment after booming into a $6.4 billion business with uses in everything from sushi to toothpaste, a United Nations study said Sunday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 1, 2016

Global warming exposes fossils in Greenland from time Earth was like Mars

The earliest fossil evidence of life on Earth has been found in rocks 3.7 billion years old in Greenland, raising chances of life on Mars aeons ago when both planets were similarly desolate, scientists said on Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 27, 2016

Shiraishi isn't afraid to ask the tough questions about life

August honors the dead in Japan, so it's fitting that Kazufumi Shiraishi's raw discourse on mortality makes its English debut this month. Originally published in 2008, "Me Against the World" breaks from Shiraishi's fictional works, offering the author's undiluted musings on life. As told The Japan Times...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 22, 2016

In the electronics doldrums

The main culprit of Japan's economic doldrums during the past quarter century is the stagnation of its electronic equipment manufacturers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 20, 2016

From My Grandmother's Bedside: Sketches of Postwar Tokyo

Academic Norma Field spent the summer of 1995 in Tokyo, observing the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. This is the book that came out of that experience, a compilation of observations, snatched dialogues, musings, anecdotes, fragments and ruminations. The author had already published the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 12, 2016

California roll creator Hidekazu Tojo's continuing quest to broaden palates overseas

A namigai (geoduck pronounced gooey-duck) is not a pretty creature. Native to North America's west coast, it looks like a beige slug that has outgrown a clam shell. Hidekazu Tojo is about to convince an audience to eat it.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 7, 2016

Exquisite dolphin fossils provide insight into evolution of ultrasonic hearing, echolocation

Fossils unearthed in a South Carolina drainage ditch are providing insight into the development of ultrasonic hearing in prehistoric whales, a trait closely linked to their uncanny ability to hunt and navigate using sound waves and echoes.
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Aug 3, 2016

Where's the money?

Hillary Clinton's long march to the U.S. presidency continues unabated, and many voters are so scared of the idea of President Donald Trump, they'd vote for Clinton even if she sprouted fangs and hissed like a cobra. But anyone who's all comfy with the idea that voting for Clinton as the "lesser of two...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2016

Hillary Clinton, the candidate we know so well — and don't

When she was about 14, Hillary Clinton says, she wrote to NASA volunteering for astronaut training.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 16, 2016

Bushido: The awakening of Japan's modern identity

Opinions are divided when it comes to Japan's current Constitution, issued during the U.S. Occupation of 1945 -52: Is it an American imposition that unfairly refuses to recognize the nation as a "normal country" or a precious war-renouncing document that reflects Japan's unique status as the only country...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 11, 2016

New sanctions won't hurt Kim

The U.S. decision to impose personal sanctions on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks like an act of desperation and may make things worse.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 2, 2016

'A Quiet Place': One of Japan's great crime writers turns pale

Celebrated crime writer Seicho Matsumoto penned hundreds of works in his lifetime but so far only a handful have made it into English, which means the publication of a new novel should be cause for celebration.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 25, 2016

Gary Snyder: Asia's heavy toll on nature

Enter the mind of American poet and scholar Gary Snyder and watch as time pulls back, perspectives shift and an epoch passes in a single blink. His newest book of prose, "The Great Clod," is a series of essays on Asia's ecological history, combining culture and politics in a way that is, unsurprisingly,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2016

Trump's economic policies a recipe for disaster

Some politically neutral economists have looked at Donald Trump's economic policies. What they found should scare the daylights out of you.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2016

How Trump gets away with no actual policies

Who needs detailed policies when name-calling works just fine? For Donald Trump, this has worked so far.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 16, 2016

Few 'bright spots' may offer clues to protecting threatened coral reefs

Some coral reefs are thriving and scientists say they may guide efforts to curb threats such as overfishing and climate change, which are blamed for widespread global declines.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2016

Android version of literary giant Natsume Soseki to return to alma mater to lecture

An android version of the noted scribe is slated to visit Nishogakusha University next year and deliver lectures.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 7, 2016

How a bizarre 'bout of the century' between Muhammad Ali and Antonio Inoki led to a firm friendship

Of all the episodes in the iconic boxing career of Muhammad Ali, who died Friday at age 74, perhaps the most curious came in a Japanese ring.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 4, 2016

The struggles of a local sumo hero

An oft-repeated question these days, and one not necessarily confined to sports media, is whether 29-year-old wrestler Kisenosato will make it to sumo's highest rank. Or is he destined to remain a perennial bridesmaid?

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji