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Reader Mail
Jun 14, 2014

Did Edo ancestors have a better life?

"Boohoo, boohoo, life is such a bore!" It must be a living death to be chained to a corporate desk from morning until late evening, five or even six days a week.
EDITORIALS
Jun 13, 2014

Iraq collapsing

Islamic militants have overrun northern Iraq, taking control of the country's second-largest city and sparking fears of the collapse of the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 13, 2014

Hillary Clinton breathes, we hold our breath

Hillary Clinton's book, 'Hard Choices,' is another tease in the dance of the seven veils. Her book is neither fish nor fowl, neither an autobiography like Barack Obama's 'Audacity of Hope' nor a thrown-together candidate presentation like Mitt Romney's 'No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.'
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 12, 2014

As visitor numbers boom, North Korea becomes ultimate tourist trap

"Taking you to places where your mother would rather you stayed away from." That's how one Western travel agency advertises its tours to North Korea.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2014

Politics at the root of India's power problems

India finally has an integrated nationwide power system. Now it needs to sweep away the entrenched interests in the state electricity boards and shift to a full cost-recovery model.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 12, 2014

U.S. House Republican No. 2 Cantor to step down after election shock

A shock primary election defeat for Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, left his political party in chaos on Wednesday as financial markets worried the shake-up might renew budget fights that in the past have caused government shutdowns and near credit defaults.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 10, 2014

Five sentenced for slaying of Russian journalist, but mastermind remains unknown

Five men received long prison terms on Monday for the killing of prominent Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya after a trial that failed to reveal who had masterminded the Russian journalist's murder.
EDITORIALS
Jun 9, 2014

Creeping Orwellian angst

Legislative attempts to criminalize the act of 'conspiracy' to commit some crimes as well as other government moves are enough to cause anxiety that Japan may be inching toward an Orwellian society.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2014

Why Malaysia is riskier than India, Indonesia

From missing airplanes to jail-bound opposition leaders, Malaysia has recently made international headlines for all the wrong reasons. Will the nation's economy be next?
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 9, 2014

Western democracy brings only chaos, China's top newspaper says

China's top newspaper on Monday warned against aping Western-style democracy just a week after the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, pointing to Thailand and Ukraine as examples of the kind of chaos the system can bring.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 7, 2014

U.S. to fund anti-militant TV in Nigeria

The United States is financing a new 24-hour satellite TV channel in northern Nigeria meant to counter insurgencies by the militant Islamist Boko Haram and other groups in the region, The New York Times reported on Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2014

Students take worldly approach to study abroad

A University of Tokyo student set to spend a year as an exchange student in Illinois this summer doesn't think English skill is the only thing that matters when going to the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2014

Calculating the ethical cost of high-priced art

If artists, art critics and art buyers really had any interest in reducing the widening gap between the rich and the poor, they would spend time in developing countries, where spending a few thousand dollars on the works of indigenous artists can make a real difference to the wellbeing of whole villages.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2014

Korean unification and peace

When the United Nations celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2015, Koreans will be lamenting 70 years of national division. Yet, those South Koreans who have not given up on the dream of unification are pushing proposals to address the North's humanitarian, infrastructure and welfare problems.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 5, 2014

Reborn Nippon Ishin aims to stand out on policy, woo DPJ

Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) version 2.0 kicked off Thursday evening, with leader Toru Hashimoto vowing to pursue different policies from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the ruling coalition on energy and structural reform, and calling on like-minded members of the Democratic Party of...
EDITORIALS
Jun 5, 2014

Political reform overdue in China

Twenty-five years after the protests at Tiananmen Square, the Chinese Communist Party continues to try to erase the memory of a movement that called for elimination of corruption, government accountability, freedom of speech and expansion of workers' rights.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 5, 2014

Assad declared landslide victor in Syrian presidential election

Syrian President Bashar Assad has secured a landslide victory in a wartime election that was condemned as a sham by his opponents but demonstrated his tenacious hold on power after three years of brutal civil war.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2014

Ishihara says new party will boast at least 22 Diet members

Former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara says the new party he plans to launch at the end of July will include at least 21 other Diet members.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2014

China wields history as weapon, except on June 4

For China, history is a weapon to use against other countries, but it keeps a curtain of silence drawn around the events that transpired in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.
Reader Mail
Jun 4, 2014

A coup from a different view

Regarding the May 29 AP article "Thai troops detain Cabinet minister who blasted coup": Over the past week I found myself in the midst of the second coup since I came to Thailand, and the news, as reported by the Western media, has appeared fundamentally flawed. I am hoping that the lack of understanding...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 4, 2014

Wary China intensifies censorship and policing as Tiananmen anniversary arrives

Twenty-five years ago, Wang Nan took his camera and headed out to Beijing's Tiananmen Square, where tens of thousands of people had gathered calling for democratic reforms. The 19-year-old told a friend he wanted to record history.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 3, 2014

Firms woo female investors with goodies

When Chiho Higo started teaching stock trading at a Tokyo night school in 2008, there were often no female attendees. Now there are 50. One mother said she bought shares in a toymaker instead of toys for her child.
EDITORIALS
Jun 2, 2014

Poroshenko's assignment

The most pressing task for newly elected Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko is reaching out to Ukrainians in the east and assuring them that they have a place in the new Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2014

Circus may visit Bangkok, but it can't stay on

The generals who now control Thailand are making a big show of shifting their attention from guns to butter. They would have better luck if they could communicate their ultimate intentions to the rest of the world.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 2, 2014

British official denies that Cameron threatened to move up EU vote

A British official on Sunday dismissed a report that Prime Minister David Cameron had threatened at an EU summit last week to bring forward a referendum on British membership of the EU if Jean-Claude Juncker became European Commission president.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2014

Managers in China stoking labor activism

Behind China's biggest strike in decades last month was a new player in Chinese labor activism: management.
EDITORIALS
Jun 1, 2014

Europe takes a beating

The outcome of the European parliamentary elections is a wakeup call to Europe's establishment. They must re-examine basic assumptions about the role of the EU and how they talk about the European project at home.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 30, 2014

No end to Tottenham's revolving managerial door

When you have appointed eight managers during your 13 years as chairman winning only one League Cup, it is understandable that the fans view you with a certain cynicism.
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2014

Why Google's self-driving car terrifies Detroit

Perhaps the U.S. auto industry's biggest problem right now is that the usually slavish press is going crazy for the Google self-driving car prototype in ways that the carmakers haven't been able to inspire in a long time.
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2014

The ideology of those who kidnap schoolgirls

Until we clean the education soil in which the plants producing the poisonous ideologies enforced by Boko Haram and other extremist groups take root, the life chances of millions of young people around the world will be jeopardized.

Longform

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