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Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 5, 2016

Labour candidate Khan set to become London's first Muslim mayor after bitter campaign

Labour candidate Sadiq Khan was set to become the first Muslim to be elected mayor of London on Thursday, loosening the ruling Conservatives' hold on Britain's financial center after a campaign marred by charges of anti-Semitism and extremism.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 20, 2016

Audit ordered as primary voter rolls come up 125,000 short in Big Apple

Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump were favored to win their parties' U.S. presidential nominating contests in New York state on Tuesday, but voting was overshadowed by official confirmation that more than 125,000 people were missing from New York City voter rolls and reports of other...
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Apr 18, 2016

Let's discuss the Tokyo Olympic logo competition

Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizers have unveiled a shortlist of four replacement logos after the original design was scrapped.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 18, 2016

Philippine front-runner hits back over off-color remark

Philippine presidential hopeful Rodrigo Duterte stuck to his guns on Sunday amid outrage over a remark he made about a murdered rape victim, saying he regretted his "gutter language" but would not apologize for being misinterpreted.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 16, 2016

Can Japan make itself great again by 2050?

The bad news is, Japan is beset by seemingly insoluble problems. The good news is the word "seemingly." No nation whose rise to economic superpowerdom began a bare decade after being bombed to rubble in history's most destructive war will ever find anything truly "insoluble." Japan will astonish us yet....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2016

Japan unveils final four candidates for Tokyo 2020 Olympics logo

Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizers on Friday unveiled a shortlist of four replacement logos after the original design was scrapped last September amid accusations of plagiarism.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 5, 2016

Everyone but the mainstream media saw 'Trumpism' coming

You can't be a good journalist when you're a shill for a corporate media obsessed with access to the powers that be.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2016

I dunno if Hillary Clinton is evil, but she sure is dumb

Vote for Hillary Clinton if you want. But don't vote for her because she's smart.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2016

U.S. can't afford to make the 'Berlusconi' mistake

The only way to avoid Berlusconi-level disaster in the U.S. is to continue criticizing Trump, exposing his lies and holding him to account for his words and actions.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 9, 2016

U.N. panel drops criticism of Japan's male-only Imperial lineage after Tokyo protests

A U.N. committee agrees to remove criticism of Japan's male-only Imperial succession from a report after Tokyo complained.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 8, 2016

Philippine court shakes up election race by allowing Poe to run

The Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a senator who spent much of her life in the United States is eligible to run for president, reversing a decision by the election commission and putting her in line to reclaim her position as front-runner.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 4, 2016

DPJ, Ishin no To invite entries for new party name

The Democratic Party of Japan and Ishin no To (Japan Innovation Party) took to the Internet on Friday seeking an answer to a first key issue facing them ahead of their merger: a new name.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 1, 2016

Trump asks Black Lives Matter protesters if they are 'from Mexico' before booting them from rally

A Donald Trump rally in Virginia was repeatedly disrupted on Monday by protesters, including some from the Black Lives Matter movement, in a stark display of the divisions the Republican front-runner's presidential campaign has long been accused of sowing.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 1, 2016

Trump lays failure to disavow KKK-linked endorsement to faulty earpiece

Donald Trump blamed a faulty television earpiece on Monday for his failure to disavow support from a white supremacist, swatting aside the latest controversy to shadow his unorthodox march toward the Republican presidential nomination.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Feb 25, 2016

Supreme Court, Abe battle over judicial independence

The Supreme Court is locked in a war with the Abe administration over the independence of the judicial branch.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 12, 2016

Paternity leave trailblazer Miyazaki quits over affair

LDP lawmaker and paternity leave pioneer Kensuke Miyazaki quits his seat after admitting to an extramarital affair.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 2, 2016

Virtual tie raises doubts: Can Hillary Clinton close the deal?

Hillary Clinton's struggle in Iowa to fend off underdog Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, reignited questions about her ability to close the deal with Democratic voters and turned up the pressure on her high-profile White House campaign.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Feb 1, 2016

Taking a stand and speaking from it with 'to shite'

Introducing various usages of the phrase Xu3068u3057u3066 (as/being X).
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 30, 2016

Is society on the cusp of massive change?

Philosopher Tatsuru Uchida, interviewed earlier this month by the Asahi Shimbun, merely confirms what we all know, or sense, when he says: "This is an age of transition. We're going through the confusion characteristic of bedrock change."
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 28, 2016

Malaysia's top lawyer rejected advice to charge Najib: source

Malaysia's anti-graft agency had recommended that Prime Minister Najib Razak be charged with criminal misappropriation, a source said, amid growing outrage after the premier was cleared of any offenses in a multimillion-dollar scandal.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / DAVOS SPECIAL 2016
Jan 20, 2016

Globis initiates Japanese innovation

The World Economic Forum is hosting its annual conference in Davos, Switzerland, from Jan. 20 to 23, once again set to remind leaders from around the world they have roles to play in improving the state of the world — the nonprofit organization's stated goal.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2016

Trump blasts Cruz as 'nasty guy' as rival fires back over 'New York values'

A rolling brawl between the two U.S. Republican presidential front-runners didn't abate on Sunday as Donald Trump termed his closest competitor, Ted Cruz, "nasty" and the Texas senator stood his ground in criticizing the billionaire's "New York values."
Reader Mail
Jan 16, 2016

Only abstinence offers total safety

Regarding "Sex educator clues in curious youths" in the Jan. 4 edition, with its "safe sex" push and dismissal of sexual abstinence, Asuka Someya's organization Pilcon is actually putting young Japanese at more — not less — risk of the negative consequences of sex. Scoff at abstinence until marriage...
EDITORIALS
Dec 21, 2015

Supreme Court's surname ruling

The Supreme Court's ruling upholding the constitutionality of requiring a married couple to use the same surname included a call on the Diet to examine the issue — which lawmakers should follow.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 12, 2015

Trump's lead among Republicans undiminished in first poll since Muslim comments

Donald Trump held onto his commanding lead in the Republican race for the White House after his call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States was condemned worldwide, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, the first national survey conducted entirely after the billionaire's remarks.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 8, 2015

Lessons of Pearl Harbor: fear itself, then and now

As anti-Muslim sentiment rises in the U.S. in the wake of the San Bernadino shootings, Americans would do well to recall the shameful policy mistakes that happened when fear and anger gripped the nation following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 8, 2015

French unity against far-right crumbles as National Front rises

When far-right National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen made it to the second round of the 2002 presidential election, shocked voters and mainstream parties united to keep him out of power.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 4, 2015

California massacre triggers heated Senate gun control debate but GOP control ensures inaction

One day after a mass shooting in California that killed 14 people and wounded 21, Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate jousted on Thursday over gun control but again failed to advance legislation addressing the violence.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2015

The first Olympic hurdle should be voter support

Making plebiscites obligatory for all bidding cities could be the first step toward restoring the tattered reputation of the Olympics.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes