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Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 16, 2013

Kyoto Experiment 2013: 'Do as you like'

Language, memory and identity politics are at the core of the fourth edition of Kyoto Experiment, the annual feast of progressive and experimental theater now being served up by organizers the Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival.
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2013

Let 'approval vote' end the vitriol

We can significantly reduce polarized politics in the United States by officially adding just two more words to ballot instructions. Instead of "Vote for one," our ballot instructions should read "Vote for one or more." Call it "approval voting." It would mean that:
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 15, 2013

Labour making a comeback as Cameron falters

Growth is returning to the British economy, but wages remain stagnant as prices rise. Labour is seizing the initiative because the prime minister's vision for the government is unclear.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 15, 2013

Self-cast Senate moderates seek deal from the middle, for the middle

In the past few days, a bipartisan group of 12 U.S. senators has come together to push both parties toward a compromise, hoping to reopen the federal government and raise the national debt ceiling all at once.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2013

San Francisco Treaty and the South China Sea

All parties to the South China Sea island disputes can cite geographic and historical connections to back their claims, but none has solid legal title under the San Francisco Treaty.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Oct 13, 2013

Crumbling keiretsu networks good sign for foreign firms and Japan

For years and decades, foreign observers have cried foul over various barriers — both existing and perceived — to the Japanese economy. Their main target is usually the keiretsu, the closely knit business networks automakers exclusively maintain with groups of 200 to 300 suppliers.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 13, 2013

On the offensive in the cyberspace arms race

Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can launch a cyber "attack," even though the skills and tools needed to do real damage are still in short supply.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 12, 2013

U.S. role in aiding Pinochet

To bomb or not to bomb? That is the question that has been exercising self-proclaimed liberal interventionists over the past two decades, from Bosnia to Syria. The argument that divides public opinion across the Western world is how far military means can be used to punish dictators.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 12, 2013

Capturing Olivier in his contradictory essence

Laurence Olivier was the greatest British actor of his time, primus inter pares of the trio who dominated our theater from the early 1930s to the 1980s. His superiority to his chief rivals, Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, resides in the role he played in the creation of the National Theatre and in...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 12, 2013

Angus Deaton's 'The Great Escape' fetes growth

Angus Deaton's 'The Great Escape' celebrates growth and looks more favorably on aid directed at improving health, because that can address specific failures of market provision.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 11, 2013

The U.S. Civil War continues

A big hoax of American history is that the Civil War ended in 1865. Unfortunately it continues — as a battle over redistributing shares of economic power in the clothing of cultural values.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 11, 2013

Illegal taps on oil pipeline wreaking havoc on Nigeria

The flames roared 20 meters above the Niger delta swamp for 48 hours; 6,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into the creeks and waterways around the village of Bodo and several people died.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 9, 2013

'Documents from Medieval Japan: Functions and Styles'

This show of important early written documents helps shed light onto the life, politics and culture of medieval Japan. Beyond the messages of the words they convey, the materials used to create these documents, as well as the style of calligraphy, often reveal techniques that are unique to the era and...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 2013

Tea party embraces a proven loser

Tea party-affiliated Republicans in the U.S. House are gearing up again, this time on a grander scale, to threaten action that will end up helping the other side.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2013

Keep Asia in the forefront of U.S. foreign policy

U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to cancel his visits to the economic and political summits in Asia is a setback for the U.S. position in the region.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2013

Five myths about House Republicans

The internal debate among U.S. House Republicans can seem like a circus. But behind the scenes the past week, their arguments have been more nuanced than some Democrats presume.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 8, 2013

U.K. political pledges reveal divide

After a year that saw him lead the charge for gay marriage in Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron seemed to go back to his roots this week. Serving up red meat to his base at the Conservative Party's annual conference, Cameron repeatedly blasted the left and offered a core vision of tax cuts, reduced...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 7, 2013

Celebrating Japan's artists who loved love

The British Museum's press officer, Claire Coveney, comes hurrying up to take me to the galleries of the museum's latest hot-ticket show, "Shunga: Sex and pleasure in Japanese Art," and I'm not surprised she looks run off her feet. Pre-opening interest in this new exhibition — the most comprehensive...
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Oct 6, 2013

Hearing on the tax rise

An intensive meeting began on the 26th at the prime minister's office to examine economic and financial future trends. It will hear from 60 people composed of delegates from various fields, including economic specialists and experts, as to the raising of the consumption tax by the Abe administraion.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 5, 2013

Abe promotes secrecy, sidelining transparency and open government

Norika Fujiwara, a TV celebrity who serves as goodwill ambassador for the Japanese Red Cross, recently caused a media sensation when she came out against the government's proposed secrecy legislation, saying it would adversely affect citizens.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 5, 2013

Lahiri manages to finely balance the personal and political in second novel

The immigrant experience is always fertile ground for fiction, and Jhumpa Lahiri — born in London to Bengali parents and raised in Rhode Island — has built her literary career exploring this territory as it relates to characters of Indian origin in America, with all the attendant questions of identity,...
Reader Mail
Oct 5, 2013

Abe's economic house of cards

Regarding the Sept. 30 Kyodo article "Abe appoints more women, brother to senior government posts": "Inbred nepotistic cronyism" might be the initial reaction of anyone outside Japan upon reading the list of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's appointments.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2013

U.S.' endless budget battle

The privilege of issuing the global reserve currency lowers the interest rates that the U.S. government and Americans pay. An unforced debt default could weaken this advantage.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / ANALYSIS
Oct 3, 2013

As Xi tightens grip, hopes for China reforms vanish

After Xi Jinping took over as head of China's Communist Party in December, some liberals dared to hope that change was in store for the world's most populous nation.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 2, 2013

Founding Fathers having big say — with a little help

Early last Wednesday, Republican Sen. Mike Lee rose in the Senate to recite a quotation from George Washington. It was, Lee said, Washington's own account of his last day as president in 1797.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2013

WEF ranks Japan 15th in worker development

Japan ranks 15th among 122 countries in the World Economic Forum's first Human Capital Index report on countries' abilities to develop and deploy healthy, educated and able workers, the forum said Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Sep 30, 2013

Triumph of Tokyo Olympic bid sends wrong signal to Japan's resurgent right

International events undermine Japan's democracy. Shame on the International Olympic Committee for being a party to it.
EDITORIALS
Sep 29, 2013

Worries over fate of Japan hands

n a sign that China's leadership is trying to strengthen its control of speech to increase its ideological grip, the government has detained a Chinese professor who teaches in Chiba.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 29, 2013

Politics and pride drive Putin's anti-U.S. shift

First, Vladimir Putin accused Hillary Rodham Clinton of inciting protests against him at the end of 2011. The next fall, the Russian president threw the U.S. Agency for International Development out of his country. Then he decided civic groups that get U.S. financing must be foreign agents.

Longform

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