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WORLD
Oct 22, 2016

Czech president accused of denying medal to Holocaust survivor who met Dalai Lama

Czech President Milos Zeman has decided against awarding a state medal to a Holocaust survivor whose nephew, a government minister, met exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama against the president's wishes, the minister said on Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2016

Japan still a developing nation in tourism: JTA chief

Despite the visitor boom, Japan is still an "undeveloped country" when it comes to tourism, Japan Tourism Agency chief Akihiko Tamura said Friday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 21, 2016

A 'moonlit' afternoon tea in Tokyo with Noritaka Tatehana

Japan has a long history of noticing subtle seasonal changes and taking each as an opportunity for celebration. The appearance of cherry blossoms in early spring may be the most well-known example, but October's tsukimi (moon-viewing) festival is also culturally significant.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2016

A Japanese perspective on China's G-20 gathering

China needs to demonstrate 'reciprocity' if it wishes to act as a superpower.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2016

Four-time Olympic gold medal-winner Icho awarded People's Honor

Four-time Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler Kaori Icho was awarded the People's Honor Award by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVENTS AND INFORMATION
Oct 20, 2016

Filipino woman gets gold prize in soy sauce cooking contest with traditional Philippine food

A Filipino woman won the gold prize, while a Filipino man and a Canadian woman took home the silver prizes in a soy sauce cooking contest, in which non-Japanese presented 75 dishes made with soy sauce, at a Tokyo hotel on Sept. 30, one day before Soy Sauce Day.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 19, 2016

Islamist violence will steer Europe's destiny

The greatest question facing Europe is who, Establishment or populace, will steer the continent's future.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WORLD FORUM ON SPORT AND CULTURE
Oct 19, 2016

Sports have the power to connect people

Three sports sessions are scheduled for Tokyo on the "Appeal of Rugby, Power of the Rugby World Cup," "The Legacies Created by the Olympics and Paralympics" and "Sports Ministers' Meeting."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2016

Tokyo named third most magnetic city for global talent

Tokyo ranks as No. 3 in the world when it comes to drawing creative types.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 18, 2016

Leaks aren't always good for politics or journalism

Today's ability to download and disseminate vast banks of information has changed journalism and politics forever.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 18, 2016

Bringing warmth back to the South China Sea

An icy chill has swept China-Philippines relations. For the sake of peace, it is time to bring back some warmth.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 17, 2016

Dylan surpassed Whitman as the American poet

Bob Dylan has surpassed Walt Whitman as the defining American artist, celebrating the capacity for self-invention as the highest form of freedom.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2016

When to speak and when to shut up: the art of a Japanese 'benshi'

The silent films screened in Japan from the 1920s to '40s were never completely silent. Katsudo-shashin benshi, or benshi for short, delivered live narration that provided everything an audience might need to appreciate a film — from commentary to translation. Derived from Japan's many narrative art...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Oct 16, 2016

Japan must open minds to disability, not just physical spaces, in time for Tokyo Paralympics

Too much attention is being paid to accessibility while issues surrounding attitudes toward disabled people in Japan are being overlooked.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2016

Plan to cut down historic trees in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward faces local opposition

Plans to cut down 300 ginkgo and platanus trees in central Tokyo ahead of the 2020 Olympics sparks an online opposition campaign seeking to prevent them from being felled.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 15, 2016

Is the end near for Earth's biggest fish market?

Naotaro Endo's documentary "Tsukiji Wonderland" opened in Tokyo — in Tsukiji, in fact — two weeks ago. Under normal circumstances, such an accomplished and beautiful film would be evaluated on its aesthetic and edifying merits, but the timing of the release makes such judgments problematic.
Reader Mail
Oct 14, 2016

Unfortunate rise in ignorance and prejudice

I want to write about a little experience I had yesterday on my way back from work. It's an incident which I'm sure all of us living in Japan have experienced, and highlights two issues in this country.
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Oct 13, 2016

Spooky sweets and cocktail treats; Halloween hotel haunting; refined elegance in the heart of Kyoto

Spooky sweets and cocktail treats
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 12, 2016

North Korea 'purges' top official amid spike in high-level defections

North Korea has purged a vice foreign minister, punishing the 72-year-old and his family with farm work after the nation's No. 2 official in London defected this summer, South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 11, 2016

Thomas Ruff: in the grand scheme of things

Thomas Ruff is one of the key figures of photography in the postmodern era, and his retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, will probably already be pencilled into your calendar if you have any interest in contemporary art.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 11, 2016

Donald Trump is the GOP's chemotherapy

Trump is a marvelously efficient acid bath, stripping away his supporters' surfaces, exposing their skeletal essences.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 2016

It's not only Britain trying to re-divide Europe

Poland's nationalistic conservative government is steering the country away from the ideal of a united Europe.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 8, 2016

Krys Lee: becoming North Korean and entering 'elsewhere'

Born in South Korea, raised in America, educated in England and equally comfortable speaking Korean or English, novelist Krys Lee has trouble pinpointing her "home." She is now based in Seoul, where her world is "intimate yet alienated," but when she returns to her old lives in the U.K. and U.S. —...
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 7, 2016

Suga, Inada admit to filling out blank expense receipts

Two key members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet have admitted to filling out blank receipts as part of their expense claims, raising questions about their ethics and the efficacy of a political funds control law.

Longform

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