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JAPAN
Jul 8, 2013

Hashimoto pushes Yao Osprey plan

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, co-leader of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party), hopes to push forward his contentious plan to bring U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey aircraft, currently deployed to the Futenma base in Okinawa, to Yao airport in Osaka Prefecture.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 8, 2013

Repression surges in Putin's Russia

Last week was a busy one for Russian authorities, who arrested the only nationally known opposition mayor for bribery, sought six years in prison for crusading blogger Alexei Navalny and asked a court to find a long-dead attorney guilty of tax evasion.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2013

Egypt needs help for democracy and economy

The U.S. should have two priorities in dealing with Egypt: helping to restore democratic government and strengthening the country's battered economy.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 7, 2013

Egyptian secularists get a second chance

Egypt's liberal and secularist groups, long plagued by infighting and poor organization, say the coup that ousted the Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, has given them a second wind and a fresh chance to unite.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 6, 2013

Lively analysis of tennis from writer's closeness to the stars

When a crestfallen Andy Murray gave a choked-up television interview immediately after losing last year's Wimbledon final to Roger Federer, few would have predicted that joy would quickly replace disappointment for the shy Scot from Dunblane. Four weeks later he was back defeating the Swiss ace on the...
JAPAN / Politics / GAME OF NUMBERS
Jul 5, 2013

Poll may see end to divided Diet but what follows may be worrisome

Unlike the past two House of Councilors elections, in 2007 and 2010, that saw opposition forces win big against the ruling parties, this time around they look to take the hit.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 5, 2013

Hate pornography, sure, but be wary of banning it

Prosecutions for the possession of the filthiest pornography confirm foreigners' suspicions that the British care more for animals than people. Between 2008 and 2011, the English and Welsh authorities charged 1,922 men for having images of bestiality about their person. By contrast, they brought only...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / MAKING THEIR CASE
Jul 5, 2013

Whatever LDP stands for, we don't: Ozawa

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policies cater to big business at the expense of the people and will only widen the wealth disparity between rich and poor, Seikatsu no To (People's Life Party) President Ichiro Ozawa said in a recent interview.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 4, 2013

Tsuchiya questions what it means to be human

I first met Yutaka Tsuchiya in 1999 when I interviewed him on the release of "Atarashii Kamisama (The New God)," his documentary centering on a rightist punk band and its charismatic lead singer, Karin Amamiya. Despite his left-leaning politics, Tsuchiya was anything but the rigid ideologue; in fact,...
EDITORIALS
Jul 3, 2013

DPJ ruins chance at power reform

The multipartisan anti-bullying law enacted by the Diet is no panacea for the nation's schools as it fails to take into account all aspects of the bullying problem.
WORLD / FOCUS
Jul 3, 2013

U.K. paper punches way above its weight

For a newspaper that's small and underweight even by British standards, The Guardian has a knack for making some big noises, both in its home market and across the pond.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 3, 2013

Antidote for Abe's nationalism

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should think carefully before taking bold strides toward changing the U.S.-imposed Constitution and restoring Japan's 'greatness.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MAKING THEIR CASE
Jun 30, 2013

JCP chief tabs party as bulwark against Abe plans

Only the Japanese Communist Party can act as a counterweight to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the Upper House election, especially against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic and constitutional revision plans, JCP Chairman Kazuo Shii declared Saturday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / MAKING THEIR CASE
Jun 30, 2013

DPJ admits lack of trust, unity undermining poll prospects

Democratic Party of Japan President Banri Kaieda on Saturday admitted that the opposition camp's leading force hasn't regained enough credibility to lead the charge against the ruling Liberal Democratic Party for the Upper House election.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2013

A defeat for DOMA, and the end of the 'ick' factor

Future generations will shake their heads at how fearful Americans sounded today debating same-sex marriage. At least most of the Supreme Court justices get it.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 29, 2013

Multimedia artist finds community in Odawara nurtures her creativity

Sunlight streams in through large windows that look out on a sweeping Pacific Ocean vista. Artworks stand waiting in various stages of creation, while mobiles twist and dance in the sea breeze. This space, known as Atelier Hayakawa, is where Canadian multimedia artist Kirsten Woest comes to dream, to...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 29, 2013

So you think you've got a nose for good wine? Think again

Every year Robert Hodgson selects the finest wines from his small California winery and puts them into competitions around the state.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Jun 29, 2013

Global protest grows as citizens lose faith in politics

The demonstrations in Brazil began after a small rise in bus fares triggered mass protests. Within days this had become a nationwide movement whose concerns had spread far beyond fares: more than a million people were on the streets shouting about everything from corruption to the cost of living to the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 28, 2013

'Senkyo 2 (Campaign 2)'

In the more than three decades I've lived here, I have progressed (if that is the right word) from irritation at the oddness of Japanese election campaigns to something like curiosity. How, I once wondered, could anyone choose intelligently among candidates whose "dialogue" with the voters was mostly...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 28, 2013

Documenting Japan's 'strange' election campaigns

A native of Tochigi Prefecture and a graduate of the University of Tokyo, where he majored in religious studies, Kazuhiro Soda took an early turn off a conventional career path when he went to New York in 1993 to study filmmaking at the School of Visual Arts. After a stab at fiction filmmaking, which...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2013

U.S. corporate tax whinge

If the U.S. tax code is broken, then Congress should fix it, simplify it. But don't let the big corporations avoid paying their fair share of federal revenue.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 27, 2013

Abe hopeful ruling bloc juggernaut cleans up in Upper House poll in July

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed Wednesday to ensure the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc recaptures control of the Upper House in the July election, bringing an end to the divided Diet.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 25, 2013

Tweak the Constitution now, think later?

Whether it happens or not depends heavily on the results of the upcoming House of Councilors elections, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has clearly announced his intention to make amending the Constitution a campaign issue.
EDITORIALS
Jun 24, 2013

A moderate wins in Tehran

Hassan Rowhani's victory in Iran's presidential election was a surprise, but don't expect this 'moderate' to radically alter the country's course.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2013

Every interventionist step spoils best-laid plans

Every interventionist step the U.S. has taken in the Middle East for 10 years has strengthened the Iranians and fomented Shiite-Sunni conflict.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2013

Asia's developing frontier with Latin America

As the U.S. economy struggles, trade within the Forum for East Asia and Latin American Cooperation has grown 20% on average in a decade.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 23, 2013

North Korea occupies Fukuoka in Murakami's alternate world

Not to be confused with another famous Japanese novelist who has the same surname, Ryu Murakami is known for being an overtly political, even subversive, writer. "From the Fatherland, With Love," his latest novel to be translated into English, cements that reputation. Taking place in an alternate world...

Longform

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