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Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 30, 2015

Uchiyama in prime condition ahead of title defense

Japanese boxing great Takashi Uchiyama looked motivated on Wednesday as he made his final preparations to defend his WBA super featherweight belt for the 11th time against Nicaragua's Oliver Flores at Ota General City Gymnasium on Thursday.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 30, 2015

Views from Nagoya: What did you make of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'?

Cinemagoers offer their opinions after a showing of the much-anticipated seventh installment in the 'Star Wars' saga.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 30, 2015

'Timbuktu' reflects on Malian lives touched by radical Islam

It's common for local distributors to resort to some dubious tactics when promoting foreign films in Japan: Worthy arthouse flicks are routinely saddled with tawdry Japanese titles, or slushy trailers more befitting of a Nicholas Sparks adaptation. Yet there's something particularly unfortunate about...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2015

Giant squid wows Toyama and then the web

A rare encounter with a giant squid was caught on video when the mysterious creature from the deep emerged at a marina in the city of Toyama on Christmas Eve.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 29, 2015

Gain the courage to scream with Yoko Ono

The conceit of "From My Window" — an exhibition that covers Yoko Ono as a conceptual artist from the 1950s onwards — is to focus on her connection with Tokyo. Since it's at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Contemporary Art, maybe that's to be expected, but this does not necessarily jibe well with...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 28, 2015

Remembering men we loved (and one we 'lost') in 2015

2015 was the year the Nihon danji (Japanese male) came through for us.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 26, 2015

Flipping back through the good reads of 2015

Before we turn the page on the year, here's a selection of our reviewers' favorite books.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE UNRELIABLE FOOD CRITIC
Dec 22, 2015

In the gutter of Osaka, but not looking at the Michelin stars

Cycling through one of the poorer quarters of Osaka, I start feeling peckish. So I park my bike in one of the rundown shopping arcades that crisscross this working-class city and duck, almost at random, into a cheap eatery. The ancient proprietress waves me to the counter and, without even asking, serves...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Dec 22, 2015

Manga artist Hasumi stirs outrage again with new book slammed as racist

After gaining the spotlight at home and abroad a few months ago over a controversial manga illustration denigrating a Syrian refugee girl, artist Toshiko Hasumi seemingly remains unrepentant.
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.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Dec 21, 2015

Let's discuss the Akatsuki space probe

Japan's space agency says its Akatsuki probe has successfully entered into orbit around Venus.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 21, 2015

Canadian diplomats say pastor jailed in North Korea in good spirits: church

Canadian diplomats were allowed to meet a Canadian pastor soon after he was sentenced to life in prison in North Korea last week and found him in good spirits and health, a church spokeswoman said on Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 20, 2015

How to combat the Islamic State

Islamic State and other radicals must be confronted, contained and destroyed, and how modern societies go about this effort will determine its success or failure.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 19, 2015

Recommended reading for the holidays and beyond

'Black Dragon River' stands out among the nonfiction books that caught the eye of columnist Jeff Kingston over the past year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 18, 2015

Japan hangs two prisoners, including first convicted in lay judge trial

The executions cast a spotlight on the moral and emotional burden of nonprofessionals being asked to hand down death sentences.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 16, 2015

Japan's top court upholds same-name rule for married couples, overturns remarriage moratorium for women

The Supreme Court confirms the constitutionality of a controversial law requiring married couples to use the same surname in official matters.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2015

In defense of Donald Trump's name-calling

Winner or loser, Donald Trump has done political debate in America a huge favor by freeing 'stupid' from the rhetorical prison of words and phrases polite people aren't allowed to use.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 14, 2015

Boy who pushed for hospital high school education passes away

An 18-year-old boy from Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture, who had called for hospital schooling for sick high school students and helped establish a teacher dispatch system, passed away last month.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Dec 10, 2015

CNN's Paula Newton: The key to covering other cultures is maintaining 'respect'

The topic of cultural appropriation has been a hot one in 2015, with a kimono display at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts drawing a small protest and a slew of articles that discussed culturally insensitive Halloween costumes. With this in the background, how easy is it to do a show about experiencing...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 9, 2015

Sexual harassment at bōnenkai, inept handling, a suicide

Hokkaido Shimbun case shows how far Japan still has to go to safeguard women's rights in the workplace.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2015

'Comet' is not your typical feel-good love story

A personal theory of mine is that all relationships are phases we go through. Though not all phases are equal — some are more memorable than others. To Kimberly (Emmy Rossum) and Dell (Justin Long) in "Comet," their relationship was a long, incredibly eventful phase that neither of them ever really...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 9, 2015

Taiwan's likely first female president keeps quiet on possibility of independence from China

Taiwan's elections are just weeks away, with little clarity about how a likely win by a party that traditionally favors independence from China will be viewed in Beijing, which has threatened force to ensure the island never goes it alone.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Dec 7, 2015

Afghan brain drain threatens to cause severe economic damage

Afghan software entrepreneur Farshid Ghyasi, chief executive of the Netlinks company, is struggling to keep his best employees, as more plan to join a wave of migrants leaving for Europe that risks causing long-term damage to the country and its economy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Dec 6, 2015

Entrepreneur envisions world where elderly care is fulfilling work for young people

Amid the government's fight with the issue of Japan's aging society, and concerns over whether it can truly cope with the problems involved — including worker shortages in the nursing care sector — one young entrepreneur may have found the key.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2015

U.S. military announces return of two slivers of land in Okinawa in 2018

The United States and Japan announce the return in 2018 of two strips of land from military bases in Okinawa to widen civilian roads.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHARITY DRIVE 2015
Dec 3, 2015

Priest's aid effort provide education in rural Cambodia

A Japanese nonprofit organization committed to helping disadvantaged Cambodian children receive an education celebrated the completion of its 19th school there in February.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 2, 2015

International robot show powers up in Tokyo

The biannual International Robot Exhibition kicked off Wednesday in Tokyo, showcasing the latest advances in robotics — including technology for use in disaster scenarios and in the nursing-care field.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2015

Don't feel sad when George H.W. Bush dies

George H.W. Bush is a very elderly man and likely won't be with us much longer. When he dies, do not believe the soon-to-be-everywhere hype. Dubya's dad is and was a very bad man.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 2, 2015

'The Peanuts Movie' stays true to its comic strip roots

There are no grown-ups in "The Peanuts Movie." More importantly, there are no villains or evil schemes. There's a gentle, insecure little boy named Charlie Brown, his beagle and a gaggle of friends — that's about it.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic