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May 03, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2013

Institutional incapacity weighs down recovery

What's holding back economic growth worldwide? Details vary from place to place, but a leading reason is a kind of self-willed institutional incapacity.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jul 12, 2013

Okinawan musician, club owner keeps folk traditions going strong

The back streets of Naha were dark, making it more difficult to find Shima-Umui, a music club run by Okinawan folk singer Misako Oshiro. The torpid air and smell of papaya rinds from a nearby bin spoke of the subtropics. A small sign, barely visible from the street, directed customers to the basement...
Reader Mail
Jul 10, 2013

Overboard on fear and loathing

I always enjoy Robert J. Samuelson's commentary pieces, but his July 3 article, "Beware the Internet and the danger of cyberattacks," is a rare miss for an otherwise insightful journalist.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2013

Russia's survivalist in the Kremlin

Given Russia's experience with militant groups, Vladimir Putin believes Russia's domestic stability requires strong Mideast leaders who can keep extremists in check.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 8, 2013

Propaganda: artifice by design

The word "propaganda" derives its modern use from the name of a 17th-century Roman Catholic institution, the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, or Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. Established during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648, a sectarian conflict that devastated Europe following...
WORLD
Jun 28, 2013

Snowden had contempt for leakers

When he was working in the intelligence community in 2009, Edward Snowden, the U.S. National Security Agency contractor who passed top-secret documents to journalists, appears to have had nothing but disdain for those who leaked classified information, the newspapers that printed their revelations and...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 26, 2013

A mother helps son in his struggle with schizophrenia

The mother drives her son everywhere because he is not well enough to drive. He sits next to her, and at the red lights she looks over and studies him: how quiet he is, how stiffly he sits, hands in his lap, fingers fidgeting slightly, a tic that occasionally blooms into a full fluttering motion he makes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 16, 2013

Writers' elegant letters to each other suffer from lack of venom and indiscretion

The demise of letter writing is the cause of widespread lament.
EDITORIALS
Jun 15, 2013

Getting U.S.-China relations right

The U.S.-Chinese summit boiled down to Beijing seeking respect as a great power and Washington wanting Beijing to take more 'responsibility' as a great power.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 6, 2013

How far does the apple drop?

"I don't like Graffiti" states French artist Zevs, who is known for his street-art work and is currently showing at The Container in Daikanyama.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 2, 2013

Language no barrier to multimedia Jon Kabira

With a long rousing cry of “Goooooooood Mooooorning Tooookyoooooooooooo!” Jon Kabira launches into his weekly radio show “JK Radio — Tokyo United” every Friday at 6 a.m. on J-Wave.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 2, 2013

Crony capitalism: corruption, disparities and stifled initiative

Crony capitalism is the scourge of contemporary Asia, lining pockets and diverting resources in ways that systematically undermine the public interest, accentuate disparities, sap innovative and entrepreneurial impulses — while also subverting governance.
Reader Mail
Jun 2, 2013

Mayor's unconvincing retort

The May 28 front-page article "Hashimoto looks to deflect sex slave blame" seems to suggest in some way that Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto has a valid point, when it should be made clear that he does not.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2013

Harder battle over Benghazi

Many conservatives suspect that the U.S. State Department, with the White House in a supporting role, deceived the public about the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans. This conspiratorial narrative is, in all probability, false.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2013

The irresponsible part of the debt-growth row

Stanford economist calls rival economist Paul Krugman's notion that the U.S. can wait 10 to 15 years to start dealing with deficits and debt 'beyond irresponsible.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 26, 2013

Xenophobia stretches from the street to the dinner table

The territorial disputes between Japan and its nearest neighbors over the islands of Takeshima (Dokdo in Korean) and the Senkakus (Diaoyu in Chinese) have gradually faded from the front pages; but this does not necessarily mean there have been no repercussions.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2013

Why China's developmental state says no to liberalism

Modern history is the story of how liberal democracy, originating in Britain and America, spread around the world. This may sound like an absurd fantasy. In actuality, this Whiggish narrative of progress underpins most newspaper editorials, political commentary and speeches in the West, and frames larger...
CULTURE / Books
May 19, 2013

Ranpo's novella of a desecrated grave continues to send shivers

There has long been a taste in Japan for the bizarre and abnormal. The experimental Taisho Era was no exception. A desire for sensory experience existed even in cinema. During a funeral scene, for example, an attendant might light sticks of incense in the theater, drawing the audience into the ritual....
Japan Times
WORLD
May 16, 2013

Houston, we have a superstar: Crooning astronaut Hadfield's enthusiasm goes viral down on Earth

Chris Hadfield, who crawled out of a space capsule on the plains of Kazakhstan early Tuesday, is dealing with gravity for the first time in five months and sudden global celebrity after singing a gone-viral made-in-space music video.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 16, 2013

Ryukyu sovereignty question simmers in China

The aim of China's questioning Japanese sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands probably is to weaken Japan's claim to the disputed Senkaku Islands, which China calls the Diaoyus.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 12, 2013

Inose's lack of media savvy may have ruined Tokyo's Olympic bid

Two weeks ago, Tokyo Governor Naoki Inose gave an interview to the New York Times in which he violated International Olympic Committee rules by publicly bad-mouthing Istanbul and Madrid, the Japanese capital's two rivals to host the 2020 games.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2013

Possible solution to Apple's cash-flow problem

It's possible that Apple's best long-term move would be to release a hefty portion of its unused cash to shareholders who would then plow it back into the economy.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 5, 2013

Dai Tamesue: Japan's 'samurai hurdler' keeps rising to new challenges

Though word-class track athlete Dai Tamesue may have hung up his spikes, he has plenty of insights to share on how sports can play a bigger role in society.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2013

Unique vulnerability of the Boston Marathon

There is something unique about the vulnerability of marathoners and their supporters, emotional and physical, especially at the finish line and especially in Boston.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 18, 2013

Scroll displays the human side of Perry's arrival

"It's come pretty much out of nowhere," says British Museum curator Tim Clark, placing a small wooden box on the table — it's about the dimensions of a shoebox, slightly weathered and lightly inscribed with fluid kanji characters. "It was in Japan until last summer, where it belonged to a dealer, and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 12, 2013

'Sakura Namiki no Mankai no Shita ni (Cold Bloom)'

Grief doesn't have a sell-by date, not really. Decades after a loss, the absence is still felt, the memories remain.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2013

Why South Korea has already won

Pop stars, bourgeois lifestyle commentary and funny videos often seem to interest young South Koreans more than the latest provocation by the North.
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 29, 2013

Revamped Kabukiza theater aims to charm a new audience

The Kabukiza is back — with big ambitions and aspirations to make the nation's classical theatrical entertainment more attractive to a 21st-century audience.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2013

Obama reveals support for 'strong Jewish state'

Operation Desert Schmooze, President Barack Obama's two-day charm offensive in Jerusalem last week, achieved its central goal of convincing Israelis that the U.S. president doesn't have horns.
Israel protests after Kyoto inn seeks war crime declaration from tourist
A street in Kyoto in March 2023. An Israeli tourist was asked to sign a document stating that he had not committed war crimes when he checked in at a Kyoto guesthouse in April, prompting a response from Israel's ambassador.
Nearly half of workers in Japan engage in ‘quiet quitting’
"Quiet quitting" is most common among the younger generation, with 46.7% of respondents to a survey in their 20s identifying with the practice, reflecting a less-motivated workforce more focused on work-life balance.
Britain responds after Expo 2025 afternoon tea brews outrage
The café space at the Osaka Expo's British pavilion
Truck driver's body recovered from huge Japan sinkhole after three months
Workers stand around a vehicle carrying the body of a person recovered from a sinkhole in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, on Friday.
Second round of U.S.-Japan tariff talks ends inconclusively in Washington
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (far left), U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator. The second round of tariff negotiations between Japan and the United States were held on Thursday in Washington.
Want to see the future at Expo Osaka? Get in line.
“‘Future of life,’ by Ishiguro,” the World Expo pavilion by roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, displays humanlike androids.
Ishiba hears advice from across the aisle on how Japan should handle Trump
Prime Minister Shigaru Ishiba and CDP head Yoshihiko Noda at a parliamentary session in Tokyo on April 23.
Don't send in the clones: AI event nixed as Alt accounts get reality check
A screenshot from the website for Alt's AI conference, which was canceled after the company disclosed an investigation into its sales figures.
CDP submits bill proposal on separate surnames, but challenges remain
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers speak to reporters in parliament on Wednesday after submitting a bill in the Lower House to allow married couples to retain different surnames.
Puzzling decisions and opaque rankings are all part of sumo's charm
Chiyoshoma (right) battles Churanoumi during the New Year Basho in Tokyo in January. The Mongolian's drop down the sumo rankings ahead of the May tournament was one of the biggest surprises of the latest banzuke.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami
By Alex K.T. Martin

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