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Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Aug 22, 2015

Surviving the postwar Soviet detention camps

Japan's surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, marked the end of the most devastating global conflict in history.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2015

How America lost Russia

The U.S. provoked Russian President Vladimir Putin by appeasing him and then abruptly reversing course. The damage won't be easily undone.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 26, 2015

Abe's move to beef up military role brings Asia closer to war

Given the unrelenting chauvinism that pervades Japan's political establishment, it is no wonder that in East Asia there is serious concern about the resurgence of Japanese militarism — and hence the prospect of war in Asia.
EDITORIALS
Jul 25, 2015

Regulate drones but not too much

The government is making welcome moves to regulate the operation of drones, but authorities must take care not to stifle the burgeoning technology.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 20, 2015

It's alright for Japan to fudge the Constitution

A constitution must be interpreted pragmatically, to serve the nation's interests and help it avoid existential threats.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2015

China gets box seat as SDF joins U.S. Marines, Aussies in storming beach Down Under

Inflatable boats crammed with camouflaged soldiers power onto a remote beach crawling with Australian, U.S. and Japanese commandos — watched by officers from China.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Jul 15, 2015

The LDP's comic appeal for constitutional change falls flat

I hadn't planned on reading the Liberal Democratic Party's propaganda comic on constitutional change for the same reason I don't watch NHK, listen to AKB48 or use my underpants as an ashtray. Yet, as a piece of Japanese legal cultural history, perhaps it merits comment.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 22, 2015

Shima has high hopes for long-term windfall from G-7 meet

Just before departing for this year's Group of Seven summit in Germany earlier this month, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that Shima, situated at the end of a peninsula in Mie Prefecture, will be the main venue for next year's annual gathering.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 9, 2015

'Beauty of the Spirits': What lurks behind masks of mankind

"Masks: Beauty of the Spirits" comes from the Musee du Quai Branly, an institution that former President Jacque Chirac spearheaded toward the end of his long reign. Opened in 2006 to both fanfare and controversy, the Paris museum's stated mission is to celebrate the masterpieces of non-European countries...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
May 20, 2015

Drone-makers say demand will take off in Japan

Despite a spate of headlines showing drone users to be reckless attention-seekers or outright dangerous, the industry believes the sky is the limit for demand for unmanned copters.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 3, 2015

'Sunagawa Struggle' ignited anti-U.S. base resistance across Japan

On May 4, 1955, a black car rolled into the Tokyo suburb of Sunagawa and sparked one of biggest anti-U.S. base protests in history.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 2, 2015

Foreign media feels the heat from prickly government minders

Last month, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung journalist Carsten Germis wrote about the Japanese government harassing him just for doing his job. In his view, the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is overly sensitive to criticism, especially reporting about what Germis calls "a move by the right to...
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 28, 2015

Bataan Death March survivors in U.S. call on Abe to acknowledge wartime atrocities

As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares to address the U.S. Congress in a highly anticipated speech on Wednesday local time, what he says about Japan's wartime past — and how he says it — is foremost on the minds of many, particularly in East Asia.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 28, 2015

Inflammatory articles aren't helping mags' circulation numbers

In a controversial column by 83-year-old author Ayako Sono that appeared in the Feb. 11 issue of the Sankei Shimbun under the headline "Maintain a 'suitable distance,'" Sono suggested that when and if Japan changes its immigration policies to accept more foreign workers, they should live in racially...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 14, 2015

Love thy neighbor? Chinese nationals who call Japan home

Like tempestuous lovers, China and Japan have sparred for centuries but have remained interdependent in each other's economy, politics, culture, language and arts.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 29, 2015

Abe pledges to 'correct' the record on wartime sex slaves

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Thursday to increase efforts to alter views abroad on Japan's actions in World War II by disseminating the "correct" view, as he put it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 27, 2015

Pommeke makes fries the main dish

Tokyo boasts plenty of Belgian culinary spots, from beer bars to chocolate shops. Chef Bart Sablon even points out that there is a Belgian waffle store right around the corner from Pommeke, a recently opened operation where the 39-year-old works as executive chef. "That's a total coincidence, though,"...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 17, 2015

Mags go big for Kobe gang's 100th

This year will see the observance of various centennials, including the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign in the Dardanelles; the Second Battle of Ypres; and the sinking of the RMS Lusitania with the loss of 1,198 lives.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 3, 2015

The highlights of Japanese media in 2014

My choices for the most significant public phenomena of last year are associated with traditional media rather than the social kind, which isn't to say these phenomena didn't impact social media and vice versa, only that TV, newspapers and magazines still affect our perception of the world.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 22, 2014

Jeers, apologies and silence: Japan's 2014 in quotes

First of all, we're sorry. Everybody is sorry. This was the year that everyone apologized and everyone was sorry about something. The Asahi Shimbun was sorry so many times (even when maybe they shouldn't have been) that we're omitting them from the list. There's not enough space.
OLYMPICS / ROBERT WHITING'S 1964 OLYMPICS RETROSPECTIVE
Oct 24, 2014

Negative impact of 1964 Olympics profound

The 1964 Tokyo Olympics had a profound impact on the capital city and the nation. In the final installment of a five-part series running this month, best-selling author Robert Whiting, who lived in Japan at the time, focuses on the environmental and human impact that resulted from hosting the event....
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 27, 2014

Shinkansen at 50: fast track to the future

On the 50th anniversary of the iconic bullet train's inaugural run, we examine how developers turned an ambitious dream into a high-tech reality
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 1, 2014

Putin calls for talks on east Ukraine 'statehood'; rebels fire on ship

Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Sunday for immediate talks on the "statehood" of southern and eastern Ukraine, although his spokesman said this did not mean Moscow now endorsed rebel calls for independence for territory they have seized.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2014

Israeli nationalism shows weakness, not strength

The conduct of its latest Gaza war suggests that Israel, which is blessed with a robust high-tech sector, embodies the greatest contradiction today between the imperatives of old-style territorial nationalism and a modern globalized economy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 2, 2014

Slow food and fast water in a rural corner of Kumamoto

It starts off as a dull roar, prompting those of us sitting in the rice paddies to look skyward in anticipation. Then it builds, in the same way an orchestra tunes its instruments: first discordantly out of key before reaching a crescendo of perfect pitch. At noon exactly, the water pours forth and the...
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jul 29, 2014

Abe's flawed contingency plan

If the barren state of Tokyo-Seoul ties continues, Shinzo Abe's call for the exercise of the right to collective self-defense as well as the protection of Japanese citizens on the Korean Peninsula in an emergency is doomed to become pie in the sky.

Longform

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