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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 29, 2014

Newspapers take sides on 'Abenomics'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's dissolution of the Diet has become another point of contention between right- and left-leaning entities in Japan. One of the more revealing responses involved a website set up by a member of a nonprofit organization called Bokura no Ippo ga Nihon wo Kaeru (Our One Step Will...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 29, 2014

Abe seeks mandate for floundering 'Abenomics'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's call for snap elections, implausibly pitched as a referendum on "Abenomics," is a waste of time and money, and a stunning 63 percent of the public remains unconvinced there is any good reason to hold it.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 28, 2014

Voting disparity to help LDP stay in charge amid Supreme Court inaction

In Japanese elections, it can take five city dwellers to match the voting power of a single farmer.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 28, 2014

Horie sees bitcoin as route to more security, less government

The failure earlier this year of Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox may have stirred Japanese doubts about the credibility of the digital currency.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: ARCHITECTURE
Nov 28, 2014

Hadid remains at the center of controversy

Exhibitions can have consequences, often unintended.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Nov 28, 2014

Cool Japan sets its sights on Southeast Asia

A full year and a half has passed since the Japanese government gave its final approval for the Cool Japan Fund — a 20-year, public-private entity aimed at spreading Japan's cultural appeal overseas — the official soft-power push that some bureaucrats and academics had been advocating for at least...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 27, 2014

Toyo Ito literally connects architecture to the people

"For the past nine years, it's been a struggling journey — groping toward an unseen goal. Nobody could tell how and when this building would settle into the right shape within the budget," architect Toyo Ito said at the Oct. 16 opening of "Toyo Ito: The Making of the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 27, 2014

'Explore! Experience! Edo-Tokyo'

The Edo-Tokyo Museum is closing its fifth- and sixth-floor exhibition rooms for renewal (to reopen on March 28 next year) but it stresses that this will not have a negative effect on its current exhibition. Instead, it's bringing most of the permanent exhibits to the first floor for "Explore! Experience!...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 27, 2014

'Heartwarming, Gentle Japanese Paintings'

Being able to fully enjoy Japanese paintings may seem a bit daunting when its aesthetics and subjects seem so far from popular contemporary art. The Adachi Museum of Art, however, suggests that Japanese-style painting is not as different as you may think.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 27, 2014

Shadowy Chinese agency woos Taiwanese to win island back

Ever since a civil war split the two sides more than 60 years ago, China has viewed Taiwan as a renegade province that needs to be absorbed into the mainland. To that end, the Taiwanese businessmen working in China form a beachhead in a war of hearts and minds.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 27, 2014

Vote-value disparity ensures rural few maintain clout over urban masses

In the nation's elections, it can take five city dwellers to match the voting power of a single farmer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 26, 2014

Dhoom 3: 'Bollywood and Hollywood in equal portions'

The first "Dhoom" (2004) was more Bollywood than serious action movie, and then "Dhoom: 2" (2006) upped the ante by bringing in some A-list actors and easing off the dancing. Now, with the third edition to the series, it seems director/co-writer Vijay Krishna Acharya has finally got all the dials in...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 26, 2014

This teacher's seen more ESL acronyms than you've had hot dinners

Even after long years teaching English in Japan, he still views himself as an avant-garde teaching artist, as can be seen by what insists he now be called: The Adjunct Instructor Formerly Known as Bob.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 25, 2014

Industrial band raises ghosts of World War I

The metallic clank and screech of cult German industrial band Einstuerzende Neubauten's homemade instruments are chillingly appropriate for "Lament," its idiosyncratic performance for the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I.
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Nov 25, 2014

Pop artifice was never better with Aya Matsuura

When a pop singer who has long faded from the limelight suddenly starts appearing in your Twitter timeline in the form of glowing, nostalgic re-evaluations, they're either gearing up for a comeback . . . or dead.
EDITORIALS
Nov 25, 2014

Critical time for U.S.-China ties

Finding common ground is the key to a successful U.S.-China relationship. It is one that all concerned countries should hope that they succeed.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2014

'Washi' paper-making village hopes UNESCO designation will bring tailwind

Villagers in Higashi-Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, are riding high.
BUSINESS
Nov 24, 2014

China ready to cut rates again on fears of deflation: sources

China's leadership and central bank are ready to cut interest rates again and also loosen lending restrictions, concerned that falling prices could trigger a surge in debt defaults, business failures and job losses, according to sources involved in policymaking.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Nov 23, 2014

Teaching quality, not lesson quantity, may be key to Japan's top math marks

Japan spends less on education than most OECD countries, so why do its students continue to outperform their Western counterparts in math?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 22, 2014

Is happiness worth the risk of addiction?

You'll have heard this story before, in one form or another. "Mr. B," 66, is a pachinko addict. Hard core.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2014

Japanese artists and performers find that YouTube brings them pay and applause

Ken Sekine used to be a nameless stand-up comic. Then he turned to cyberspace and changed his stage name to Megwin and in the process became a premier entertainer in Japan, with more than 448,000 fans and counting.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 21, 2014

Award-winning American director Mike Nichols dies at 83

Mike Nichols, a nine-time Tony Award winner on Broadway and the Oscar-winning director of films such as "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," "The Graduate" and "Carnal Knowledge," died on Wednesday at age 83, ABC News said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 20, 2014

A personal invite to Planet Gondry

By coincidence, two tributes to baby-boomer auteurs are currently on display in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 20, 2014

'Rei Naito: The Emotion of Belief'

After three years of renovation work, the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum is reopening on Nov. 22 with an additional wing, which will be the venue for the museum's new lineup of contemporary art, videos and performing-arts projects.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 20, 2014

Getting crafty with ideas at Maker Faire Tokyo

Walking into the makeshift laboratory of Skeletonics, Inc. in the Tokyo suburb of Hachioji, it's impossible not to notice the nearly 3-meter-tall robotic exoskeleton in the room.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear