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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 29, 2013

Indian activists push for clean cities

As more Indians travel the world and their country's growing economy and population gain more global attention, they are increasingly embarrassed about one of India's dirtiest features: its cities.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 29, 2013

Zero-interest rates harder to quit than IMF thinks — just ask Japan

Christine Lagarde wants her staff at the International Monetary Fund to examine what might happen to the global economy when central banks begin to raise interest rates. She's wasting their time.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 28, 2013

Cook Islands paradise isn't plain sailing for all

They span an area the size of western Europe, but the Cook Islands may seem like the ends of the Earth when viewed from Japan — an 11-hour flight away south to New Zealand, followed by a four-hour "local hop" to the capital, Avarua, on the main island of Rarotonga.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 28, 2013

Re-creating the life of a 17th-century concubine

As G.G. Rowley notes in the preface to her lovingly researched, elegantly written study of Imperial concubine Nakanoin Nakako, the history of her subject's period, the late 16th and early 17th centuries, 'has traditionally been written as the history of men.'
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 28, 2013

African elephants pluck at Japan's heartstrings

Next time you attend a shamisen performance, neither you nor most anyone else there will likely notice the elephant in the room. And those who do probably won't have given it much thought.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 28, 2013

Abe-history: Premier again seems set on stoking controversy and ire

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is no stranger to historical controversy. Back in 2001 he pressured national broadcaster NHK to revise a documentary about the judgment of an international people's tribunal regarding the war responsibility of Emperor Hirohito (posthumously known as Emperor Showa). And in 2007...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Apr 27, 2013

Trendsetting restauranteurs succeed in bringing bit of Bohemia to Osaka

You're in a breezy, open space, bathed in light. Frothy indoor plants and burnished wood surrounds vibrant splashes of azure. While sipping a "green fairy," that traditional spirit of artists around the world, someone passes you a shisha, or water pipe, and you inhale sweet, fruit-soaked tobacco. You...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 27, 2013

Gene-sequencing breakthrough may save koalas

Last year the koala, Australia's iconic marsupial, was officially listed as a threatened species in large parts of the country following two decades of devastating population losses.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 25, 2013

As U.S. economy picks up, richest get richer

Wealth inequality widened dramatically during the first two years of the economic recovery, as the upper 7 percent of American households saw their average net worth increase 28 percent while the wealth of the other 93 percent declined, according to a report released Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Apr 24, 2013

Yoshimoto seeks laughs and profit beyond Japan

Osaka-based Yoshimoto Kogyo, the giant talent agency that celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, has made an enduring business out of that fleeting phenomenon: laughter.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Apr 23, 2013

Little bird on the prairie could help save entire ecosystem

Under an indigo predawn sky, as a frigid wind whipped across the plains, a half-dozen brown-and-white birds emerged from tufts of dry grass. They emitted a low cooing sound, akin to the hooting of an owl.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 22, 2013

Plague draws scientists' attention as potential terrorism weapon

Isaac Baniyo stumbled through his final exam in English last November as a pounding headache and chest pain made it difficult for him to focus. Within days, his fever soared, and he was hacking up bloody mucus. The dead rats in his village should have been a warning sign: Baniyo had caught pneumonic...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Apr 21, 2013

New moves to save Japan's sacred trees from a fiery end

Spend a while walking the streets of any Japanese city and you are bound to notice it: Here and there among the concrete towers, shops and bustling streets, you'll find clusters of trees. In some places, five or 10 stately Japanese cedars provide a patch of welcome shade. In others a full-fledged urban...
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

Universities far from flourishing

Regarding the April 12 Kyodo brief "Japanese universities best in Asia: It would be hasty to jump to the conclusion that Japan's universities are flourishing despite the data released by the London-based Times Higher Education magazine. A reading of the original magazine article gives a little better...
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

U.S. doesn't deserve high score

I am baffled by the April 12 Kyodo article "Hiroshima gives disarmament grades," which reports that Hiroshima prefectural authorities have judged the United States second best in reducing its nuclear arsenal and working for nuclear weapons nonproliferation. The U.S. is spending an additional $185 billion...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 2013

Populism without the people

Nicolas Maduro's narrow win in Venezuela's presidential election raises an important question: Can populism thrive without a popular, charismatic leader?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 19, 2013

U.K. stage group to rework 'Mononoke' magic

If anyone understands the truth in the phrase, "It doesn't hurt to ask" — it's Alexandra Rutter.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2013

A welcome nudge for doctors to wash their hands

Hand hygiene is the No. 1 contributor — and the most fixable — to the almost 2 million hospital-acquired infections each year that kill 100,000 people in the U.S.
Reader Mail
Apr 18, 2013

The joy of not being accepted

I am so grateful to professor Jeff Kingston for his April 14 review of Adam Komisarof's book "At Home Abroad: The Contemporary Western Experience in Japan." I've lived here for nearly 17 years and have never really understood my own deep feelings about this country and its people.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2013

When the zombies attack, you'll need your gun

The zombie craze sweeping the U.S. is a warning to baby boomers: Our children are worried that the fortifications along the wall might not hold. Let's hope there's time to leave them a different legacy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Apr 16, 2013

Education: What are we paying all the money for?

Dear Minister of Education Hakubun Shimomura,
EDITORIALS
Apr 16, 2013

Improving teaching at universities

The University of Tokyo seeks to improve the quality of university class instruction with a graduate course on preparing presentations and lesson plans.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 14, 2013

Myanmar's unrest: Colonial legacy undermines nascent democracy

Alarming outbreaks of sectarian violence pitting Buddhists against Muslims in Myanmar cast an ominous cloud over that nation's democratic transition from military rule.
Reader Mail
Apr 14, 2013

Taking back students' lost years

As an associate professor at a national university, I completely agree with The Japan Times April 8 editorial "Delay recruitment even longer." The current regimen robs students of critical time for education, experience and maturity.
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2013

IMF says so far, so good with easing by central banks

Global central banks, including the Bank of Japan, buying assets and keeping interest rates low to boost growth have had "positive short-term effects for banks" even as risks from the policies are increasing, the International Monetary Fund said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Apr 13, 2013

How keeping it real took Matt Damon to the top

In 1987, when Bruce Springsteen wrote the song "Ain't Got You," he was the biggest rock star in the world. He had vast estates in New Jersey and Beverly Hills, and he had not long returned from a honeymoon at Gianni Versace's villa in Lake Como. "Ain't Got You" was Springsteen's attempt to make a self-aware...

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