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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2015

A decent year for most people

For most people, in most places, 2015 has been a pretty good year.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2015

Online school aims to help students find their calling as they prepare to enter university

Former teacher Hirokazu Okuhira is concerned that the current education system in Japan is more about rote learning than helping students find career paths and nurturing human resources with the professional skills truly needed in today's society.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2015

Trump's machismo may not work against Hillary

Donald Trump's macho posturing has taken him to the top of the GOP's presidential contenders, but that tactic could backfire on him if he employs it against Hillary Clinton.
EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2015

Time for serious electoral reform

Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers from rural areas are already gearing up to fight much-needed electoral reform to reduce the vote disparity between rural and urban areas.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 27, 2015

Does the future of Japanese music depend on streaming services?

When music consultant Mikiro Enomoto asked a class of Kyoto Seika University students how they listened to new music last year, he reckons 80 percent of them mentioned YouTube or YouTube-linked sites. When he asked the same question to this year's class, almost all of them said they don't bother looking...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 26, 2015

Can democracy survive the rise of the right?

"What," demanded a protesting student at the height of the summer of protests just past, "is to become of democracy?"
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 / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Dec 25, 2015

Kurosugi: A fish doesn't need to be sexy when it's sublime

Without a doubt the worst-named restaurant of the year is London's "Sexy Fish." But, the name — the audacity and stupidity of it — did set me thinking about fish seafood and sexiness (as opposed to fish and sex). Can a fish be sexy? Certainly not. When thinking about fish, "sexy" is one of those...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2015

Time has come for a new century in the Middle East

2016 should mark the start of a new century of homegrown Middle Eastern politics focused urgently on the challenges of sustainable development.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 23, 2015

On a Christmas visit, expat thoughts turn to 'going home'

Reconnecting with home can be a cause for reflection: Where have I been, and where am I going? Is there another life to return to?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Dec 23, 2015

Toshiba faces turnaround that strikes at heart of its identity

Toshiba Corp. is embarking on a revamp that will leave the one-time technology pioneer a shadow of its former self. An accounting scandal has left the conglomerate in tatters, facing record losses, thousands of job cuts and potential spinoffs that may include the consumer electronics unit that made it...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 23, 2015

Tattooist's legal challenge could lift industry in Japan or send it underground

Tattooist Taiki Masuda is challenging a law that makes him a criminal for practicing what he considers a form of art.
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Dec 22, 2015

Mao’s outlook at midseason: What the experts think

Three-time world champion Mao Asada has been inconsistent through the first half of the 2015-16 season. Two victories, a third-place finish, and a sixth-place showing.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2015

Britain's long transition from coal holds lessons for China

Cheaper sources of energy, not government policies, serve as the greatest incentive for phasing out the use of coal.
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.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 2015

Thailand in 2015: a year of spinning its wheels

Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha's promises to launch a number of projects to put Thailand back on the track toward democracy have proven empty.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 20, 2015

Gulf War trauma kicked off Japan's retreat from pacifism in '91

As the first Gulf War raged in February 1991, Ground Self-Defense Force Maj. Nozomu Yoshitomi was supposed to be conducting war games with U.S. officers at a military facility in Tokyo. But the Americans appeared distracted, watching the conflict live on CNN. On another TV, local news showed Japanese...
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Dec 20, 2015

Summit preparations to increase security, but for whom?

Last month's terror attacks in Paris and the closely timed suicide bombings in Beirut have raised fears in Japan of a similar attack to unprecedented levels. With Japan hosting next year's Group of Seven leaders' summit in Mie Prefecture, and a host of smaller ministerial conferences elsewhere around...
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Dec 18, 2015

After California shootings, Muslim American families struggle with identity

Mirvette Judeh began covering her hijab with a hoodie two weeks ago while in the car with her two young children. Someone might want to hurt their mother, she explained to them, because the head scarf easily identifies her as Muslim.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2015

Muslims should be grateful to Donald Trump

Like anti-Semitism, Islamophobia breeds in the swamp of fear and insecurity that is truly the modern world for many people.
Reader Mail
Dec 18, 2015

Santa should be more inclusive

Regarding the 20 Questions column in the Dec. 13 issue titled "Pursue what you love ... be a Santa if you want," it was interesting to read that Santa Paradise Yamamoto recently became the first authorized Santa from Japan. Your fun little interview, however, shocked me at question No. 11, when Santa...
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 18, 2015

Russia open to Assad's ouster after Syria transition, envoys say

Russia has made clear to Western nations that it has no objection to Syrian President Bashar Assad stepping down as part of a peace process, in a softening of its publicly stated staunch backing of Assad ahead of talks in New York, diplomats said.
BUSINESS
Dec 18, 2015

EU pushes Japan to reach FTA in 2016 or else face renewed skepticism

Japan should aim to reach a free-trade agreement with the European Union next year or risk undermining EU interest in a deal, the 28-nation bloc's chief negotiator warned.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?