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CULTURE / Books
Feb 21, 2015

An embattled Japan engages a hostile world

It has been an eventful year for Japan since David Pilling's "Bending Adversity" was published to critical acclaim. For many, including its reviewer in The Japan Times, the book was considered one of the year's — if not the decade's — best books about Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 4, 2015

Ninagawa still exploring in eighth take on 'Hamlet'

Yukio Ninagawa's "cherry-blossom" staging of "Macbeth" at the Edinburgh Festival in 1985, with actors in that famously Scottish play sporting kimono rather than kilts, was a sensation due to its radical reimagining of so revered a work.
WORLD
Feb 3, 2015

Al-Rishawi, female Iraqi militant held by Jordan, is heroine to jihadis

When her husband blew himself up in a luxury hotel during a wedding in Amman a decade ago, Sajida al-Rishawi was meant to die too, but her suicide bomb belt did not go off. Today, as a death-row prisoner in Jordan, she is a heroine to jihadis in the region, who may be willing to swap a Jordanian pilot...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 29, 2015

Art is long, when life can be short

Given Japan's continual seismic activity, what happened at 5:46 a.m. on Jan. 17, 1995, was unavoidable. The devastation and loss of life that occurred with the magnitude 7.3 quake in Kansai became a yardstick only now surpassed by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. While the aftereffects of the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2015

Say goodnight to the bad guy: The cost of making enemies in the age of globalized cinema

In the summer of 2010, Hollywood studio MGM had the film "Red Dawn" in the bag and ready for release. There was one little problem, though: The movie — a remake of the 1984 film of the same name, a Cold War paranoid-fantasy about a Soviet invasion of America — had rebooted itself by imagining a more...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 23, 2015

Hostages in limbo as deadline passes

The presumed 72-hour deadline for paying the exorbitant ransom demanded by the Islamic State group apparently expired at 2:50 p.m. Friday without any hint about what would happen to the two Japanese hostages in its grasp.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 22, 2015

On the Internet, opinion swings against hostages

As the lives of two Japanese appeared to hang in the balance Thursday, their plight touched off a range of responses on the Internet, with many sniping at them for choosing to go to a war zone and others urging understanding.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 18, 2015

Okada defeats Hosono to win DPJ presidential election

Following a close runoff against Goshi Hosono, Katsuya Okada is elected president of the Democratic Party of Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 14, 2015

More Japanese children being prescribed psychotropic drugs

A growing number of Japanese children are being prescribed psychotropic drugs to treat depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) and schizophrenia, according to a study by government-funded medical institutes.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 10, 2015

The people's Emperor speaks truth to power

Emperor Akihito began the new year with a statement that pointedly referred to two major controversies: war memory and nuclear energy. His thoughts on these demonstrate why he is so admired by the public and underscore the crucial role the 81-year-old monarch plays in contemporary Japan.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 3, 2015

Hillman embraces new opportunity with Astros

Happy New Year to all readers of the Baseball Bullet-In, and we will start 2015 with an update on the new job of former Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters manager Trey Hillman.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 31, 2014

Abe's goal of constitutional reform faces many challenges

This will be a tough year for the Abe administration as the calendar is full of policy goals that are unpopular with voters, observers say, particularly on defense policy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2014

No excuse for tolerating torture

Already 'torture' is fading from the headlines. Anti-torture Americans have been way too polite the past 12 years. They should have shouted down the torturers and apologists, ridiculed them, locked them away.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 15, 2014

California city spotlights tough path to police reform

In 2000, police in the city of Oakland, California became a symbol of the worst of American law enforcement after a band of rogue officers known as "The Riders" were accused of beating suspects, planting evidence and falsifying reports.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 14, 2014

At America's court of last resort, a handful of lawyers now dominates the docket

The marble facade of the U.S. Supreme Court building proclaims a high ideal: "Equal Justice Under Law."
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Nov 30, 2014

Video shop worker jolted into career as diversity advocate

When the Great Hanshin Earthquake hit in January 1995, Taro Tamura, then 23, was quick to sense the need in foreign communities for disaster-related information.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 22, 2014

Seizing the initiative for women at work

Faced with a domestic economy that is sputtering, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has in recent months attempted to promote a sector that has long been underutilized in Japan — women.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 12, 2014

Takata chairman stays out of sight as air bag crisis imperils dynasty

Takata Corp. Chairman Shigehisa Takada's failure to come forward and address an air bag crisis ensnaring the world's biggest automakers risks shaking investor confidence in the 81-year-old company's prospects.
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2014

Patent law must retain incentives

As the government drafts amendments to the patent law, the question is how effective the new rules will be in ensuring fair corporate remuneration to inventors so that they keep their engineering talent in Japan to enhance the nation's industrial competitiveness.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2014

Ukraine's vote, Russia's fate

When Ukraine's voters go to the polls on Sunday, not only the fate of their country will be at stake; so will the future of a significant part of Europe.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 1, 2014

Singin' ballet star leads top show's Tokyo cast

Any pantheon of classic Western musical comedy films would include 1952's "Singin' in the Rain" starring the legendary actor and dancer Gene Kelly. Set in late- 1920s Hollywood as it was transitioning from silent films to talkies, it depicts a romance between an established leading man named Don Lockwood...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2014

Families fear hundreds left out of abductee debate

Feb. 7, 1976, should have been just another Saturday for Susumu Fujita.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2014

Disaster risk discussed at conference organized by Harvard students

The lesson to be learned from devastating natural disasters is how important it is to prepare for them before they happen, experts at a panel discussion organized by the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) stressed Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 14, 2014

Instant camera gets mojo back with cute focus, Korean push

Digital cameras and smartphones have become so pervasive that many people think film cameras are now fit only for antique collectors.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2014

Japan paid ¥380 million in compensation for accidents by U.S. military personnel

Over the past decade, Japan has ponied up a hefty sum to help compensate victims of accidents caused by U.S. military personnel or civilian employees.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2014

Microsoft's emerging markets problem: Few want to pay for genuine product

On a trip to Beijing a decade ago, Bill Gates was asked by a senior government official how much money Microsoft Corp. made in China. The official asked the interpreter to double check Gates' reply as he couldn't believe the figure was so low.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 14, 2014

'I am Catherine Jane': a book whose value transcends its style

The memoir of Catherine Fisher's horrific 'triple rape' and her tireless 12-year crusade for justice must be supported.

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