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Reader Mail
May 14, 2014

Sex slave's story from Indonesia

In his May 8 letter "Fictions aimed at milking Japan," Koichi Katsuta claims that comfort women were "just prostitutes who earned a lot of money." Perhaps there were some in this category, but can he claim they all were?
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2014

Perilous road to Slovyansk

The utter disconnect between America's diplomatic principles and practice is emboldening the country's adversaries. The lone actor most responsible for threatening world peace might unwittingly be U.S. President Barack Obama.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2014

¥4 billion paid for ship's release

Mitsui O.S.K. coughs up about ¥4 billion to secure the release of an ore carrier seized in China over a contract dispute predating World War II.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 24, 2014

Abe-Obama summit kicks off with security reassurances

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Barack Obama kicked off long-awaited summit talks in Tokyo on Thursday morning, aiming to bolster security and economic ties.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 5, 2014

Phuket puts Peranakan heritage back on map

As evidenced by all the Chinatowns dotted around the globe, over the centuries China has seen many of its people seek new lives in other parts of the world. And from about 1400, Southeast Asia was especially popular for Chinese emigrants who had a yearning for foreign shores.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 4, 2014

Japan's Russian dilemma

For the Japanese, President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea was an unsurprising return to Russia's historic paradigm. Thus it is understandable that many now consider the recent hopes for serious talks between Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the Northern Territories as stillborn.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 1, 2014

Masako Shirasu: woman of the world

"If you use beautiful things every day, you will naturally cultivate an eye for beautiful things without giving it a second thought. In the end, you will be repelled when you encounter the ugly and the fake. If only all Japan would come to see this, how much more joyous our lives would be and how genial...
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2014

Kono sex slave statement to be scrutinized

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga says the Abe administration will launch a study team to re-examine the 1993 Kono statement apologizing for the wartime sex slave system.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 22, 2014

Media await rightist ex-general's next move

"Thank you, everyone," wrote Toshio Tamogami in his weekly column in Shukan Asahi Geino (Feb. 27). "This has given me great courage toward my next move."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2014

NHK chief tells board 'comfort women' remarks no big deal

The controversy swirling around NHK shows no sign of simmering down, with Chairman Katsuto Momii reportedly playing down the explosive nature of the remarks he made at his first news conference in January over the wartime brothels used by the Imperial Japanese military.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Feb 1, 2014

Steamer surveys new island; Forces land on Hainan Island; Kyu Sakamoto profiled; Leftists suspected in shrine bombing

The N.Y.K. Bonin liner Chefoo, which returned to Yokohama yesterday, gave an interesting account of her exploration of the newly formed island near Minami Iwojima.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 15, 2014

This special Horse Year kabuki's a real winner

Most kabuki plays have at their core a dramatic historical episode. Around this, there's generally a colorful, oft-times melodramatic and action-packed confection of intrigues, loyalties, romances, self-sacrifice and villainy founded on varying degrees of fact — or simply fashioned as pure fiction....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 18, 2013

Show marks award of kabuki star's new name

Names matter, and in the realm of Japanese culture almost nowhere more than in kabuki, one of whose top names, Ennosuke IV, has just become artistic director of the Shunju-za theater in Kyoto.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 27, 2013

Kichiemon Nakamura II : For the love of 'Chushingura'

As December draws near, the streets are decorated with Christmas ornaments and in Japan, concerts of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony are held all over the nation. In addition to these Western-inspired traditions, there is a made-in-Japan December tradition that has been held since the 18th century and is...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 27, 2013

'Junzo Sakakura in Architectural Documents'

A renowned architect and former president of the Architectural Association of Japan, Junzo Sakakura (1901—1969), was a Tokyo Imperial University graduate who went on to become studio chief at the modern-architecture pioneer Le Corbusier's atelier in Paris.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Nov 21, 2013

Thanksgiving course; Christmas accommodation plan; Winter lunch, dinner buffets

Thanksgiving course
Japan Times
WORLD / Society / FOCUS
Nov 12, 2013

Russian nationalism stokes ethnic strife

When Russians celebrated the Day of National Unity last week, marchers waving imperial flags and shouting racist slogans paraded through cities across the country while ethnic minority citizens and migrants from the former Soviet Union stayed out of sight, better to avoid a beating.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 2, 2013

Legislation bureau chief Abe's window to collective defense

The appointment of Ichiro Komatsu as director general of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau is a step toward Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's goal of reinterpreting the Constitution so Japan can engage in collective self-defense.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 3, 2013

Where's the love? Japanese feel unhappy, unloved and pessimistic

The results of a Pew Opinion survey released in July 2013 found that the public mood in Japan is improving but remains "mostly one of dissatisfaction." However, that dissatisfaction is 10 percent lower than the level registered in 2007 during Shinzo Abe's first spell as premier.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building