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COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2013

New global environment of human hybridization

While Catholic doctrines evolve slowly, the Latin vocabulary has been expanding steadily in recent years, reflecting the surge of neologisms like telephonium.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 30, 2013

Samurai moms and the art of brood maintenance: a mother from the West's lessons from the East

May in Japan is the perfect month for mothers. Wreathed in the fertile blooms of spring, bolstered by days of absolute perfection, May is also a month of muddy contradiction.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2013

Stalin's reputation not so monstrous 60 years on

The reputation of Josef Stalin, a moral monster by any standard, has nevertheless enjoyed a bit of a revival in Russia, 60 years after his death.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Apr 30, 2013

Stand up to Abe for the sake of Japan, Asia's future

Life is comparable to a spiritual drama that in retrospect can be recalled as a series of happy, sad and bitter memories
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 29, 2013

Evolutionary biologist says cave-man diet is flawed

Living like cave men — or at least eating like them — is being hailed by some as an ideal lifestyle.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 28, 2013

Pressure grows for the nation's housewives

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's April 19 National Press Club speech about boosting women's participation in the workforce has been covered extensively in the domestic and foreign media since it signals a sea change in the Liberal Democratic Party's view of women's role in society. He said the government...
Reader Mail
Apr 28, 2013

Challenge of modern retirement

I have the opportunity to hold seminars for those who have worked in traditional Japanese companies, to give them hints on living a happy life after they retire. In former times, seminar participants tended to be eager to know how far their pension benefits would go and how to practice a thrifty lifestyle...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 25, 2013

In front and behind closed temple doors

While largely beneath the contemporary-art radar, painting for Japanese temples by the stars of the postwar art world is a relatively common activity, though largely restricted to nihonga.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 25, 2013

Baucus retirement sets stage for sweeping legislative changes

Montana Sen. Max Baucus, one of the most influential congressional figures of his era, announced his intention Tuesday to retire, a move that could produce sweeping changes in the political and legislative landscape over the next two years.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2013

Rape and gender discrimination related in India

It is hard to equate India's rapid technological development with practices such as female feticide, the earliest manifestation of violence against women.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Apr 23, 2013

The collectables

Game otaku rejoice! A bounty of treasures is available while limited-edition supplies last, from commemorative figurines to superkawaii retro backpacks.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Apr 21, 2013

In 'Tsukuru Tazaki,' Murakami once again shifts his point of view

Two thousand and nine was a good year to be a Haruki Murakami fan. Seven years after writing his last epic novel, "Kafka on the Shore," with only the bite-sized 2004 "afterdark" to tide over his readership, the author published the massive two-volume "1Q84." Looking back now, it's also clear that Murakami...
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...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WEEK 3
Apr 21, 2013

Closing time for an old-style watchmaker winding up his career

As cotton-thick snow falls on St. Catherine Street in the heart of the province of Quebec's largest city, Iwao Tsumura works away in his dingy second-floor shop.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Apr 20, 2013

Gifu opens women-only dorm for drug addicts

A month has passed since drug rehabilitation center Gifu Darc opened the first dormitory in the Tokai region for female addicts.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2013

High schoolers dream of Ivy League

One March afternoon in Shibuya Ward, a group of high schoolers earnestly listened as students from Harvard University described life on their campus.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 19, 2013

Teen 'sexting' case in Virginia fuels debate on right response

Three high school students in Fairfax County, Virginia, made cellphone videos of drunken sex acts with fellow teens and shared them among themselves. Now they are going on trial, facing a charge usually reserved for adult predators: child pornography.
Reader Mail
Apr 18, 2013

Application of statistics fails

As someone who has spent his entire academic life in computational economics, I would like to comment on the April 12 Bloomberg article by theoretical physicist Mark Buchanan, titled "Beware economists who peddle cute models."
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 17, 2013

Bystanders ran toward the smoke, not from it

When the bombs went off on Boston's Boylston Street, bystanders ran toward the smoke, realizing the dangers but hoping to save lives.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Apr 17, 2013

Kobe's greatness won't let him quit

Well, at least we know Kobe Bryant isn't retiring.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2013

Taiji dolphin cull inhumane: study

From a cliff above the tiny cove, a stocky, bald man could be seen between tightly drawn lengths of green tarpaulin, a metal rod in one hand, and something long, black and smooth wriggling helplessly under the other.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 14, 2013

Takarazuka: Japan's newest 'traditional' theater turns 100

Ask your average Japanese person or non-native Japanophile to name a “traditional” form of domestic theater and the classics such as kabuki and noh would feature prominently.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 14, 2013

Digging for insights on foreigners living in Japan from some of the most prominent figures

Donald Richie, prolific author of more than 40 books and longtime contributor to The Japan Times, died in February at age 88. April 17 was his birthday, so this review pays tribute by sharing some of the insights he passed on during an interview, one of 12 in this book, conducted four years ago.
Reader Mail
Apr 11, 2013

Silly statistics on the ephemeral

Regarding the April 5 Jiji Press article "Aomori blossoms 'best'": Are you kidding me? Did Weathernews Inc. really take a hanami survey to find out all the important statistical data about the cherry blossom viewing habits of Japan's hanami-loving devotees?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 10, 2013

A Japanese poet's whale elegy

If some Japanese advocates of whale hunting could commune with their ancestors, they'd feel the past dismay at the impious waste of whales' lives.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2013

Key moments that left mark on U.S.

Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female prime minister, held the office for more than 11 years, including during the entire 1980s. In that time, she left a major mark on U.S. politics, mainly through her close relationship with President Ronald Reagan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / OUR MAN IN TOKYO
Apr 9, 2013

British ambassador laments his two 'lost decades'

Tim Hitchens, the new British ambassador to Japan, has observed with his own eyes the country's economic transition since he first visited here as a teenager back in the 1970s.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 8, 2013

A template emerges for prosecuting terror suspects

Aboard the USS Boxer, somewhere in the Indian Ocean, Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame was sitting across from a team of interrogators, talking and talking. In secure meeting rooms in Washington, senior officials in the Obama administration were wringing their hands over what to do with him.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2013

When Supreme silence is golden in America

As the recent U.S. Supreme Court arguments over same-sex marriage attest, silence plays a role in constitutional law just as it does in ordinary life.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic