Search - 2015

 
 
CULTURE / Film
Jan 11, 2017

'A Drop from Tomato': Planting the seeds of reconciliation

For independent filmmakers from elsewhere in Asia with high censorship or distribution hurdles, Japan must look like paradise. Last year, most of the 581 local films released here were low-budget indie titles. Hardly any of their makers got rich, but at least their films saw the theatrical light of day....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 11, 2017

Secondhand bookshop exorcizing ghosts of the past

The first floor of the crumbling art deco building where my daughter lives in Riga, Latvia, houses a well-patronized secondhand English bookstore. I've bought several titles there. It led me to wondering why a business of this kind, a social space for readers, can thrive in the tiny Latvian capital,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 11, 2017

SoftBank's Son cedes to Murdoch as top India home, property portals merge

Indian real estate websites PropTiger.com and Housing.com are merging to create the country's top portal for residential listings and property services, as Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. boosts its investment in the growing sector while Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group Corp. scales back.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 10, 2017

Xi to lead delegation of China's wealthiest executives to Davos

President Xi Jinping will become the first Chinese head of state to address the World Economic Forum, leading an entourage of business executives to Switzerland next week as the country seeks a larger role in shaping the global economic order.
EDITORIALS
Jan 10, 2017

Redefining the 'elderly' age

As the rapid graying of Japan's population continues, a proposal has been made to redefine the "elderly" age to be in line with people's changing perceptions as to when their golden years begin. In the face of mushrooming social security costs in an aging society, the government plans to start making...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 10, 2017

Nearsightedness a cost of academic excellence

Vision problems in children take many forms. But the likely condition in Japan and the United States is nearsightedness as a result of a combination of genes, behavior and environment.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2017

The line between free speech and fake news

Fake news poses a threat to democratic institutions.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2017

Syria and the Hippocratic principle: first do no harm

Western interference has caused far more problems than it has solved across the region from Afghanistan to North Africa.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 10, 2017

World War II: Yasuka Goto gets up close and personal

Some artists from earlier generations like Tsuguharu Foujita (also known as Leonard Foujita) have been "outed" in the past decade or two and are now almost celebrated for producing incredibly complex propaganda paintings complicit with Japan's World War II ideology. For others, however, such politics...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 10, 2017

Tokujin Yoshioka_Spectrum: Resonant Rainbows Radiate from Prisms

Jan. 13-March 26
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jan 10, 2017

From Iceland to Maldives, Chinese seek 'lung-cleansing' trips

Toxic haze that settled over much of China during the last three weeks has triggered a flight reflex among residents, leading to the rising popularity of smog avoidance travel packages to far-flung locations such as Iceland and Antarctica.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2017

Takeda Pharmaceutical to buy U.S. cancer drugmaker Ariad in $4.66 billion deal

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. will expand its footprint in the U.S. oncology market with the $4.66 billion purchase of Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. The deal will add one potential blockbuster in lung cancer and another already on-the-market therapy.
EDITORIALS
Jan 9, 2017

Promoting local autonomy

This is the 70th year since the concept of local autonomy was introduced in Japan under the Constitution. Both the national and local governments should be reminded that local autonomy is an important and essential heritage of the postwar political and legal transformation. Serious efforts need to be...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2017

China shouldn't burn its 40-ton ivory stockpile

Despite the visceral appeal, 30 years of burning hasn't appreciably reduced elephant kills or ivory consumption. In fact, it likely raises its value on the black market.
BASEBALL
Jan 9, 2017

Former MLB great Ramirez reaches agreement with Kochi

Former MLB star Manny Ramirez is on his way to Japanese baseball after Monday's announcement that the 44-year-old slugger had reached an agreement with the Kochi Fighting Dogs of the independent four-team Shikoku Island League Plus.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Jan 8, 2017

Where Japan's club culture needs to go in 2017

Last month, I was invited to speak at the inaugural Tokyo Dance Music Event — a conference consisting of workshops and talks, loosely modeled on long-running international equivalents like the Amsterdam Dance Event.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2017

Don't fear robots; they won't render us jobless

"Rogue One," the latest in the Star Wars franchise, has had mixed reviews but features one undisputed star: K-2SO, a gangly robot with the best lines. Movies of the distant future always tap into current anxieties, and the latest alarm is that the robots are coming. Droids may not conquer the world,...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2017

Trump's great economic guessing game

We're all playing a guessing game. During the campaign, Donald Trump made many promises. But whether friend or foe, we don't know what he will actually do. The result is a deluge of predictions from politicians, pundits, think tanks, lobbyists, economists and others. Here, for example, is the outlook...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 7, 2017

Are female scholars taken seriously in Japan?

There is a small group of female TV personalities whose claim to fame is that they graduated from the University of Tokyo, the most prestigious institute of higher learning in Japan. Like most TV personalities, these women have no demonstrable talent, and in almost every case when they appear on variety...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 7, 2017

Defining J-Horror: The erotic, grotesque 'nonsense' of Edogawa Rampo

In Japanese literature, there is a type of horror story that centers on an individual's obsession with a single idea. It arises from the most innocent and everyday circumstances, but gradually this single idea becomes all-consuming, blurring the line between sanity and madness. In some cases, the transformations...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 7, 2017

Can Naoki 'The Flea' Nakahigashi extend his career?

Happy New Year to all Baseball Bullet-In readers, and let the countdown begin. Just 24 days until the Japanese pro ball clubs begin spring training camps on the way to opening day of the regular season on March 31.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years