Search - 2013

 
 
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 7, 2014

Job market set to overheat with labor shortage

Kazufumi Yamamoto is having such a hard time finding waiters and sushi chefs to fill jobs at Ganko Food Service Co. that he's going to boost wages for the first time in more than a decade.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 6, 2014

East Asia should build resilience through disaster-relief cooperation

The president of Soka Gakkai International urges Japan, China and South Korea to take the initiative in building a model of cooperation that will serve to mutually strengthen regional resilience to extreme-weather events and other disasters.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 6, 2014

Chavez still going strong a year after his death

Though he died a year ago, Hugo Chavez still presents a weekly show on Venezuelan state television.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 5, 2014

Japan's embrace of Russia under threat with Ukraine crisis

Russia's incursion into Ukraine is setting off alarm bells in Tokyo, where officials worry that any push by the nation's Western allies to impose economic penalties will undermine its drive to improve relations with Moscow.
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2014

Nigeria shoots the messenger

It's no surprise that there has been an outflow of currency from Nigeria ever since the central bank governor was suspended days after he blew the whistle on $20 billion in missing oil revenues.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2014

Will Ukraine invasion be Russia's Anschluss?

Ukrainians do need to recognize Russia's interests in the region and the rights of the Russian-speaking majority in the southeast of the country. If they show good will, Russian President Vladimir Putin may generously pull back his forces.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2014

A new cold war in the making?

Even if there is no war, the Crimea crisis is likely to alter fundamentally relations between Russia and the West, and lead to changes in the global power balance.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EMBASSY AVENUE
Mar 4, 2014

Philippine historical landmark in Tokyo

On March 3, a marker declaring the Philippine Ambassador's official residence a national historical landmark was unveiled at the building in Fujimi in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 3, 2014

Independent NHK chained to Diet leash

NHK, which is often compared with the BBC in the U.K., has been a focus of public attention and intense criticism in recent weeks. Many people are taking a closer look at the public broadcaster, including its history and whether it has been politically influenced by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's right-leaning...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Mar 3, 2014

Swallows' Balentien keeps focus on steady improvement

Wladimir Balentien launched a few balls to the farthest reaches of Tokyo Dome during batting practice on Sunday, turned his hat backwards and, as he sat down near the visitor's dugout, proclaimed that his timing was off.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 3, 2014

Loved abroad, hated at home: The art of Japanese tattooing

The perception gap between international views of irezumi and those of Japanese people dates back more than 150 years, to when foreigners first laid eyes on Japanese tattoos. Since that time, however, Japanese tattooists have influenced their foreign counterparts in remarkable ways — and sometimes vice-versa.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2014

Obama complicates policy, playing good cop, bad cop

The Obama government has taken a Cold War stand on the crisis in Ukraine, which is a questionable tack given his disposition of combining threat with accommodation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Mar 2, 2014

Composer Shibuya tests limits of music

One November evening in Paris, Theatre du Chatelet was packed with people who came to see the French premiere of a new opera by a Japanese composer.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 1, 2014

Japan's reactionaries waging culture war

The contemporary culture wars that have erupted over Japanese identity and history are undermining the country's national interests and damaging its reputation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2014

Doraemon, the robot cat, gets your tongue

An earless blue robotic cat, one pocket bulging with gadgets from the future and a lifelong fear of mice: Who is he? Japan roars the answer — but English readers may be stumped. Because, even though he's a government-appointed "cultural ambassador" and a familiar face in more than 30 countries, with...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 1, 2014

Many have fallen victim to NPB's 'false spring'

As a high school student back in the early 1960s, I can recall reading a book titled, "A False Spring." It was authored by Pat Jordan, a Connecticut native and a superb teenage baseball pitcher who, according to Wikipedia, was pursued by more than 15 major league organizations in 1959. Interesting, as...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Mar 1, 2014

Bitcoin believers unfazed by losses in Mt. Gox collapse

Like other bitcoin evangelists, Ken Shishido is ready to write off the money he lost in the bankruptcy of Tokyo-based virtual currency exchange Mt. Gox as the price of revolutionizing global finance.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Feb 28, 2014

The lesson of the long-distance runner: 'There are no impossibles'

Maickel Melamed was born with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, and his parents were told he would not live long. Almost four decades on, Melamed has crossed marathon finishing lines in New York, Berlin and Chicago — and conquered Venezuela's highest mountain.
COMMENTARY
Feb 28, 2014

An Abe-Park dialogue needed

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has entered her second year in office with little prospect that the chilly relationship between Japan and her country will improve.
WORLD
Feb 28, 2014

Bitcoin-wise Ukraine protesters tap digital money's global reach

Ukrainian activists are turning to bitcoins to fund a three-month protest in Kiev's Independence Square that helped oust President Viktor Yanukovych amid violence that left at least 82 people dead.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Feb 28, 2014

Russian military regains its clout

Refitting Soviet-era warships, fielding new aircraft and tanks and seeking new overseas bases, the Russian military — which now has troops on alert amidst a crisis in Ukraine — is more potent than the force that briefly fought Georgia six years ago.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2014

Bullying-linked crimes up 57% in '13

The number of juvenile crimes caused by school bullying rose 57.7 percent to 410 cases last year, up from 260 cases a year earlier, according a report by the National Police Agency.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 28, 2014

Abe looks to instill politics in education

Conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is cranking out policies to strengthen the political grip on education, turning the postwar notion on its head that instruction of the nation's young people should be free of political influence.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2014

'Comfort women' statues spur debate

In the northern Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, population 192,000, sits a public park with a simple statue that has become a lightning rod in the brewing political storm among the United States, Japan and South Korea over the past few months.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji