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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 9, 2013

Japan's Gutai artists celebrated like never before

"Do what no one has done before," was the rallying cry that Jiro Yoshihara, founder of the postwar Japanese art group the Gutai Art Association, demanded of his fellow members.
Reader Mail
Jun 9, 2013

Conditions for a global education

I read with interest Masaaki Kameda's May 29 article, "Education panel touts more global approach." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's exhortation that Japanese universities establish super-global universities by recruiting faculty staff from overseas, establishing partnerships with overseas universities and...
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 8, 2013

How did Germany become the new champion of Europe?

Sitting in his brightly lit office overlooking the green hills of rural Westphalia, surrounded by photographs of aluminium and titanium castings, Phillip Schack has drawn a blue triangle on a piece of paper. Pointing to a small shaded section at its apex, he says: "Look. If that's your market, up at...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 8, 2013

How does science explain a bolt from the blue?

Divine attribution In ancient times, the drama of thunder and lightning so clearly went beyond human scale that the phenomenon was handed wholesale to the gods. The Greeks had Zeus, the Romans Jupiter. At the head of the Hindu pantheon was Indra, while Norse mythology gave us Thor — all wielders of...
EDITORIALS
Jun 8, 2013

Mr. Abe's 'third arrow' misses mark

If Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's goal of boosting Japan's per capita gross national income by ¥1.5 million in 10 years sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
WORLD
Jun 8, 2013

IRS official regrets lavish conference

The Internal Revenue Service official who signed off on a $4.1 million California conference featuring parody videos, taxpayer-paid gifts and upgrades to lavish hotel suites apologized Thursday and said the agency used poor judgment.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2013

The link between austerity and demoralization

High unemployment in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere is also tragic because of the emotional cost to the jobless of not being part of working society.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2013

Importance of private sector's role featured in Yokohama Declaration

TICAD V ends with the adoption of the Yokohama Declaration, a pledge to promote private sector-led growth in achieving sustainable development.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2013

Sunny spin to an oily Earth

Politicians seem to be the last people in the world understanding clean energy or what kind of planet they will bequeath to their grandchildren.
EDITORIALS
Jun 3, 2013

Shale oil revolution touches Japan

The U.S. decision to permit liquefied natural gas exports to countries with which it has not concluded free trade agreements could have a huge impact on Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2013

Tunisian leader touts investment opportunities

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki on Sunday invited Japan's businesses to invest and play a major role in his country's transition toward democracy and a free-market economy.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 2, 2013

Abe to Africa: Use aid as you see fit

The fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development opens with a look back over the forum's past 20 years and discussions about its future.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jun 2, 2013

Finding ways not to say 'mottainai!' in the woods

The common Japanese term mottainai, meaning “what a waste,” has become an international concept.
Japan Times
WORLD / TICAD V SPECIAL
Jun 1, 2013

Japan to focus on public-private partnerships

Since the first Tokyo International Conference on African Development, known as TICAD, took place in 1993, Africa has developed dramatically.
WORLD / TICAD V SPECIAL
Jun 1, 2013

Singer Misia help raise awareness about Africa

A powerful five-octave voice coming from a small frame is normally what describes Misia as a singer. The second hat she wears is as a philanthropic activist for Africa.
Japan Times
WORLD / TICAD V SPECIAL
Jun 1, 2013

Zensho pursues fair trade with small farmers in Africa

Fair trade is a concept widely accepted in the world describing a business practice in which importers provide humanitarian benefits to exporters, who are usually in developing nations. Humanitarian benefits can mean anything from paying proper prices for high-quality products to helping the people in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 1, 2013

Yoko Ono: 'I feel that I am starting a new life at 80'

Sitting at her kitchen table, sipping green tea, Yoko Ono looks much the same as she did when I met her 20 years ago. Dressed in black and peering intently over tinted spectacles, her face bears little trace of the passing of time and her diminutive form exudes utter calmness. Having crossed the famous...
Japan Times
JAPAN / NURTURING PARTNERSHIPS
Jun 1, 2013

TICAD's to-do list extensive, 20 years on

Looking back on the Tokyo International Conference on African Development and its achievements over the past 20 years, Masaki Inaba touched on the number of flights that now directly connect Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 1, 2013

Tech elite's wealth sows divisions in San Francisco

Every morning and every evening the fleet glides through the city, hundreds of white buses with tinted windows navigating San Francisco's rush hour. From the pavement you can see your reflection in the windows, but you can't see in. The buses have no markings or logos, no advertised destinations or stops....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 1, 2013

Destroyer of domestic chaos charts way for others to lead organized lives

Jo Ebisujima describes herself as "a hybrid of MacGyver and Martha Stewart."
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 1, 2013

Space radiation makes any Mars mission hazardous

Of all the hazards facing a human mission to Mars — something NASA and countless other space buffs would love to see at some point — one of the hardest to solve is the radiation that saturates interplanetary space.
EDITORIALS
May 31, 2013

Ill-prepared for nuclear accidents

The exposure of 33 researchers to radiation on May 23 at a Japan Atomic Energy Agency research facility in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, revealed the JAEA's failure to uphold basic safety standards. Education and science minister Mr. Hakubun Shimomura said May 28 that the ministry will thoroughly reform...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 30, 2013

After breakthrough covers, James Blake proud that 'Overgrown' belongs to him

For most, the passage from underground dubstep sensation to critically acclaimed, Bon Iver-collaborating, Kanye West-endorsed artist is the kind of career path you can only dream of.
Japan Times
JAPAN / NURTURING PARTNERSHIPS
May 29, 2013

Coming together to move Africa forward

The Tokyo International Conference on African Development is a great opportunity for Japan to expand its business in Africa, as the resource-rich continent begins to shed its dependence on aid to emerge as an attractive consumer market and a swelling population, according to the Foreign Ministry's ambassador...
WORLD / Society
May 29, 2013

Autobahn speed limit bid rankles

For many in this car-crazy nation, the freedom to hurtle down the famed autobahn at 190 kph or more is an inalienable right.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan