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EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2016

Security legislation takes effect

Japan's postwar defense posture underwent a major change this week as new security legislation took effect, but how the government plans to implement the laws remains unclear.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 28, 2016

Abe offers ¥600 million grant to Zimbabwe in bid to counter Chinese economic offensive

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe a ¥600 million welcome to Japan in the form of an aid pledge intended to lure more Japanese companies back to the former agricultural powerhouse and counter an aggressive foray by China. But the move could also raise eyebrows in the West....
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2016

Saudi Arabia versus Iran

When dealing with Iran and Saudi Arabia, Western governments should be mindful of their appalling human rights records.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2016

Happiness is serious business in the UAE

Happiness is neither a transitory moment of delight nor a constant condition. It is a state of being beyond satisfaction, a flourishing and ambient joy.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 28, 2016

Iraqi Christians fear extinction in wake of Islamic State onslaught

Iraqi Christians gathered in Baghdad over the weekend to mark Easter, but celebrations were tempered by fears the Islamic State group would eradicate their shrinking community, even as the army launched a U.S.-backed offensive to retake Mosul, their ancestral homeland.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2016

Research park offers high-tech surrounded by nature

Birds chirp under blue skies as luscious greenery stretches beyond. Researchers in white lab coats walk to and from the uncluttered chic and modern buildings. This is the natural and clean environment the Yokosuka Research Park (YRP) offers its tenants conducting business there.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2016

Americans on all sides united in opposition to free trade

A poll shows opposition to free trade is a unifying concept even in the deeply divided U.S. electorate, with almost two-thirds of Americans favoring more restrictions on imported goods.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2016

South Carolina governor wants U.S. to divert shipload of arms-grade plutonium from Japan

The demand by Nikki Haley has the potential to embarrass the Obama administration a week before it hosts an important summit on nuclear nonproliferation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2016

Belgium, my country, has been living in denial

Belgium's failures as a state over the past 30 years have also helped produce the perpetrators of jihadist atrocities.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2016

Keep terrorism in perspective

People should be reminded that they are in much greater danger of dying from a fall in the bath than of dying in a terrorist attack.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Mar 22, 2016

Former Olympian Hopkins, long jumper at 1964 Tokyo Games, dies at 74

Gayle Hopkins, who advanced to the final round in the men’s long jump at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, died in his sleep on Sunday night or early Monday morning in Tucson, Arizona, according to sources close to the matter.
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Mar 22, 2016

Honda joins select group with win at world juniors

The depth of Japan's skating prowess was on full display at the world junior championships in Debrecen, Hungary, over the weekend, where Marin Honda, Wakaba Higuchi and Yuna Shiraiwa took three of top four places in the women's competition.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 22, 2016

Dance icon sets a challenge

Running with the bulls during the annual San Fermin fiesta in the Spanish city of Pamplona, or joining a traditional Ainu festival on Lake Akan in Hokkaido, may seem unusual ways for a choreographer to research — but not if the artist in question is Motoko Hirayama.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 22, 2016

Myanmar must stay united

The formation of the first civilian government in more than 50 years on April 1 is only the beginning, and not the end, of Myanmar's long process of transition to a genuine democracy.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 21, 2016

Missing Chinese columnist who called for Xi to resign 'taken away' by police, lawyer says

Chinese police "took away" a well-known columnist last week before he tried to board a flight for Hong Kong and his whereabouts are still unknown, his lawyer said Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2016

Obama's historic Cuba visit

Without a strong economic impact, America's opening to Cuba will not make even a small contribution to political liberalization on the island.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 21, 2016

Japan backs homegrown stealth jet in aerospace industry revival

Japan is set to become the fourth country to test-fly its own stealth jet — a move that is likely to increase its military presence in the region.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2016

Five years after Fukushima disasters, region encourages rise of robotics

Japan is spending more than $1 billion to resurrect the area around the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant as the country's "Innovation Coast."
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 20, 2016

Can cultural engagement soften North Korea's hard-line stance?

After years of provocations, talks, promises and broken vows — a pattern that Pyongyang has mastered — the atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula remains highly charged and little changed.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Mar 19, 2016

The Meiji Era and the soul of Japan: part 2

An ambitious young man of the 1880s, flattering a girl he may want to marry (or may not, if a more advantageous alliance materializes), asks her, "What are you reading these days, Osei?" When Osei in reply mentions "Outlines of the World's History" by William Swinton, Noboru, the young man, is suitably...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2016

A 'cashless society' is wonderful — until it's not

If we want to move toward a cashless society then we also need to think seriously about limiting the ability of the government to use the payments system as an instrument to control the behavior of its citizens.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 16, 2016

Views from Tokyo: Are Japan's Sunwolves ready for Super Rugby?

Fans offer their views on the prospects for the Sunwolves, Asia's first Super Rugby team.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 16, 2016

'The Decline of Western Civilization' is a punk masterpiece

The Sex Pistols played their final gig at San Francisco's Winterland in January 1978. About a year later, Sid Vicious died from an overdose, and so did punk rock — according to the music magazines. The Pistols' chaotic tour of America, however, had dropped like a stone in a still pond, and the ripples...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 16, 2016

Trump says foreign policy team still not ready

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump acknowledged on Tuesday he does not yet have a foreign policy team, and three former U.S. military and intelligence officials who have endorsed him are little known in either the Republican Party or the wider foreign policy community.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan