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JAPAN / Politics
Jan 29, 2015

Abe pledges to 'correct' the record on wartime sex slaves

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Thursday to increase efforts to alter views abroad on Japan's actions in World War II by disseminating the "correct" view, as he put it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2015

Back to the love hotel for ex-pink film director

Interviews with people you know well can turn awkward if you try to be the probing questioner instead of the coffee-shop companion. No such worries with 61-year-old Ryuichi Hiroki, the former pink film (i.e., soft pornography) director who made his commercial and critical breakthrough with the erotically...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2015

Other nations' troubles could slow U.S. growth

President Barack Obama has declared America's economic crisis over, but will global weakness infect the U.S. expansion?
WORLD / Politics
Jan 28, 2015

Billionaire Koch brothers launch 2016 U.S. 'electoral arms race'

Democrats acknowledged on Tuesday that it may be impossible to match the nearly $900 million that the conservative billionaire Koch brothers said their political network will spend during the 2016 campaign cycle.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 28, 2015

Chinese police suspended for eating endangered salamander

The southern Chinese city of Shenzhen suspended 14 police officers and put a police chief under investigation on Tuesday on suspicion of feasting on an endangered giant salamander, state media reported.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 27, 2015

DPJ questions Abe's timing of Mideast aid

The opposition camp presses Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over his decision to announce millions of dollars in nonmilitary aid to countries battling the Islamic State group at a time when Japanese citizens were known to be among its captives.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2015

Radio report, voiceprints muddy waters as officials deliberate over hostage crisis

After the Islamic State group reportedly confirmed via radio that it had killed Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa, both Japan and Jordan were saying little Monday about how they might respond to its demand that a suicide bomber jailed in Jordan be exchanged for the second hostage, Kenji Goto.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 26, 2015

Nous ne sommes pas Charlie: Voices that mock authority in Japan muzzled

Why is there no equivalent of Charlie Hebdo, 'The Daily Show' or 'Monty Python' in Japan?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 26, 2015

Tokyo: Should Japan be negotiating with Islamic State for the release of Kenji Goto?

After the apparent killing of hostage Haruna Yukawa, Mark Buckton asked people in Tokyo whether the government should be talking to the terrorists holding journalist Kenji Goto.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 25, 2015

It's OK to film people in public in Japan, if the conditions justify it

A reader asks, 'In Japan, is it OK to film other people in public?'
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2015

Health care pressures grow

Expect the state of siege under which the National Health Service has labored recently to be the biggest political issue at the next election in Britain, due in May.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 24, 2015

Mika Mifune gets ready for some serious 'me' time

Historian Daniel J. Boorstin once defined a celebrity as someone who is "known for his well-knownness" — a person famous for being famous. Though many celebrities have talent and other attributes that draw attention, it is easier to gain notoriety passively by being related to someone who already has...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 24, 2015

Jonathan Clements: Diving alongside a slowly sinking nation

When the pop singer Justin Bieber was in Japan in the spring of 2014 he asked his driver to make an impromptu stop at a shrine in Tokyo. Naturally, Bieber posted some photos of his shrine visit online, but instead of getting likes, his photos prompted outrage. Bieber, like Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 24, 2015

Zen Koans

The famous question, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" is a Zen koan; a deliberately obtuse poem used by Buddhists to probe reality and test one's ignorance.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 24, 2015

Obama looking to leverage ties with Modi during India trip

Barack Obama will do something in India on Monday that an American president almost never does in public: He'll sit in one place, in a foreign country, for hours.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2015

Managing North Korea's collapse

Regardless of whether the North Korean regime collapses with a bang or a whimper, ensuring that the country's nuclear weapons are not used, moved or exported is a task that will require the capabilities of the U.S. armed forces.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 23, 2015

Abe briefing paper rules out strike on Islamic State

The prime minister's office explored the idea of conducting a military strike against the Islamic State group in Syria as the ransom deadline approached.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2015

Self-censorship is biggest threat to free speech in Japan

An edgy art exhibition of works rejected or removed by other exhibitors offers insights into whether Japan can be considered a nation of free speech.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 21, 2015

Islamic State likely gave hostage ultimatum knowing difficulty of meeting it

The militant group, which aims to establish an Islamic caliphate, is likely using the hostage situation to generate renewed international attention, according to leading analysts.
JAPAN / DAVOS SPECIAL 2015
Jan 21, 2015

Adaptation vital in changing world

Kiyoshi Kurokawa, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies and former chairman of the National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission, says the world is currently experiencing the most dramatic shift since the Industrial Revolution in the...
COMMENTARY
Jan 20, 2015

U.K. Muslims' 'special burden'

Do Muslim minorities in Britain and other European countries have a special burden to help track down Islamic extremists?
COMMENTARY
Jan 20, 2015

The Swiss just made Japan's job more difficult

Bank of Japan head Haruhiko Kuroda's monetary 'bazooka' just got outgunned by the Swiss.
EDITORIALS
Jan 20, 2015

Shocking Switzerland

The Swiss National Bank's move to abandon currency market intervention has profound implications for the international financial system.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Jan 20, 2015

Recipe: Spaghetti Napolitan

On Aug. 30, 1945, newly appointed Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed at Atsugi Airport in Yokohama and headed straight to an elegant hotel overlooking the harbor that had escaped destruction during the war. The Hotel New Grand served as his headquarters for three days,...
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2015

Google sticks to EU-only application of 'right to be forgotten'

Google is only removing search results from European websites when individuals invoke their "right to be forgotten," contrary to regulators' guidelines, but will review that approach soon, the company's chief legal officer said on Monday.
COMMENTARY
Jan 19, 2015

A perceived insult against religion is countered with words, not arms

There is a place for passionate debate on the moral question of how to balance freedom of speech with respect for religion. But the weapons of this debate should be the keyboard — not the Kalashnikov.

Longform

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The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan