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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Sep 18, 2016

'Same work, same pay' principle doesn't stop at 60

Recently, the Tokyo Public Law Office has seen a surge in inquiries similar to the following:
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 17, 2016

Renho and the 'pure blood' mythos

Despite the best efforts of certain individuals on Twitter, lawmaker Renho became the head of the Democratic Party last Thursday. Of course, those loosely linked online individuals that are sometimes referred to as netto uyo (internet right-wingers) don't really care about the DP, but they were undoubtedly...
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Sep 12, 2016

Let's discuss helping foreign residents and tourists in natural disasters

Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, enterprises in the public and private sectors are taking steps to make sure foreign residents and tourists will know what to do in the event of natural disasters.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 10, 2016

Pricing system offers scant protection as Amazon Japan hacks away at bookstores' benefits

Japan's saihan seido system may not be enough to save the country's remaining bookstores, whose advantages Amazon.jp has systematically worked to nullify over the years.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Sep 5, 2016

Let's discuss ANA's dog-friendly flights

All Nippon Airways Co. is considering launching tours that allow pet dogs to travel in the cabin with their owners.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Sep 4, 2016

JBC marks 100 columns and a million page views

Column has been shining a critical light on issues affecting Japan's foreign residents since 2008.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Aug 29, 2016

Let's discuss the men's 4x100 relay at Rio

Japan came close to sabotaging Usain Bolt's bid for Olympic immortality but settled for a first-ever silver medal in the men's 4u00d7100-meter relay at the Rio Games.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 23, 2016

Risking political suicide, LDP veteran Funada challenges Abe over Constitution

Like other Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers, Hajime Funada is a strong proponent of amending the postwar Constitution, but not the way Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 20, 2016

How to teach moral education in a relative age?

The wartime moral ideal was blind obedience and self-sacrificing devotion to the nation. Could the upgrading of moral education be a first step on the road back to that?
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2016

Reform elected membership of the U.N. Security Council

Expanding the U.N. Security Council's elected membership and increasing their terms could make the body more effective.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Aug 8, 2016

Let's discuss the Emperor's possible abdication

Emperor Akihito does not necessarily intend to relinquish the throne early but has indicated he is prepared to abdicate if he becomes unable to fulfill his duties.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2016

Emperor signals wish to abdicate in near future

Emperor Akihito expresses concern about how his advanced age is affecting the performance of his public duties.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jul 31, 2016

For Abe, it will always be about the Constitution

Nobody here on the Community page has weighed in on Japan's Upper House election last July 10, so JBC will have a go.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jul 30, 2016

Commuters fight back against groping

Takako Tonooka's life at high school did not start out the way she had anticipated. On the very first day she attended class, she was groped on the train — and that was only the beginning of her nightmare. For a year and a half, she was the victim of persistent groping attacks during her commute to...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 30, 2016

Crimes that imperil Japan's safe image

On July 22, The Japan Times ran an article with the headline, "Crime set to hit postwar low this year, first-half data shows." In it, the National Police Agency reported that the number of criminal offenses is on track to fall below 1 million for the first time since World War II ended, down from the...
COMMENTARY / World / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jul 29, 2016

Terror, terror on the wall, who's the biggest of all?

The word 'terrorist' can and should be applied to a wider range of killers.
LIFE / Language
Jul 25, 2016

Looking at vocabulary in the runup to 'Pokemon Go'

'Pokemon Go' fans in Japan are vexed by the wait for the popular game.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 23, 2016

A dark age dawns for politics in Japan

"Historic," that much-overused word, seems almost acceptable as a description of the Upper House elections earlier this month that gave Japan — for the first time in its postwar history — a government strong enough to get serious about rewriting the Constitution.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 11, 2016

Focus on economy, failure of opposition clears way for Abe's LDP in national elections

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is on a solid electoral winning streak, and the opposition isn't putting up much of a fight.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Jul 11, 2016

Let's discuss the chances of a drought in Kanto

The Kanto region may experience a serious drought this summer due to an 'unprecedented' shortage of water in lakes and reservoirs supplying the area.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2016

Is Brexit really inevitable?

Brexit isn't a foregone conclusion. There are three main scenarios that could keep Britain in the EU.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 10, 2016

Voting kicks off in Japan as Abe seeks Upper House supermajority

Voting began Sunday in an Upper House election that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has billed as a chance to pass judgment on his economic policies. Opposition parties, however, are focused on preventing a resounding victory for the prime minister that would allow him to take the next step toward revising...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jul 3, 2016

Western media cherry-pick facts and phalli to fit the 'no vagina' narrative in Japan

In Western media coverage of Megumi Igarashi's case, a commonly expressed view has been that Japanese society suppresses vaginal art while celebrating all that is penile. This view is untenable.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 26, 2016

Can Brexit be overturned? What Brits are asking each other this weekend

Britain is coming to terms with its decision to leave the European Union after Thursday's dramatic referendum. Here are some of the questions that are doing the rounds in the U.K. over the weekend:
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 25, 2016

Shinzo Abe's bait-and-switch campaign strategy

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is doing it again: campaigning on Abenomics while distracting voters' attention away from his real agenda. When he got elected in 2012, Abe ran on Abenomics and kept his revisionist political and historical agenda under wraps, knowing that it does not resonate with voters. He...
JAPAN / Media
Jun 17, 2016

Minor’s death sentence sees Japan media split on anonymity rule

The debate centers on whether to name a man who lost an appeal against a death sentence for a 2010 double murder.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 22, 2016

Teacher seeks advice on sick leave and contract nonrenewal

A reader writes to Lifelines about difficulties he is dealing with at work.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 21, 2016

The second life of Kakuei Tanaka

In July 1976, the month when 218 million Americans were feting their nation's 200th birthday, dramatic events were taking place on other continents also. On July 4 — America's Independence Day — an Israeli commando force staged a dramatic raid on Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of...
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2016

The world could use more nonintervention

The principle of nonintervention may be extremely difficult to enforce in today's complex world, but its principles should be revived again.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami