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JAPAN / Politics
Jun 5, 2015

Tokyo, Manila eye 'visiting forces' pact to rein in China

Visiting Philippine President Benigno Aquino said Friday that Manila and Tokyo will start discussions on signing a "visiting forces agreement" that could allow Japan to use bases there to refuel aircraft and vessels.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2015

Why Japan should, or shouldn't, join the China-led AIIB

When Finance Minister Taro Aso meets with his Chinese counterpart, Lou Jiwei, in Beijing on Saturday, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will loom large in the talks.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Jun 4, 2015

Disgraceful treatment of coaches must end

Now, more than ever, the coaching profession is on impossibly shaky ground in the bj-league.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jun 3, 2015

Here's hoping the ikumen fad fades as Japan ages like fine sake

When the Japanese media started to harp on about the fatigue emerging among ikumen — men who help their wives with child-rearing and other domestic duties — I just had to laugh. Being a Japanese sake brewer's husband, I was confident that I was streets ahead of these trendy men bragging about their...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 3, 2015

Director Naomi Kawase has finally made a 'real Japanese film'

Sooner or later, many Japanese directors — be they internationally acclaimed auteurs or industry outsiders — end up making what Sion Sono (a noted auteur/outsider himself) once described to me as "a real Japanese film." To put it simply, this sort of film is aimed squarely at the domestic audience,...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2015

Why U.S. billionaires may be unable to buy 2016 election

Florida Senator Marco Rubio has one; Texas Senator Ted Cruz has one; even former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, considered a long-shot for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, has a billionaire in his corner. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has two.
EDITORIALS
Jun 2, 2015

Abe can't duck history issue

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe must realize that his perception of Japan's wars in the 1930s and 1940s is an issue that cannot be skirted if ties with China and South Korea are to be improved.
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2015

Dine with Warren Buffett charity lunch auction gets bid topping $1 million

An online auction for the right to dine with billionaire investor Warren Buffett and raise money for a San Francisco charity has started strongly, with the top bid surpassing $1 million in less than a day.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
May 31, 2015

U.S. greenlights Japan's march back to militarism

As I've often written, I'm a big proponent of the historical record — if for no other reason, so we can look back at the past and learn from our mistakes.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 30, 2015

A media circus surrounds Japan's animal acts

The Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums has voted to stop buying dolphins captured during drive hunts conducted by fishermen in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture. For the past decade, the town has received a great deal of negative publicity because of its dolphin slaughter, and the World Association...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
May 30, 2015

Flora, fauna and fellows on the river

With summer's heat punching in early this year, I'm already angling for riverside relief. I trundle down to Ota Ward's Rokugodote, the southernmost train station in Tokyo's 23 wards, and a stone's throw from the Tamagawa (Tama River). The 138-km-long Tamagawa, which in this location divides Tokyo from...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 30, 2015

Is nicotine addiction bad for your health?

Since he ditched Marlboro Lights five years ago, Daniel's fix is fruit-flavored nicotine gum that comes in neat, pop-out strips. He gets through 12 to 15 pieces a day and says he has "packets of the stuff" stashed all over. But he doesn't see himself as a nicotine addict.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2015

Aiming for more than medals

The Sports Agency, due to be created in October, needs to do much more than push up Japan's medal count at the Tokyo Olympics.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 29, 2015

Changes to ODA Charter reflect new realities

Japan's strategy for distributing foreign aid has undergone a much-needed revamping to reflect today's realities.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 28, 2015

Traffickers spirited 150-200 Rohingya off boat before Myanmar seized it, declared Bangladeshis aboard

When the Myanmar navy seized a boat used by people smugglers last week, it announced that the 200 people found aboard were mostly Bangladeshis seeking better economic prospects in Southeast Asia.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 27, 2015

Views from Yokohama: Is technology making the world better or worse?

Luddites and tech fans are interrogated on the wide streets of Yokohama.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 27, 2015

Capturing the grief and confusion of an immigrant Asian mother

Asian mothers always seem to overdo it — both in real life and in cinema.
Japan Times
Figure Skating / NOTES ON A SCORECARD
May 26, 2015

Mao's return great news for Japan, skating

Mao Asada's decision to come back to competitive skating is certainly good news. That big sound you heard recently wasn't a sonic boom, but rather the executives at the Japan Skating Federation exhaling.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 26, 2015

Queens' tale speaks to now

Though it's 40 years since Italian playwright Dacia Maraini wrote "Mary Stuart," this story of two queens — Elizabeth I of England and Ireland and Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots — remains as relevant now as ever in its portrayal of two women burning with anger about their exploitation by men despite...
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2015

Putting Maldives back on the democratic path

Putting the Maldives back on the path toward democracy requires that the world begin to pay attention.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
May 26, 2015

Japan, Malaysia agree to beef up defense cooperation

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Malaysian counterpart, Najib Razak, have pledged to advance defense and maritime cooperation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 23, 2015

The 'Daughters of the Samurai' who changed the face of Meiji Era Japan

Tsuda College, occupying a leafy campus in the western suburbs of Tokyo, is a private college where female students are educated in languages and the liberal arts. In one corner of the site, overshadowed by the stately trees that surround it, lies the final resting place of Umeko Tsuda, an early pioneer...
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
May 23, 2015

With capture of Ramadi, Islamic State expands its hold over region

Almost a year after the Islamic State's shock capture of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, the black flags of the jihadis have been raised over Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province to the west of Baghdad, seat of Iraq's increasingly theoretical central government.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
May 23, 2015

May 23, 2015

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb