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COMMENTARY / World
Jul 11, 2014

The silver fox of dictatorship and democracy

The reality of the times was that Eduard Shevardnadze was both a democrat and a despot. His death brings closer to the end the Gorbachev generation of reform communists who presented a stark contrast to the dour Brezhnev-era hard-liners, spurring (mostly inadvertently) the collapse of the Soviet empire and the long transition to democracy.
EDITORIALS
Jul 11, 2014

Outside directors alone won't help

More Japanese companies are appointing external directors to oversee their management after a number of scandals raised doubts about corporate governance in this country, but the question is whether 'outside' directors are qualified and separate from insider interests.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 10, 2014

Argentina advances to final with dramatic shootout win

Argentina's Sergio Romero launched himself left and right to save two penalties in a 4-2 shootout win over the Netherlands on Wednesday that sealed the South Americans' first World Cup final appearance in 24 years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 10, 2014

Angelina Jolie takes evil to new places in 'Maleficent'

Websites such as Buzzfeed have made an art of the "listicle," a news article that comprises a top 10 on a designated topic. Thanks to childhood nostalgia, Walt Disney characters often make their way onto such listicles, and a quick look at the Top 10 Disney villains of all time often ends with one woman...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 10, 2014

Shale oil to push U.S. past Russia, Saudi Arabia

Four years into the shale revolution, the U.S. is on track to pass Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world's largest producer of crude oil, most analysts agree. When that happens and by how much, though, has produced disparate estimates that depend on uncertain factors ranging from progress in drilling...
WORLD / Politics
Jul 10, 2014

Obama-Perry Texas talks fraught over migrant children crisis

As a measure of how politically fraught President Barack Obama's Texas trip is Wednesday, Republican Gov. Rick Perry reluctantly agreed to a ritual public greeting of the nation's chief executive.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jul 9, 2014

Three ways to jump-start English abilities in time for 2020

There will likely be a raft of further efforts to encourage English learning in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, but here are three simple ideas that could help boost English levels right now.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 9, 2014

Cinema's silent moment with God

If one word could describe "Into Great Silence," what would that be? The film's creator Philip Groning doesn't hesitate when he says, "Monastery." Almost a decade years after its European release, "Into Great Silence" will finally open in Japan this month. In an interview with The Japan Times in Tokyo,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 9, 2014

Business climate is ever-changing

The business environment surrounding U.S. companies has changed and they are looking for ways to not only survive, but thrive against severe competition.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 9, 2014

Ukraine threatens rebels with a 'nasty surprise'

Ukraine's government kept up military pressure against pro-Russian rebels on Tuesday, threatening them with an "nasty surprise," but the militants said they were preparing to fight back after losing their main stronghold.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jul 9, 2014

China tells hospitals not to deny emergency care to the poor

China's hospitals must not turn away injured people who need emergency care, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said on Tuesday, as the government tries to tackle a persistent problem in its sprawling health care sector.
BUSINESS / Markets / CURRENCY MARKET
Jul 9, 2014

Japan may act to weaken yen: Pierpont

Japan may intervene to weaken its currency as the yen approaches its strongest level versus the dollar this year, according to Pierpont Securities LLC.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 8, 2014

Japan's innovation challenge

The Abe administration's capacity for deciding how to raise the birthrate, improve child-care facilities, realize an appropriae work-life balance and promote other 'innovations' that enable Japan to solve its many problems is now being tested.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2014

Xi's fumbles give Obama's pivot a second chance

Years from now, when the history of Barack Obama's much-maligned 'pivot to Asia' is written, he may owe a debt of gratitude to Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose overbearing ways in the region are giving Obama a second wind.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 8, 2014

Putin silent on fighting in Slaviansk

Three weeks before Ukraine's army forced rebel fighters out of the strategic eastern city of Slaviansk, their commander made a desperate plea for military help from Russia.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Jul 7, 2014

BayStars' Gourriel could be in line for rare honor

The Yokohama BayStars don't look like they're going to do much winning this season. The team can, however, be associated with at least one historic victory at the conclusion of the season.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 7, 2014

Can Japan's democracy survive Abe's designs?

Many Japanese are so happy to have a leader who's acting boldly that they seem willing to give Shinzo Abe the benefit of the doubt when he does exactly what they and others oppose.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 7, 2014

High test scores, low expectations

Young people in Japan, like their counterparts in the U.S., know that high scores on tests have little to do with their job prospects. So why do a higher percentage of American students still report being hopeful about their prospects for a good life?
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 7, 2014

It's all a matter of character — but which one to choose?

Much has been made of the alleged difficulty of the Japanese language for non-native and even native speakers. My personal impression is that this view is most commonly cherished by two types of people: those who don't know much Japanese (or any at all), and those who only know Japanese.
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2014

GPIF posts first quarterly loss since 2012 on sagging stock market

Japan's stock rout in the quarter through March spurred the first loss for the world's biggest pension fund in almost two years, just as it moves toward buying more equities.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 5, 2014

Fiery Shinjuku protest goes global without NHK

Until the Great East Japan Earthquake, social media didn't have much purchase on Japanese social life. But disasters are transformative, and in a country where the mass media is cautious about its role vis-a-vis the authorities, social media came into its own after the tsunami and meltdown.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 5, 2014

Ongoing Obokata story seeks out scandal

The paper, titled "Stimulus-triggered fate conversion of somatic cells into pluripotency," was accepted by the British science journal Nature on Dec. 20, 2013, and published online on Jan. 29, 2014. The authors were listed as Haruko Obokata, Teruhiko Wakayama, Yoshiki Sasai, Koji Kojima, Martin P. Vacanti,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2014

The age of intelligent robots

When a chatbot can convince judges at Britain's Royal Society that it is a 13-year-old Ukrainian boy with limited English skills, it may be time to worry about a computer taking your job.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2014

Is the U.K.-Europe marriage beyond salvation?

The nomination of a 'federalist' to head the European Commission shows that the EU is institutionally dedicated to the idea of ever closer union, regardless of what its citizens, especially Britons, actually want.
WORLD
Jul 4, 2014

Queen Elizabeth names Britain's biggest warship

Queen Elizabeth will officially name the biggest warship Britain has ever built on Friday, the latest step in a 6.2 billion pound ($10.6 billion) project to build a new generation of aircraft carriers.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2014

China's reach for leverage

China's random and sporadic acts of provocations over territorial disputes seem to fail to intimidate its opponents in the Asia-Pacific region, but each push and probe tests retaliatory assets and calls into question the U.S. capacity, and will, to come to the aid of a beleaguered ally.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2014

While Japan presses North on abductions, South Korea victims are forgotten

Kim Young-nam was a teenager living on the coast of South Korea when he disappeared in 1978, only to turn up in North Korea. There, he met and married Megumi Yokota, a Japanese national abducted by North Korean agents on her way home from school a year earlier.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 2, 2014

U.S. hails defense revamp

Tuesday's decision by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet to reinterpret the Constitution to allow collective self-defense has divided Japan, with some people fearing it would drag the nation into a U.S.-led war.

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