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COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2014

China starts, loses unprovoked Twitter war

China loses an unprovoked war on Twitter after a semi-retired Twitter account of mostly Sinophiles suggests that a solemnly worded Twitter message fron the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's official mouthpiece, is a parody.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2014

Freedom of expression under fire in America

If you can lose your job in the U.S. as Mozilla's CEO did — because those in charge found his politics repugnant — there are only two options available to those of us who need to earn a living: Keep our opinions to ourselves, or lie about them.
LIFE / Digital
May 2, 2014

The robots are taking over, and it won't be pretty

Not often do you hear a "Newsnight" presenter using an arcane mathematical term, but last week was an exception. The culprit was David Grossman, who made an excellent film for "Newsnight" about the threat to employment from advanced robotics. In the course of this, he made the standard pilgrimage to...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
May 2, 2014

Japan a key battleground for BBC's expansion in Asia

Judging from the activity on the floor at February's BBC Worldwide Showcase in Liverpool, England, television is most definitely not dead. Over 700 buyers and distributors descended on the BT Convention Centre to investigate what was new ("The Game," "The Musketeers") and what was returning from the...
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 2, 2014

Rethinking Japan's whaling

Although many Japanese seem indifferent to the question of whether they can get whale meat, pro and con reactions in and out of Japan will affect those who still live by whale hunting on a local scale.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
May 1, 2014

Austrian drag queen to contest Eurovision crown

Drag queen Conchita Wurst will take to the European stage as Austria's contender for Eurovision, the song contest that pits nation versus nation and launched the global careers of ABBA and Celine Dion — Wurst's idol.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 1, 2014

Hula into the long weekend

Hawaiian culture experienced a bit of a boost recently as the denizens of Tokyo's trendy Harajuku neighborhood began snacking on the U.S. island's foods.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 30, 2014

Ex-judge lifts lid on Japan's 'corrupt' judicial system

Abandon all hope, ye who enter Japanese courts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 30, 2014

Rough transition raises issues over F/T's future

On Dec. 18, 2013, the Festival/Tokyo website announced that following the implementation of "a new administration system," Program Director Chiaki Soma, 38, would resign from her position and be replaced at the end of March 2014 by Sachio Ichimura, 64, the then chairman of F/T's executive committee....
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 29, 2014

Cells cloned from diabetic make insulin

And now there are three: In the wake of announcements from laboratories in Oregon and California that they had created human embryos by cloning cells of living people, a lab in New York announced on Monday that it had done that and more.
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Apr 29, 2014

Music curators deserve credit for keeping local scenes alive

The term "cultural curator" is one that tends to provoke reactions ranging from sneers to rage. It really is a horrible term in some ways, with problematic embedded associations.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 28, 2014

Wireless is way forward for Internet

The Internet may feel like it is everywhere, but large pockets of sky, swaths of land and most of the oceans are still beyond a signal's reach.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 28, 2014

Five activists win court fight but battle against Tokyo university is not over

The Tokyo High Court recently upheld the acquittal of the 'Hosei Five' on charges under the Law for the Punishment of Acts of Violence in a case that became a rallying point for students across Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Apr 27, 2014

Tokyo: what not to do and when not to do it

Here it is: Tokyo — all the must-miss spots that might ruin your day, if not your entire visit.
EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 2014

Jazz Day to get its due in Osaka

Underscoring its long love affair with jazz, Japan this year will hold its International Jazz Day (April 30) in Osaka for the first time.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2014

Costs keep mounting for idled reactors

Since March 2011, the government has focused on the cost of cleaning up after Fukushima, the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Now, the bill is coming due for another unbudgeted consequence of that calamity — shutting down the nation's 48 remaining nuclear reactors for costly safety reviews that...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2014

Biased media give customers what they want

A study by two University of Chicago economists disputes the conventional wisdom that publishers impose their views on newsrooms. What actually happens is both more innocent and more insidious.
LIFE / Digital
Apr 25, 2014

Understanding Facebook and Google's pursuit of drone technology

Back in the bad old days of the Cold War, one of the most revered branches of the inexact sciences was Kremlinology. In the West, newspapers, think tanks and governments retained specialists whose job was to scrutinize every scrap of evidence, gossip and rumor emanating from Moscow in the hope that it...
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 25, 2014

Republican senators blast rebellious Nevada rancher's racist remarks

Two Republican U.S. senators who voiced support for a Nevada cattleman in his showdown with federal agents over grazing rights on public land condemned recent remarks by the rebellious rancher musing about whether African-Americans would be "better off as slaves."
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 24, 2014

China chlorine suspected in new Syrian gas attacks

China's Foreign Ministry said it is investigating reports that a chlorine canister bearing the name of the country's biggest arms maker was shown in footage believed to document a gas attack in Syria this month.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 24, 2014

NYPD Twitter stunt foiled by hashtag hijack

A New York Police Department campaign to burnish its image via social media instead produced a flood of pictures of apparent police brutality and tweets critical of the force being shared at a rate of thousands an hour.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 23, 2014

U.S. journalist held by militants in eastern Ukraine

Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine said Tuesday they were holding an American journalist in the city of Slovyansk and the online news site Vice News said it was trying to secure the safety of its reporter Simon Ostrovsky.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 22, 2014

Russia bans Tatar leader from Crimea

A leading figure in the Crimean Tatar minority has been barred by Russia from returning to the peninsula following its annexation by Moscow, the Tatar community's assembly said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2014

China wages media war around missing jet

A 'news media war' has broken out in China over the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, as loyal local news outlets face an abstract entity commonly known in China as the 'foreign media.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 21, 2014

Artists' mission to revitalize an onsen town

It begins with a long, slow hiss. The valves open, and a thick fog is released into the air, pouring from the roof of Dogo Onsen Honkan, the famous three-tiered bathhouse built in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, in 1894. It flows down the side of the building, past bathers in bathrobes on the open balcony...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 20, 2014

Sex slave issue still barrier to South Korea ties

Tokyo and Seoul are finally talking again, but any failure to resolve the resurgent compensation issues involving former “comfort women” may doom their progress.
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Apr 20, 2014

'STAPgate' shows Japan must get back to basics in science

On Jan. 30, as NHK kicked off its evening news program with upbeat music, footage aired of a young woman with immaculately coiffed brown hair wearing pearl earrings and her trademark "kappogi," a Japanese-style white apron.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear