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COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2014

The India democracy show

Indians are just days away from the start of the greatest democratic show on earth, as 814.5 million of them prepare to cast ballots at 930,000 polling stations between April 7 and May 12.
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Apr 2, 2014

Big Bull Peppers proud to be underdog

The Japan Times features periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. Josh Peppers of the Iwate Big Bulls is the subject of this week's profile.
EDITORIALS
Mar 21, 2014

Lay judges' moral dilemma

How does Japan's justice minister respond to a petition from 20 citizens who, as lay judges, agonized over the possibility of having to hand down a death sentence? They call for an immediate halt to capital punishment.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 8, 2014

Tsunami zone's village culture fades into fog of history

We can better appreciate what Tohoku's shoreline villages represented now that they have been washed away and former residents are marooned in soulless temporary housing ghettoes where the greatest risks are isolation and boredom.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2014

Who will stop the slaughter?

Who will stand up in the world today for the millions of people whose lives are being savaged by evil men and women in states like Syria and North Korea?
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEDGE
Feb 23, 2014

'Cloud matching' inspiring startups

Cloud matching, the practice of matching buyers and sellers from a large pool of people, organizations and companies, is a field entrepreneurs are seeking out as a new business opportunity.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 19, 2014

ABT brings 'magical moments' to Japan

Last August, with summer sweltering the city, I met Yuriko Kajiya and Jared Matthews, two soloists from the New York-based American Ballet Theatre, one of the word's top-four classical companies along with the Royal Ballet in London, Paris Opera Ballet and the Bolshoi in Moscow.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2014

Think of Somalia when making business policy

Few Japanese are likely to follow in the footsteps of two Americans who have pioneered businesses in Somalia, but government policymakers should think of Somalia when they consider what it takes to move up the global ranks for ease in doing business.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 10, 2014

Renewable energy's future rosy if grids ever get updated

The March 11, 2011, mega-quake and monster tsunami that set off the Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant meltdowns forced Japan to rethink its nuclear-focused energy policy and explore the use of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 4, 2014

Glasgow's Chvrches score a hit with debvt albvm

Scratch beneath the surface just a little and Chvrches' electro-pop becomes something of real substance. The Glasgow trio's songs, which recall that genre's golden era in the 1980s reimagined through meticulously modern production, initially appear throwaway in the truest sense but later reveal themselves...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 23, 2014

Nuclear energy fight highlights aging economy

The 'nuclear village' is at the root of the cronyism, corruption and inertia that continue to prolong Japan's malaise and dent its competitiveness. Tokyo gubernatorial candidate Morihiro Hosokawa threatens that village.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 21, 2014

Kobe's tofubeats moves from blogs to the big time

Like many kids growing up in the 1990s, Yusuke Kawai's initial brush with the World Wide Web happened in elementary school.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jan 12, 2014

French comedian's gesture divides a nation

On Jan 12, 1944, the Gestapo occupying the French city of Bordeaux despatched its Jews, who had been rounded up and imprisoned in their own majestic synagogue, to the death camps.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Jan 2, 2014

'Baby cafe' lets moms unwind while the children play

Tokyo has long been a city that caters for pets, with its countless cat cafes, dog cafes and even rabbit cafes dotted across the capital. But what about cafes for babies of the human variety?
CULTURE
Jan 1, 2014

Lucky food, charming decorations and visiting deities: welcoming the new year with history and tradition

Wearing kimono, getting together with family and friends, and not working for the first three days of a new year. Shogatsu, or New Year's, is when Japanese generally work less than the rest of the world.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Dec 25, 2013

Race-based ID checks in front of families send wrong message

I cannot accept the way Japanese police treat foreigners such as myself in public places — especially how they judge people by color and appearance. I have had several unpleasant experiences that suggest this is the case.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 23, 2013

Secrets, lies, gaffes, glory: 2013 in quotes

A mix of scandals, achievements, political missteps and commemorations highlighted 2013. Here's a rundown of the quotations that shaped the Year of the Snake.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 22, 2013

Ghana's electronic graveyard gives, takes

The orange flesh of a papaya is like an oval gash in the landscape at Agbogbloshie, Ghana's vast dumping site for electronic waste, where everything is smeared and stained with mucky hues of brown and sooty black.
ENVIRONMENT
Dec 15, 2013

Could felling trees help cool the planet?

It is an article of faith that preserving trees is critical to cooling our warming planet.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Dec 13, 2013

For Canadian traveler, last-minute meeting led to change of heart and new start in Japan

Michelle Takahashi works as an English teacher at a school for families who hope to raise their children in bilingual and multi-cultural environments. Together with Toru, a systems engineer at an IT-related U.S. company, and their two sons, she now lives in Kodaira, western Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Dec 2, 2013

Water, water, it's not everywhere

There are aspects of everyday life that renters take for granted, such as access to utilities. Of course, renters pay for their own electricity and gas, and, depending on where they live, they may be billed for water and sewerage. Homeowners pay for these services, too, but there are extra financial...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 15, 2013

Hodgson short on matches to select World Cup squad

Roy Hodgson has three games in which to finalize his England squad for the World Cup finals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 13, 2013

Portraits reveal much more than a person's appearance

Filmmaker and photographer Dennis Hopper leans against an old wall with his camera sandwiched between his body and the brickwork. Photographer Robert Frank lies sockless on the sand, harmonica in mouth. These celebrities are only two of a very long list of figures from film, art, music and pop culture,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 6, 2013

Theater of protest boosts rising new hub

Ikebukuro boasts Tokyo's second-busiest rail station after Shinjuku, and until recently it was just a transport hub people passed through between their jobs in the city and homes in suburbs to the north.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 1, 2013

Events mark 1800s castaways who were first Japanese in U.S.

In the late Edo Period 200 years ago, a Japanese ship crippled by a storm drifted for 484 days, the longest period on record.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Oct 30, 2013

Yokohama: What does Tokyo need to do to prepare for its foreign guests before the 2020 Olympics?

Restoring Tohoku? Stabilizing Fukushima No. 1? Explaining recycling to foreigners? What should Japan prioritize in time for the 2020 games
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Oct 28, 2013

Getting published is easy; getting noticed is trickier

How can writers make themselves heard in the age of blog and self-publishing saturation? Japan-based authors offer a diverse range of views
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2013

Japan's poor gender gap worsening, WEF survey finds

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may have set the empowerment of women as a major pillar to spur economic growth, but Japan's already poor gender gap has gotten even worse, according to a report by the World Economic Forum released Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2013

Role of media groups to 'contextualize' info

Given the faster, increasingly digital and polarized ways news is disseminated around the world, the role of trusted news organizations is to "contexualize" the bits of information people pick up in various different media, Andrew Ross Sorkin, a financial columnist for The New York Times, said Wednesday...
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Oct 20, 2013

Disaster prevention day

On Sept. 1, the Day of Disaster Prevention, training was carried out in many areas. This is the 90th year since the Great Kanto Earthquake. In some places, participants had to prepare to face many dead bodies in the worst situation, and in other places they sought for ways to deal with a coming crisis by setting up various situations.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell