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LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 4, 2014

Drinking in Japan: Sober words to help you socialize

Drinking in the United States is so relaxed and so much fun that sometimes I forget how important it is as a social ritual in Japan. And like any good Japanese ritual, drinking has a bevy of lovely words that float around it, providing a lesson in language as well as culture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
May 4, 2014

Kikokushijo: returnees to a country not yet ready for them

Though the number of returnee students has tripled since 1977, and despite the recent government push to develop 'global human resources,' the existence of this group of globally educated young people has been largely ignored by policymakers.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 3, 2014

Obama's pivot to Asia: Rebalance and reassure

Summits are all about symbolism and optics and on that score U.S. President Barack Obama's swing through Asia was a qualified success. Another few nails were hammered into the coffin of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with officials now edging toward a face saving TPP-Lite, but Americans paid little...
Japan Times
WORLD
May 2, 2014

Satan, Faust, Walpurga vie for human souls on German 'devil' peak

Pity St. Walpurga, an English nun from Devon. A night of "devil worship" atop a German mountain is not how she would have wanted to be remembered.
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.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2014

Can Russia fix its mess in Ukraine?

Russian President Vladimir Putin can neither resolve the crisis in east Ukraine nor admit his powerlessness to end what he started. Kiev needs to find a way to negotiate with the local elite and law enforcers, providing convincing guarantees of safety.
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
WORLD
May 2, 2014

White House seeks privacy balance in a 'Big Data' world

The White House on Thursday suggested updates to laws and other measures to enhance privacy and prevent discrimination based on the data trail left by consumers on their phones and computers that companies and researchers collect and analyze.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
May 1, 2014

U.K. scientists hope for graphene revolution

It is mega-strong, ultralight and superstretchy, and if things work out, the wonder material could change many aspects of human existence — starting with people's sex lives.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2014

Populist Hashimoto a true 'yankii'?

In Japanese politics, someone labeled a 'yankii' is something of a populist who disdains cosmopolitanism and intellectual elitism. But does that apply to outspoken Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto?
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Apr 29, 2014

Kerr qualified to coach Knicks but may pass on chance

When Steve Kerr was a star senior guard at the University of Arizona in 1988, students at a game at rival Arizona State shouted, "PLO, PLO," and "Go back to Beirut" at Kerr.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 29, 2014

Reverberations of the Ukraine crisis

Having annexed Crimea, Russia has lost Ukraine, turning it from friend to foe. There can be no return to business as usual anytime soon.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 28, 2014

China plots massive state sector shake-up

Far from the spotlight, in secretive high-level meetings and company boardrooms, Beijing is drawing up one of the country's thorniest reforms: an overhaul of China's hugely inefficient state-owned industry.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2014

No plans to revive usury, Aso says

The government has no immediate plans to relax consumer-finance regulations, Financial Services Minister Taro Aso said, days after a lawmaker said the ruling party will consider it.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Apr 28, 2014

Tokyo's Morishige too focused to dream of World Cup

FC Tokyo defender Masato Morishige insists he has no time to dream of World Cup glory with the capital-city club still adapting to life under new manager Massimo Ficcadenti.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2014

Debt runup looms as next phase of euro crisis

The euro crisis has passed through six phases so far. The seventh phase of the crisis appears to be one of enhanced moral hazard, stemming from a runup in debt.
EDITORIALS
Apr 27, 2014

MSDF must clean up its act

A Tokyo High Court ruling for the plaintiff in a damages suit over the suicide of a Maritime Self-Defense Force member highlights the deplorable attempt by the MSDF to cover up evidence that the victim was bullied.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 26, 2014

A journalist who gets climate change right

Dr. Heather Goldstone is a rare breed. She's a journalist who insists on getting the science right, and she loves sharing it with the public.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Apr 26, 2014

The Box Man

'The Box Man' is an existential work, revealing questions about identity and the place of man in society. The story begins in a diary format that reads like a how-to manual, as the narrator details the tools necessary to build a boxlike outfit complete with an observation slit for vision.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 25, 2014

Moyes was wrong man from start for Man United

When David Moyes was the manager of Everton, he told a television interviewer that he would never criticize his players in public — "only in the dressing room."
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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 24, 2014

Painful love in decaying Hokkaido port town

My interview with Mipo Oh, the director of the turbulent new love drama 'Soko Nomi Nite Hikari Kagayaku (The Light Shines Only There),' did not begin smoothly.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 24, 2014

'Yokomichi Yonosuke Monogatari (The Story Of Yonosuke)'

Director: Shuichi Okita
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2014

BOJ will not buy bonds indefinitely

Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda has said the BOJ will not buy bonds just to keep down the government's debt-servicing costs after it achieves its goal of stable 2 percent inflation.
Reader Mail
Apr 23, 2014

Muddling past the boomer bump

The line that really jumped out at me from the April 16 story "Japan population drops for third year straight; 25% are elderly" was that "Any suggestion of opening its borders to young workers who could help plug the population gap provokes strong reactions among the public."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2014

Defensive realignment with U.S. a balancing act for Abe

For Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, exercising the right to collective self-defense will help Japan become what he calls a "normal" country on a more equal footing with the United States.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 22, 2014

Syria calls presidential vote for June; opponents slam plan as a 'parody of democracy'

Syria announced Monday a presidential election for June 3, preparing the ground for President Bashar Assad to defy widespread opposition and extend his grip on power, days after he said the civil war is turning in his favor.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’