Search - new

 
 
EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2014

Testing students' ability to think

An education ministry council could be presenting an over-idealized picture of its proposed reforms of Japan's university entrance exams, often criticized for placing too much emphasis on rote learning.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 22, 2014

The annual pain and pleasure of punished comedians

Japan is a country of traditions. You take off your shoes when you go indoors. You rinse your body before entering the bath. And you sit around the house with family on Ōmisoka (大晦日, New Year's Eve) and do nothing but watch television and eat food before going to the jinja (神社, shrine) at...
LIFE
Dec 20, 2014

Public protest in Japan: Power to the people?

"Freedom of assembly and association as well as speech, press and all other forms of expression are guaranteed." — Article 21, Constitution of Japan
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Dec 13, 2014

Tokyo Station at 100: all change

“Tokyo Station is not just a station, it is a symbol of Japan. It has always been a part of progress in rail technology but it's much more important than that. It is a landmark that represents Japan.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 12, 2014

Shonan complex offers a curated lifestyle

A discreet black sign, concrete floors, industrial-style ceilings, wooden shelves filled with design toys and gourmet treats. This may sound like the minimal interior of an urban lifestyle store in some hip corner of Tokyo, but the reality is more surprising. It is, in fact, a new branch of one of Japan's...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 12, 2014

A rude awakening for America

The American pivot to Asia was the product of people in Washington who only think in terms of military power — as in trying to annex Ukraine and Georgia to NATO and the EU. There are new ways of thinking in China and even Russia.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Dec 5, 2014

What's really behind the drop in home sales?

Thanks to the upcoming snap election, which is being called a referendum for the government's economic policies, everyone is aware that Japan's GDP has worsened since the consumption tax was raised last April. A large portion of this drop is being attributed to declining sales of new houses and condominiums....
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Nov 27, 2014

Paper watch to test Sony's innovation revamp

Sony Corp. is developing a watch made out of electronic paper for release as soon as next year in a trial of the company's new venture-style approach to creating products, according to people familiar with the matter.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 27, 2014

U.S. EPA seeks tighter ozone standards to cut pollution

The Obama administration on Wednesday proposed stricter curbs on ground-level ozone, a pollutant linked to several serious health conditions. Industry groups said the move would place a heavy burden on the U.S. economy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2014

Nuclear power's dark future

Nuclear power constitutes the world's most subsidized energy industry yet it faces an increasingly uncertain future.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2014

Xi shows U.S. his no-nonsense approach to bilateral relations

Last week, President Xi Jinping showed the world a newly assertive China that's less worried about impressing others than in pursuing its own goals.
EDITORIALS
Nov 11, 2014

No excuse for inaction on emissions

The latest report by the U.N. panel on climate change may not offer any new surprises concerning the threat of global warming, but it does remind us that doing too little, or waiting too long, to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases could be disastrous.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2014

China flexes its Silk Road muscle

Just as access to American markets and capital was once a key component of U.S. diplomacy, China is now employing its financial and trade muscle to win influence. It's 'New Silk Road' maritime and land belts have become the centerpiece of its economic diplomacy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / IEC GENERAL MEETING IN TOKYO
Nov 4, 2014

Helping SMEs to standardization

Economic globalization is not just a matter of concern for large companies, but also for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for more than 99 percent of companies in Japan, thus forming the basis of the nation's economy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / IEC GENERAL MEETING IN TOKYO
Nov 4, 2014

IEC evolves in line with technological advancement

The International Eletctrotechnical Commission has a long history going back more than a century. The IEC was officially founded in June 1906, in London, where its central office was set up. Since then, the IEC has continuously evolved, with its role changing as technology advanced.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2014

Asian LNG buyers disappointed by slow pace of gain in U.S. gas exports

North American liquefied natural gas projects, once believed to be the panacea that would save Asia from paying top dollar for the super chilled fuel, are proving to be less of a game-changer than originally expected.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 2, 2014

China's rule by law, not of it

China is embarked on a major reform dedicated, leaders claim, to improving the rule of law, but subject to the will of the ruling Communist Party. This is really rule by law, not the rule of law.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 31, 2014

Wall St. up on GDP, earnings; fund yearend lifts winners

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, boosted by a strong reading on quarterly economic growth and by another round of upbeat earnings reports, including Visa, which accounted for nearly 140 points in the Dow industrials.
EDITORIALS
Oct 30, 2014

Japanese access to U.S. bases

Japan and the U.S. have agreed 'in substance' on a new accord that paves the way for on-site environmental surveys by Japanese authorities inside U.S. military bases.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Oct 29, 2014

Imminent U.S. revamp of nuclear weapons, subs and planes is too costly, some say

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel grabbed a ladder extending through the sleek black hull of the USS Tennessee at a U.S. Navy submarine base in Kings Bay and disappeared down the hatch for a close look at one of the Pentagon's most daunting budget issues.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 29, 2014

High drama at Festival/Tokyo

News in March that 38-year-old Chiaki Soma had suddenly been removed from the post of program director of Festival/Tokyo, which she had held since it started in 2009, set many theater lovers worrying about the future of the flagship drama event whose stature at home and abroad had only grown with her...
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2014

China banking on infrastructure

It's hard to fault the ambitions of China and 20 other nations in agreeing to start up the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. After all, Asia does need infrastructure. But there are fears that AIIB is aimed partly at undermining prevailing norms on international lending.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 25, 2014

Two U.S. states to quarantine health workers returning from Ebola zones

New York and New Jersey will automatically quarantine medical workers returning from Ebola-hit West African countries, and the U.S. government is considering the same step after a doctor who treated patients in Guinea came back infected, officials said on Friday.
OLYMPICS / ROBERT WHITING'S 1964 OLYMPICS RETROSPECTIVE
Oct 24, 2014

Negative impact of 1964 Olympics profound

The 1964 Tokyo Olympics had a profound impact on the capital city and the nation. In the final installment of a five-part series running this month, best-selling author Robert Whiting, who lived in Japan at the time, focuses on the environmental and human impact that resulted from hosting the event....
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Oct 23, 2014

JBA head Fukatsu to resign

Japan Basketball Association president Yasuhiko Fukatsu announced his resignation from the helm during a Tokyo news conference on Thursday with the sport's national governing body likely to face a ban from FIBA.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 23, 2014

Technology companies winning battle with 'patent trolls'

For two decades, companies that buy software patents in order to sue technology giants have been the scourge of Silicon Valley. Reviled as "patent trolls," they have attacked everything from Google's online ads to Apple's iPhone features, sometimes winning hundreds of millions of dollars.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2014

India working its magic on Narendra Modi

The difference between the BJP and all other major Indian political parties today can be boiled down to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's energy, charisma and political capital.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Oct 19, 2014

Renaissance man scours the globe for stories

Manuel Bruges has lived life to the full, as photographer, inventor, journalist, chef, boxer and more.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo