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JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 19, 2014

Getting to the heart of Abe's vision for Japan's military

The hottest buzzwords in politics these days are "the right of collective self-defense," now that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's advisory panel on security has released its much-awaited recommendations for reinterpreting the Constitution.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2014

How a war hero managed to pin down a warfare state

The rise in defense spending under Barack Obama suggests that even an out-and-out 'peace' president is no match for the modern warfare state and the crony capitalist lobbies that safeguard the Moloch-like U.S. defense industry's vast budgetary appetites.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 8, 2014

the Hiatus to swap guitars for synths on 'Keeper of the Flame' tour

Who says you can't go home again? After breaking from what it knows best, the Hiatus is set to return to the live-house venues that it built itself on, following a nationwide tour that took it in a different direction.
JAPAN / Politics
May 7, 2014

Ex-leaders revive no-nukes crusade

Three months after his defeat in the Tokyo gubernatorial race, former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa has teamed up once again with fellow ex-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to renew their effort to abolish nuclear power, even as the central government takes steps to revive it.
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...
EDITORIALS
Apr 30, 2014

Risky medical deregulation

The government should give up its attempt to introduce mixed medical treatment and instead speed up the process for approving coverage and use of new drugs and medical technologies under the public health insurance system.
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.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2014

Chinese gobble up U.S. real estate

For the first time, the Chinese have become the biggest foreign buyers of apartments in Manhattan, real estate brokers estimate, taking the mantle from the Russians — whose activity has dropped off since the unrest in Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions against Russia by the United States.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Apr 22, 2014

Anti-Abe forces emerging

Little was heard from Yasuo Fukuda, nor was much said about him, after he stepped down as prime minister in 2008. In recent months, though, he has been sought out by some LDP leaders to help repair the damage to relations with South Korea and China, which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's style of diplomacy is said to have caused.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 21, 2014

Tokyo's 'Champs Elysees': a business haven in the making?

The opening of a new section in Tokyo's Loop Road No. 2 project last month marked a major step toward the completion of an urban redevelopment project led by City Hall.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 21, 2014

How U.S. worsened its Putin problem

In September 2001, as the U.S. reeled from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Vladimir Putin supported Washington's imminent invasion of Afghanistan in ways that would have been inconceivable during the Cold War.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 16, 2014

Toyota tweaks Camry as Sonata makes gains

Toyota Motor Corp. is making rare styling changes in the Camry sedan just halfway into the car's usual design cycle, a sign the automaker is eager to stem gains made by Hyundai Motor Co.'s Sonata, which also is being reworked for 2015.
EDITORIALS
Apr 11, 2014

Energy plan looks to the past

The Abe government's new Basic Energy Plan fails to set a clear direction for the nation's energy policy, which has been clouded by safety concerns ever since three reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant melted down in March 2011.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 7, 2014

LDP gropes for clarity on collective defense rewrite

The Liberal Democratic Party is moving ahead fast in talks to lift the nation's self-imposed restrictions on collective self-defense as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe continues his quest for a more proactive role in the Japan-U.S. alliance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Apr 6, 2014

California gurus find success via celebrities

Even in California, where people come to convince themselves of just about anything, it is not common for a celebrity couple on the verge of divorce to declare undying love and say they are closer now than ever.
EDITORIALS
Apr 6, 2014

A risky weapons-export policy

The Abe administration must consider whether its new policy that relaxes Japan's long-standing prohibitions against weapons exports could increase tension with other countries and thereby reduce national security.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Apr 3, 2014

Time for FIBA to suspend JBA, force necessary changes to be made

The Japan Basketball Association has changed its alleged goal so many times, it's difficult to remember the original target.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 29, 2014

Malaysia Airlines search shifted again, debris quickly spotted

Fresh objects spotted by planes searching for a missing Malaysian passenger jet in a new area of the southern Indian Ocean have again raised hopes of unravelling the three-week old mystery.
COMMENTARY
Mar 28, 2014

Averting a second cold war

Seeking to economically squeeze Russia and isolate it internationally would mean a strategic boon for China,
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2014

Government plans to cut number of elderly kept alive on feeding tubes

For the first time, Japan is trying to hold down the number of bedridden elderly people kept alive by feeding tubes.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Mar 15, 2014

JBA reveals plan for pro hoops circuit, restructuring for 2016-17 season

In 2016, the Japan Basketball Association will launch a new professional men's basketball league, it announced on Saturday evening.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 11, 2014

Diplomacy over Crimea at standstill; pro-Russian forces open fire at base

A pro-Russian force opened fire in seizing a Ukrainian military base in Crimea on Monday and NATO announced reconnaissance flights along its eastern frontiers as confrontation around the Black Sea peninsula showed no signs of easing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 5, 2014

Nomura's 'Don Quixote' enlists comedy to counter today's real foes

"Whenever I am creating a new play here at Setagaya Public Theatre, I aim for something that's as universal as all those kyōgen (traditional comic theater) or noh classics that are as vivid now as when they were first staged 600 years ago. If it isn't like that, it won't reach an international audience,...
EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 2014

Don't scrap weapons-export ban

The Abe administration plans to ditch the nation's long-standing three-point weapons exports ban and replace it with a policy that would turn Japan into a weapons exporting country.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2014

Detroit bankruptcy prods other cities to target pensions

Local officials in at least 10 states are trying to cut pensions of municipal workers, or eliminate defined-benefit plans, pointing to Detroit as a symbol of the peril of growing retirement costs.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Mar 2, 2014

Composer Shibuya tests limits of music

One November evening in Paris, Theatre du Chatelet was packed with people who came to see the French premiere of a new opera by a Japanese composer.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2014

Ukrainian coup is not a revolution

In a real revolution, the core mission and organizational structure of a country's military are radically altered. The leadership changes in Ukraine and Egypt don't signify revolutions.
SOCCER / J. League / 2014 J. LEAGUE PREVIEW
Feb 27, 2014

Gamba looking for payback

The following is the first of a two-part preview for the upcoming J. League season. Team-by-team previews of the nine lowest-ranked teams competing in the first division are listed.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 26, 2014

Komeito hits Cabinet defense ploy

Differences between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito are surfacing over collective self-defense, in which conservative Prime Minister Shinu00adzo Abe aims to reverse a long-held pacifist principle by Cabinet decision only.

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