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COMMUNITY / Issues
Jan 15, 2014

Three cases, three paths to legitimacy for Supreme Court

When I began studying Japanese, one of my goals was to be able to read the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan's version of The Wall Street Journal. Achieving that goal, however, meant realizing that it is possibly The Most Boring Newspaper on Earth.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 15, 2014

Tokyo: What's the strangest thing you've seen in a vending machine?

From melon to books, eggs and stewed morsels, interviewees around Tokyo share their most wonderfully weird vending machine encounters.
EDITORIALS
Jan 14, 2014

Leave those kids alone

The education ministry should rethink its attempt to introduce 'morals' as an official subject of instruction in elementary and junior high schools.
EDITORIALS
Jan 14, 2014

Lessons from the Diovan scandal

Fallout from the Diovan case in Japan suggests that clinical drug studies on patients should be financed either with public research funds or through formal funding contracts between pharmaceutical companies and the research institutions involved — rather than by pharma donations.
MORE SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Jan 14, 2014

Coaching, managerial changes follow predictable patterns

Whenever a coaching change is made in the NFL or a managerial switch takes place in MLB, the players on the teams involved must feel like police suspects being subjected to the classic "good cop-bad cop" routine.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2014

Warring dogmas block climate-change progress

National debates over environmental issues are sometimes derailed by two kinds of extremists: eco-doomsayers and techno-optimists. Noisy, headline-grabbing dogmas are an impediment to progress.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 13, 2014

Once veiled, French affairs feed tabloids

On Friday morning, I woke up as my usual French self. Then, from under the duvet, I reached for my smartphone and learned from Twitter that the French edition of Closer magazine had published pictures purportedly revealing an affair between President Francois Hollande and actress Julie Gayet. There had...
EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 2014

Teaching or brainwashing?

An education ministry council has approved the new standard for screening school textbooks after holding just two sessions. Such haste is deplorable as it suggests that the government seeks to impose particular views on children.
COMMENTARY
Jan 12, 2014

Stories that enable us to make sense of our lives

How are we to make sense of ourselves and the world if not by reading stories? For isn't this how we've talked to ourselves — soothed, stimulated and improved ourselves — for thousands of years?
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 12, 2014

Deflation Watch: New Year's scorecard

It seems likely that the consumption tax increase will derail the government's economic boom train.
Japan Times
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jan 12, 2014

Hatsu 2014: Now or never for Kisenosato

When he first shot through the ranks in the mid 2000s, more than a few fans and commentators had Kisenosato penciled in as a future yokozuna.
EDITORIALS
Jan 11, 2014

More computers in education?

Two recent conflicting reports from government ministries expose the conundrum at the heart of the question of whether computers are helpful to education.
Reader Mail
Jan 11, 2014

How one treats Yasukuni is key

The politicians who persist in visiting Yasukuni Shrine say they visit it to pay their respects to the war dead who sacrificed their lives for the benefit of the nation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 11, 2014

Dire quake forecasts fail to stir a numb public

Is there a level of fear above which the mind reflexively retreats from imagining the worst? The Great East Japan Earthquake was often described as being 'beyond imagination,' and the art and science of projecting future catastrophes has had to adjust accordingly.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2014

Focusing on the business of Korean reconciliation

Despite its flaws, including an Orwellian feel, the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a joint venture of the North and South Korean government, helps to build an environment of collaboration. Pyongyang's recent announcement that it will open another 14 special economic zones is a positive development.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2014

Another test for Erdogan

Today the biggest challenge to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to emanate from another Islamic leader, Fethullah Gulen, a cleric exiled to the United States who is alleged to have masterminded the investigation of a burgeoning corruption scandal.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jan 9, 2014

Tao makes the cut in new drama

At age 28, actress and model Tao Okamoto is already one of the few women in history — along with actress Farrah Fawcett and Jennifer Aniston's Rachel character from "Friends" to name a couple — to have a haircut named after her.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2014

'Hotori no Sakuko (Au Revoir l'Eté)'

Compared to his avant-garde French new-wave peers, Eric Rohmer seemed to direct in a lighter, more conventional key: All those casually chic young heroines photographed in the more attractive parts of France, all those stories about their various love troubles. Also, from a Hollywood perspective, his...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 7, 2014

Tamogami pledges SDF disaster prep

Toshio Tamogami, a former top officer in the Air Self-Defense Force cashiered for historical revisionist comments, formally announces he will run for Tokyo governor, pledging to build a stronger disaster response system with the SDF to brace for terrorist attacks during the 2020 Olympics or a massive earthquake hitting the capital.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2014

Time to relegate 'moral laws' to history's dustbin

Nothing lasts forever — especially in the U.S. with its 50 percent divorce rate — and it's clear that same-sex marriage will eventually be the law of the land.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2014

Is English Tamogami's weak suit?

As Toshio Tamogami's candidacy in the Tokyo gubernatorial race raises concerns that his nationalistic views could worsen already strained ties with China and South Korea, Internet users were quick to question if his English skills were up to snuff.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2014

How South Korea rides out emerging-markets turmoil

With seven of every 10 high school graduates attending a university, there is a surplus of educated people in South Korea. Estimates are that 40 percent of college graduates are redundant.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2014

NSA-less costs of making life safe

Aren't there other ways of spending tens of billions of dollars that would save more lives than America's National Security Agency is credited with saving each year
JAPAN / BULLETIN BOARD
Jan 6, 2014

Tokyo job fair to help students from Southeast Asia

A job fair for students from Southeast Asian countries seeking employment in Japan will be held Sunday in Tokyo. Recruiters from various industries, such as manufacturing, travel, transportation and retail, will be in attendance.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Jan 3, 2014

Drawing out the demons and dreams of Fukushima

Artist Geoff Read is currently focused on helping Fukushima's children articulate their hopes and fears. As he explains, 'In my Strong Children Japan Project, the most important thing the pictures can do is to help these children have a safer childhood.'
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2014

Century engine starts now

The last two centuries (and possibly more) didn't 'start' with the turning of the calendar from 00 to 01. Each century began bending the arc of history, in essence, in its 14th year.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 3, 2014

It's the Year of the Horse, so bring on the feedbag

2014 is — according to the Chinese zodiac — the Year of the Horse. Born in a distant year of another cordial horse, we thus celebrate the spin of the 12-year cycle. This year is our year!
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2013

A terrible year for Syria and Egypt

Even with the most optimistic assessments, the Syrian conflict is unlikely to be settled in 2014. As for Egypt, nearly 20,000 people have been sentenced or are now facing trials for belonging to or supporting the 'wrong' political camp.

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’