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CULTURE / Film
Aug 29, 2013

'Soul Flower Train'

Dads, in Japan and elsewhere, never quite believe that their daughters are grown up and gone, do they? On a corner of their desk or in a corner of their mind is a picture of their princess at the school play or the piano recital or just making a goofy 8-year-old face. Yes, there are sternly realistic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2013

Art fiction that keeps our thinking adept

What is the connection between Kampala in Uganda, Fukushima in Japan and New Orleans in America? Tsuyoshi Ozawa links these seemingly disparate places in his ongoing series "Vegetable Weapons". The shape of a gun is formed out of local vegetables and photographed, before it's taken apart and the same...
EDITORIALS
Aug 28, 2013

A crime against humanity in Syria

The Syrian government should allow U.N. inspectors full access to the battlefield where last week's chemical-weapons attacks to place, and ensure that all their questions are answered.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 28, 2013

Syria will require more than missiles

The question before U.S. President Barack Obama is whether he will make matters worse by convincing himself that he has found a minimal solution to the Syrian problem. He will convince no one else.
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2013

Western behavior back home

It's rather unfortunate that Chavez's message has been rather misinterpreted by some readers. The message is not "Westerners are discriminated against in Japan just like African-Americans and Muslims in the U.S." That would be a daft thing to say.
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2013

Minority experience understood

Regarding Amy Chavez's Aug. 16 column titled "What being a minority allows us to see": Actually the fear and hurt I felt while dealing with certain bureaucratic nonsense in Japan allowed me to understand a small piece of the American minority experience.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2013

Volunteer probation officers face uphill battle

Kenjiro Osawa has spent the past 15 years inviting parolees to his Tokyo home every other week for a brief chit-chat to make sure they are managing their lives outside the walls of prison.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2013

CCP's plan for pro-democracy voices: repression

A semisecret directive from the senior members of the Chinese Communist Party tells us how President Xi Jinping plans to manage pro-democracy voices in China: by shutting them down.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2013

Outside help offered to deal with Tepco debacle

Russia repeated an offer first made two years ago to help Japan clean up its radiation-ravaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear station, welcoming Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s decision to seek outside help.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2013

Challenges are just beginning for central banks

The global financial crisis is for all practical purposes over, but the world's top central bankers think their problems are just beginning.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 24, 2013

It only takes one 'Barefoot' step to cross the line into censorship

If you want people to pay attention to a point you're making, try to bring the subject of children into the debate. Right now, the media is discussing a decision made by the board of education of Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, to limit student access to the manga "Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen)," first published...
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2013

Strong oversight of Tepco needed

The discovery that about 300 tons of highly radioactive water have leaked from a tank at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant reminds us how far the nuclear crisis is from ending.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 24, 2013

Shocking exposé of Britain's police spies

Overexcitable publishers like to bandy around words such as "explosive" and "shocking" when trying to flog their books, even though generally you could substitute them for ones such as "mildly interesting."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 24, 2013

Collection of American Zen koans for quiet contemplation

American Zen Koan No. 96: A student once asked Zen teacher Steve Allen, "If you were given a wish-fulfilling jewel, what would you wish for?"
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 23, 2013

MHI jet wins U.S. backing from SkyWest, Trans States

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.'s new regional jet, Japan's first such aircraft, won fresh support from U.S. commuter carriers SkyWest Inc. and Trans States Holdings even as its debut was delayed by more than a year.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 23, 2013

After 18.7 billion km, Voyager 1 boldly goes on ... but just where in space is it?

It's 36 years since Voyager 1 was dispatched in 1977 on a mission to send back images of Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere and volcanic eruptions on one of its moons, Io. Then it was due to travel on to Saturn to examine that planet's intricate system of rings and moons. But after traveling more than 18...
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 23, 2013

Why are so many young men becoming Internet trolls?

Two thousand, three hundred and ninety-three years ago, in 380 B.C., Plato wrote the myth of the Ring of Gyges, in which the shepherd, Gyges, discovers a ring that makes him invisible at will. Gyges promptly uses the protection this offers to infiltrate the royal household, seduce the queen, assassinate...
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2013

Critics split on Kennedy's new role as U.S. envoy

Caroline Kennedy's appointment as the first female U.S. ambassador to Japan divides American experts on the bilateral security relationship.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 23, 2013

Mourinho picks up where he left off

He had changed, he assured us. The self-styled "Special One" was now the Mild One and there was a collective nodding as the gullible ones bought into Jose Mourinho's promise that he was Mr. Nice Guy.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Aug 22, 2013

Bo Xilai's bribery trial begins with China courts in spotlight

The trial of former Politburo member Bo Xilai over bribery and embezzlement begings, with China's judiciary as much in the spotlight as the man at the center of the country's most politically charged case in 30 years.
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2013

Reasons for opposing whaling

It is expected that before the end of this year the International Court of Justice will hand down a decision with regard to Japanese whaling in the Arctic Ocean. Of course, we will have to accept whatever decision the judges may reach, but I hope that decision will not be influenced by feelings rather...
Reference / Q&A
Aug 21, 2013

'Barefoot Gen' pulled as anti-war images strike too close to home?

The decision by the board of education of Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, to limit students' access to the manga series "Hadashi no Gen" ("Barefoot Gen") at school libraries continues to cause a stir. While some support the move, others say it disrespects the best-selling anti-war classic, which tells the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 21, 2013

PlayStation 4 to get jump in U.S.

Sony Corp. will start selling the PlayStation 4 in North America on Nov. 15, moving to obtain an early advantage in the largest video game market against Microsoft Corp.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 21, 2013

Globe made of ostrich eggs may be oldest to show New World

An Austrian collector has found what may be the oldest globe, dated 1504, to depict the New World, engraved with immaculate detail on two conjoined halves of ostrich eggs.
COMMENTARY
Aug 20, 2013

Learning the lessons of Egypt

I'm not much for sports analogies, but any athlete knows about the home field advantage. It's easier to win if you play your game, not your opponent's.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Aug 19, 2013

Mitaka pair find flexibility key in navigating values

Almost 33 years since their first encounter in 1980, Bill Achilles, who hails from Geneva, New York, and his wife, Michiko, from Tokyo say they share more or less the same values — by merging Japanese and American cultures.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 19, 2013

The truth is, 'pretty is as pretty does'

Jennifer Tress can't change who is on the cover of Cosmopolitan.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb