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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / FOCUS
Oct 8, 2013

As China targets graft, bribes abound in schools

For years, Yang Jie's friends warned her to save up for her daughter's education. Not for tuition or textbooks, but for the bribes needed to get into the city's better public schools.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2013

Navigating the risks of investing in Asia's future

Markets and economies need to work now to brace themselves for a period of higher borrowing costs, some market volatility and slower economic expansion in Asia.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Oct 7, 2013

Djokovic, Nadal lead formidable field at Shanghai Rolex Masters

The top players in the world, minus injured Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, will be vying for the title this week at the prestigious Shanghai Rolex Masters.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 6, 2013

Female novelist says pregnant women should quit work

The plight of Japan's working women is a subject that often pops up in the media. Female politicians and company executives voice the opinion that it would be good to harness the power of women in Japan, and that the garasu no tenjō (ガラスの天井, glass ceiling) needs to be smashed. But meanwhile,...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2013

Leadership vacuum begs for a Sino-U.S. accord

A comprehensive Sino-U.S. economic partnership — which is what the world really needs — will be impossible unless the U.S. recognizes China as an equal partner.
Reader Mail
Oct 5, 2013

The kanji cultures pack a punch

Economics must truly be the dismal science based on what professor Dipak Basu wrote in his Sept. 26 letter, "Questionable link to innovation." Did this economist really suggest that Japan's education system would be greatly improved if Japan abolished the Chinese kanji character system — which he says...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2013

Sony ex-boss seeks to boost start-ups

Nobuyuki Idei once embodied Japan's corporate establishment, the leader of technology giant Sony Corp. Now 75, he's aiming to reinvent himself as a cross between a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and Hollywood mogul.
EDITORIALS
Oct 4, 2013

U.S. government on Cruz control

To starve the feared 'Obamacare' of funding, a hard core of America's Republican right seems prepared to paralyze the U.S. government and cripple its creditworthiness.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2013

India's wealthy must open gates and fight chaos

Even well-to-do Indians, whose disengagement has made the erosion of public institutions possible, can no longer escape the extortion and lawlessness that the less lucky have always faced.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 4, 2013

Hart a major concern for England

He is out of form to the extent of becoming a liability, his mistakes are too frequent and costly, while his goal probably seems like the Grand Canyon, but Joe Hart will play for England in the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Montenegro and Poland that will decide its 2014 fate.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2013

The type who dare risk a government shutdown

Don't look for the refinement of public views in the U.S. Congress unless the most extreme members of the Republican Party feel they can risk moving out of their echo chambers.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2013

'Hafu'

Around one in 49 babies born in Japan today are of mixed heritage. That's a surprising figure considering that the country was closed off to foreigners for close to three centuries, way back when.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 2, 2013

The Towada Art Center expands its landscape

Ever since the Towada Art Center opened five years ago, the city in Aomori Prefecture has seen its prospects dramatically alter. Not only by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, but by the subsequent devastation of neighboring areas, all of which compounded the dwindling prosperity of Towada....
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 2, 2013

Founding Fathers having big say — with a little help

Early last Wednesday, Republican Sen. Mike Lee rose in the Senate to recite a quotation from George Washington. It was, Lee said, Washington's own account of his last day as president in 1797.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Oct 2, 2013

'Frack off': U.K. energy debate erupts

This might seem a bizarre place for a battle over energy policy in Britain.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 2, 2013

Man uses thought to control robotic leg via rerouted nerves

A man missing his lower leg has gained precise control over a prosthetic limb just by thinking about moving it — all because his unused nerves were preserved during the amputation and rerouted to his thigh, where they can be used to communicate with a robotic leg.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 2, 2013

U.S. shutdown damages political system, but Republicans seen at greater risk

There will be plenty of collateral damage from the government shutdown that began early Tuesday — from federal workers to ordinary citizens — but the most serious effects are likely to be felt inside a Republican Party that appears divided and in need of leadership.
LIFE / Digital
Oct 1, 2013

Apple has a secret weapon in iOS7, iPhone5s

When Steve Jobs was still with us, many commentators — yours truly included — used to complain about the "reality distortion field" that surrounded Apple's charismatic leader. Those in attendance when Jobs launched the devices and services (iPod, iTunes, OS X, iMac, MacBook, iPhone and iPad) that...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 1, 2013

World perplexed by U.S. shutdown

As the U.S. government creaked toward a shutdown Monday, the world looked on with a little anxiety and a lot of dismay, and some people had trouble suppressing smirks.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2013

China to foil skeptics again

China's eagerly anticipated 'hard landing' hasn't happened yet, and recent indicators make one wonder if it ever will. Maybe China's skeptics should be viewed more skeptically.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 30, 2013

Foreign iPhone fans, be aware of Softbank's two-year visa rule

Softbank requires that you have at least two years remaining on your visa if you wish to pay for a new iPhone handset in monthly installments rather than fork out for the whole lot up front.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Sep 30, 2013

Troop command top issue as Hagel visits South Korea

Sixty years after the end of the Korean War, the United States and South Korea still cannot agree on who should take charge if another war breaks out with the communist neighbor to the north.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2013

Best, brightest and least productive?

Financial traders and speculators help to allocate society's resources to the most promising businesses. But these people's activities also impose costs on the rest of us.
BASKETBALL
Sep 28, 2013

Alvark beat Brex to get NBL up and running

The Toyota Motors Alvark Tokyo got off to a strong start in the inaugural National Basketball League as they prevailed both offensively and defensively in a 86-78 victory over the Link Tochigi Brex at Yoyogi National Gymnasium No. 2 on Saturday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Sep 28, 2013

Solitude is where you find it

Under cartoon-blue skies washed by early-autumn typhoons, I stand at Sendaizaka-ue (summit of Sendaizaka Slope) in Tokyo's Minato Ward. Sendaizaka was named for daimyo lords from Edo Period (1603-1867) Sendai, now in Miyagi Prefecture, who maintained a yashiki (suburban home) on the slope that today...
EDITORIALS
Sep 28, 2013

Where's the sense of duty?

Amid reports of track repairs left untended for up to a year, one wonders whether employees of JR Hokkaido have a clear sense of duty to protect the lives of passengers.

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’