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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 21, 2015

Celebrating 50 years of antipathy, recriminations

On March 1, South Korean President Park Geun-hye renewed her call for Japan to come clean on its colonial and wartime atrocities, including the sexual enslavement of women. Her speech was delivered on the anniversary of the anti-Japanese uprising by Koreans in 1919 and in a year when South Koreans will...
Japan Times
JAPAN / UN WORLD CONFERENCE ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
Mar 14, 2015

Japan understands threat of natural disasters

An international conference on disaster prevention kicks off March 14 in the disaster-hit Tohoku region and it is aiming to adopt a new global framework to mitigate effects from natural disasters for the coming decade or so.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2015

Sendai conference aims to muster 'political weight' to reduce disaster risks

An upcoming United Nations conference in Sendai aims to raise awareness and galvanize political will to reduce risks posed by natural disasters, a visiting high-ranking official with the world body said Wednesday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Mar 9, 2015

Substance matters more than results during spring season

The exhibition season is well under way in Japanese baseball, with most teams already five or more games into spring training games.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Mar 6, 2015

After 10 years, On: Design columnist Jean Snow signs off — with style, of course

Build up a good desk space
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 24, 2015

Reuters journalist Maria Golovnina dies in Pakistan at age 34

Maria Golovnina, Reuters bureau chief for Afghanistan and Pakistan who was widely loved and admired for her courage, compassion and professionalism, died in Islamabad on Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Feb 23, 2015

Badges of honor: What Japan's legal lapel pins really mean

I finally have a lapel badge. After almost two decades of working in Japan-related law jobs, this is a big deal.
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2015

Too few people to protect kids

Many people in Japan are shocked when they find out how overworked and overextended the nation's network of social workers for protecting children is.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 29, 2015

Art is long, when life can be short

Given Japan's continual seismic activity, what happened at 5:46 a.m. on Jan. 17, 1995, was unavoidable. The devastation and loss of life that occurred with the magnitude 7.3 quake in Kansai became a yardstick only now surpassed by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. While the aftereffects of the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 27, 2015

Goto swap gets more complex

Jordan is demanding that the Islamic State group release both Japanese journalist Kenu00adji Gou00adto and a captured Jordanian air force pilot, according to Kyodo News.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2015

Radio report, voiceprints muddy waters as officials deliberate over hostage crisis

After the Islamic State group reportedly confirmed via radio that it had killed Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa, both Japan and Jordan were saying little Monday about how they might respond to its demand that a suicide bomber jailed in Jordan be exchanged for the second hostage, Kenji Goto.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 24, 2015

Smoke signals: Can Tokyo ever go smoke-free?

Japan has long held a reputation of being something of a paradise for smokers. Tobacco is, at least by Western standards, relatively cheap and people can still light up in many of the country's restaurants and bars. In fact, before the turn of the century smokers could pretty much puff away on a cigarette...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 24, 2015

Obama looking to leverage ties with Modi during India trip

Barack Obama will do something in India on Monday that an American president almost never does in public: He'll sit in one place, in a foreign country, for hours.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2015

New heir to Saudi throne is said to be relatively liberal outsider

Saudi Arabia's new Crown Prince Muqrin represents the biggest break from the kingdom's tradition of any of his predecessors in the role — both because of his lowly maternal birth and his foreign education.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 23, 2015

Making babies makes a comeback in Japan

The slight rise in Japanese fertility since 2005 — despite the sharp recession and natural disasters that happened in the meantime — suggests there is hope that work-life balance will help to stabilize the populations of developed nations after all.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 18, 2015

Okada defeats Hosono to win DPJ presidential election

Following a close runoff against Goshi Hosono, Katsuya Okada is elected president of the Democratic Party of Japan.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society / FOCUS
Jan 18, 2015

Paris killings leave France troubled by 30 years of failure with immigrants

Latifa Ibn Ziaten knows a thing or two about terrorism.
Reader Mail
Jan 14, 2015

Politics and women overseas

The Dec. 14 national election was personally significant for me because, for the first time in my life, I voted. A bittersweet experience it was. I happened to be on a short-term sabbatical in Japan when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for the snap election. During the weeks leading up to it, I collected...
WORLD
Jan 9, 2015

Paris attack highlights broader attempt to silence media

The attack on journalists in Paris is not an isolated incident but part of a broader attempt to muzzle the press. At least 158 reporters and photographers have been killed while doing their jobs since 2011, the worst three-year period on record.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 9, 2015

French police converge on small town after Paris suspects spotted

French counterterrorism police converged on an area northeast of Paris on Thursday after two brothers suspected of being behind an attack on a satirical newspaper were spotted at a gas station in the region.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2014

Thai regime plays royal card to silence critics

The military regime in Thailand appears to be trying to silence political critics of the monarchy by charging them with lese-majeste offenses.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 27, 2014

Abe isn't impressed with media criticism

The most talked-about media moment from the Lower House election on Dec. 14 was the victory interview Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave to Nippon TV.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 25, 2014

Former leader Okada to seek DPJ's presidency again

Democratic Party of Japan policy maker and former chief confirms his latest run for the presidency of Japan's biggest opposition party.
EDITORIALS
Dec 12, 2014

Take the time to vote

Voter turnout Sunday for the Lower House election is forecast to be as low as it was in the 2012 race. Young people especially need to realize that, by avoiding the polls, they are losing their voice on issues that will certainly affect their future.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.