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COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 22, 2013

'Abenomics' out of the gate

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would do well to consult professor Noriko Hama of Doshisha University. Asked by The Japan Times what the country needs, she replied in feisty fashion: "The three things Japan should do in 2013 are raise wages, raise interest rates — and cut the crap."
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 2013

Bloody outcome in Algeria

Algerian special forces on Saturday stormed a natural gas complex in Ain Amenas in the Sahara desert to end the four-day seizure of the facility by Islamic militants who took many workers of various nationalities hostages. Among those taken hostages were employees of JGC Corp., a Yokohama-based major...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 21, 2013

A nagging Japanese riddle: Who's 'left' and who's 'right'?

In the Dec. 16 Lower House election, the Liberal Democratic Party won a resounding victory while the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a crushing defeat, bringing about a change of government after three years and three months of DPJ rule.
Reader Mail
Jan 19, 2013

Radiation results beggar belief

The Jan. 10 article "As radiation fears dwindle, so do checkups" has a Dr. Masaharu Tsubokura complaining that Fukushima residents have stopped coming in for additional body scans to gauge their exposure to radiation following the 3/11 nuclear plant disaster.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 19, 2013

Democrats no longer gun-shy on restrictions

For the first time in more than a decade, Democratic presidential aspirants see a political advantage in championing far-reaching restrictions on guns.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 17, 2013

Hakuin: The sight of one hand clapping

Most people know the famous riddle, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" Many are also aware that it is connected with Zen Buddhism, and some will even know that it is a famous koan by the 18th-century monk Hakuin.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2013

Agricultural land grabs in developing countries?

Should rich countries — or investors based there — be buying agricultural land in developing countries?
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jan 16, 2013

CV frauds revealed by diligent online fact checks

In recent years, there have been several cases where Japanese media icons, especially those who shine across national and language borders, have been accused of falsifying their personal histories, and they have consequently lost whatever popularity they had gained through the mass media and/or books....
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2013

Bernanke urges Congress to raise U.S. debt ceiling

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called on lawmakers Monday to "take care of their job" and raise the nation's debt ceiling, warning that default could derail the still-fragile economic recovery.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2013

Agricultural land grabs in developing countries?

Should rich countries — or investors based there — be buying agricultural land in developing countries?
LIFE
Jan 14, 2013

Tour guide exams another example of national licensing frenzy

Colin P.A. Jones wondered if he was alone in laughing out loud at a question about impaired thinking in the national nursing exam ("Stop thinking — the exam is about to start," Zeit Gist, Dec. 18).
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 14, 2013

Our menacing infrastructure

"Expressway tunnels as well as other infrastructure throughout Japan are nearing the crisis stage," warns a university professor who is a member of an advisory body for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 13, 2013

Beate Sirota Gordon: An American to whom Japan remains indebted

Beate Sirota Gordon passed away on Dec. 30. She was 89.
LIFE
Jan 13, 2013

What Japan needs to do

With its economy spluttering, large parts of its northeastern region still devastated by the effects of the mammoth Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 — and releases of radioactive materials that followed — its population shrinking and aging at unprecedented rates and its citizens despairing of...
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 12, 2013

Abe gives out info on his terms, via Facebook page

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has learned his lesson: Instead of giving short daily media interviews, he has launched a new Facebook page to provide information to the public on his terms while conveniently avoiding the kind of verbal missteps that plagued his recent predecessors — including himself, during...
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 12, 2013

WeVibe creates a buzz at tech fair

Las Vegas AFP-JIJI
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 11, 2013

'The Future'

Facebook is so awash in shared quotes and clever little sayings attached to graphics, ranging from heartwarmingly New Age to hipster snarky, that few make an impression beyond the time it takes to read them. Still, every now and then you'll hit one that sticks; for me, it was one of those faux 1950s...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 11, 2013

Gordon-Levitt, Willis take film fans for a loop

Film director Rian Johnson and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt are neighbors in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. They're also pretty close, since Gordon-Levitt says they hang out at each other's house and he also praises Johnson's cooking.
Reader Mail
Jan 10, 2013

Jet scramble all huff and puff

Regarding the Jan. 6 article "Japan scrambles F-15 fighter jets after Chinese aircraft spotted near Senkakus": The interesting question for me is, what would those F-15s have done if the Chinese airplane had completely encroached on Japanese territory, did loops and rolls, and even dived in a simulated...
ENVIRONMENT
Jan 9, 2013

Fukushima cleanup crews cut corners

Two construction joint ventures hired to wash radioactive substances off buildings in two Fukushima Prefecture communities in December allowed the tainted water to run off into street gutters, an Environment Ministry official said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2013

India's rapid rise puts women at risk

For two decades, the West has been cheering India's rise. But the nation's economic and political changes have caused new cultural conflicts, a dynamic that has become all too obvious after the brutal, and eventually fatal, rape of a young woman on a bus in New Delhi last month.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 8, 2013

Xenophobia finds fertile soil in web anonymity

As diplomatic strains with China and South Korea worsen over territorial disputes, more and more Japanese are using the relative anonymity of cyberspace to vent their political spleens online.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?