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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 25, 2013

Tokyo, the city that's not as crazy as everyone thinks

As a Japanese friend of mine who has lived all over Japan once said, 'People from the Kansai area are like Latin people, but in Tokyo they're more like Germans.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 25, 2013

Top billings of 2013

Although all Japan's 50 reactors have been shut down since September, cleaning up in the wake of the March 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is making very slow progress and tens of thousands of people still live in temporary accommodation or are internally displaced. In addition,...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Dec 25, 2013

Race-based ID checks in front of families send wrong message

I cannot accept the way Japanese police treat foreigners such as myself in public places — especially how they judge people by color and appearance. I have had several unpleasant experiences that suggest this is the case.
EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2013

Breaching the weapons-export ban

It is deplorable that the Abe administration decided to provide rifle ammo to South Korean troops engaged in U.N. peacekeeping operations in South Sudan without consulting government officials first.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 23, 2013

From Mikimoto's pearls to ones of publicity wisdom

Having invented a method for creating cultured pearls in 1893, Meiji Era entrepreneur Kokichi Mikimoto set about selling them to the world. Apparently not one for understatement, he once announced he hoped to "adorn the necks of all women around the world with pearls."
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Dec 23, 2013

Demand answers about dioxin threat at Okinawa schools

What are officials doing to ensure children are not exposed to potential contamination at Bob Hope Primary School and Amelia Earhart Intermediate School in Okinawa City? Demand school officials close the playground until the soil can be tested and remediation undertaken if necessary.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 23, 2013

Secrets, lies, gaffes, glory: 2013 in quotes

A mix of scandals, achievements, political missteps and commemorations highlighted 2013. Here's a rundown of the quotations that shaped the Year of the Snake.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 22, 2013

Bethlehem woos Christian emigres, visitors

There has been something missing in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christianity: Christians.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 21, 2013

A confused future for our baby boomers

No generation in the history of mankind is more reviled than that of the baby boomers, who grew up during the age of mass media. Raised on TV and glossy magazines, they connected to a world their parents knew almost nothing about, and with that experience turned from youthful explorers of expanded possibilities...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 21, 2013

Terrorists unite: All you have to lose is your freedom

Everyone had been wondering when the real Shinzo Abe would bare the dark recesses of his political soul. There had been some glimpses, but with Abenomics in a swoon amid growing skepticism about its sustainability, Japan's prime minister finally ripped off his mask as he rammed secrecy legislation through...
WORLD
Dec 21, 2013

NSA, GCHQ targeted foreign interests, allies, heads of aid groups

British and United States spy agencies targeted the office of an Israeli prime minister, the heads of international aid organizations and a European Union official who oversees antitrust issues involving U.S. technology firms, according to secret documents.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 20, 2013

To tap tourist yen, think train-packing, plastic grub and sumo

I think it is time for some up-to-date experiences — ones that the waves of tourists due to flood Japan up through the 2020 Olympics might savor more than those that revolve around traditional Japanese culture.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 19, 2013

Rift growing between allies

The gut feeling of American military leaderes is that if only to prevent war between the U.S. and China, they don't want Japan's Self-Defense Forces to possess offensive-strike capabilities.
COMMUNITY / Issues
Dec 18, 2013

A secrets law for whom? Look who gets a free pass

Ancient Confucian scholars regarded law as a necessary evil, something used on lower orders of people who lacked the moral refinement to act righteously without prompting. Yet this just states a basic truth about law: It is something we do to other people. You and I know how to act properly, right? It's...
EDITORIALS
Dec 18, 2013

WTO breakthrough in Bali

Meeting with trade ministers in Bali, Indonesia, the World Trade Organization has concluded its first trade reform agreement despite last-minute threats from Cuba and India. It is a moment to savor, but it is just a start.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 18, 2013

Tokyo: If you could be prime minister for a day, what would you do?

Top concerns for would-be PMs around the metropolis: Fukushima, demographics, women in the workplace, the consumption tax, education, energy, English — and beer.
Reader Mail
Dec 18, 2013

Space to join research networks

Jeremy Rappleye's Dec. 13 article, "Higher-education stimulus would be sure bet for Japan," is right to point out that "internationalization" cannot just mean importing foreign faces onto Japanese campuses. It must involve expanding the scope for all Japan-based faculty and students to operate internationally....
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2013

Pope misunderstands the power of free markets

Pope Francis, unlike his more diplomatic predecessors, is said to engage the world in the style of after-dinner conversation. As a result, his recent remarks about the power of free markets seemed vague or poorly considered.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / NOTEBOOK
Dec 17, 2013

Color Run comes to Tokyo; Arashi joins tourism push

IMG Worldwide, the global sports, fashion and media company, and The Color Run, a unique 5-km paint race series, will hold its popular event in Japan next year sponsored by New Balance.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2013

Hapless qualities for which Obama will be remembered

The wars that he has not ended and the moral climate he has sustained in American government will be the remembered qualities of Barack Obama's presidency. This seems a disheartening.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 16, 2013

Radioactive waste: a now and forever threat?

In recent months, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has rekindled the public debate on atomic power, drawing attention to perhaps the most critical question about its future: Is there a safe place and way to dispose of high-level radioactive waste?
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Dec 16, 2013

India gang rapes rise despite growing awareness

The chauffeur's boss was out of town, so the driver called a friend and said "Let's have some fun" — which police say meant finding a woman to rape.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2013

Deceptive rice price reforms viewed as too late for industry

Toru Wakui has defied the government's “gentan” rice production controls since the 1970s, but the farm ministry's plans to abolish them haven't made him any happier.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Dec 15, 2013

The war on katakana starts at school

Eliminating katakana's use as a pronunciation aide would benefit Japanese students' ability to communicate, but that clearly can't be achieved overnight. However, it's still worth putting up a 'faito.'
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2013

What would the president, pope and Jesus do about the growing gap between rich and poor?

The week before last Pope Francis and U.S. President Barack Obama separately weighed on what each would do about the growing gap between the rich and poor. The pontiff was more moral and dramatic, while the president had to couch his analysis in American self-interest.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 14, 2013

It's not enough to simply add a woman to the board

Twitter, which has garnered worldwide attention for bad corporate governance practices, should do more than add a women to its board. It should fully diversify its management.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 14, 2013

NSA can crack cellphone security, decode private conversations

The cellphone encryption technology that is used most widely across the world can be easily defeated by the National Security Agency, an internal document shows, giving the agency the means to decode most of the billions of calls and texts that travel over public airwaves every day.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan