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COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2014

Ending Asia's zero-sum games

Perhaps if Asia's leaders viewed East Asia's rapid economic transformation, geopolitical dynamics and historical animosities like a recenlty arrived space alien, they would see what they need to do to halt the dangerous trends.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 29, 2014

Alarm bells ringing in Asia

The deteriorating situation in Ukraine and rising tensions between Russia and the U.S. threaten to bury President Barack Obama's floundering 'pivot' toward Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 29, 2014

Unfortunately torture is an all-American value

Even when Americans rose up in 2011 to protest their government as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement, torture was less than an afterthought on activists' menu of complaints.
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: ARCHITECTURE
Apr 28, 2014

Japanese architecture on show in Venice, and the loss of a legend

Architects often claim to be deeply concerned about protecting the distinctive soul of places and regions, which would seem to imply that architects should stay close to their roots. Yet the export of architectural services and the global circulation of architects has never been higher. This paradox...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2014

Late but handsome apology to Sephardic Jews

Spain isn't just saying sorry for expelling its Jews 522 years ago; it's offering to give their descendants back their citizenship. And Spanish citizenship is practically citizenship in all 28 EU countries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2014

'Jazz mecca' Osaka to host star-studded global concert

What comes to mind when you think of Osaka? Maybe takoyaki (octopus dumplings), the Hanshin Tigers, Universal Studios Japan, wacky comedy and down-to-earth, unpretentious people.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 21, 2014

Kiryu happy to forgo giant strides for steady progress

Having shed the flashy, eye-catching pink shorts of his high school and grown his hair longer, Japanese sprinter Yoshihide Kiryu has begun a new chapter in his track career, aiming to step up to the next level in a new environment.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Apr 17, 2014

Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai: Tales of the Weird and the Strange

While many overseas scholars are attracted to the retrained aesthetics of Japanese arts and letters, it was the country's wild and wooly folklore that captivated Zack Davisson, an American writer and translator. While pursuing his masters degree in Japanese studies Davisson immersed himself in the mysterious...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2014

Confronting unending lies

Perhaps what is most amazing and regretful about the situation in Russia is the nearly complete absence of truth and objectivity in the mass media covering Ukrainian events.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 12, 2014

Shift to green energy would barely slow growth, U.N. report says

A radical shift from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy would slow world economic growth by only a tiny fraction every year, a new draft U.N. report on tackling global warming said on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2014

Don't let Cold War warriors reboot their dated thinking

The hundred think tanks that bloomed, and the thousands of mediocre academics and pseudo-experts who found easy employment in the universities and the media, feel obliged to make themselves relevant and important again after Russian President Vladimir Putin's land grab. Don't let them reboot the Cold War.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 2, 2014

Obsessions bared over a dead dog in the night

"It's f-cking amazing! I don't know what else to say. I'm really happy and really moved and I'm so humble about that."
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health / FOCUS
Mar 27, 2014

Indonesian forest fires feed air pollution across Asia

High above the vast Indonesian island of Sumatra, satellites identify hundreds of plumes of smoke drifting over the oil palm plantations and rain forests.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2014

English translation tells tales of 100 Miyagi tsunami survivors

It was the inspiration and eagerness of Hitomi Nakanishi, an Australia-based Japanese scholar, that led to the publication of an English-language book with recollections and photos of the experiences of 100 survivors of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami in and around Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture....
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2014

What does the Russian 'godfather' have in store?

In President Vladimir Putin's mind, the whole world has discriminated against Russia for the last three centuries. Russia's bloody despots — Catherine II, Nicholas I, or Josef Stalin — apparently never discriminated against anyone.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2014

Nuclear peril should galvanize Asian leadership

This week leaders from around the world gather in the Netherlands at the third Nuclear Security Summit to discuss and agree on actions that should be taken to reduce nuclear risks in Asia and elsewhere.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Mar 20, 2014

Japan begins long road to American football worlds

About 15 months before the fifth American football world championships get under way, Japan has started preparing to reclaim the title it won in the first two editions of the event.
COMMENTARY
Mar 20, 2014

Failure to pool information haunts saga of missing flight

The apparent failure of the emergency services of all countries to pool their information, in real time or at least within a day, haunts the saga of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2014

Asia's tourism campaigns could benefit from a little cleaning up

As Asia welcomes more and more visitors, its leaders and policymakers must take steps toward a more sustainable tourism industry and supporting infrastructure. That includes cleaning up the beaches.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Mar 15, 2014

Japan's future may be stunted by its past

Is time carrying us forward, or backward?
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Mar 13, 2014

Sebastian Masuda's mission to take Harajuku art global

New York is not a city one automatically associates with the Japanese concept of kawaii — lovably, irresistibly, dependably cute. But if Sebastian Masuda, the so-called "king of kawaii," has his way, the mean streets of "Goodfellas" may one day emanate a candy-colored glow.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 5, 2014

Nomura's 'Don Quixote' enlists comedy to counter today's real foes

"Whenever I am creating a new play here at Setagaya Public Theatre, I aim for something that's as universal as all those kyōgen (traditional comic theater) or noh classics that are as vivid now as when they were first staged 600 years ago. If it isn't like that, it won't reach an international audience,...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2014

APEC: Does what happens in China remain in China?

China may not kill its journalists, but imprisonment, explusions and visa delays vex foreign news organizations. As host of this year's APEC Forum, China has a chance to turn a page by allowing open coverage of events.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 3, 2014

Loved abroad, hated at home: The art of Japanese tattooing

The perception gap between international views of irezumi and those of Japanese people dates back more than 150 years, to when foreigners first laid eyes on Japanese tattoos. Since that time, however, Japanese tattooists have influenced their foreign counterparts in remarkable ways — and sometimes vice-versa.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2014

Underwater gold rush spurs fears of ocean calamity

This is the last frontier: the ocean floor, 4,000 meters beneath the waters of the central Pacific, where mining companies are now exploring for the rich deposits of ores needed to keep industry humming and smartphones switched on.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 1, 2014

Going back to the Simien's future

On Saturday, Jan. 18, I set foot in Addis Ababa for the first time since I left Ethiopia in late October 1969.

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