Search - long form

 
 
WORLD
Aug 3, 2014

After defeating Kurds, Islamic State rebels seize Iraqi towns, oil field

Islamic State insurgents have captured two northern Iraqi towns and an oil field in their first major victory over Kurdish fighters, witnesses said Sunday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Aug 1, 2014

Ticking the right tax boxes

In most places in the world, property taxes, which are levied on buildings and land, are administered and collected by local governments for the benefit of local governments. This is also true in Japan, but it's useful to keep in mind that property tax rules and regulations are determined by the central government.
WORLD
Jul 24, 2014

Dogs are capable of feeling jealousy, U.S. study says

Dogs are a man's best friend, and research released on Wednesday says canines want to keep it that way.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 16, 2014

The man who lives for the art of dying

Interviewing Seizo Fukumoto, the star of Ken Ochiai's backstage drama "Uzumasa Limelight," I wished I had brought a video camera, instead of my voice recorder and notepad. As he talks, this veteran kirare-yaku — an actor whose forte is being cut down with a sword in jidaigeki (samurai period dramas)...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 12, 2014

Kunisaki: into a world of moss and stone

The sense of antiquity on the Kunisaki Peninsula is immediate. There are those that believe the region — whose name is said to mean "land's end" — was created by demons in the service of powerful gods. You have to take these accounts with a pinch of salt, of course, as each explanation confidently...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2014

U.K. could learn from Canada about destiny

Depending on how it's done, leaving the EU spans a range of outcomes for the United Kingdom, running from 'terrible' all the way up to 'better than remaining a member.'
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2014

Obama should expedite a nation for the Kurds

President Barack Obama could put the U.S. on the right side of history — and the right side of justice — by expediting the liberation and nationhood aspirations of Iraq's Kurds.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 18, 2014

Cocoon Kabuki enters a new era

Theatre Cocoon in the Bunkamura performance-arts hub of Tokyo's vibrant Shibuya district has always been a popular venue specializing in new works by fresh contemporary writers. Emblematic of this is Cocoon Kabuki, its unique series begun in 1994 under the then Artistic Director Kazuyoshi Kushida.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 14, 2014

Iraq's top Shiite cleric issues call to fight jihadist rebels

Iraq's most senior Shiite Muslim cleric urged followers to take up arms against a full-blown Sunni militant insurgency to topple Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a conflict that threatens civil war and a possible break-up of the country.
COMMENTARY / World
May 23, 2014

How easy is it to indoctrinate students? Easy

Research from the University of Munich shows that it wasn't so hard for China's government to get high school students to believe that it is trustworthy, committed to the rule of law, and that free markets are a big problem.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 20, 2014

Cromartie book available in digital

Former Yomiuri Giants star outfielder Warren Cromartie's book on his life in Japanese baseball, "Slugging It Out In Japan," which was co-written with best-selling author Robert Whiting, is now available in digital form for the first time.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 18, 2014

World Cup 2014 views from Ishikawa: USA and Australia

A Team USA fan and a Socceroo follower in Komatsu, Ishikawa Prefecture, discuss their teams' prospects in next month's FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 15, 2014

'Wood Job!'

Shinobu Yaguchi has become a consistent hit maker by following a simple formula: generate laughs from the stumbles and mistakes of heroes learning a new job, art or sport. This formula usually results in audience cheers and tears when triumph finally arrives after many ups and downs. Examples include...
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 12, 2014

World Cup 2014 views from Tokyo: Germany and England

A German and an Englishman in Tokyo discuss the prospects for their teams and Japan in next month's FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
JAPAN / History
May 10, 2014

Going nuclear: How close has Japan come?

We examine the historical debate on the country's nuclear ambitions
EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 2014

Jazz Day to get its due in Osaka

Underscoring its long love affair with jazz, Japan this year will hold its International Jazz Day (April 30) in Osaka for the first time.
EDITORIALS
Apr 7, 2014

Taiwan's 'sunflowers' bloom

A student-led occupation of the Taiwanese government's legislature to protest a cross-strait trade agreement — which is the centerpiece of President Ma Ying-jeou's political and economic agenda — enters its third week.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 5, 2014

Reinventing the wheel: the future of cycling in Tokyo

On Jan. 24, a full-page advert appeared in the Tokyo edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun for a petition on behalf of the capital's cyclists. "Join the new governor in making Tokyo a bicycle city," read the headline for the ad, which reeled off a series of suggested improvements: more extensive cycling lanes,...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2014

In love with the spirit of the 'Ban Bossy' campaign

A British columnist can't help falling in love with the spirit of the American campaign to ban the word 'bossy' on the grounds that it discourages little girls from ambition and leadership.
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.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 3, 2014

GPIF plans infrastructure investment after trimming domestic bond holdings

The Government Pension Investment Fund, the world's largest pool of retirement savings, cut domestic bond holdings to the lowest level since the fund's inception in 2006 and said it will invest in infrastructure.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 25, 2014

Moscow slams 'armed mutiny,' says it will not deal with Kiev's new leaders

Moscow says it will not deal with those who led an 'armed mutiny' against Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovich, who was elected in 2010, and said it now fears for the lives of its citizens, notably in the Russian-speaking east and Crimea on the Black Sea.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2014

Swiss voters send EU a message on immigration

Conventional debate in Europe has interpreted increased anti-immigrant sentiment as the result of xenophobia, racism and a new sympathy for the authoritarian far right. Analysis does not bear this out in the case of Switzerland and its narrow majority vote against 'massive immigration.'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 8, 2014

Yuichiro Miura: on top of the world

Ever wondered what it feels like to stand on top of the world? Eighty-one-year-old alpinist Yuichiro Miura should know: He's done it three times since turning 70. He became the oldest person to scale the world's tallest peak, Mount Everest, in May last year, a remarkable feat that spurred the government...
LIFE / Digital
Jan 30, 2014

Are Britain's plans for its patients' private data totally healthy?

A few days ago, I dropped into my doctor's surgery to pick up a prescription and was confronted by one of those large floor-mounted pop-up displays that one finds at exhibitions, trade fairs and circuses. It informed me of an exciting new scheme by which the "quality of care and health services" would...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2014

'Dakishimetai: Shinjitsu no Monogatari (I Just Wanna Hug You)'

Of Japanese medical melodramas there is no end. Targeted largely at the female audience, they appear on the lineups of Toho and other major distributors with the regularity of cherry blossoms in April.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 28, 2014

New dawn breaking over Japan

Writing from Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says it is not twilight, but a new dawn, that is breaking over Japan, thanks to his administration's overcoming the notion that certain reforms could never be carried out.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 20, 2014

The failed Turkish coup by 'Gulen' bureaucrats

Recent developments in Turkey reflect the widening rift between the Erdogan government and the so-called Gulen movement. Judicial reform must eliminate the possibility of organized cliques manipulating constitutional powers to advance their own narrow goals.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jan 18, 2014

In Jomon and Heian, the times weren't a-changin'

"Man the change-maker." That is one definition of Homo sapiens. Other creatures are changed — by Nature, by evolution — over vast expanses of time measured in hundreds of thousands or millions of years. Humankind consciously generates change. We innovate, build, invent, destroy, build again. Even...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2014

Boosting the global economy

Although we have avoided the worst-case depressioin scenario over the past five years, thanks to the efforts of global policymakers, the world economy is not yet flying on all engines and is likely to remain underpowered this year as well, says the IMF managing director.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami