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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Jun 25, 2014

The naked American at Narita airport

Leaving Narita, stripped of your African accoutrement and any other identifiers that speak to your nationality and sensibilities, you advance through an array of unfamiliar sights and sounds, just as brown and naked as the day you were born.
Reader Mail
Jun 25, 2014

Duty-free reform off the mark

Regarding the June 18 Kyodo article "Duty-free reform to boost tourism": I feel that this initiative will have little effect on tourist numbers. To Western visitors, Japan is very "foreign"; prospective tourists are nervous at the prospect of a visit. This duty-free initiative is wide of the mark.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2014

Cabinet adopts economic plans

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet has adopted a set of reform strategies to boost growth, including attracting more foreign investors to prop up stock prices.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Jun 24, 2014

Without a canon, Japanese pop won't blast off

Exploring the world of Japanese music can be a baffling experience for those who don't speak the language.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Jun 24, 2014

Yokohama 'museum' marks 20 years curating ramen royalty

Now that ramen has taken its place alongside sushi as the world's favorite Japanese food, it's easy to forget what the noodle landscape was like just a couple of decades ago. Back in the 1990s, foreigners knew ramen — if they knew it at all — as cheap fuel for all-night study sessions or as a belly-filler...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 24, 2014

The electronic remains of Ursula Bogner

Ursula Bogner (1946-94) was a German pharmacist, wife and mother with a passion for the unfamiliar, which included electronic music.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2014

Car industry struggles to solve air bag fiasco

As automakers hype self-driving cars, the industry's struggle to fix Takata's exploding, shrapnel-spraying air bags shows how much can still go wrong with the most established technologies.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2014

Gambling experts await green light

At last month's Global Gaming Expo Asia (G2E) in Macau, casino and resort operators, game machine manufacturers, government officials and countless others gathered to review gaming laws and markets in countries ranging from Vietnam to China and the Philippines.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 22, 2014

Basketball star Tokashiki ready to test ability at world championship

At the age of 23, Ramu Tokashiki is already a big presence in Japan's women's basketball scene. But she is also thirsty for tougher competition, which she can't really get at home.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jun 22, 2014

All-consuming school clubs worry foreign parents

School club activities — something that most Japanese parents accept as a normal and desirable rite of passage in their child's development — can leave foreign parents quaking in their boots at what lies ahead.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 21, 2014

How a master circled the system

Favorites of today's museum-going public, the lushly colorful, sensuous and grotesque paintings of beautiful women by Tsuchida Bakusen (1887-1936) have long been written into the canon of nihonga (Japanese-style painting). It is easy to forget, however, just how transgressive Bakusen's images were at...
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 19, 2014

S. Korea plans live-fire drill near Takeshima

Seoul tells Tokyo that a maritime 'firing drill' will be held near two disputed rocks it controls even though the firing zone overlaps an area claimed by Japan.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 18, 2014

Buffaloes' Italian pitcher Maestri keeps track of Azzurri's World Cup progress

When Mario Balotelli headed Italy into a second-half lead over England at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Italians around the globe rejoiced. That included Alessandro "Alex" Maestri, an Italian relief pitcher for the Orix Buffaloes who was watching in Osaka and had a game to suit up for later in the day....
Reader Mail
Jun 18, 2014

Joint development of resources

Regarding the June 8 wire service article "Abe holds talks with Pope Francis": Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is reported to have talked with Pope Francis about ways of promoting peace and stability in Asia. East Asia is riven with tensions over the large number of small islands claimed by China in the East...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 18, 2014

Female dramatists dispel gender concern

Last month in Berlin, in a conversation with Annemie Vanackere, artistic director at the city's cutting-edge Hebbel am Ufer company, she was saying how she loved contemporary Japanese theater, and how HAU had worked with several Japanese dramatists. Then she suddenly asked me: "Why were they all men?...
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 17, 2014

Abe team presents draft statement on collective self-defense

The Abe administration has tabled a draft statement that could allow Japan to effectively exercise the right to collective self-defense, but the ruling coalition remains divided.
EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2014

Saving the Japanese eel

The international designation of the Japanese eel as a species at risk of extinction underscores the need for more controlled and responsible fishing and consumption to preserve one of this nation's long-cherished food cultures.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jun 16, 2014

World Cup 2014 views from Tokyo: Honduras and Iran

A Honduran diplomat and an Iranian-Japanese schoolboy offer the views on their teams' chances in Brazil.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2014

Ambitious Japanese fans deflated by Samurai Blue’s first-match loss in World Cup

Japanese soccer fans fall into a funk after the national team loses its first World Cup match, including nearly 12,000 who watched the game at a Yokohama stadium.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / OLYMPIC NOTEBOOK
Jun 14, 2014

USOC chief calls for changes in bid voting

Larry Probst, the United States Olympic Committee chairman, won't win a popularity contest within the IOC anytime soon.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 14, 2014

Noda says Abe buying into 'voodoo economics'

Sour grapes are in season in Tokyo as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's predecessor steps up and slams the incumbent's tax plans.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 13, 2014

Rakuten rakes in ¥30 billion for first bond sale

Rakuten Inc., the e-commerce company led by billionaire Hiroshi Mikitani, issued its first public bonds Friday, selling ¥30 billion of three-year notes.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 12, 2014

Wakayama can't afford Pavlicevic

After an ultra-successful start in the National Basketball League, the cash-strapped Wakayama Trians are implementing big budget cuts for the upcoming season.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2014

Popularity of 'kendama' abroad spurs trend at home

The traditional cup-and-ball game "kendama" is back, thanks to a new "cool" image mostly nurtured overseas and imported back to Japan.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 11, 2014

Abe bulldozes over DPJ in self-defense debate

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe once again underlined the necessity of reinterpreting the war-renouncing Constitution to allow Japan to engage in collective self-defense during a debate Wednesday, while the main opposition leader failed to capitalize on the opportunity to attack Abe and roll back his influence...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’