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Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jan 9, 2014

Anime/manga experts hopeful for year ahead

Aside from Hayao Miyazaki's sudden departure from filmmaking in September, the anime world saw some potentially hopeful developments in 2013.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 6, 2014

Abe squandering good will

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's weakening public standing doesn't bode well for the 'third arrow' of his economic plan — lower trade barriers, less regulation and a greater embrace of free-market principles.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 6, 2014

The empire strikes back: the top issues for non-Japanese in 2013

2013 saw the enfranchised elite consolidating their power further than has ever been seen in the postwar era, while Japan's disenfranchised peoples slipped ever lower down the totem pole, becoming targets of suspicion, fear and loathing.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 5, 2014

English fluency hopes rest on an education overhaul

Ringing in 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a dream: One nation that will actively re-engage with the global marketplace.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 4, 2014

Kenya Hara: the future of design

Sitting at a plain white table in a meeting room high up on the 12th floor of a narrow building in central Tokyo, product designer Kenya Hara asks me to picture a shallow plate in my mind. "Now imagine a slightly deeper plate," Hara says, "that gets deeper and deeper and eventually becomes a bowl."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 4, 2014

Back and forward: Asia in 2013; predictions for 2014

Crystal-ball gazing is a notoriously inexact science, so before getting to that, let's lessen the potential exposure to ridicule by starting with a roundup of the last 12 months' key trends and events in Asia.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Jan 3, 2014

Economy faces headwinds in 2014

The first stage of the sales tax hike next April will likely put a major drag on growth this year, although the nation will avert an outright recession, economists say.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 2, 2014

Komatsu bets on local concrete boom as global mining sales falter

Construction equipment maker Komatsu Ltd. expects spending on disaster reconstruction and prevention, as well as preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, to boost earnings in its home market.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 31, 2013

Abe's quest to revive, reshape nation rides on the economy

Just six months ago, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was riding high after his party swept the Upper House election. Now things aren't looking so rosy.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2013

Pope Francis and the meteor

If, as researchers believe, a city-killer meteor arrives about once a century, then Earth is due. But we're not close to ready, and NASA lacks the money for a serious response system.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 31, 2013

Tokyo prepares to get schooled in the art of beats

Although the major spectacle looming on Tokyo's horizon is undoubtedly the 2020 Olympics, there is one event this year that will be eagerly anticipated by anyone who spends longer on their gym playlist than their workout: The Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) is set to take place here in October.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2013

Energy rivals to face eased demand

Even as new renewable energy projects come online and changes in the law designed to increase competition and use power generated from all sources more efficiently start to come into effect this year, predictions for the nation's energy landscape show total energy consumption slightly down.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 31, 2013

2013 was an amazing year in tech

If you go by the headlines, the iPhone 5S and Google Glass were the big technology stories of 2013, and Twitter's IPO was the event of the year. The coverage of Glass focused mostly on its privacy implications — not its ability to change the world. And iPhone and Twitter were just more of the same....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Dec 29, 2013

Education in 2013: an 'A' for ambition, but Japan will have to do better

Will 2014 be the year we start to see a genuinely forward-thinking, globalized outlook for education in Japan? The rapidly changing global economy, regional tensions and shrinking population suggest huge challenges await the country's youth on their emergence into the job market in the coming years.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Dec 29, 2013

Hachimura powers Meisei High to Winter Cup title

Freshman sensation Louis Hachimura scored 32 points to guide Sendai's Meisei High School to its second-ever Winter Cup title with a 92-78 victory over Fukuoka University Ohori in the boys' final of the 44th All-Japan High School Tournament on Sunday.
BASKETBALL
Dec 28, 2013

Oka Gakuen captures back-to-back Winter Cup titles

Oka Gakuen didn't repeat its nearly miserable state of the previous day.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 28, 2013

Gamba wait for new site

Gamba Osaka, one of the original J. League members, will move into a brand-new stadium as early as 2016.
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2013

Abe and Xi swam naked with Buffett in 2013

In Japan and South Korea this year, talk of epochal change from two newish leaders was shown to be empty. Meanwhile, China's supposedly peaceful rise was laid bare by aggressive actions.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 27, 2013

Japan should take English lessons from Philippines

English is an official language of the Philippines but this does not mean that everyone understands or speaks English. However, it does mean that exposure to the language is so widespread that those who do speak it can communicate quite fluently.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2013

Shibuya-Roppongi night bus starts

Back in April, then-Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose proudly announced a grand scheme to launch a 24-hour bus service in the capital. Little did he imagine that his pet project would be getting off the ground just as he was resigning over a scandal.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 26, 2013

Budget limits trim NASA's plans for big projects

The Cassini spacecraft is in splendid shape as it circles Saturn. Conceived in the 1980s and launched in 1997, Cassini arrived at the gas-giant planet in 2004 and has continued to deliver stunning images of the jewel of the solar system.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan