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COMMENTARY / Japan
May 14, 2013

Secretive trade talks aren't in the public interest

Both Japan and Australia need to inform the public as to what agreement may or may not have been reached secretly during current trade negotiations.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 14, 2013

Last refuge of weak leaders

Why have anti-Japanese sentiments resurfaced in China and South Korea in 2013 — just as Japan is trying to recover from two lost economic decades
SOCCER / J. League
May 13, 2013

J. League's opening game stirs memories 20 years on

Players involved in the J. League's first-ever game share their recollections of the beginning of a new era for Japanese soccer.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 13, 2013

Upper House poll to test public will on economy, TPP and Constitution

The House of Councilors election will be held within three months, and the focus is on whether the split in the Diet — where the two chambers of the legislature are controlled by different camps — will finally be mended.
JAPAN / Politics
May 11, 2013

Suga: Abe not in denial over 'wars of aggression' stance

Facing criticism and questions both at home and abroad numerous times in recent weeks, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga tried Friday to clarify, albeit indirectly, the government position that Japan waged wars of aggression in the 1930s and 1940s.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 11, 2013

Abe to take on intel-gathering taboos

As tensions with China and North Korea mount, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares to assail postwar political taboos and bolster Japan's intelligence-gathering capabilities.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
May 11, 2013

Head of international short film festival finds fertile ground up north

Toshiya Kubo consistently gravitates to the peripheral. As a teenager, while his friends rushed to buy Beatles records, Kubo searched for lesser-known musicians; the mainstream in media flocked to Tokyo while Kubo preferred Hokkaido, the prefecture of his birth; producers look toward feature films as...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 10, 2013

Nation fails to make most of refugees

Refugees in Japan are acutely underutilized and the nation should stop turning a blind eye to their skills and potential if it wants to generate economic growth, according to freelance journalist Kaoru Nemoto, who describes them as "professionals of survival."
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 10, 2013

Ideas to trump names on TEDxTokyo stage

TEDxTokyo is set to kick off its fifth annual event on May 11 at Hikarie Hall in Shibuya Ward, featuring a bevy of talented speakers, among whom are many you've likely never heard of.
Japan Times
WORLD / EU SPECIAL 2013
May 9, 2013

Free trade accord would be worthy of celebration

On March 25 this year, Japan and the European Union announced the launch of negotiations toward an EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement. Business organizations on both sides, not least the European Business Council in Japan (EBC), raised a cheer, relieved that at last work could begin on unlocking the true...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 6, 2013

'Abenomics' meets curse of the second 100 days — will the mirage last?

The accomplishments of the first 100 days in office are a favorite benchmark for democratic leaders. It's thought to offer a preview of his or her worldview, ambition and political fortune.
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2013

New opportunities for ADB

Once again a leader from Japan has the opportunity to bring the Asian Development Bank into the modern world and to elevate the organization above backroom deals.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
May 5, 2013

Yakuza links put nation at added nuclear risk

On April 15, two alleged terrorists in Boston killed three people, injured more than 170 others and terrified a nation — for about $100 it cost them to modify pressure cookers into bombs. We should be glad they didn't come to Japan, where they may have been able to explode a ready-made nuclear dirty...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 5, 2013

The right to die: letting individuals make the choice themselves

It was not the most elegant way to launch a national conversation about the right to die, but this past January Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, 72, certainly drew attention to the issue of terminal patients. Unfortunately he did so by saying that old people should "hurry up and die" to unburden the nation's...
Reader Mail
May 5, 2013

What was there to celebrate?

As for the front-page April 29 article "Sovereignty celebration hit by protests": Soon after the security treaty between Japan and the United States was furtively signed on Sept. 8, 1951, the San Francisco Peace Treaty was gloriously signed between Japan and the relevant countries.
JAPAN / Politics
May 3, 2013

Amending Constitution emerges as poll issue

As it marks its 66th anniversary, the fate of Japan's Constitution is set to become the focus of a political battle both in and beyond July's Upper House election.
JAPAN
May 2, 2013

60,000 sign petition in one week for fired Prada employee

As many as 60,000 people signed a petition in just a week to urge the Japanese arm of Italian fashion house Prada to withdraw its countersuit against a former employee who sued the company for firing her based on appearance.
CULTURE / Music / MONEY AND MUSIC
May 2, 2013

Universal-EMI is the dinosaur in the room

Last September, the European Commission and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission approved Universal Music Group's buyout of EMI. Since then, the two record companies have been merging their operations worldwide. In Japan, the combined Universal-EMI entity will have a market share of between 15 percent and...
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 1, 2013

Please, no more Yasukuni visits

For the White House to welcome Japan to the TPP talks and to tell China to back off on the Senkakus, while Japan's top leaders visit Yasukuni Shrine, is ridiculous.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
May 1, 2013

Female-friendly shared workspace a boon for moms

Yushi Katayama began to think seriously about leaving Japan after the birth of his son, Shota, in 2012.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 28, 2013

Seibu's Spilborghs relishing life experience of playing in NPB

The first thing the hero, or heroes, of a Seibu Lions home victory does is stand on a makeshift podium near the Lions dugout and conduct an interview that is broadcast on the Seibu Dome P.A. system for fans to hear.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 28, 2013

A Pacific idyll where some go to escape, others to connect

A woman from western Japan, who calls herself "Amy," couldn't find paradise in Thailand, Cuba, Brazil or French Polynesia, so with the last of her $300 savings she bought a one-way ticket from Tahiti to Rarotonga. Then, claiming to be penniless, she walked from the airport to the police station and...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 28, 2013

Abe-history: Premier again seems set on stoking controversy and ire

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is no stranger to historical controversy. Back in 2001 he pressured national broadcaster NHK to revise a documentary about the judgment of an international people's tribunal regarding the war responsibility of Emperor Hirohito (posthumously known as Emperor Showa). And in 2007...
Reader Mail
Apr 28, 2013

Survival as a nation ruled by law

Regarding the April 18 article "Pulvers wins Noma translation prize": I can't thank former Japan Times columnist Roger Pulvers enough for his great contribution of introducing Japan's literary legacy to the world. That said, with all due respect, my thoughts are a little different from his March 31 article,...

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?