Search - japan

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 26, 2013

Abe's visit to Yasukuni to further incite hard-liners in China, South Korea

Although the U.S. had effectively urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to refrain from visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, he goes anyway, ensuring Japan's relations with China and South Korea will further sour.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2013

Abe visits Yasukuni, angering Beijing and Seoul

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's unannounced visit to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine triggers immediate censure from China and South Korea.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 25, 2013

Top billings of 2013

Although all Japan's 50 reactors have been shut down since September, cleaning up in the wake of the March 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is making very slow progress and tens of thousands of people still live in temporary accommodation or are internally displaced. In addition,...
BASEBALL
Dec 25, 2013

Tanaka given chance to pursue dream in majors

Major League Baseball fans and executives finally found what they were looking for under the Christmas tree.
EDITORIALS
Dec 24, 2013

The Emperor's call for peace

Emperor Akihito on Monday celebrated his 80th birthday, becoming the second emperor to have passed this milestone while on the throne, following his father, Emperor Showa.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 23, 2013

From Mikimoto's pearls to ones of publicity wisdom

Having invented a method for creating cultured pearls in 1893, Meiji Era entrepreneur Kokichi Mikimoto set about selling them to the world. Apparently not one for understatement, he once announced he hoped to "adorn the necks of all women around the world with pearls."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 23, 2013

Secrets, lies, gaffes, glory: 2013 in quotes

A mix of scandals, achievements, political missteps and commemorations highlighted 2013. Here's a rundown of the quotations that shaped the Year of the Snake.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 21, 2013

Protecting nature to protect ourselves

This month's column takes an intrepid look at efforts to expand protected areas in Japan and worldwide, areas that are essential to conserve biological diversity and mitigate natural disasters.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 20, 2013

Dictatorship of the majority

Japanese civic movements conspicuously picked up steam to oppose the state secrets bill just before its enactment into law, illustrating that many Japanese voters become critical of the Abe administration when it takes up issues other than the economy.
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Dec 20, 2013

Odds on Ando making Olympic team for Sochi very long

"Do you believe in miracles?"
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Dec 17, 2013

Looking at 2013's Japanese social-media scene

In the Japanese social-networking scene, Facebook still isn't dominating the way it does in the United States and many other countries. There are several other networks in Japan, both old and new, that occupy unique positions, though 2013 was an unusually quiet year, with no big takeovers among social-networking...
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Dec 16, 2013

Kobe beef

Dear Alice,
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 16, 2013

Radioactive waste: a now and forever threat?

In recent months, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has rekindled the public debate on atomic power, drawing attention to perhaps the most critical question about its future: Is there a safe place and way to dispose of high-level radioactive waste?
Japan Times
SOCCER
Dec 16, 2013

Zaccheroni aiming for stars with World Cup ambitions

National team manager Alberto Zaccheroni on Monday refused to put a limit on Japan's ambitions at next summer's World Cup, but stopped short of claiming his team can win the trophy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 15, 2013

To stay here long term, visa seekers need to prove they can pay their way

From finding a residence status that suits your circumstances to signing up a sponsor, getting a visa to stay in Japan for the long term can be a challenge.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2013

Celebrity stands up to talent agency 'stalker'

Miss International, Ikuu00admi You00adshiu00admau00adtsu, files criminal and civil charges against one of Japan's most powerful talent agencies' executives for stalking her and attempting to ruin her career.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2013

Tokyo has no gripe with Seoul's expanded ADIZ

Tokyo has accepted Seoul's expanded air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, Japanese officials said Monday, noting that unlike China's abruptly declared ADIZ, South Korea's won't infringe on the freedom of flight in airspace over the high seas under international law.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 9, 2013

Korean volunteers put the K into kizuna

One volunteer group, based at Tokyo's Meiji University, is called Kizuna International; the other, at Kyoto University, is Kizuna From Kyoto. The coincidences do not end there: Both groups' leaders share the same surname and both are ethnic Koreans.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 9, 2013

Abe gets Toyota, Hitachi help in push for wage gains

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged companies to increase wages faster than gains in the cost of living to break the legacy of 15 years of deflation, and praised Toyota Motor Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. for pledging to help.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 9, 2013

Amazon tries 'selling' Cyber Monday

Leave it to the country's online retail giant to create Japan's version of America's latest Christmas shopping spree.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Dec 6, 2013

Writer inducted into intricacies of country life shares her story

Home for Rebecca Otowa is a 350-year-old farmhouse nestled on the edge of a tiny village in Shiga Prefecture, where generations of her husband's family have lived. It is a lifestyle she has grown to cherish since arriving in rural Kansai as a bride more than 30 years ago.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2013

Protesters voice alarm over state secrets bill

More than 1,200 protesters gathered outside the Diet building Thursday in a last-ditch effort to thwart the controversial state secrets bill, which the Diet is expected to pass Friday.
CULTURE / Music / MONEY AND MUSIC
Dec 3, 2013

Spotify, Rdio and what didn't happen in 2013

This was supposed to be the year that changed the Japanese music business.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2013

Opening the kitchen to foreign chefs

As a foreigner aspiring to become a "washoku" (Japanese food) chef, South Korean student Seo Dong-young faces a dilemma. The 23-year-old student at a Tokyo culinary school wants to stay here and work after graduation, but unfortunately that isn't an option.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 2, 2013

Between dreams and discrimination, Japanese build new lives in the City by the Bay

How are modern-day Japanese immigrants experiencing life in America — and in particular, San Francisco? What are their dreams, their struggles and rewards? And how do they handle the need to belong, the ceaseless negotiation between assimilation and roots?
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2013

China dons provocateur suit

However powerful President Xi Jinping might have become, China's declaration of a vast air-defense identification zone does not add to its store of 'soft power.'
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2013

U.S. may scale down its global policing: experts

Political, demographic and diplomatic changes in the U.S. during the past decades suggest the country will probably continue to be polarized into Democrat and Republican extremes, and the superpower will probably continue to rely on immigrants for economic growth and will likely play the global policeman...
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Dec 1, 2013

Does China ADIZ take focus off 'real enemy'?

China has one of the largest and most consequential militaries in the world, but how Beijing thinks about its military and makes military decisions is largely a mystery to the outside world. The People's Liberation Army is technically attached to the Chinese Communist Party, rather than to the Chinese...

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’