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COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Feb 23, 2017

In case you missed them: a year of responses to Community stories, part 1

The first in a series of selections of unpublished letters about Community stories from the year just passed.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2017

Japanese offer mixed views of foreign health care

Japanese people who have received medical care overseas have mixed views of other countries' health systems, according to an online straw poll conducted by The Japan Times.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Feb 19, 2017

For African-American ‘idol’ Amina du Jean, difference is a double-edged sword

Amina du Jean been in Japan for only 2u00bd years, but in that time has become a bona fide idol, joined a J-idol group and even branched off into a bit of gravure (bikini) modeling.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 4, 2017

Mattis clarifies U.S. defense pledge, stays mum on host-nation support

Japan breathes a sigh of relief after visiting U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis reaffirms America's commitment to the bilateral security treaty and keeps quiet about host-nation support.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 21, 2017

Media deployed to fight history wars in East Asia

At a recent conference funded by the Toshiba Foundation on the media's role in representing the shared wartime past in East Asia, scholars and journalists gathered at Cambridge University to assess the current state of play.
BUSINESS / DAVOS SPECIAL 2017
Jan 17, 2017

Uncertain future fed by growing populism, protectionism

The year 2017 started with a significant level of uncertainties in global politics and economies — certainly true for the world economies over the last decade since the global financial crisis in 2007 — after the surprising outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / DAVOS SPECIAL 2017
Jan 17, 2017

Improved innovation through gender equality

Gender equality is one of the areas that the World Economic Forum strongly emphasizes as the organization, which has been publishing the annual Global Gender Gap Report since 2006, believes that half of the world's talent — women — should be better integrated into the workforce to boost the world...
JAPAN / Media
Jan 7, 2017

Inada's Yasukuni visit sinks Pearl Harbor gesture

If Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meant what he said about the "power of reconciliation" on his Dec. 27 visit to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, he should sack Defense Minister Tomomi Inada who visited Yasukuni Shrine two days later. If he does nothing, then his visit will be reduced to an empty public relations...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 27, 2016

In visiting Pearl Harbor, Abe again shows his pragmatic side

Upon returning to power in 2012, Abe has demonstrated his pragmatism to governance numerous times by adopting positions that both appeal to, but also upset his conservative base.
JAPAN / History
Dec 26, 2016

Abe's Pearl Harbor visit will do little to dispel theories persisting over the 1941 attack

The die-hard conspiracy theories on Pearl Harbor will continue to stir interest on both sides of the Pacific regardless of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 24, 2016

Is Abe the wrong messenger for Pearl Harbor?

In the American lexicon, "Pearl Harbor" is synonymous with treachery and betrayal. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, pundits invoked the term in ways that have taken many Japanese aback, surprised that the old associations linger and uncomfortable with the wartime incident being...
JAPAN / JAPANESE IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Dec 19, 2016

Playing a leading role in fostering peace and diplomacy

On Dec. 18, 1956, on a freezing winter's day, the ceremony for Japan's admission into the U.N. was held at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Witnessing the ceremony, I felt the sincerity and warmth of other nations in remarks made by representatives of the countries that welcomed Japan's return...
Japan Times
JAPAN / JAPANESE IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Dec 19, 2016

Nation committed to foster more globally minded youth

Over many decades, Japan has contributed greatly in the areas of global cooperation and coordination, through its generous donations of funds to the U.N. Despite such generosity, the number of Japanese working for international institutions remains low and has been increasing only marginally over the...
Japan Times
CULTURE
Dec 1, 2016

Tokyo Comic Con calls on Hollywood's big guns for star power

As we sit down for an interview, Tokyo Comic Convention Committee Chairman Mitsuaki Munegumi casually points to a glass case in the center of the room.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 26, 2016

The hidden heart of Natsume Soseki

Dec. 9 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Natsume Soseki (1867-1916), a novelist widely regarded as being the one of the greatest writers of modern Japan. Events commemorating this anniversary have been held throughout 2016 but, in case you think it will all be over by Christmas, another milestone...
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Nov 21, 2016

Let's discuss what Trump means for Asia

The billionaire businessman represents uncharted waters, a situation that could undermine the Japan-U.S. alliance and upend regional security in Asia.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 12, 2016

Family debate: same-sex parents?

With LGBT relationships starting to be recognized by authorities, questions are now being asked about whether such couples should have children.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2016

President Trump: Japanese-Americans, Japanese in U.S. weigh in

People of Japanese ancestry speak up about their impressions of President-elect Donald Trump.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Oct 28, 2016

The faces of the Tokyo International Film Festival 2016

The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival, which opened on Tuesday, is screening a variety of cinema from all over the world at various venues in Tokyo. The festival runs until Nov. 3, when the jury will announce the winning films from the competition.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WORLD FORUM ON SPORT AND CULTURE
Oct 19, 2016

Business leaders discuss economic impact of sport

Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2016

80% of Japanese fear military clash around Senkakus, poll finds

A Pew Research Center poll finds 80 percent of Japanese respondents are concerned the territorial row could erupt into conflict.
Japan Times
JAPAN / TICAD VI SPECIAL
Aug 26, 2016

Summit seeks expanded investment and development

African nations and Japan will be seeking a new type of win-win partnership at the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) that will be held for the first time in Africa when it kicks off in Nairobi on Aug. 27 amid uncertain situations in Japan and the region.
Japan Times
JAPAN / TICAD VI SPECIAL
Aug 26, 2016

Expanding business with Africa

Africa is a dynamic and growing market, one that has steadily drawn the interest of Japanese companies across all major business fields in recent years. As we approach the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) to be held on Aug. 27 and 28 in Nairobi, I would like to use...
Japan Times
JAPAN / TICAD VI SPECIAL
Aug 26, 2016

Transfer to heavy industry is critical to future expansion

The significance of the industrial sector to national and regional development is very clear. Industrial enterprises diversify the economic activity of the agrarian-dominated production structure of our African countries that is mostly at a subsistence level. The share of the industrial sector, including...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 15, 2016

Modernizing the Imperial house's succession law

The government should find ways of modernizing the Imperial succession law so that the Emperor can abdicate if he so desires.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 6, 2016

Climate change threatens nation's agriculture

Dark clouds cast gloom over future domestic food production as global temperatures rise
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jul 31, 2016

For Abe, it will always be about the Constitution

Nobody here on the Community page has weighed in on Japan's Upper House election last July 10, so JBC will have a go.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 23, 2016

Bushido: The samurai code goes to war

In a scene from the 1957 film "The Bridge on the River Kwai," a haughty British Col. in a prisoner-of-war camp confronts the camp's Japanese commandant. Citing the Geneva Convention as justification, he argues that his officers should not be forced into manual labor, which makes the commandant furious...

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