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COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Mar 16, 2015

Japanese activists fight against the tide to save whales and dolphins

Homegrown foes of dolphin hunts and 'research whaling' face off against a daunting array of powerful interests.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 14, 2015

Indonesian preview for pending Abe statement?

Next month Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will attend the 60th commemoration of the 1955 Bandung Conference of Asian and African leaders in Jakarta.
Japan Times
JAPAN / UN WORLD CONFERENCE ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
Mar 14, 2015

Using technology to lessen disaster risk

Technology and education are both necessary to reduce the risk of disasters.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 10, 2015

Abe's new policy on foreign aid risks playing with fire

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is playing with fire in declaring that Japan may give non-lethal assistance to foreign military forces.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 9, 2015

Tohoku pins rebound hopes to atom smasher

As the disaster-hit Tohoku region struggles to recover from the deadly tsunami four years ago, many residents have hopes for what is considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to galvanize the area's resurrection.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 7, 2015

Where will 'proactive pacifism' lead us?

Seventy years after World War II ended, should we be thinking about war or about peace?
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 7, 2015

Centennial lessons for Abe from the '21 Demands'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and fellow revisionists prefer to think that Japan's 20th century imperialist aggression has been misunderstood. But on this score they are isolated not only from the international community, but also within Japan.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Mar 7, 2015

Flight of the swan offers natural lesson

Each year the "angels of winter" wing in and out of Japan. They arrive, clamoring, on the gnarled back of autumn storms, their wings and the first snowflakes flurry together as if they, too, are an integral part of the changing season.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2015

Two kamikaze pilots, two late reprieves, one pacifist view

Hisashi Tezuka knew his life had been spared when he heard the Emperor's voice crackling through the wireless.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Feb 4, 2015

Readers' letters: bursting bubbles on gaijin life and the Hague child-abduction treaty

A couple of readers' mails in response to recent Just Be Cause columns by Debito Arudou.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 1, 2015

Crisis awakens Japanese to shortcomings, realities

The hostage crisis that ended so tragically has taught Japan about the reality of life in a strife-filled part of the world.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 31, 2015

Diplomatic blundering on hostages and history

Japan's latest hostage crisis has exposed shortcomings in Japan's public diplomacy and raises questions about the advice Prime Minister Shinzo Abe received in publicly announcing $200 million in humanitarian aid to help those displaced by conflict with the Islamic State group.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 24, 2015

Smoke signals: Can Tokyo ever go smoke-free?

Japan has long held a reputation of being something of a paradise for smokers. Tobacco is, at least by Western standards, relatively cheap and people can still light up in many of the country's restaurants and bars. In fact, before the turn of the century smokers could pretty much puff away on a cigarette...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 22, 2015

Abe forced to walk a fine line in oil-rich Middle East

The seizure of two Japanese nationals by the Islamic State militant group is raising questions about Japan's Middle East policies and the effectiveness of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's brand of personal diplomacy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / DAVOS SPECIAL 2015
Jan 21, 2015

Spreading culture through cuisine

"One of the easiest and most effective ways to understand a culture is through its food," said Yoshiko Nishihama, owner of Zurich's Nishi Shop, a store specializing in Japanese imports and an affiliated company of Japan Restaurant Bimi in Zurich. "That's why, as representatives of Japan, we take our...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jan 17, 2015

'Refugees should have the same opportunities in life as everyone else'

What do Nobel laureate Albert Einstein, composer Frederic Chopin, war photographer Robert Capa and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud have in common? They were all refugees.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 10, 2015

The people's Emperor speaks truth to power

Emperor Akihito began the new year with a statement that pointedly referred to two major controversies: war memory and nuclear energy. His thoughts on these demonstrate why he is so admired by the public and underscore the crucial role the 81-year-old monarch plays in contemporary Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Jan 7, 2015

Never mind the facts — logic alone demolishes 'comfort women' deniers' case

Never mind all the living and documentary proof — the idea that 'comfort women' were somehow exempt from wartime coercion and organization is absurd.
JAPAN / 70 YEARS OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY
Jan 4, 2015

Patriotic few battle addiction to peace

The Japanese school system's treatment of modern history is so slipshod that having a rational debate on the need for war is nearly impossible, young nationalists say.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 3, 2015

Revisiting controversy in the Year of the Sheep

The year 2015 will not be a quiet one for Japan or its people as the region marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the Fifteen Year War (1931-45), the Pacific War (1941-45) and Japanese colonialism in Korea and Taiwan.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Jan 3, 2015

Debate over WW1 role; 21 Nazis snatched off Yokohama; new Red China policy adopted; Nagasaki mayor shot

100 YEARS AGOTuesday, Jan. 26, 1915
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 1, 2015

Hate, muzzle and poll: a top 10 of issues for 2014

A recap of the top 10 human-rights news events affecting non-Japanese (NJ) in Japan last year.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Jan 1, 2015

Readers' letters: Roppongi, Ferguson, 'Massan,' Julien Blanc and more

Some emails received in response to Community articles at the tail end of 2014.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 27, 2014

Business as usual or an energy revolution?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party won a snap election two weeks ago that caught opposition parties and the public off guard. The result was a record low turnout in which the LDP lost several seats, but kept a two-thirds majority in the Lower House.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / SYMPOSIUM ON EUROZONE
Dec 24, 2014

Experts examine eurozone economy

The European economy is in a complicated situation as deflationary risks loom and the effects of quantitative easing are questioned. Other factors add to the risk as Russia, a resurgent power that wields strong influence on the eurozone, is suffering from economic sanctions over its actions in Ukraine....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 23, 2014

Still haunted by WWII, Asia looks for Abe atonement in 2015

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's election victory means he will helm Japan into the 70th anniversary of its World War II defeat in 2015, a watershed year that will set the tone for Tokyo's fraught ties with Beijing and Seoul.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 20, 2014

The good, and not-so-good, reads from 2014

I was lucky enough to read a number of good and informative books on Japan in 2014, but also read my share of clunkers.
JAPAN / History
Dec 9, 2014

Historian seeks to clear embassy of Pearl Harbor 'sneak attack' infamy

Dec. 7 has never been an ordinary day for Takeo Iguchi. On that day 73 years ago, when Imperial Japanese Navy warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor, he was in Washington, the 11-year-old son of Sadao Iguchi, counselor at the Japanese Embassy there.
EDITORIALS
Dec 4, 2014

Weighing Abe's Asian diplomacy

Japanese voters should consider the results of the Abe adminisration's diplomatic moves with regard to South Korea and China, when they cast their votes Dec. 14.

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