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COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 30, 2014

TPP no longer about free trade

It appears that the Trans-Pacific Partnership will be degraded to a system of 'nonfree trade' that will increase the involvement of bureaucrats and inject huge subsidies to certain interest groups.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 28, 2014

Foreign labor key to Olympic gold

At a construction site in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, worker Fan Xiuyu says he's too busy to miss the wife and 6-year-old child he left behind in China.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 26, 2014

Security revamp mulls SDF role in policing coastal areas

The push to address low-intensity conflicts explores the idea of letting the SDF assume the policing functions of the Japan Coast Guard to respond more quickly.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
May 26, 2014

Letters: Kikokushijo encounter trouble upon re-entry

Japanese returnees and others discuss the trials and tribulations facing those educated abroad if and when they attempt to settle back in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 24, 2014

Ball and chain: gambling's darker side

With lawmakers debating whether to legalize gambling in time for the 2020 Olympics, we look at the other side of the coin — addiction
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2014

Forgetful of history amid today's territorial tiffs

For all China's stern injunctions to Japan to remember wartime history, its recent bumbling aggression in Southeast Asia suggests it also could use a refresher course.
Japan Times
PRESS / Publications
May 20, 2014

"Konnichiha, Nihongo! (Vietnamese Edition)" on sale now

Full of simple, ready-to-use expressions for living in Japan
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
May 18, 2014

Success of 'Abenomics' hinges on immigration policy

Foreign investment funds generally shun countries with shrinking populations, and this means “Abenomics” can't succeed unless Japan opens its door to more foreigners, an immigration expert warns.
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2014

Abe takes aim at Article 9

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he will try to change a long-standing constitutional interpretation so that Japan can exercise the right to 'collective self-defense.' His move would gut the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution without going through the amendment procedure.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 12, 2014

Maserati, others taking on Toyota at home

Maserati, Volkswagen and other foreign automakers are riding their best sales streak in years in Japan, as the economy improves and drivers like Taichi Matsukura try to stand out amid a sea of Toyotas.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
May 11, 2014

Returnees' experiences drive a will to give something back

The returnees profiled here highlight the potential that can be unlocked within individuals lucky enough to have the chance to live overseas and, crucially, receive the right support on their return to Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 2, 2014

Y!mobile to target smartphone users

Yahoo Japan prepares to launch a cellphone carrier in June that could pit it against parent SoftBank in the hunt for smartphone users.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Apr 27, 2014

Hawaiian XLeague player Alo finds much that's familiar in his adopted land

For most people around the world, football means just what the word suggests: a sport played primarily with the feet in which the ball is rarely touched with the hands.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 26, 2014

Asian paradox: Closer but cooler

The mini-Cold War between Japan and South Korea has kept Washington busy as it tries to forge closer security ties between its allies to offset the rise of China. Policymakers confront the Asian paradox of deepening distrust and conflict in tandem with widening economic and human exchanges. Relations...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2014

Defensive realignment with U.S. a balancing act for Abe

For Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, exercising the right to collective self-defense will help Japan become what he calls a "normal" country on a more equal footing with the United States.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 20, 2014

Sex slave issue still barrier to South Korea ties

Tokyo and Seoul are finally talking again, but any failure to resolve the resurgent compensation issues involving former “comfort women” may doom their progress.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2014

Military risks China's wrath with first step west in 40 years

Japan on Saturday began its first military expansion at the western end of its island chain in more than 40 years, breaking ground on a radar station on a tropical island off Taiwan.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 18, 2014

GSDF to militarize remote Yonaguni

The government is sending 100 Ground Self-Defense Force members and radar to its western-most outpost, a tropical island off Taiwan, in a deployment that risks angering China with ties between Asia's biggest economies already hurt by a dispute over nearby islets they both claim.
EDITORIALS
Apr 16, 2014

Avoid setting dangerous precedent

The Abe administration is trying to kill — by a mere Cabinet decision alone — a constitutional interpretation barring collective self-defense that has been backed by Diet debates for decades.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Apr 14, 2014

Renewables get raked over coals under Abe

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing the coal industry to expand sales at home and abroad, undermining hopes among environmentalists that he'd use the Fukushima nuclear disaster to switch the nation to renewables.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Apr 14, 2014

Australian EPA: Let them eat beef (but not cheese)

How did Japanese consumers fare with the new Australian EPA?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / OUR MAN IN TOKYO
Apr 8, 2014

Envoy living out his childhood dream

Although it was his childhood dream to become his country's ambassador to Japan, actually doing so was not an easy task for Abdulaziz Turkistani.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 7, 2014

New SDF unit shores up thinly protected cyberborders

Japan has embarked on an effort to improve cybersecurity as an ever-increasing number of sophisticated computer viruses threaten to endanger national security.
EDITORIALS
Apr 4, 2014

Opportunity to rethink whaling

The government should take the International Court of Justice's ruling against Japan's Antarctic whaling activities as a cue to work out ways to balance declining consumer demand for whale meat with the desire of some to preserve the nation's whaling tradition.
Japan Times
JAPAN / SYMPOSIUM ON ASEAN AND GLOBALIZATION
Mar 28, 2014

Opening labor market key to globalization

In order to move forward with globalization, Japanese companies must open up their closed labor market, an undertaking equivalent to a "cultural revolution" to overturn Japan Inc.'s human resource management style, a German scholar specializing in Japan said at a symposium in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 27, 2014

Abe ready for full-on military drive

With the launch next Monday of a special intraparty panel directly under his lead, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party are ready to kick off their full-fledged drive to reinterpret the Constitution to allow Japan to help defend its allies.
EDITORIALS
Mar 16, 2014

Dangers of collective self-defense

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's eagerness to drop the government's long-standing constitutional interpretation that Japan cannot exercise its right to collective self-defense is dangerous, as it could lead to military action abroad by the Self-Defense Forces.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2014

Defense talks with U.S. look at 'gray zone' clash scenarios

As Japan and the United States start talks on how to respond to armed incidents that fall short of a full-scale attack on Japan, officials in Tokyo worry that their ally is reluctant to send China a strong message of deterrence.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 9, 2014

Abe's right wing threatens to cause a flap for business

One danger from Japan's nationalist rhetoric of late is that it may incite extreme nationalist reactions in China and South Korea that further damage Japanese business interests.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 3, 2014

Loved abroad, hated at home: The art of Japanese tattooing

The perception gap between international views of irezumi and those of Japanese people dates back more than 150 years, to when foreigners first laid eyes on Japanese tattoos. Since that time, however, Japanese tattooists have influenced their foreign counterparts in remarkable ways — and sometimes vice-versa.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji