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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2014

America's gun culture and the manly virtues

As growing economic autonomy among American women reshapes breadwinning and gender roles, it's getting tough out there for tough guys. So it doesn't take much imagination to grasp the appeal of holding a gun to some men.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Dec 25, 2014

Japan Times Advisory Board serves up brickbats, praise for newspaper's coverage

Ichiro Fujisaki, who formerly served as Japan's ambassador to the United States, praised the paper for its "readability." He said he senses that the editors try to choose phrases and words that are easy for Japanese readers to understand.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 24, 2014

Top 10 films of 2014: the year of the brilliant bad girls

This was the year of the bad girl, in a manner of speaking. The best movies featured women who went outside the cinematic box of how women should behave and did all sorts of interesting and/or inexplicable things. As for men, their stories were locked into classic modes of masculinity, and in this sense,...
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Dec 24, 2014

Standing up to the country's flagship carrier

An airplane crash in 1977 would inspire one JAL employee, Taeko Uchida, to get serious about union activism in a way that would decades later find her leading a legal and labor battle against Japan's flagship carrier.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 24, 2014

Mastering the art of incense takes longer than you think

If you find all this incense as intriguing as I did and are ready to sign up to become a master in the Way of Fragrance, then I suggest you start right away, if not 20 years ago.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 24, 2014

Mitani sidelined by Abe as GPIF pension fund enters new era

When Takahiro Mitani's term as head of the world's largest retirement fund finishes in March, so too will the old era of Japanese pension management.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 24, 2014

Take the family out for a fancy holiday dinner — without the worry

Picking just the right spot for a holiday meal with children in tow can be a tricky affair; one that requires choosing a destination with good food, ambience and just enough room and background noise for junior to play — and stop you from pulling out your hair.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 23, 2014

First Air Jordans were banned by NBA for clashing with team colors

This is the third installment from Hall of Fame writer Sam Smith's new book "There Is No Next: NBA Legends on the Legacy of Michael Jordan."
EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 2014

Protecting sexual minorities' rights

A Japanese civic group survey has the ruling Liberal Democratic Party standing out from other parties in its failure to view issues involving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual people as human rights problems.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 22, 2014

Real costs of nuclear power

Until now, Japan's power industry and the government have emphasized the lower energy costs from having nuclear plants generate the nation's electricity. And until now, consumers and business circles have bought into that myth.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2014

Now, why not return Guantanamo to Havana?

To improve on President Barack Obama's decision to re-establish normal relations with Havana, the U.S. should return Guantanamo to Cuba, a measure that is long overdue.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 22, 2014

Jeers, apologies and silence: Japan's 2014 in quotes

First of all, we're sorry. Everybody is sorry. This was the year that everyone apologized and everyone was sorry about something. The Asahi Shimbun was sorry so many times (even when maybe they shouldn't have been) that we're omitting them from the list. There's not enough space.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 21, 2014

Why the U.S.-Cuba talks had to be kept secret

When reporters needled her for details of delicate Israeli-Syrian talks 15 years ago, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright replied: "Sometimes talks, like mushrooms, do better in the dark."
LIFE
Dec 20, 2014

Public protest in Japan: Power to the people?

"Freedom of assembly and association as well as speech, press and all other forms of expression are guaranteed." — Article 21, Constitution of Japan
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Dec 20, 2014

Christian missionaries find Japan a tough nut to crack

My local supermarket plays Christmas music. Yours probably does too. My neighbors have Christmas trees. So do yours, no doubt. At this time of year, in the major cities if not nationwide, you might almost think you were in a Christian country.
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Dec 20, 2014

Rage against the capital's (bureaucratic) machine

As the Dec. 14 Lower House election demonstrated, media analysis of political campaigning typically focuses on personalities and parties. In recent years, official manifests serve as TV talking points as pundits — be they boorish young comedians or serious, sober-minded, gray-haired fellows — debate...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 20, 2014

Cuba's Raul Castro sees support surge as he steps out of brother's shadow, brings historic changes

Stepping out of his legendary brother's shadow, President Raul Castro has scored a diplomatic triumph and a surge in popular support with the deal that ends decades of open hostility with the United States.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: TECH
Dec 19, 2014

Send out New Year's cards from your smartphone, and much more

Showcasing a rice cooker with a twist, a compact air purifier, a portable charger for all your devices and a New Year's card-making app.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 19, 2014

Australia gingerly mulls Japanese submarine offer

Australia is considering buying top-secret technology from Japan to build a fleet of next-generation submarines, a move that would risk reigniting diplomatic tensions with China that have only recently died down.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 19, 2014

Obama has power to further weaken Cuba sanctions

President Barack Obama has the power to further weaken U.S. sanctions against the Communist-run island nation beyond the normalization of relations with Havana that he announced on Wednesday, experts said.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 18, 2014

JFA retains Aguirre for Asian Cup

Javier Aguirre will manage Japan at the Asian Cup in January despite being named as a defendant in a match-fixing case filed by Spanish prosecutors earlier this week, the Japan Football Association confirmed on Thursday.
WORLD
Dec 18, 2014

Cuba detente a smokin' deal? Close, but no cigar

American cigar smokers anxiously flicked their lacquered lighters this morning when news broke that President Barack Obama would be easing the decades-old restrictions on Cuban travel and goods. Since 1962, Cuba's legendary cigars have been banned from the shelves of American tobacconists and many travelers...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 18, 2014

Stephen Collins admits sexual contact with young girls: People magazine

Actor Stephen Collins, who played the family pastor in the television series "7th Heaven," has admitted to having inappropriate sexual contact with three underage girls decades ago, People magazine reported on Wednesday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Dec 18, 2014

In magazine interview, Obama reveals experiences with racism, including being mistaken for a waiter, valet

As national protests over the death of unarmed black men by white police officers pushed race relations to the top of the headlines, President Barack Obama revealed his own experiences of racism, including being mistaken for a waiter and a parking valet.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 17, 2014

Disney's 'Big Hero 6' reassembles Japan without the 'cultural cringe'

So we've all heard that it's hard to be a woman in Japan, but being a Japanese geek comes with its own troubles. For some, it's a life lived in front of glowing screens, a dateless existence spent in a six-mat tatami room with posters of idol group AKB48 plastered on the walls. But here's Disney's "Big...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 17, 2014

Elena: 'A face permanently set in lines of disappointment'

A Russian friend once defined the Russian temperament with one word: "heavy." That certainly holds for the characters in "Elena," an excellent tale of a Russian family struggling to navigate a world defined by Western capitalism and the supposed magical powers afforded by digital technology. A cold,...

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person