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EDITORIALS
Feb 25, 2017

Ambitious curriculum guidelines

The education ministry's proposed curriculum guidelines for elementary and junior high schools may be overly ambitious.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Feb 22, 2017

Standing up to alienation on Tokyo's comedy scene

Japan is an easy place to foster self-delusion, and a failure at comedy is like a bucket of ice water to the face.
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
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 18, 2017

Wasteland: Tokyo grows on its own trash

Waste management authorities are working constantly to ensure that garbage in the metropolis is put to better use.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 18, 2017

'Confessions of a Yakuza': Vice and survival in postwar Tokyo

The author of the best-selling "Memories of Silk and Straw" brings the same documentary approach to bear in "Confessions of a Yakuza," a study of an aging gangster by the name of Eiji Ijichi.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Feb 18, 2017

Hachimura biding his time with top-ranked Gonzaga

The Gonzaga University men's basketball team is having a remarkable season — one of the best seasons in U.S. college basketball history. And freshman reserve forward Rui Hachimura has been along for the magical ride.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 15, 2017

Kremlin denies meddling in French election, targeting top candidate Macron with 'fake news'

The Kremlin denied on Tuesday that it was behind media and internet attacks on the campaign of French presidential front-runner Emmanuel Macron though his camp renewed the charges against Russian media and a hackers' group operating in Ukraine.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 13, 2017

Deja vu as currency traders forced to brush up on trade data skills

Currency traders accustomed to analyzing the Fed's dot plot and monthly U.S. jobs figures to divine the direction of the dollar are having to learn, or in some cases re-learn, a forgotten skill: how to scrutinize trade data.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 13, 2017

'Boy-band governor' surges in S. Korean presidential poll as Ban Ki-moon drops out of race

A provincial governor nicknamed after a leading boy-band is surging in South Korean presidential polls following former United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon's announcement that he would not run in an election that could come within months.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 11, 2017

Defiant Apa paints a target on its back

"The Japanese airplanes attacked, and a total of 1,200 men, roughly half the victims of Pearl Harbor, died in action on the USS Arizona. ... In general, the powder magazine at the ship's bottom is not induced to explode in a bombing and it would not have caught fire and blown up six minutes after the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 31, 2017

'Fear gauge' up as Trump travel curbs send stocks, dollar down sharply

Major world equity markets fell on Monday and the dollar slipped against the safe-haven yen after new U.S. immigration curbs stirred concerns about the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's policies on global trade and the economy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 25, 2017

Your school may be international, but what values does it teach?

If you are vested in an international school as a parent, student, member of staff or management, here are four questions to consider.
Japan Times
SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Jan 24, 2017

Wideouts Beckham, Bryant showing new maturity

Despite Odell Beckham Jr.'s recent misadventures, MAS believes the New York Giants receiver is in the process of ditching his diva persona.
BUSINESS / GAUGING TRUMP
Jan 24, 2017

With NAFTA under threat, Japanese automakers wary of Trump's trade stance

Business leaders around the world are closely watching the still-evolving policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, wondering how coming changes may affect their operations.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 22, 2017

Reversing Japanese names for Western use?

When did the Japanese start reversing the family-personal name order for Western consumption?
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 21, 2017

When pollen attacks! Experts reveal new approaches to combating hay fever

With the allergy season just around the corner, we examine the latest attempts to stem one of the country's most irritating problems.
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jan 18, 2017

The truth is still out there

"The truth is out there." This tagline to the sci-fi TV series "The X-Files" used to give me chills when it was first aired on Fox in 1993. The series touted an intriguing minimalist elegance — from its set designs to FBI agent Dana Scully's pristine white shirts and smart suits, contrasted with the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 15, 2017

Turning YouTube into yen: Can vloggers become the new foreign correspondents?

In 2015, Sharla of the YouTube channel Sharla In Japan found herself juggling two careers. Since 2011, the Canadian-born creator had been making videos about her life here to a quickly growing audience. But actually making them was tough, as she also had a day job.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 14, 2017

The little black screen we just can't take our eyes off

A great weight sits perched on us. It's called a head. It houses our brain and presents our face to the world. It comprises roughly 10 percent of our body weight. Heavy enough at the best of times, it grows heavier as it inclines forward. Held high, it's a 5.5-kilogram burden on the neck of a person...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 12, 2017

'Garage Rockin' Craze': 'It's not about fame, they want 15 minutes of fun'

Mario Cuzic used a video camera to face the question that keeps many expat English teachers up at night: What am I going to do before I head back home? His answer, "Garage Rockin' Craze," is a documentary on the history of Japan's underground garage rock scene that has nurtured internationally renowned...
LIFE / Language
Jan 9, 2017

Feel young again with the 'yokozuna' products of last year

Back in 1971, a newly launched newspaper covering retailing and distribution, named the 日経流通新聞 (Nikkei Ryūtsū Shimbun, subsequently named Nikkei Marketing Journal), was looking for a promotional idea. It came up with a real winner by mimicking a 相撲番付 (sumō banzuke, a stylized hierarchical...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 2, 2017

Japanese is affecting the English lexicon in new ways

From 'emoji' to 'KonMari,' the English langauge is getting a pleasant dose of Japanese culture.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 31, 2016

Japan and the world enter a long night of 'post-truth'

In an essay titled "The Future of Mankind," British philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) laid out three possibilities: "The end of human life," "a reversion to barbarism" or "unification of the world under a single government." He saw the third as the only alternative to either of the first two....
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 21, 2016

China uses island-building skills to develop Duterte's backyard

Among the first to gain from Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's China pivot could be the people who live on rickety wooden stilt-houses in a waterlogged area of his hometown of Davao City.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 19, 2016

Japanese buzzwords capture the zeitgeist of then, now and what's to come

Take a journey through the buzzwords of years past and present — and hazard a guess at what's coming in 2017.

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