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COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 31, 2014

APEC diplomacy could help thaw chilly ties

Next month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing looks like a high-risk enterprise, as it is not even clear if Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Park Geun-hye will agree to meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for discussions aimed at lowering tensions in the region.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2014

Why Russian jets are testing NATO's airspace

The danger of the new Cold War is that there is complete disagreement between Russia on one side and the U.S. and EU on the other as to the dividing lines. For most Russians, the borders created by the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 aren't a given.
WORLD
Oct 31, 2014

Islamic State fighters vow safe passage, then execute 220 Iraqis from opposing Sunni tribe

Islamic State militants executed at least 220 Iraqis in retaliation against a tribe's opposition to their takeover of territory west of Baghdad, security sources and witnesses said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 30, 2014

Kunisaki Art Festival shows works worth the hike

To visit Antony Gormley's "Another Time" — a life-sized iron figure which looks eastward across Oita Prefecture's Sento district of Kunisaki from atop a mountain ledge — is a breathtaking experience. Not just because it's a stong piece of art or that the location offers a stunning vista of verdant...
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2014

Yamagata co-op markets bank account that offers love interest

Deposit your money at a bank in northern Japan and you could get more than interest payments. You might end up getting married.
WORLD
Oct 30, 2014

Kim Jong Un extends family penchant for purges to keep grip on power

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shares a family trait with his father and grandfather: a penchant for purges to hold onto absolute power.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Oct 29, 2014

Japan Basketball Association chief Maruo says new league will launch in 2016 despite failure to meet FIBA deadline

Despite facing an expected suspension from FIBA, Japan Basketball Association acting president Mitsuru Maruo insisted that the country's governing body would not stop trying to address and fix its problems, including the unification of the nation's two men's top leagues.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / ANALYSIS
Oct 29, 2014

Town divided after Sendai nuclear plant restart clears another hurdle

The city hosting the Sendai nuclear plant in Kagoshima Prefecture has decided to approve a resumption of operations at the facility, highlighting a conflict between people who benefit from the largesse of the industry and those who do not.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 29, 2014

High drama at Festival/Tokyo

News in March that 38-year-old Chiaki Soma had suddenly been removed from the post of program director of Festival/Tokyo, which she had held since it started in 2009, set many theater lovers worrying about the future of the flagship drama event whose stature at home and abroad had only grown with her...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 29, 2014

Town hall meetings: Abandon logic, all ye who enter here

The first thing you want to do when you get to the meeting room, whether it be summer or winter, is open all the windows. This is because you'll have to throw all logic out the window. Open as many as possible, 'cause there's a lot of logic to heave.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2014

Confidence key to female success, say panelists at Tokyo forum

Women's advances in society are now a "must" in Japan, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration pledging to make every woman shine. But many still find it difficult to break the glass ceiling in a male-dominated society —mainly due to their lack of self-confidence, speakers at a recent Tokyo...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 28, 2014

OK Go shares a love of Japan with fans

'Sharing' used to be a dirty word in the music industry, but OK Go have been instrumental in changing that.
COMMENTARY
Oct 28, 2014

Time to end American financial repression

A generation of development economists owe Ronald McKinnon, who died earlier this month, a huge intellectual debt for his insight that governments like the U.S. that engage in free-market rhetoric to channel funds toward themselves hamper financial development.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 28, 2014

New environment minister admits discrepancies in funding reports

Adding to the rash of scandals suddenly plaguing the Abe Cabinet, another new minister admits there are accounting discrepancies in the political funding reports of one of his support groups.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Oct 27, 2014

St. Mary's school in Tokyo to investigate child sex abuse after teacher's rape confession

St. Mary's International School is setting up a panel to conduct an internal investigation into reported cases of child sexual abuse — including one confirmed case of rape — at the school in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2014

Egypt rebuilding, backstage

Egypt is marching, slowly but surely, away from the omnipresent and omnipotent state that has dominated Egyptian economic life for many decades.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 27, 2014

After victory in key Iraqi town, Shiite militias take revenge

After helping government forces break the Islamic State's grip over a strategic town just south of Baghdad on Saturday, Shiite militias decided it was time for payback.
Events / BULLETIN BOARD
Oct 27, 2014

Requiem booklet to remember audience's loved ones

Musica Poetica, a Tokyo-based music group specializing in the Protestant music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and Heinrich Schuetz (1585-1672), will present a requiem concert Nov. 14 in Mitaka, Tokyo, for which members of the audience can have the names of their deceased loved ones printed free...
JAPAN / Politics / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Oct 26, 2014

Kansai's fears of new law no state secret

With less than two months to go until the new designated state secrets law comes into force, how, exactly, it will work in practice is the subject of extensive debate and concern. Much of the commentary focuses on how the fundamental rights of individuals will be affected.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Oct 26, 2014

Float like a butterfly: a dog named Glaccolo

Glaccolo is fine with children, dogs, cats and cars. Friendly and outgoing, she is also quiet and in good health.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 25, 2014

Dead reckoning in the haunts of Honancho

Halloween in Tokyo rarely gets scarier than the price of imported pumpkins, but I've heard that Honancho — a terminal station on the Marunouchi subway line — hosts an uber-spooky obakeyashiki (ghost house). Navigating the station's dank, barely-lit stairwell at Exit 2, I'm already apprehensive.
BASKETBALL
Oct 25, 2014

Veteran big man Moss joins Sendai after departure from Niigata

Adrian Moss, a member of the University of Florida's 2006 NCAA Division I championship squad, has switched teams in the Eastern Conference.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 25, 2014

Hawks hurler Standridge 'excited' to face ex-teammates in Japan Series

Jason Standridge draped a towel around his neck, gathered his cleats under his left arm, and descended down the stairs in the dugout on the third base side on his way toward the visitor's locker room on Friday night at Koshien Stadium, the day before the Japan Series.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 25, 2014

Tigers energized by enthusiastic fan support on eve of Japan Series showdown with Hawks

The path leading out of the west exit of Koshien Station is adorned on both sides with yellow and white posters urging the Hanshin Tigers to finish as the No. 1 team in Japan. Fans in Osaka and the surrounding areas are cheering on Tigers players whenever they see them, and if you shop at the right grocery...
Japan Times
JAPAN / HOTEL SPECIAL 2014
Oct 24, 2014

Renovating an iconic hotel

One of Japan's — if not the world's — most iconic hotels, and a member of the select luxury hotel collection, The Leading Hotels of the World, the venerable Hotel Okura Tokyo will from September 2015 embark on a renovation of its main building with completion of the new facilities scheduled for spring...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2014

Pyongyang uses live bait to lure Washington

For new talks to succeed with North Korea, the U.S. must expend more energy getting South Korea and Japan, barely on speaking terms, to get along, and end its policy of doing nothing while the North becomes more dangerous.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years