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LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 6, 2014

The sakura front sweeps across Japan

Spring — the season of sakura (桜, cherry blossoms) — has finally arrived and the entire country has been transformed into a fairyland tinted pale pink.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Apr 6, 2014

Read up on ways that can help us learn English

Public libraries are important community resources across Japan, but while English is taught from fifth grade, those hoping to find a ready stash of English-language reading material may be disappointed.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2014

Don't let Cold War warriors reboot their dated thinking

The hundred think tanks that bloomed, and the thousands of mediocre academics and pseudo-experts who found easy employment in the universities and the media, feel obliged to make themselves relevant and important again after Russian President Vladimir Putin's land grab. Don't let them reboot the Cold War.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 5, 2014

First wiring diagram of mouse's brain unveiled

A year to the day after President Barack Obama announced a $100 million "BRAIN Initiative" to accelerate discoveries in how gray matter thinks, feels, remembers and sometimes succumbs to devastating diseases, scientists on Wednesday said they had achieved a key milestone toward that goal.
Reader Mail
Apr 5, 2014

A hyped story never trumps truthful report

Regarding Michael Hoffman’s March 30 Big in Japan column titled “The truth is, we have gotten too used to lying” [which concerns the media frenzy over the suspicion that Dr. Haruko Obokata manipulated data in her research papers describing a new, simple method for producing pluripotent cells]:...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 4, 2014

Abe may reduce tax benefits for women

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's reflation campaign last year helped draw the most women to work since 1991. He now plans to add a stick to that carrot, scaling back tax benefits for spouses with limited earnings.
LIFE / Digital
Apr 4, 2014

Obama's promise to prevent NSA spying rings hollow

Last week in the Hague, Barack Obama seemed to have suddenly remembered the oath he swore on his inauguration as president — that stuff about preserving, protecting and defending the constitution of the United States. At any rate, he announced that the NSA would end the "bulk collection" of telephone...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 4, 2014

Baby facilities take the tantrums out of shopping

"Toddler" and "shopping" are two words that are likely to instill instant fear into the heart of all but the most unflappable of parents.
COMMENTARY
Apr 4, 2014

Scotland: a nation, not a region

For Scotland, independence — the question in September's referendum — is about democracy not nationalism. It's about righting the wrongs of a country living its life as a region.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2014

The New Yorker is bad for cartooning

Writer-cartoonist says The New Yorker magazine prints a lot of awful cartoons, yet uses its reputation in order to elevate terrible work as the profession's platinum standard.
TENNIS
Apr 3, 2014

Japan, Czech Republic turn to replacements in Davis Cup tie

The Czech Republic will continue its bid for a third straight Davis Cup title against an undermanned Japan this weekend in their World Group quarterfinal tie at Ariake Colosseum.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 3, 2014

Farmers bet on steaks twice the price of silver

Hirotaka Sekiguchi dresses his "wagyu" calves in T-shirts and jackets to protect them against the spring chill and an expected avalanche of cheap foreign beef.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 3, 2014

Review: Bob Dylan at Zepp DiverCity, Tokyo

Just 123 days after tumultuous applause engulfed the waning strains of "Blowin' In The Wind" to bring Bob Dylan's last concert to an end at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Nov. 28, a similar cacophony awaited him at Tokyo's Zepp DiverCity on Monday at the start of his 17-show "cherry blossom" tour...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2014

The India democracy show

Indians are just days away from the start of the greatest democratic show on earth, as 814.5 million of them prepare to cast ballots at 930,000 polling stations between April 7 and May 12.
Reader Mail
Apr 2, 2014

Rebirth of a devastated area

The other day I had the opportunity to visit the vicinity of Sendai Airport, an area devastated by the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami. Two things that came to my attention immediately were the Hill and the new cemetery.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 2, 2014

Knowing your rights can protect against fake cops

Safeguard yourself against an unwarranted public shakedown
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 2, 2014

West stumbles as autocratic forces trumps economics

A quarter-century after the fall of the Soviet Union, authoritarian rulers such as Vladimir Putin and Bashar Assad are showing they can and will defy international norms, suppress dissent and use military force. American policymakers are struggling with how to respond.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 1, 2014

10 ways crisis in Ukraine could change the world

As Moscow and the West dig in for a prolonged standoff over Russia's annexation of Crimea, risking spillover to other former Soviet republics and beyond, here are 10 ways in which the Ukraine crisis could change attitudes and policy around the world.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 1, 2014

Worst mass die-off pinned on microbe

Sometimes bad things come in small packages.
BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2014

Shoppers start coping with higher sales tax

Tuesday's hike of the consumption tax to 8 percent saw mixed reactions in Tokyo and Osaka. While consumers in both cities seemed resigned to the increase, there was concern about the additional transportation and food costs.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / A TASTE OF HOME
Apr 1, 2014

Pining for the communal flavor of Israeli cuisine

I thought I missed hummus. By which I mean: I missed being able to pick up a tub at the supermarket. But to hear an Israeli acquaintance talk of it is to learn that there is so much more to miss.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2014

The cost of corporate kowtowing to Beijing

American general interest family magazine, Reader's Digest, is alleged to have censored stories for its worldwide English edition to maintain a cheap printing deal in China.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 1, 2014

LA lifestyle gives starRo a new take on making music

Video-chatting with Los Angeles resident Shinya Mizoguchi toward the tail end of a particularly testing Tokyo winter, it's hard not to feel a twinge of jealousy. I deliberately avoid defaulting to my typically British weather-related opening gambit of small talk, but it's not long before the topic is...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Mar 31, 2014

Eagles would be wise to bring Matsui along slowly

Yuki Matsui is going to make his debut for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles during the team's first home series of the season this week, and he'd pretty much have to toss a shutout to match the hype.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2014

A path to a decent lifestyle and empowerment in India

The McKinsey Global Institute has suggested a way in which India can meet the essential needs of its population through radical but practical economic, political and social reforms.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 31, 2014

The Fukushima disaster: Three years on, who's fooling whom?

Japan's new Basic Energy Plan sees nuclear power as an important base load energy source. But whatever 'base load' means politically, the public is lulled — fooled — into a sense that, despite Fukushima, nuclear will remain a logistically viable long-term option.

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