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JAPAN / CHARITY DRIVE 2013
Dec 5, 2013

Father's mission: helping schoolkids in Cambodia

Between 1981 and 1994, Father Fumio Goto fostered 14 Cambodian child refugees, and since 1995 has built 17 schools in the country. Now, at 84, his passion to support Cambodia's disadvantaged children shows no sign of waning.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 5, 2013

Postal employees carry extra burden during the holiday season

Sales quotas make postal employees' lives miserable at the end of the year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 4, 2013

Takeda breaks tradition with outsider at helm

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., the more than 230-year-old drugmaker, is starting to make a practice of breaking with tradition.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Dec 3, 2013

Well, she was just 17: How one girl got her dream job with The Beatles

Few people can claim to have spent the whole of their youth with The Beatles, and fewer still would have come out of the experience unscathed. Freda Kelly — who was 17 when she first laid eyes on the Fab Four at the now-legendary Cavern Club in Liverpool, is one of those people, perhaps the only one....
LIFE / Digital
Dec 3, 2013

Why the NSA has landed us all in another nice mess

Fans of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy will fondly remember Oliver's complaint to Stanley: "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" In a future remake, Hardy will be played by Barack Obama, suitably enhanced with a toothbrush moustache, while Keith Alexander, currently head of the U.S. National...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2013

China girds to open sectors to foreign investors

It appears that China's leaders are cautiously preparing to let foreign investors enter any industry other than those on a 'negative list.'
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 2, 2013

Entrance exams get failing grade

National university exams are notorious for their emphasis on book learning.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 1, 2013

With the JLPT now over, get ahead in studying for next year

The latest round of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) was held yesterday — congratulations to the test takers! A couple of readers wrote to us about the exam after last week's Community Page published an article by Jun Hongo titled "Is the JLPT really worth it?"
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 1, 2013

No change in China air zone airline policy

Defense Minister Itsunori Onou00addeu00adra indicates that Tokyo won't change its stance on urging Japanese airlines not to submit their flight plans as requested by China for its new air defense identification zone over the East China Sea.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Dec 1, 2013

Does China ADIZ take focus off 'real enemy'?

China has one of the largest and most consequential militaries in the world, but how Beijing thinks about its military and makes military decisions is largely a mystery to the outside world. The People's Liberation Army is technically attached to the Chinese Communist Party, rather than to the Chinese...
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Dec 1, 2013

Crusader for social activism brings Change.org to Japan

The woman who brought Change.org to Japan says the online petition platform is just the ticket to get the normally reticent Japanese to become more active in achieving social change.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 30, 2013

Obama sends two old B-52s and a message to China

The U.S. decision to show support for Japan by flying two B-52s through China's claimed 'air defense identification zone,' which includes the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, is a blunt reminder that Northeast Asia remains the world's most combustible geopolitical hot spot.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Nov 30, 2013

For once, MVP voters got things right

One thing that's always surprising when NPB voters get both the Pacific and Central League MVP winners right.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Nov 30, 2013

Fujitsu import adjusts

Once, or twice at most. That's the number of times that a quarterback usually throws a pass to the side of the field occupied by a great cornerback.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Nov 30, 2013

The secret of keeping official secrets secret

"He that would keep a secret must keep it secret that he hath a secret to keep," says Sir Humphrey Appleby, permanent secretary to the Department of Administrative Affairs, a fictitious branch of the British government. He is one of the main characters in the highly acclaimed 1980s BBC television series...
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 30, 2013

Skepticism engulfs secrecy bill

As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government rammed the controversial state secrecy bill through the Lower House last week, what seemed to become evident is that even his Cabinet ministers lack a coherent understanding of the content, breeding even more skepticism among the public.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2013

What are the next steps in the Iran nuclear deal?

The interim agreement with Iran recognizes that Tehran's nuclear program is not going away, and that neither tougher sanctions nor the threat of military strikes can change that.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 29, 2013

Islanders must think bigger to thrive, not just survive

As a resident, may I be so bold as to suggest that we don't need an NPO to save our island from aging and depopulation. What we need is for an NPO, or anyone, to save our island from itself!
BASEBALL
Nov 29, 2013

Kawakami's players impressed MLB counterparts

The V-9 Yomiuri Giants were arguably the best team in the history of the game. Giants stars Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima had been openly coveted by MLB general managers back in the United States. So had pitcher Tsuneo Horiuchi at his peak.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2013

'Captain Phillips'

You're probably familiar with the news story that forms the basis of Hollywood's latest torn-from-the-headlines thriller, "Captain Phillips": A merchant marine ship is boarded by Somali pirates, the captain is taken hostage, and the U.S. Navy attempts a rescue with a crack-shot team of Navy SEALs. Like...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2013

'The Call'

Halle Berry has one of the sharpest, most distinctive haircuts in Hollywood, but in her latest, "The Call," she has no-nonsense, low-maintenance do that serves her character Jordan Turner well. Jordan is a 911 operator whose job requires dealing with dire emergencies around the clock. No time to fool...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2013

'The Sessions'

It's become kind of a cliche, famous actors playing the physically or mentally handicapped as a kind of sure-fire Oscar bait. Yet you've got to give it up for John Hawkes in "The Sessions": He plays Mark O'Brien, a man paralyzed from the neck down who's forced to spend most of his time in an iron lung,...
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2013

Line censoring messages in China

In another example of the dilemmas facing Internet companies operating in China, Japan-based instant messaging app provider Line Corp. has been censoring chats among users there, blocking the transmission of politically sensitive words and phrases.
Reader Mail
Nov 27, 2013

Hopefully sensible heads prevail

With regard to the Nov. 25 article titled: "ADIZs common but China's is worrisome," I'd like to add my two pence worth.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 27, 2013

Back to Back Theatre reveals the elephant in the room

Festival/Tokyo 13, this year's edition of the annual stage-arts festival, started Nov. 9. A unique feature of the festival's program is its many presentations that encourage audience participation, be it leading them around the streets following a certain theme, or guiding them via social networking...

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