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Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2013

Foreigners to get info on 'sento' etiquette

Tokyo's "sento" public bathhouses are making an effort to become foreigner-friendly by printing multilingual brochures and posters to explain Japan's communal bathing etiquette ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 4, 2013

Passion for swords led Briton to forge career as expert

Tucked away in a quiet residential street in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, the Japanese Sword Museum offers a glimpse into an era where men staked their honor and their lives on the blade.
EDITORIALS
Oct 3, 2013

Outlook dims for a greater Osaka

The defeat of an Osaka Ishin no Kai candidate in a mayoral election Sunday has dimmed the outlook for Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's idea of creating a greater Osaka administrative area.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2013

The type who dare risk a government shutdown

Don't look for the refinement of public views in the U.S. Congress unless the most extreme members of the Republican Party feel they can risk moving out of their echo chambers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Oct 2, 2013

Households to take hit from tax hike

The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people's financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Oct 2, 2013

True tradition would be preferable to an 'Idolympics' in 2020

Ten-thousand Kumamons doing an elaborate Busby Berkeley-style dance routine to Kyu Sakamoto's international 1963 hit "Sukiyaki"? A 100-meter Hatsune Miku towering over the stadium while 80,000 spectators crane their necks for a glimpse up her skirt? Newly elected Prime Minister Pamyu Pamyu speeding up...
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2013

Consumption tax raise misdirected

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confirms that the government will raise the sales tax from 5 to 8 percent beginning in April. But will the tax hike lead to an economic downturn
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2013

European voters wise to back austerity

Contrary to what most of the loud media commentary would have us believe, financial 'austerity' or fiscal responsibility appears popular. Angela Merkel's success is proof.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2013

Is the GOP's Rand Paul America's leading liberal?

America's 'liberal' president and his Democratic allies aren't fighting the good fight. The most liberal politician in America these days is the right-winger Rand Paul.
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2013

Acquittal of JR West presidents

The acquittal of three ex-presidents of JR West in the 2005 Amagasaki train derailment that killed 107 people does not absolve the corporate culture thought to have led to the accident.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 30, 2013

Foreign iPhone fans, be aware of Softbank's two-year visa rule

Softbank requires that you have at least two years remaining on your visa if you wish to pay for a new iPhone handset in monthly installments rather than fork out for the whole lot up front.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Sep 30, 2013

Russia anti-gay law casts shadow over Sochi Olympics

Let other mayors fret about potholes, taxes and sewers. This is an Olympic city, and here is the jeans-clad mayor striding into his office on a recent afternoon, fresh from a landslide, and not the electoral kind. When Sochi won the 2014 Games, life went epic.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 30, 2013

Hashimoto's Osaka merger dream in jeopardy

Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) co-leader and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto was facing a critical battle. And he lost.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Sep 29, 2013

Cameron seeks strict porn curbs

In a land whose uptight reputation is belied by its wicked ways, the Conservative-led British government is in midst of a crusade to enact some of the strictest curbs on pornography in the Western world.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 29, 2013

Good morning Miss Kita-Senju, konbanwa Japan

Perhaps there comes a day in many a man's life when he squints and says to himself something like this: 「まずいなぁ、もう少し度の強いメガネがあったら良かった。この距離だと、あの方が女装している北野武さんなのか、ミス・インターナショナルなのか、分からないや」("Mazui...
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2013

Ex-JR West chiefs cleared of '05 crash

The Kobe District Court on Friday acquitted three former presidents of West Japan Railway Co. over the horrific 2005 train derailment that killed 107 people and injured more than 560 in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes