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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jul 8, 2013

Police 'foreign crime wave' falsehoods fuel racism

These Community pages have reported many times on how the National Police Agency (NPA) has manufactured the illusion of a "foreign crime wave," depicting non-Japanese (NJ) as a threat to Japan's public safety (see "Upping the fear factor," Zeit Gist, Feb. 20, 2007; "Time to come clean on foreign crime,"...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2013

Deepening, revising ties with Southeast Asia

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Japan mark the 40th anniversary of their cooperative relations this year. ASEAN and Japan's partnership, which began with the establishment of the ASEAN-Japan forum on synthetic rubber, has evolved over the 40 years. The two parties have formed close cooperation...
WORLD
Jun 28, 2013

Snowden had contempt for leakers

When he was working in the intelligence community in 2009, Edward Snowden, the U.S. National Security Agency contractor who passed top-secret documents to journalists, appears to have had nothing but disdain for those who leaked classified information, the newspapers that printed their revelations and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2013

Africa's 100 million girls with mutilated genitals

Elimination of female genital mutilation in Africa will be impossible unless laws are supported by efforts to change entrenched social attitudes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 23, 2013

Temples, dragon boats and fireworks in Chinese Nagasaki

There was a time when the journey from East China to Nagasaki was a long and treacherous one across an unpredictable sea. Once a ship entered the verdant hill-sheltered bay that led to the city, the passengers thanked the gods for their safe arrival. After anchoring in the harbor, a procession accompanied...
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Jun 18, 2013

Readers' letters: praise for Article 9, scorn for TPP and concerns for education

Some readers' letters in response to recent Community articles:
WORLD
Jun 11, 2013

Post-9/11 outsourcing of security raises risks

The unprecedented leak of National Security Agency secrets by an intelligence contractor, including bombshells about top-secret programs to collect telephone records, email and other personal data, was probably an inevitable consequence of the massive growth of the U.S. security-industrial complex.
Reader Mail
Jun 6, 2013

Memories of a Pakistani village

The May 31 AFP-JIJI article "India's Africans keeping ancient customs alive" brought back memories of my visit to two Shidi villages in Sindh province, Pakistan, some years back.
Japan Times
WORLD / TICAD V SPECIAL
Jun 1, 2013

JICA helps Africans develop their future

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), an independent governmental agency that coordinates official development assistance (ODA) for the government, has played an important role for the country in its relations with foreign nations. The following is the story of a JICA staff member who worked...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 28, 2013

Want more out of Japan but face doesn't fit? Be TOFITR

I recently served as a "private sector representative" in a panel discussion before an audience of foreign graduate students at the University of Tokyo. Many of the students will soon be seeking employment in Japan; because I have spent 25 years living in or traveling to Japan, the last 10 or so running...
EDITORIALS
May 15, 2013

Nationalism will undermine Japan

The prime minister's remarks about Yasukuni Shrine as well as his attitude toward the nation's past 'aggression' threaten to undermine international trust in Japan.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 15, 2013

Stern in tough spot regarding Kings

They have called David Stern "King David" around the NBA at times, though quietly when he was nearby.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 14, 2013

Inose's slurs anger, bemuse Turks in Tokyo but may boost Istanbul's Olympic bid

It's prayer time at Tokyo's biggest mosque and the congregation is pondering God, community and Naoki Inose, the city's governor, who many here say has revealed himself to be, well, a bit of a bigot.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
May 14, 2013

Police, media must consider plight of those caught in linguistic dragnet

A national media exerts a powerful influence over the lives of members of its society. For example, rumors or untruths disseminated through print or broadcast can destroy livelihoods and leave reputations in ruins.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2013

Defusing the ethnic powder keg in Myanmar

Despite their history of anti-government armed resistance, Burma's ethnic minorities do not pursue a separatist agenda. There is hope for resolving the conflicts.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 1, 2013

A most dangerous spy

Ana Montes has been locked up for a decade with some of the most frightening women in America. Once a highly decorated U.S. intelligence analyst with a two-bedroom co-op in Washington, Montes today lives in a two-bunk cell in the highest-security women's prison in the nation.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 9, 2013

Ramirez possibly top foreign-born player ever in NPB

Alex Ramirez thanked God before he reached first base. He continued along and touched the other bags as a light, constant rain fell on Jingu Stadium and the sparse crowd — 11,069 to be exact, though Ramirez would later say the place felt packed — that braved the promise of a Saturday downpour and...
EDITORIALS
Apr 5, 2013

North Korea's provocations

International community members must deepen cooperation and watch their behavior as long as North Korea keeps baiting them with war drums.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Apr 2, 2013

Osaka: If you could live in any city outside Japan, which would it be?

Amsterdam comes to mind, but on second thoughts, I would choose to live in Maastricht, the Netherlands, because I love the pastoral atmosphere there. It has many of the same benefits as the more famous capital — canals, nice people, coffee shops — but without the tourists, and combined with a wonderful countryside feeling, so for me it is the best of both worlds, combining city and country life.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Apr 2, 2013

Using 'Richard Parker' pseudonym to excuse terror, fear is most apt

Whoever wrote "Right or wrong, corporal punishment can produce winners" (The Foreign Element, March 12) picked an excellent pseudonym.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FORUM ON AFRICA-JAPAN RELATIONS
Mar 30, 2013

The evolution of Japan-Africa relations through TICAD

The fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) will be held in Yokohama from June 1 to 3 to discuss various issues regarding the continent with political and business leaders from around the world.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2013

Tokyo doctor adds disaster zone to practice

Ever since the 9-magnitude earthquake rocked the Tohoku region two years ago, Tokyo doctor Naoko Ishii and her husband, Hajime, have been quasi-residents of the Ogatsu district of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture.
EDITORIALS
Mar 13, 2013

North Korea must heed resolution

Full implementation of U.N. Security Council sanctions will deliver a strong message to North Korea — if Beijing can refrain from action to dilute them.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2013

Ending the violence against women and girls

Two teenage girls, from Vietnam and Uganda, have traveled to U.N headquarters to find out what the world is doing to end violence against women.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 23, 2013

The stalking cure: rehabilitating an all too common menace

When forensic psychiatrist Frank Farnham first meets a stalker, he doesn't judge. Some of his clients have done awful things. They have intimidated, pursued and terrified their victims.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell