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Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2015

Shiga Prefecture mulls name change to draw more visitors

What's in a name? For Shiga Prefecture, it's a question of identity, and one that residents will have a formal opportunity to consider changing next month.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 23, 2015

Mr. Abe goes to Washington

In honoring Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with an address to Congress, the U.S. is really honoring the values and vision that both countries share.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 22, 2015

Yahoo weighs options for Japan stake; revenue misses estimates

Yahoo! Inc. CEO Marissa Mayer outlined plans to explore options for the company's stake in its Japanese unit, heartening investors dismayed by another report showing disappointing sales and profit.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 13, 2015

Republicans look to deepen probe into Clinton's response to attack on Benghazi consulate

As Hillary Rodham Clinton begins her presidential campaign, Republicans are vowing to intensify their latest investigation into the former secretary of state's response to the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Apr 11, 2015

Josh Parkin: 'No matter what ... I'm right and you're wrong'

Luthier Josh Perkins on starting his own guitar-making business and sticking with his own excesses
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 6, 2015

Must-knows and no-nos about where those o's and go's go

Where people in English mind their Ps and Qs, speakers of Japanese have to know their o's and go's.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Apr 4, 2015

Women's participation in elections questioned; sake labels mandatory; Tokyo bathhouses call for one-day lockout; automatic ticket gates employed

100 YEARS AGO
EDITORIALS
Apr 1, 2015

Nation's food self-sufficiency rate

Instead of setting excessively high targets for food self-sufficiency, maintaining an open trade system and diverse sources of food imports should be the priority for Japan in its quest for food security.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2015

Lee Kuan Yew and the myth of Asian capitalism

Singapaore's Lee Kuan Yew thought a competent meritocratic government should not only provide order but also guide economic development. The success of 'Asian capitalism' seems to prove him correct.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2015

Are we sure co-pilot was the killer?

News reports on accusations that Andreas Lubitz, the Germanwings co-pilot, purposely brought down Flight 9525 over the French Alps have rushed to convict him.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2015

Call Cameron's 'gaffe' anything but guileless

There's been much debate over whether British Prime Minister David Cameron's shock announcement about his political future was just an unguarded slip — as he tried to look like a normal family man rather than a power-crazed politician on a soft-feature TV show — or a tactic.
EDITORIALS
Mar 16, 2015

A corporate governance cure-all?

New Tokyo Stock Exchange rules requiring all companies listed on its First and Second sections to have at least two independent outside directors on their board is in line with the Abe administration's push to beef up corporate governance as a way of luring more foreign investors.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 14, 2015

When nature evolves to be awesome

A few years ago, an anthropologist told me an amazing story about a wild chimpanzee she had observed in Senegal. A bushfire had ignited in the summer heat, and she saw a chimp stand upright on its hind legs, face the fire and perform "a really exaggerated slow-motion display."
EDITORIALS
Mar 14, 2015

Thoughtful or self-promoting?

It was no surprise that when writer Haruki Murakami started a temporary ask-anything website he was swamped with so many messages that he had to suspend the site. But is the forum a vehicle for self-promotion?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2015

How long will the price of oil remain low?

The real struggle over cheap oil prices is between the 'frackers' and Saudi Arabia, because the latter is the 'swing producer' in the OPEC cartel. Regardless of which side wins, the game should end in two years.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2015

Netanyahu's 'wolf' refrain tests longtime ties with U.S.

By trying to bury a proposed nuclear deal with Iran in front of the U.S. Congress, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put the most critical Israeli relationship at risk.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 9, 2015

Avoiding the subject isn't such a bad idea in Japanese

Japanese is so efficient as a language that it can sometimes leave new students feeling as though they are floating in space. Without the familiar gravity of shugo (主語, subjects), students are sometimes at a loss to create sentences that involve multiple actors and both direct and indirect actions....
EDITORIALS
Mar 5, 2015

Political funding law needs review

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has joined several other members of his Cabinet plus the opposition leader in admitting receipt of donations from businesses that have been granted government subsidies.
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2015

Update discriminatory Civil Code

The Supreme Court should not hesitate to rule that Civil Code provisions related to marriage surnames and remarriage after divorce are discriminatory and thus unconstitutional.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Mar 1, 2015

Four years on, Tohoku towns still waiting for schools, homes, answers

While cooped-up kids need places to play, exhausted residents could do with support from more teachers and caregivers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 28, 2015

Shibuya's same-sex move kicks off debate

On Feb. 13, Asahi Shimbun's daily Vox Populi, Vox Dei column mentioned Morizo and Kiccoro, the official mascots of the 2005 World Expo held in Aichi Prefecture. These two "woodland fairies" supposedly hailed from Seto, which issued them the same resident cards (jūminhyō) held by everyone who lives...
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 27, 2015

Abe aims to formally authorize SDF ship inspections beyond Japanese waters

The Abe administration proposed Friday expanding the geographic range of ship inspections that can be conducted by the Self-Defense Forces beyond Japan.
EDITORIALS
Feb 22, 2015

Nuclear waste disposal problem

Even as the Abe administration pushes for the reactivation of idled nuclear power reactors once they're declared safe, it has yet to address the question of how Japan will dispose of highly radioactive nuclear waste so as not to endanger future generations.
Reader Mail
Feb 21, 2015

Being bilingual not always so cool

I'm considered bilingual. I lived in Canada until the age of 6. Many times people have told me it's cool to be bilingual, but it's not that simple. In Canada, I was too small to know there are different languages. I never distinguished Japanese from English. Sometimes I answered a Japanese question in...
WORLD
Feb 20, 2015

Turkey says it may buy Chinese missiles; will not integrate system with NATO

Ankara
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 16, 2015

Japanese deaths stir debate on hostage rescue capabilities

Following the gruesome executions of two Japanese by the Islamic State group, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seems more eager than ever for legal authority to deploy Self-Defense Forces elements overseas, saying it is the government's duty to rescue its citizens.
EDITORIALS
Feb 15, 2015

Questions of self-defense

A legislative package of bills on security — prepared by the ruling coalition with the aim of implementing the Abe Cabinet's decision last July to enable Japan to engage in collective self-defense — will no doubt be the main focus of the current Diet session.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Feb 14, 2015

Eagles need young duo to soar in '15

Earlier this year, 24-year-old Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles pitcher Wataru Karashima said he'd retire if he failed to reach 10 wins this season. Karashima has pitched in NPB for five seasons, and was used out of the bullpen over the first two, making 14 appearances as a reliever. Since becoming a starter...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji