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Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / ANALYSIS
Jun 20, 2014

U.S. scientists brace for 'marijuana meltdown' as laws ease

The only marijuana available for research in the U.S. is locked down by federal regulators who are more focused on studies to keep people off the drug than helping researchers learn how it might be beneficial.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2014

Capitalism facilitates but doesn't ensure freedom

As Democratic experiments in Thailand and Egypt collapse, there seems to be a building consensus among financial and political elites globally that authoritarian rule, rather than pluralism, is the path to happy endings.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 14, 2014

Vietnam seen as a potential role model for Japan

Although tourism and trade between Japan and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam have expanded rapidly in recent years, when compared with other ASEAN countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, Vietnam has maintained a fairly low profile in the Japanese media. But suddenly the country is being...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Jun 2, 2014

Generation gaps filled by brick and mortar

Though their numbers have dwindled in the developed world over the past century, multi-generation households are still common, and in fact may become even more common in countries where income gaps are increasing. In Japan, multi-generation households have social relevance owing to cultural norms, the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
May 18, 2014

Monster hits continue to survive the Internet age

A monster lays waste to America's cities, smashing skyscrapers and tearing up passenger trains. It's the familiar tale of Godzilla, a mutant lizard last seen rampaging through cinemas in 1998 and now back on the big screen.
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2014

Democrats can't get traction on inequality

President Barack Obama has made any number of speeches about the rich who don't pay their fair share, but nationwide this has not translated into big gains for the Democrats who are pushing it.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 16, 2014

North Korea denies deploying drones, derides Park as a 'political whore'

North Korea has accused Washington and Seoul of fabricating the results of a probe that concluded Pyongyang sent small surveillance drones to spy on key South Korean installations in March.
Japan Times
WORLD / EU SPECIAL 2014
May 9, 2014

EU logos aim to ensure food quality

The European Union participated in the 39th International Food and Beverage Exhibition, known as Foodex Japan, at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture, from March 4 to 7. The European contingent was there to introduce and promote a variety of high-quality European food and beverage products carrying special...
Reader Mail
May 7, 2014

NHK failing its public mission

Regarding the May 3 article "Viewers target NHK chief Momii": This charade has been going on too long for the good of the nation. If NHK Chairman Katsuto Momii is reluctant to resign to resolve the problem that he created in the first place, and continues to cling to his benefactor — currently the...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 3, 2014

Obama's pivot to Asia: Rebalance and reassure

Summits are all about symbolism and optics and on that score U.S. President Barack Obama's swing through Asia was a qualified success. Another few nails were hammered into the coffin of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with officials now edging toward a face saving TPP-Lite, but Americans paid little...
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 7, 2014

Your Party chief Watanabe to quit amid scandal

Your Party leader Yoshimi Watanabe says he will step down as president of the minor opposition party due to the loan scandal swirling about him.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Apr 6, 2014

Skymark unveils controversial uniform

Skymark Airlines Inc.'s miniskirt uniform for cabin attendants has drawn fire from a group of cabin attendants who claim it will disturb operations and possibly induce sexual harassment.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 4, 2014

Copenhagen Zoo opts to tell truth about life behind bars

Copenhagen Zoo, which sparked global protests over its killings of a young male giraffe and four lions, will continue to be open about its culling to show the truth about how animals are kept in captivity.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 25, 2014

Yamatoism is coming back

Although 'Abenomics' is at a standstill and its eventual success uncertain, the prime minister rushes to push a right-leaning agenda against the advice of close associates.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2014

China no longer takes guff from U.S. about rebalancing

Just as China should be reducing savings and boosting domestic demand, it's equally important for the U.S. to be retooling its unbalanced economy. The big worry is denial in Washington.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 17, 2014

U.S. military report suggests cover-up over toxic pollution in Okinawa

Perhaps the most serious concern raised in the internal U.S. military report is the fear that PCB contamination at Kadena — if made public — would prompt demands for widespread tests on other U.S. bases.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 14, 2014

Culture of safety can make or break nuclear power plants

On the third anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and its devastating impact on Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima nuclear power plants, we need to understand why Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s Onagawa Nuclear Power Station — which was even closer to the quake epicenter — had a drastically different fate.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 13, 2014

China waging psychological warfare in the East China Sea

Japanese and Western news reports suggest that the U.S. bombers and routine Japanese patrol fighters that flew into China's air-defense identification zone right after the ADIZ was proclaimed did not encounter any Chinese interceptors or radar beams.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 8, 2014

Media complicit in normalizing xenophobia

Since Japanese reporters are averse to characterizing domestic right-wing positions as being extreme, those positions come across as being normal, even sensible.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2014

Who will stop the slaughter?

Who will stand up in the world today for the millions of people whose lives are being savaged by evil men and women in states like Syria and North Korea?
COMMENTARY
Feb 28, 2014

China uses Ukraine unrest as argument for stability

China's Communist Party-controlled media appear to be using the unrest in Ukraine as a teaching moment to point out the pitfalls of clamoring for more rapid reforms in a large, multi-ethnic society — one like China's.
Reader Mail
Feb 22, 2014

Pioneer on course to foil stereotype

Rowan Hooper makes a good observation in his Feb. 16 article "Stem-cell leap defied Japanese norms." But I think this is also a cultural issue in which Haruko Obokata herself is given more importance than what she does.
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2014

Now Kaieda must deliver

The head of the Democratic Party of Japan says the party will fiercely confront the Abe administration, which he called a 'raging horse,' to push politics aimed at protecting people's lives and jobs.
Reader Mail
Feb 15, 2014

Time for project on climate reality

Readers might find it puzzling that the subject of the Feb. 3 editorial, "Rising costs of climate change," was not front-page news. Increasingly extreme weather events brought about by man-made global warming should be a priority today precisely because it is the No. 1 threat to our future.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 7, 2014

Female scientists push for breakthrough in equality

Recent news that Haruko Obokata of Riken's Center for Developmental Biology found a new way to generate pluripotent cells cast a spotlight on women in the male-dominant field of science.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 26, 2014

French women defy stereotypes

Shock news: French women do get fat, they have brattish, fussy-eater children, chipped nails, they sometimes sleep on their own wearing big cotton knickers and they do mind if their husband is enjoying "cinq-a-sept" trysts with his mistress.
EDITORIALS
Jan 24, 2014

Limits of secrecy oversight panel

An expert council for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may be able to serve as a minor check against the arbitrary application of the new state secrets law, but the the defects of the law will remain.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2014

Pining for Lyndon Johnson, Americans got Christie

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's recent scandals won't impress anyone who has read of the political arm-twisting shenanigans conducted a half-century ago by U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

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