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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 9, 2013

Inose pitches Tokyo '20 Games bid

With the final round of the bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics kicking off, top politicians and athletes vowed Tuesday to win the competition to bring the games to Tokyo.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 9, 2013

In North Korea, a leader rises while brothers fade

Kim Jong Un is portrayed in North Korea's official state media as a leader without comparison, blessed with a supreme bloodline, flanked by a supportive wife and endowed with the "brilliant" ability to revamp the economy, command an army and guide the space program.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jan 8, 2013

Refer Senkaku issue to ICJ to avoid a train wreck

Dear Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,
Reader Mail
Jan 6, 2013

Using Twitter to learn English

I'm a university student and have a Twitter account. So do many of my friends. We freely write anything on Twitter — where we are, what we're doing, what we're thinking about, who we're with, whatever we want. I made my account to get firsthand information about my favorite foreign artists from the...
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Jan 6, 2013

Even gangsters live in fear of Japan's gun laws

It's almost impossible to get to a gun in Japan, and selling one or owning one is a serious crime. Fire the gun? Possibly life imprisonment. Gun-control laws are taken so seriously that police will pursue a violator all the way to the grave — and maybe beyond.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 4, 2013

Eight seasons from Slovakia

Opening 2013 on a cultured note, the Slovak Chamber Orchestra (SCO) tours Japan from Jan. 5 through Jan. 18.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 3, 2013

"Fantasy for the Jomon Era"

Information about the life of Japanese people during the Jomon Period (Japan's neolithic era) is limited, but the study of ancient ruins and archeaological finds have helped us develop a picture of their lifestyle. For example, it is assumed that they hunted boars in the winter and dived into the ocean...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 3, 2013

Kitaro taps into Native American culture

"Kitaro and I were destined to meet each other," Dennis Banks tells The Japan Times. "Our beliefs are similar: Mother Earth, who we are ... we are all the children of this Earth."
EDITORIALS
Jan 3, 2013

What's up with Toyama's police?

The Toyama prefectural police on Dec. 22 arrested a 54-year-old assistant police inspector, Mr. Takeshi Kano, on suspicion of murdering an elderly couple who had been his friends for more than 30 years, and of setting their residence afire in April 2010. He allegedly confessed to these heinous crimes....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 1, 2013

Berlitz union wins raise, bonus in suit settlement

The four-year legal battle between management and teachers at Berlitz Japan was declared over Thursday as both sides signed an agreement to end the company's lawsuit against union officials.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2013

Japan's steely resolve suggests nationalism based on fear

More than half a century ago I had dinner in Paris with Arimasa Mori, the grandson of the Meiji Era education minister Arinori Mori, who had set the prewar pattern for a Westernized but intensely patriotic education. The Mori family hailed from Kagoshima, and the part that Arinori had played in the Meiji...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 30, 2012

Is juggernaut Japan being driven to destruction (and no one's to blame)?

Ryotaro Shiba, the great author of historical novels, was a student of Mongolian at Osaka University of Foreign Languages when, at the end of 1943, he was drafted into the army. Then aged 20, he received a "provisional graduation qualification" (the actual certificate was issued the following year) and...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 29, 2012

Textile scholar advocates sustainable fashion

Yoshiko Wada, textile artist and scholar, believes the word "sustainable" in foods and fashion shares the same philosophical taste. "Both are a holistic approach, about health, environment, and the community that supports it. We must recapture and rethink how we are going to sustain our Earth and society,...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2012

The risks of a U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan

The Obama administration appears determined to vacate Afghanistan as fast as possible. If the latest leaks are to be believed, officials are willing to leave as few as 6,000 U.S. troops behind after 2014, concentrated at the Bagram air base and a few other installations around Kabul. The mind boggles...
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2012

Innovation is key to revival

Having observed trends in Japanese industries for a half century, I have never felt deeper concern about their future than at present. Many of Japan's leading enterprises that once dominated the global market are now suffering huge losses and lagging in performance behind competitors in South Korea,...
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2012

Shift to right risks mistrust in foreign capitals

Liberal Democratic Party leader Shinzo Abe returned to the prime minister's office facing a host of diplomatic challenges. But perhaps none is greater than the wariness, and fear, abroad that his rightwing, nationalistic views will strain Tokyo's relations with Washington and create further tensions...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2012

The rise of the attention economy

I was recently posed the following question: "The most important way in which the Internet and online social media are changing our world is [fill in the blank]."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2012

Abe taps two women for key posts in LDP

Incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tapped two high-profile female lawmakers Tuesday for the top executive posts of the Liberal Democratic Party in an apparent effort to garner the support of female voters ahead of the Upper House election next summer.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 25, 2012

Sites for J-footy fans; variable service at Softbank

In response to our Oct. 23 column, " 'Prenups' uncommon but doable; aid for avid J. League fans," some of our readers wrote in with their favorite Japan soccer resources.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 24, 2012

Kerry provides new brand of diplomacy

Within four months of becoming a U.S. senator in 1985, John Kerry had traveled to both of that year's foreign policy hot spots. In Nicaragua, he sought a deal he hoped would end the Reagan administration's "contra" war. In the Philippines, he concluded that U.S. support for the decades-long dictatorship...
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2012

Sony, state fund in battery unit talks

Sony Corp. is in talks to sell its battery business to a state-backed investment fund, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2012

Inose says his charges must 'sell' Tokyo goals

Metropolitan government employees need to improve their ability to promote the capital's services so they can serve residents better and gain their support for hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics, newly elected Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose said.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami