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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 17, 2013

Patti Smith hopes 2013 is about rebuilding

By the time you read this, Patti Smith will have been in Japan for nearly a week. The iconic poet, author, painter and "Godmother of Punk" hasn't yet played a gig with her band; that will come later. First, Smith is reconnecting with a country with which her affinity runs deep.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 17, 2013

U.S. weighs military aid for intervention forces

The White House is considering significant military backing for France's drive against al-Qaida-linked militants in Mali, but its support for a major ally could test U.S. legal boundaries and stretch counterterrorism resources in a murky new conflict.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2013

White paper chronicles rise of ramen worldwide

Ramen's rise to global prominence has taken many forms: Japanese noodle shops debuting to great acclaim overseas, from Sydney to Honolulu to London; the proliferation of English-language ramen blogs; international chefs incorporating elements of the dish into their cuisine.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2013

METI taps foreign students as content envoys

Foreign students studying in Japan can be a great help in promoting the nation's strong points overseas.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jan 14, 2013

Advising Abe on the wisdom of a nuclear restart

Readers offer some advice to the new prime minister on the contentious issue of nuclear power in post-3/11 Japan.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 13, 2013

Magazines struggle to maintain relevance

The print edition of venerable U.S. weekly news magazine Newsweek is no more. From the Jan. 4 issue it relaunched as a digital-only publication.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2013

'71 Pentagon paper says Agent Orange was stored on Kadena Air Base

MULTIMEDIA
Jan 12, 2013

Nomad writer and photographer keeps his passions fueled by travel

Fiction can work like a cheap flight; a good novel takes off, jetting readers to new worlds. Writers and photographers triple the distance traveled. Sean Lotman, 37, an avid reader, writer, photographer and nomad, has logged thousands of kilometers around the world.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 12, 2013

U.S. drones pound Taliban in Pakistan

The CIA has opened the year with a flurry of drone strikes in Pakistan, pounding Taliban targets along the country's tribal belt at a time when the Obama administration is preparing to disclose its plans for pulling most U.S. forces out of neighboring Afghanistan.
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jan 11, 2013

Kabuki kicks off the new year

Audiences at the Asakusa Kokaido venue in Tokyo have been welcoming 2013 in with some high culture.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jan 11, 2013

Yokocho offers up a bar crawl

'No nightlife in Tokyo? Wrong!" So says the website of the Tokyo Convention and Visitors Bureau and, to prove its point, it is holding a new event, Tokyo Yokocho Week, which commences Jan. 15.
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jan 11, 2013

Painter Fukunaga illustrates the artistic nature of Japanese onomatopoeic expressions

Symbolic of Tokyo's Asahi Beer Hall is a gigantic golden sculpture that sits atop the building and is the shape of, well, a roaring flame — at least that's officially what it's supposed to be. (Though ask any child and they'll give you a different answer as to what it looks like.)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 11, 2013

Gordon-Levitt, Willis take film fans for a loop

Film director Rian Johnson and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt are neighbors in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. They're also pretty close, since Gordon-Levitt says they hang out at each other's house and he also praises Johnson's cooking.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2013

China ups the ante in space

China recently opened its domestic satellite navigation network to commercial use across the Asia-Pacific region.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 10, 2013

Wasabi takes old sounds to a young audience

The members of Wasabi, a quartet who plays traditional Japanese instruments, are all used to fans and the politics of backstage meet-and-greets. However, they were surprised to see one particular fan after a recent 11 a.m. performance at a high school in Nara.
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...

Longform

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