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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Feb 1, 2014

Japan: Why kill whales off Antarctica?

The Japanese whaling fleet — this year just a factory ship, three catchers and what is being called a "surveillance" vessel — left Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture in secret on Dec. 9, 2013 bound for the Southern Ocean and its annual hunt that will keep it away from home through March.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Feb 1, 2014

Japan takes control in doubles

Japan took a 2-1 lead over Canada with a four-set victory (6-3 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-4) in doubles on Saturday in their Davis Cup World Group first-round match.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 30, 2014

Fifteen minutes . . . and counting

Across the ages, individuals standing at the peak of each society's pyramid of power and fame have depended on artists to ensure their immortality: Khafre, pharaoh of Upper and Lower Egypt, conscripted an army of artisans to carve his likeness into the Great Sphinx to preserve it through the eternal...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 29, 2014

What's the worth of words?

By popular demand, Shizuoka Performing Arts Center is set to stage a revival of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," its sell-out 2011 production adapted by contemporary theater paragon Hideki Noda and directed by its own artistic diector, Satoshi Miyagi.
Reader Mail
Jan 29, 2014

Who'll rein in a leader's words?

Most world leaders know what their two main works are: diplomacy and defense. They recognize that no country can exist only on its own; all countries in the world are interrelated in some way or other today.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2014

As games loom, barriers for foreign workers show cracks

Japan's barriers to foreign labor are showing signs of cracking as preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics threaten to exacerbate the worst shortage of construction workers in almost 20 years.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2014

Lawson, Suntory execs to join casino push

Business leaders, including top executives at Lawson Inc. and Suntory Holdings Ltd., are joining forces to back the legalization of casinos in Japan, a proposal that could open up what is estimated to be the world's second- largest gaming market.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 24, 2014

Don't let ANA off the hook for that offensive ad

If ANA had really wanted to 'change the image of Japan,' it should have avoided racializing its product. Instead, it's just business as usual.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 23, 2014

Abe's way of thinking merits scrutiny before Tokyo's poll

Rational questions raised by Morihiro Hosokawa and Junichiro Koizumi ahead of the Feb. 9 Tokyo gubernatorial election could exert a big influence on the direction of the Abe administration.
JAPAN / DAVOS SPECIAL 2014
Jan 23, 2014

Japan's economy strong enough to weather tax hike storm

Last year Japan's economy finally refound some backbone, with strong growth, better company earnings, falling unemployment and the key stock index soaring by a half to a six-year high, thanks mainly to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic measures, the so-called "Abenomics."
Japan Times
JAPAN / DAVOS SPECIAL 2014
Jan 23, 2014

Young entrepreneur out to change education

The Global Shapers are highly motivated young people between the ages of 20 and 30 with the potential to be society's future leaders, according to the World Economic Forum, which selects them based on several factors, such as their initiative, commitment and potential to "make a difference."
CULTURE / Music
Jan 21, 2014

Ventla, i-fls and the road out of the Web

Tokyo bedroom producer Ventla has one goal and one goal only.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 21, 2014

Nintendo chief under fire over Wii washout

Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata, who tripled revenue by introducing hits like the Wii console, is coming under fire from investors and analysts after the company's latest game machine flopped.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 19, 2014

Marketers succeed by generating hitto products

Japanese consumers and marketers alike certainly love their ヒット商品 (hitto shōhin, hit products). To understand how this term came about, we need to look back to the decade following World War II. When living standards gradually began to improve from the early 1950s, Japanese consumers eagerly...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2014

Time to speak up in defense of Thai democracy

Thailand, Southeast Asia's most developed and sophisticated economy, is teetering on the edge of the political abyss. Yet most of the rest of Asia appears to be averting its eyes from its anarchic unrest.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 19, 2014

Want a one-way ticket to the red planet?

Since its announcement in May 2012, the Mars One project hasn't had an easy ride. Critics have questioned all aspects, from the technical feasibility to its funding model. But recent developments from the project seem to be bringing the goal of starting a human colony on Mars by 2025 a little closer....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 15, 2014

Woman's-eye 'Merchant' duo reflects favorably on Shylock role

Since it was founded in 1990 by Shakespeare scholar, actor and director Kaoru Edo, Tokyo Shakespeare Company has been producing the Bard's plays translated by Edo in an adaptation series titled "Shakespeare on the other side of the mirror."
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2014

Economic inequality by the click

Free markets are expected to distribute the fruits of some new technologies in dramatically unequal ways. Will the relative losers, satiated by computer games and Internet entertainment, and provided with the basics of a minimally acceptable life, be too docile to revolt?
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 13, 2014

Suntory to acquire Beam for $16 billion in grab for Maker's Mark

Suntory will acquire Beam for $16 billion to gain top liquor brands such as Maker's Mark whiskey and create the world's third-largest premium spirits company.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jan 12, 2014

'Tiger mom' author stokes controversy with latest trope

Almost exactly three years ago, the Wall Street Journal published an excerpt from a book that remains its most commented article of all time. Under the fiery title, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," Yale law professor Amy Chua set out a manifesto for motherhood in proudly recounting her ironfisted...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2014

History textbook wars cross borders

Japan is hardly alone in confronting shame about past events and whether to describe them in textbooks. Germany, the United States and China are undergoing similar debates.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 10, 2014

Diplomatic dustup a worrying sign for Japan-China relations

It's tempting to roll one's eyes at the respective invocations of 'Harry Potter's' Lord Voldemort by the Chinese and Japanese ambassadors to Britain in a diplomatic tit-for-tat, but the exchange is a troubling sign.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers