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Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Dec 10, 2013

Shueisha manga push hard into the global market

One week before Thanksgiving on Nov. 28, readers of The New York Times were greeted by a spiky-haired, wild-eyed manga character named Monkey D. Luffy, his fists clenched and chest bare, charging forward as if the newsprint could barely contain him. Behind him in massive text screamed the words: "Hey...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 6, 2013

ADIZs: separating fact from fiction

The fact that China's new air defense identification zone overlaps that of Japan, Taiwan and South Korea is not 'illegal' and is perhaps part of a strategy to level the legal playing field vis-a-vis Japan's claims in the disputed area.
WORLD
Dec 6, 2013

Nelson Mandela, ex-president of South Africa, dead at 95

Nelson Mandela, the former political prisoner who became the first president of a post-apartheid South Africa and whose heroic life and towering moral stature made him one of history's most influential statesmen, died Dec. 5, the government announced. He was 95.
Japan Times
Figure Skating
Dec 5, 2013

Hanyu upstages Chan with record-setting performance

Yuzuru Hanyu set a new world record in the men's short program at the Grand Prix Final on Thursday night, earning 99.84 points in a fabulous performance to "Parisian Walkways."
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 4, 2013

Kim's uncle said unharmed in Pyongyang purge amid leadership crisis

Jang Song Thaek, the uncle and de facto deputy of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, is safe even as it appears he has been removed from his post, a South Korean minister said.
EDITORIALS
Dec 3, 2013

Malala's fight for girls' education

The award of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to the 16-year-old Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai is welcome, as it will promote schooling for the huge number of children worldwide who are deprived of education opportunities.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2013

Bitcoins need to be better than real currency

Bitcoins appeal to people's libertarian side, because they challenge the control of money by governments that too often see inflation and deflation as instruments of policy. This virtual currency suggests the possibility of a future in which networks of individuals can make transactions for their own interests.
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Dec 3, 2013

Joysound's top 10 karaoke songs of 2013

Joysound karaoke announced their top songs of 2013! However, just because they're popular does not mean they came out this year . . .
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 1, 2013

Farrow courts controversy with paternity musings

For a while, Mia Farrow was a genuine housewife. In a life of bright lights and dark, dark shadows, this must surely count as one of the most unusual periods of them all: a moment of apparent stability and respectability in the late 70s and early 80s. During this time, she picked up her twin sons Matthew...
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 1, 2013

Azerbaijan's elite wooing British lawmakers

It operates from an exclusive Mayfair address and throws lavish parties for politicians of all parties. Ostensibly an independent trade body, The European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS) regularly takes members of Parliament, members of the European Parliament and British government officials on trips to the...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 29, 2013

Russia wins on Ukraine, but neighbors wary

Russia's success in getting Ukraine to pull back at the last minute from signing an agreement with the European Union obscures a deeper trend: Moscow's relations with its neighbors have been on a downward slope for several years, and they show no signs of improving.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2013

Paul Greengrass brings real-life action to the screen with 'Captain Phillips'

Paul Greengrass once seemed like the least likely candidate to be a director of Hollywood blockbusters: the Cambridge graduate started his career by putting in 10 years as a documentary filmmaker/journalist for the hard-hitting British current affairs program "World In Action." When he moved into feature...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 27, 2013

Takarazuka dances to a different tune

What happens when Takarazuka, Japan's longest-running all-female theater troupe, takes on Masayuki Suo's hit movie "Shall We Dance?," which won 14 Japanese Academy Awards in 1996 and aired internationally in 16 countries?
Reader Mail
Nov 27, 2013

Time to use a better weapon

The Nov. 20 editorial "Welcoming Ambassador Kennedy" stated that Caroline Kennedy "... was shaken by her Hiroshima visit. We hope she will make a positive contribution to global efforts to abolish nuclear weapons."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Nov 27, 2013

'Disabled' in Britain, just 'foreign' in Japan

For myself, a British citizen who has cerebral palsy living in Japan, it is the liberatory power of being a foreigner here that leaves the deepest impression on me.
LIFE / Digital
Nov 26, 2013

What's Twitter's real value?

A national economy is an unimaginably complex system. And yet we compress all its complexity into a single measure, and then focus obsessively on that. If you want a metaphor for this, think of King Kong spending most of his time staring at a pinhead, worrying about whether it is moving or not. That...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 25, 2013

National Stadium plan hit as too grandiose

The new National Stadium planned for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has come under the spotlight due to its huge size and massive costs, and for a design critics say doesn't fit in with its surroundings.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 24, 2013

The immigration question

Despite Japan's low birthrate and rapidly graying population, only one in seven Japanese support the idea of increased immigration.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEDGE
Nov 24, 2013

Firm's tech takes out chemical arms

A Japanese firm claims it has technology that can help Syria dispose of its chemical weapons in line with a Sept. 27 United Nations Security Council resolution ordering the nation to do so.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 23, 2013

Back to the future: Shinto's growing influence in politics

Immaculate and ramrod straight in a crisp, black suit, Japan's education minister, Hakubun Shimomura, speaks like a schoolteacher — slowly and deliberately.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 23, 2013

Sendai Charter to aid conservation across Asia

Sendai is lovely at this time of year, its tree-lined streets alight with autumn colors.
Reader Mail
Nov 23, 2013

Japan's emissions policy is no joke

Regarding the Nov. 17 article "New emissions goal derided as 'bad joke' at U.N. climate summit": One could also look at the "world reaction" as disingenuous. The glass is half full, not half empty, compared to the efforts of certain other OECD countries.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Nov 23, 2013

Italy volleyball team puts on clinic against Japan

Italy downed Japan in straight sets (25-16, 25-21, 25-21) at the FIVB Men's Grand Champions Cup on Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2013

Hollywood: a peddler of U.S. political propaganda

It's unforgivable for Hollywood to promote America's we're-the-good-guys party line at the expense of the victims of the system.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2013

Climate change as a form of terrorism

The typhoon in the Philippines is a useful reminder that we need to think more about what can be done, both on climate mitigation and on disaster preparation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EMBASSY AVENUE
Nov 22, 2013

Kazakhstan-Japan antinuclear exhibition

A joint exhibition by Japanese designer Hiromi Inayoshi and artist Karipbek Kuyukov from Kazakhstan was held Nov. 19 at the Nippon Press Center Building in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2013

'Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya)'

Isao Takahata has long been overshadowed by longtime colleague and Studio Ghibli cofounder Hayao Miyazaki. The younger man (Takahata is 78, Miyazaki 72) has had more and bigger hits, including his latest, the World War II-themed "Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises)," while Takahata's last feature animation,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 20, 2013

Yoji Sakate celebrates in style

To celebrate its 30th anniversary this year, the Tokyo-based Rinkogun theater company determined to present four original plays by its founder, the renowned playwright and director Yoji Sakate.

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