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EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2017

Penalizing the plotting of crimes

The government should not dismiss concerns that penalizing the act of plotting and preparing for crimes would entail placing society under greater surveillance
WORLD / Politics
Feb 2, 2017

Trump to focus counter-extremism program solely on Islam: sources

The Trump administration wants to revamp and rename a U.S. government program designed to counter all violent ideologies so that it focuses solely on Islamist extremism, five people briefed on the matter told Reuters.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2017

Time for U.S. left to start putting Americans first

Nationalism, not globalism, is the future of American politics — but right now, it's only the right that's riding the wave.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 1, 2017

'Tangerine': The fruitful use of smartphones

Tammy Wynette sang it so it must be true: "Sometimes it's hard to be a woman." In the case of Los Angeles-based transgender sex workers Alexandra (Mya Taylor) and Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) in "Tangerine," the hardships are doubled as they deal with the common issues of being a woman — unfaithful...
CULTURE / Film
Feb 1, 2017

'The 100th Love With You': Happily stuck in a time-travel groove

Time travel is and will forever be a fantasy, physicists say. But fantasies can tell us more about human longings and dreams than dull facts, can they not? Despite doubting science types, time-travel-themed films have long constituted a thriving, sub-genre in Japan, as they do elsewhere.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 1, 2017

Housewife who saved Toyoko hotel chain puts focus on female managers

Maiko Kuroda isn't new to challenges. She was a housewife when her father's hotel chain was embroiled in scandal, forcing her to return to the business almost a decade ago. Having boosted profit tenfold, she's now eyeing markets in Europe and North America.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 31, 2017

'The Work of Walter Crane: Book Design and Illustration'

Feb. 4 — March 26
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2017

Pyongyang's only private university reaches out to Texas A&M for crop lessons

The leaders of the only private university in North Korea asked Texas A&M University, known for its agricultural economics and public health programs, for help on Monday in teaching subjects such as how to grow food in a land of chronic shortages.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 30, 2017

Japan breathes new life into regional, non-U.S. trade pact

With U.S. President Donald Trump's formal decision to withdraw from the long controversial American-led Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, attention in the Asia-Pacific region is turning toward making renewed efforts to complete a separate multilateral trade agreement that excludes the U.S. — the...
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 30, 2017

Details short as Abe renews vow to end culture of overwork

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reaffirms his vow to end the entrenched corporate culture of overwork but stops short of setting a timeline for legislation or promising to require a rest period between shifts.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 30, 2017

Tens of thousands in U.S. cities protest Trump immigration order

Tens of thousands of people rallied in U.S. cities and at airports on Sunday to voice outrage over President Donald Trump's executive order restricting entry into the country for travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Jan 29, 2017

WBC duty means quick turnaround for foreign stars

Now that spring camps are only a few days away for NPB teams — some players are already working out "independently" together — the foreign contingent has begun trickling into the country. It was mostly the first-year foreign players the past couple of weeks, but now the veterans have started showing...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jan 29, 2017

Tokyo court rulings chip away at labor unions' right to free speech

Workers sued for millions of yen over protests outside the company that fired them take their case to the Supreme Court.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 29, 2017

Iraqis with ties to U.S. security forces are the first to sue over Trump's immigration order

An initial volley in a potential barrage of legal challenges to President Donald Trump's new restrictions on immigration came on Saturday on behalf of two Iraqis with ties to U.S. security forces who were detained at New York's JFK Airport.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 28, 2017

Big in Japan? Artists from abroad may find it more difficult to draw a crowd

There are now just three major record labels left on the planet: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 28, 2017

Singapore Biennale takes a good hard look in the mirror

Malaysian artist Azizan Paiman tells me that to lose weight, all I have to do is make sure that the calories I expend are more than the calories I consume. I already know that, but he's done it, and I haven't. He also tells the small group assembled in his temporary cafe that we need to love each other,...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 28, 2017

'Turning Pages': How magazines reflected the 'new woman' of the 1920s

The Taisho Era (1912-26) was a period of change and opportunity. It saw the birth of the so-called atarashii onna ("new woman") — the socially liberated, modern young woman, previously unseen in Japan. As this inquisitive individual moved into the job market, a number of magazines appeared that were...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 28, 2017

Japanese graffiti artist 281_Anti Nuke takes aim at Trump

Japanese graffiti artist 281_Anti Nuke says his politically charged placards plastered around central Tokyo are meant to serve as a warning to the dangers of new U.S. President Donald Trump.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jan 28, 2017

British actor John Hurt, star of 'The Elephant Man,' dies at 77

Veteran British actor Sir John Hurt, nominated for an Oscar for his starring role in "The Elephant Man" and his supporting role in "Midnight Express," has died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 77.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 27, 2017

India snake charmers struggle to survive as tradition slowly dies out

Buti Nath flips the lid of a basket and a cobra slowly emerges. The deadly reptile begins to sway as Buti plays his gourd flute.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 27, 2017

Ceausescu bunker offers a window into Romania's brutal communist past

The hermetically sealed heavy steel door to the bunker of Romania's late communist dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, opens with a squeak, releasing a burst of cool air.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 26, 2017

Bon Ishikawa discovers the strength of community in documentary on Nepal earthquake

During one scene in Bon Ishikawa's upcoming documentary "Sekai de Ichiban Utsukushii Mura" ("The Most Beautiful Village in the World"), the photographer-turned-filmmaker uses a drone to capture one of Asia's oldest traditions: the collecting of honey from caves in the steep cliffs of the Himalayas.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past