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COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 12, 2013

TPP a risky venture for Japan

If Japan joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership its food self-sufficiency rate would be in danger of plunging from the current incredibly low 39 percent to about 13 percent.
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Mar 12, 2013

Plenty to enjoy as fashion week approaches

The Italian denim magnate Diesel and EDUN, the niche eco-friendly brand developed by musician Bono and his wife, have something in common — a love of Africa and its artistic scene. It makes sense then that last year they announced DIESEL+EDUN, a denim collection, "Born in Africa and worn by a new generation...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 10, 2013

Providing lessons on nuclear policy

FALLOUT FROM FUKUSHIMA, by Richard Broinowski. Scribe Publications, 2012, 273 pp., A$27.95 (paperback)
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 9, 2013

Obama puts ambitious trade talks on agenda

U.S. President Barack Obama, who has been critical of free-trade pacts in the past, is pursuing what are arguably the most aggressive trade talks in a generation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 8, 2013

'Savages'

Oliver Stone's first hit as a director was "Salvador," way back in 1986, which looked at a small Latin American nation's descent into political murder, funded mostly by its larger neighbor to the north. Now, with "Savages," he seems to have come full circle, as Latin America's plague of disappearances...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 7, 2013

Edward Steichen's great American Dream

“I don't think that many people in Japan know who Edward Steichen is,” says curator Miki Tsukada in a surprisingly honest comment about visitors to the Setagaya Art Museum's current exhibition.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 6, 2013

Japan and Australia: natural allies in the changing Pacific

Does the U.S. pivot to the Pacific represent a necessary rebalancing, overbalancing or counter-balancing against China's growing wealth, power and assertiveness?
SOCCER
Mar 5, 2013

Beckham 'excited' to help promote soccer in China

David Beckham will help promote soccer in China by taking a role as a global ambassador for the game in the world's most populous country.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 4, 2013

Tense times in Japan's relationships with its neighbors

It's a dangerous, unpredictable world. Twice in January Chinese warships in the East China Sea challenged Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces patrols in a manner deemed threatening. And on Feb. 12 came North Korea's nuclear test.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 4, 2013

Green turns black as Europe burns up cheap U.S. coal

Green-friendly Europe has a dirty secret: It is burning a lot more coal. Europe's use of the fossil fuel spiked last year after a long decline, powered by a surge of cheap U.S. coal on global markets and by the unintended consequences of ambitious climate policies that capped emissions and reduced reliance...
SUMO
Mar 1, 2013

Wrestling's fall from Olympic grace sends wake-up call to International Sumo Federation

The quest of the International Sumo Federation (IFS) to have amateur sumo accepted as a bona fide Olympic sport has long been viewed as as a pie-in-the-sky proposition by many.
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 28, 2013

Cerezo on familiar ground after return to Antlers hot seat

Just over seven years have passed since Toninho Cerezo ended his first glittering reign as Kashima Antlers manager, but after returning to the club for a second stint, the Brazilian is pleased to find that not everything has changed in his absence.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Feb 27, 2013

A new crop of smartphones for spring

As spring descends on Japan, we'll all be welcoming warmer temperatures and cherry blossoms in the coming weeks. But spring in Japan typically means new smartphone lineups from Japan's major mobile carriers, too. And while consumers' love for Apple's iPhone is still in full bloom, there are a number...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 27, 2013

Five myths about picking a pope

Misconceptions abound about how 117 cardinals, gathering from across the globe inside the Vatican's Sistine Chapel, will elect a new pope next month.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 25, 2013

China and Japan: vital ties

Japan and China should reconfirm pledges made in the 1978 friendship treaty and set up a forum for dialogue to prevent ties from declining further.
Reader Mail
Feb 24, 2013

Familiar North Korean hostility

The lamentably hostile language and conduct of the North Korean government remind us of the Japan that stood against the whole world in the 1930s and early '40s. Withdrawing from the League of Nations, invading China and other Asian nations, and then attacking Pearl Harbor, Japan's leaders told us we...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 24, 2013

Spring training in Mukojima

It's hard to think of February as springlike, what with snowfalls, freezing winds and a dusting of dead leaves everywhere. But I know from experience that the intrepid Prunus mume, or plum tree, blooms this month, and a trek to see some blossoms seems de rigueur. From the Tobu Isesaki Line, I get off...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 22, 2013

Already a huge hit, Line aims for SNS market

The instant messaging app Line is already dominating the lives of young smartphone users in Japan and has spread rapidly elsewhere in the world, but its developer is eyeing even more aggressive growth.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 21, 2013

The nations that make it easier for bands to leap overseas

At the end of last November, a flock of Canadians descended on concert venue Duo Music Exchange in Tokyo's bustling Shibuya district. It wasn't an attack of any sort; the Canuck invasion was only peppered with spirited calls to "Clap with us!"
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 21, 2013

TV firms' hopes ride on 4K shift to 'bigger, smarter'

Japanese TV makers are desperately seeking new strategies to revive their flagging operations, and some of the key points include expanding screen sizes, boosting image quality and making them "smarter" and more user-friendly.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 21, 2013

Creative-content agency helps Korean music abroad

Regardless of whether you are a bigger-name draw or a smaller, emerging band, planning — and more importantly financing — international gigs is no easy task. But since last year, things have gotten a bit easier for Korean acts touring abroad.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 21, 2013

Redefining conventions of the play

Without doubt, Takahiro Fujita is the most prominent newcomer in the world of Japanese contemporary theater. To a considerable extent that's because the 27-year-old playwright/director has an unusual trademark style — to create works that often have the same lyrical phrases and series of movements...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2013

Five myths about manufacturing jobs

Despite claims of lost jobs, the U.S. is still a world leader in manufacturing, a sector that will remain essential to its economic and technological future.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Feb 19, 2013

Millions of dogs and cats coddled, 200,000 gassed each year in pet-mad Japan

Cast in bronze, Hachiko sits in a position of prominence befitting a storied daimyo or prime minister, right next to the busiest intersection in Japan, if not the world.
EDITORIALS
Feb 18, 2013

Mr. Obama's first principles

The challenge for President Obama has been how to restore growth while facing implacable Republican Party opposition to almost everything he does.

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