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COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2014

Russian road to mediocrity

Only a few economists in Russia seem to stress the importance of understanding the impact of the current mass outflow of capital and the sharp deterioration of the situation in world commodity markets.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 5, 2014

English fluency hopes rest on an education overhaul

Ringing in 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a dream: One nation that will actively re-engage with the global marketplace.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 4, 2014

Slippery slope to Yasukuni, Nago oiled by lucre

As with the Yasukuni story, most of the commentary on Okinawa base relocation deal focused on its contentious nature, but also like the Yasukuni story, the main impetus behind the actions reported was economic.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jan 4, 2014

Reform vows, Constitution to dog Abe in 2014

At the beginning of the new year, I would like to review the achievements of the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the challenges it faces in its second year on the economic and political fronts.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 28, 2013

Epicenters of death

This study of the Great Kanto Earthquake by scholar Charles Schencking, begins not as you might expect, with the cataclysmic temblor of 1923, but with the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011. In this latter event, optimism was predicated on the assumption that swift and decisive action would...
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2013

Free Chinese-made software poses security risk

Japanese-language input program Baidu IME — potentially installed on millions of computers, including at government agencies — sends every character typed to the software provider's server without user consent.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2013

Text of Abe statement pledging continued peace efforts, remorse for past

Today, I paid a visit to Yasukuni Shrine and expressed my sincere condolences, paid my respects and prayed for the souls of all those who had fought for the country and made ultimate sacrifices.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2013

When leaps in technology make cheating easier

As economists keep reminding us, the optimal level of cheating isn't zero. Sometimes the costs of monitoring tests and chess games, for example, can outweigh the benefits of the underlying activity.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 12, 2013

FCC faces outcry over allowing cellphone calls during flights

It didn't take long for Tom Wheeler, the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, to face controversy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 11, 2013

Tokyo's 'fayrest that ever was'

Scene 1: Late evening, Sept. 23, 1990, at the tiny Greek amphitheater, Shin-Okubo, Tokyo
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...
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Dec 9, 2013

'Privacy' services thwart investigation of rape video sites

Researcher Garth Bruen long has investigated the seamier corners of the Internet, but even he was shocked to discover Rapetube.org, a site urging users to share what it called "fantasy" videos of sexual attacks.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2013

Six reasons to worry about the Iran nuclear deal

The interim nuclear agreement between the Great Powers and Iran is creating a lot of anxiety for people who support the deal, because not much proof has been offered to suggest that it will actually work.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 5, 2013

Secrets bill clears panel by force

The Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling coalition was set to forcibly pass the contentious state secrecy bill into law as early as Thursday night, after it rammed the legislation through the Upper House Special Committee on National Security earlier on the day.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2013

Obama's risky Afghan gambit

The Obama administration's decision to conduct U.S. training and counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan through 2024 means virtually an indefinite American troop presence there.
WORLD
Nov 25, 2013

Iran deal could complicate U.S. foreign policy efforts in Mideast

As it continues to juggle balls through seemingly never-ending foreign policy crises, the Obama administration finally has brought one safely to ground, at least temporarily.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 24, 2013

Do New Year's the right way this time

With the yearend rush fast approaching, Dave has a very timely question about Japanese New Year cards:
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 23, 2013

ACLU seeks termination of NSA's call-records program

Civil liberties advocates on Friday asked a federal court in New York to end the National Security Agency counterterrorism program that collects data on billions of phone calls by Americans, arguing that it violates the Constitution and was not authorized by Congress.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 22, 2013

Japan's foreign policy quirks

Japan's 'honne' and 'tatamae' approach to some foreign policy issues has had poor results.
LIFE / Digital
Nov 19, 2013

Church of Apple tests the faith of its flock

Someone once said that one of the advantages of religion is that it offers security in return for obedience. This point was not lost on the late Steve Jobs, the cofounder, savior and high priest of Apple. And it led Italian semiotician, philosopher and novelist Umberto Eco, in an essay published in the...
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 11, 2013

FCCJ slams 'vague' state secrets bill as direct threat to journalists

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan plans to lodge an official protest with the ruling LDP on Monday over a bill to protect state secrets.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 3, 2013

Unsung heroes emerge in stories of Kenyan mall attack

A little after half-past midday on a sunny Saturday a disturbing call came through to Mark and John at the Nairobi offices of the oil company for which they work.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2013

Chancellor Angela Merkel's American minders

Germans used to joke that Chancellor Angela Merkel's penchant for fleeting text messages effectively marked the end of historiography. At least American spy agencies have kept track.
WORLD
Nov 1, 2013

U.S. airline passengers get electronic gadget OK

Air travelers will soon be able to use their tablets and other electronic devices from gate to gate, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 31, 2013

Festival/Tokyo pushes a return to storytelling

In 2009, when Festival/Tokyo took over from the annual Tokyo International Arts Festival, it burst forth with the slogan "Towards a New Real" and the resolve to stamp the city's name on the global arts map.

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