Search - life

 
 
Reader Mail
Feb 26, 2016

Whistleblowers deserve better

The Feb. 19 story "Olympus settles with whistleblower for second time," points out what a terrible disincentive it is to be a whistleblower in Japan. Masaharu Hamada pointed out a great injustice. His employer and Japan, Inc. turned against him, making his life miserable for eight years. Then he wins...
WORLD
Feb 26, 2016

U.S. test-fires missile amid debate about upgrades to aging nuclear arsenal

The U.S. military planned to test-fire its second intercontinental ballistic missile in a week overnight on Thursday to demonstrate the reliability of American nuclear arms at a time of rising strategic tensions with countries like Russia and North Korea.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Feb 25, 2016

Life with Foxconn: What lies ahead for Sharp?

Sharp's choice of Hon Hai ends months of speculation and offers clear benefits in terms of a cash injection. But question marks hang over what will happen to Sharp's workforce and management as the Taiwanese giant sets about turning around the firm.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 25, 2016

An English director teams up with a kabuki star to retell a timeless tale of heartbreak in 'Eternal Chikamatsu'

English director David Leveaux has been a jewel in the crown of Japanese theater since 1988, when he first came here as a pinch-hitter after a compatriot pulled out of directing a Tokyo production of "Dangerous Liaisons." A 13-year stint as artistic director of the innovative Theatre Project Tokyo company...
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Feb 25, 2016

Supreme Court, Abe battle over judicial independence

The Supreme Court is locked in a war with the Abe administration over the independence of the judicial branch.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 25, 2016

Japan got paid $464 million to borrow thanks to negative yields

The government has been paid at least ¥52 billion to borrow money since the yield on its debt first fell below zero at auction in October 2014.
EDITORIALS
Feb 24, 2016

Opposition needs common platform

The opposition parties need to come up with a common policy platform that makes sense for voters.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 24, 2016

Islamic State puts squeeze on Aleppo ahead of truce; Russian airstrikes intensify

Islamic State fighters were reported to have tightened their grip on a Syrian government supply route to Aleppo on Tuesday as the army battled to retake the road as part of its campaign to seize the city.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 23, 2016

Kyoto Experiment goes from strength to strength

“It may be wrong to mix different wines, but old and new wisdom make an excellent mixture." So claims The Singer in Bertolt Brecht's 1944 play, "The Caucasian Chalk Circle."
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2016

How Asia lost an economic role model

If Thaksin Shinawatra can diagnose Thailand's problems from exile, why can't the military junta fix them?
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2016

Solution to the inequality puzzle proving elusive

As difficult a puzzle as income inequality may seem today, failing to solve it could lead to far more severe challenges.
WORLD
Feb 23, 2016

Vienna again ranked world's nicest city while Baghdad takes worst once more

Vienna, Austria's grand capital on the Danube river, offers the highest quality of life of all cities in the world, while the Iraqi capital Baghdad, once more, took its place at the bottom of the list compiled by consulting firm Mercer.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Feb 23, 2016

Calais 'Jungle' migrants snub eviction order, 'have nowhere to go'

Refugees squatting in a shanty town outside Calais in northern France ignored an official order to evacuate part of their camp, hoping a court hearing on Tuesday will halt its demolition.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2016

South Carolina puts history on Trump's side

Trump's win in South Carolina shows he commands such a fervent following that episodes that would undo conventional candidates don't hurt him.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Feb 22, 2016

Money trail shows China middlemen at heart of North Korea’s illicit cash-flow network

A trail of money stretching from a Panamanian shipping agent to an octogenarian Singaporean to a Chinese bank provides a window on why U.S. efforts to tighten sanctions on North Korea may be harder to achieve than in the case of Iran.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 21, 2016

Site of missing MH370 may be lost forever

The man leading the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is showing the strain after almost two years of fruitless toil.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 21, 2016

Family registers are off-limits to lawyers unless relevant to a case

An American asks if he can hire a Japanese lawyer to find out whether his current wife is legally divorced from the Japanese man she once married.
EDITORIALS
Feb 21, 2016

Egg-freezing: choice and risk

Freezing a woman's eggs so she can give birth later in life opens up important questions that should be addressed before the technology becomes even more widespread.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 20, 2016

Deja vu as Shukan Shincho turns back the clock

The title of the Japanese government's White Paper on the Economy for the 31st year of Showa (1956) was "The 'postwar' era is over." That same year, a delegation from the World Bank headed by Alfred Watkins spent five months studying the feasibility of extending a loan for an expressway linking the cities...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 20, 2016

The ink-stained road: 'age of experience'

In the new age of experience that defines the travel accounts on Japan from the immediate pre- and postwar periods, writers began resisting the easy enamor of the Orient. Instead of viewing Japan as an exotic wonderland, they took a more considered, critical view of what they encountered.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Feb 20, 2016

The Meiji Era and the soul of Japan: part 1

'Japan's first modern novel" was published serially between 1887 and 1889.

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