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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 2, 2016

Japan's picture ID before World War II

Last year, the number of tourists coming into Japan outnumbered those going out for the first time in 45 years. In absolute terms, it may be the first time that tourism has properly taken off for this country, despite numerous attempts by various ministries and semi-official agencies over the years to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 2, 2016

Getting sentimental about the Pre-Raphaelites

Sometimes even provincial cities in the West seem to have much greater public art resources than Japan's capital. This is driven home by a video at the "Pre-Raphaelite and Romantic Painting from National Museums Liverpool" exhibition now on at Tokyo's Bunkamura The Museum.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 2, 2016

'Shimura Fukumi'

Feb. 2-March 21
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2016

Bidding goodbye to Schengen

The Schengen treaty that allows EU citizens to move around without passports or border checks, is being suspended, perhaps forever.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2016

The chorus against the posh boys grows louder

The global elites' competence and moral legitimacy are being questioned like never before.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2016

Literacy, technology fuel Arab unrest

Rising literacy rates and rapid advances in communication technology have stirred the Middle East into a maelstrom of competing cultural narratives.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2016

Oxford rejects political correctness, sort of ...

University students are free to speak out against whatever they wish, but not to erase history.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Jan 31, 2016

NPO founder fights to reverse plight of Asia child sex victims

When Sayaka Murata visited Cambodia while in university, she was shocked to see a little girl around 5 or 6 years old among those who had been rescued after being tortured by electric shock and forced into the sex trade.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 31, 2016

Osaka's move on hate speech should be just the first step

Ordinance officially 'Japanizes' the naming and shaming of haters, which is at least a start.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2016

EU welfare states under siege

If freedom of movement within Europe is to be maintained — and if high inflows of non-EU citizens continue — European welfare states face a stark choice: adjust or collapse.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 30, 2016

NHK may need to rethink its 'taiga' formula

An article that appeared in December in the Yomiuri Shimbun weighed the prospects for the 2016 edition of NHK's year-long historical taiga drama series, which premiered Jan. 10. "Sanada Maru" is the title of the 55th marathon show, and the name of a fortification added on to Osaka Castle to protect it...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 30, 2016

The uplifting tones of Okinawan blues

The winter vocabulary of the majority of Japan residents doesn't include the color turquoise. Or aquamarine, azure or the somewhat intellectually pompous "cerulean." This, however, is the palette I attempt to describe with my husband as we turn our tiny rental car onto the bridge leading to Kouri Island,...
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jan 30, 2016

The Silent Cry

On the surface "The Silent Cry"— first published in 1967 — is the story of Matsu, his wife Natsu and his brother Takashi, who return to the Shikoku village of their birth to negotiate the sale of some family property to "the Emperor of Supermarkets," a Korean brought to Shikoku as a slave during...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 30, 2016

The Whale That Fell in Love with a Submarine

Akiyuki Nosaka (1930-2015), was a man of many parts, variously a singer, lyricist, comedian and politician as well as a novelist and short story writer. His diverse successes in later life however betrayed an extraordinarily traumatic youth that saw his mother die soon after birth, his adoptive father...
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 30, 2016

Chinese police break silence over missing Hong Kong bookseller

Chinese police have made their first statement on the fate of one of five missing Hong Kong booksellers, believed by many to have been abducted by mainland agents, acknowledging widespread concerns but offering no fresh information.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 30, 2016

Canada's Trudeau visits aboriginal town after deadly shooting

Residents of the remote Canadian town of La Loche, having softened frozen cemetery ground with bonfires, prepared to bury their loved ones as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived on Friday at the site of Canada's worst mass shooting in a decade.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jan 29, 2016

Tochigi's Brenton a multitalented player

In Japanese basketball, teams usually ask import players to provide size and scoring ability. But what Tommy Brenton supplies is much more than that.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 29, 2016

American legal principles and the Magna Carta

Henry Mittwer was a man of Japanese and American descent who stood up to the U.S. internment during World War II but in the end bore no rancor for that nation.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 29, 2016

The future of rice farming in Japan

Rice has been at the center of Japan's economy and culture for centuries. But changes are afoot. There is growing concern among Japanese farmers that the country's rice-producing capabilities are diminishing in the face of international trade pacts such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In fact, all...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 29, 2016

What negative rates mean for Japan's savers and borrowers

The Bank of Japan stunned financial markets by adopting an unprecedented negative interest rate on Friday, and as the news sank in analysts began to digest the risks and possible benefits of the move.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 29, 2016

Japan's 'quiet property bubble' faces end as transactions slide

The number of property transactions in the nation has tumbled, rents have been muted and inflation expectations have waned — all of which has prompted a growing number of analysts and economists to turn bearish on property prices, which have been recovering since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / AEC SPECIAL
Jan 29, 2016

Tourism on the rise across ASEAN region

ASEAN is enriched with attractive tourism destinations that include renowned resorts in breathtaking natural surroundings and historical places that are designated as World Heritage sites.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 28, 2016

Opera Theater Konnyakuza perfects a union of stage and song

The world of opera has always found inspiration in the works of William Shakespeare, but adapting them for the stage requires flexibility.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 28, 2016

Malaysia's top lawyer rejected advice to charge Najib: source

Malaysia's anti-graft agency had recommended that Prime Minister Najib Razak be charged with criminal misappropriation, a source said, amid growing outrage after the premier was cleared of any offenses in a multimillion-dollar scandal.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jan 28, 2016

Black or white? Actor Fiennes cast to play singer Michael Jackson

British actor Joseph Fiennes has been cast as pop star Michael Jackson in an upcoming TV comedy, provoking scorn on social media on Wednesday and fueling a controversy in the entertainment industry over opportunities for black artists.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2016

Obokata breaks silence, suggests colleague bears blame for STAP debacle

A former star scientist with the Riken research institute who was accused of fraud in 2014 tells her side of the story.
EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2016

Troubling TV confessions in China

China's recent televised confessions are a troubling indication of how far the government will go to silence any opposition.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 27, 2016

Simulated patients pitch Japan's medical students cultural curve balls

An innovative program matches foreign volunteer 'patients' with Japanese medical students for role-play.

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