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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2017

Why Dutch sentiment has turned against immigrants

Soon after she moved into her new neighborhood, Ijburg, on the eastern outskirts of Amsterdam, in 2005, Xandra Lammers started a blog about it. Ijburg is a curious place, an architectural wonder, built in the middle of a lake on reclaimed land and partly on water. She still keeps the blog alive, but...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 18, 2017

'Moving Zen' and the modern samurai

"Be true to the thought of the moment and avoid distraction. Other than continuing to exert yourself, enter into nothing else, but go to the extent of living single thought by single thought."
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2017

How I'll know it's time to flee the United States

If you're not scared of Donald Trump, you're not paying attention.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Feb 4, 2017

New housing options get smaller in the city

Last month this column discussed how lack of city planning in the suburbs had led to an over-supply of new housing that exacerbated the well-publicized vacant-home problem. It should be noted, however, that populations in suburbs throughout Japan are declining — some slowly, others rather rapidly....
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 14, 2017

Curtain call: Examining the evolution of Japan's humble 'noren'

The shōtengai (shopping street) in Katsuyama, a rural hamlet located on the banks of the Asahi River in Okayama Prefecture, wouldn't look completely out of place in a Richard Scarry picture book for young children.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 14, 2017

Recalling the ins and outs of our memory

In the Harry Potter films, Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore shows the young wizard memories that he keeps in glass vessels. The franchise portrays memories as things that possess a physical structure that can be moved around. Although they appear to look like wispy bits of fluff, they are given...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 8, 2017

Japan's human rights issues fared better in 2016

Welcome back to JBC's annual countdown of the top issues as they affected Non-Japanese (NJ) residents of Japan. We had some brighter spots this year than in previous years, because Japan's government has been so embarrassed by hate speech toward Japan's minorities that they did something about it. Read...
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 6, 2017

Winning F.A. Cup not high on priority list for many

It is F.A. Cup third-round weekend or, as English Premier League clubs call it, a chance to rest the top stars.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 17, 2016

Scientific discoveries inspire amid a turbulent 2016

A number of the notable science stories of the past year are, quite literally, out of this world.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Nov 29, 2016

Cannons thunder as thousands mourn Castro in Havana

Galvanized by a 21-gun salute that thundered across Havana, tens of thousands of Cubans paid final respects on Monday to Fidel Castro, who led a leftist revolution, ruled for half a century and resisted the United States throughout the Cold War.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 19, 2016

Manipulating the brain to hasten learning

For some athletes, success has come from a dedication to practice and the repetition of a particular routine. Baseball icon Ichiro Suzuki or English soccer star David Beckham are two examples that immediately spring to mind.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2016

Populism thrives off the automation revolution

The world is on the verge of massive change on the scale of the Industrial Revolution.
Japan Times
SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Nov 1, 2016

San Diego, Chargers hold special place in writer's heart

San Diego may lose its NFL Chargers. And because MAS considers himself an honorary San Diegan, he is despondent over that possibility. Why? Well, it's a long but — MAS hopes — interesting story. So, here goes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 17, 2016

How do I struggle with katakana? Let me count the ways

The fuss over the use of the 'shin' katakana in the 'Shin Godzilla' film's title highlights the mystery that surrounds this often-frustrating syllabary.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 15, 2016

Space exploration and human evolution

Can we become a multiplanetary species? There have been several spectacular announcements along these lines recently. Both SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have unveiled ambitious plans and tested rockets. Now aerospace multinational Boeing has ramped up its plans to get to Mars....
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2016

The antibiotic apocalypse

The overuse of antibiotics in agriculture and health care is leading to an alarming rise in bacterial resistance.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2016

Europe must act in Aleppo because it can

Will Europe surrender what remains of its soul in Aleppo, or will it stop the killing?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 17, 2016

Did Japan fudge the truth about whaling?

If you've been following the tragic farce that is Japan's official stance on whaling, you'll know that the arguments made by the country's Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) to try and justify the hunting of whales have been soundly rejected. Japan maintains it needs to kill whales as part of a scientific...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 20, 2016

The gene that may benefit sumo giants

Samoa, with its string of beautiful islands and coral atolls in the South Pacific, is attracting more than just tourists these days. Scientists are heading there, too. The nation holds the uneviable position of being No. 1 in the world for obesity. Among Samoan men, 80 percent are either overweight or...
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jul 29, 2016

England's only World Cup triumph turns 50

The innocence of youth.
WORLD
Jul 3, 2016

In era of terrorist attacks, airport architects take security issues, functionality into account

Gresham, Smith and Partners recently designed a screening area at Norfolk International Airport in Virginia with one major concern in mind: flexibility, so it can adapt to changing security threats.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2016

The WWI battle that continues to haunt Europe

The most important battle of the war that spawned our modern era began on July 1, 1916.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 18, 2016

Autism may not be confined to the brain

Thirteen-year-old Naoki Higashida describes his own personal feelings about having autism as follows:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 7, 2016

Ryan McGinley: youth laid bare

In 1980s America the art scene fawned over the infamous "Brat Pack" group of writers that included Bret Easton Ellis, Jay McInerney, Donna Tartt and Tama Janowitz. They portrayed American (privileged) youth in that decade like it was — with all their nitty gritty drug taking, vodka swilling and New...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2016

Britain, too, is infected with political silliness

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is a reactionary masquerading as a revolutionary.
Japan Times
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 5, 2016

Veteran writer Izenberg recalls special moments with Ali

A few months ago, Jerry Izenberg, who has seen it all in his one-of-a-kind newspaper career, told me Muhammad Ali was once "one of my five best friends in the world."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 31, 2016

Looking back on Cy Twombly

For "Cy Twombly Photographs: Lyrical Variations" Chiba Prefecture's Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art brings together exactly 100 photographs, chronologically arranged to span the length of the artist's career. A selection of prints, paintings and sculptures are also being shown, to be reconsidered...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 14, 2016

Change in the brain: Central nervous system cells finally get the recognition they deserve

As you read this, some 100 billion neurons are transmitting information through electrical and chemical signals via synapses in your brain.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 10, 2016

Russia marks WWII victory with military display of arms, some used in Syria

Russia rolled out an air defense missile system of the kind used to protect its base in Syria and some of the Russian jets flying missions there screamed overhead as it showcased its military war machine on Moscow's Red Square on Monday.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go