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Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jan 12, 2014

'Tiger mom' author stokes controversy with latest trope

Almost exactly three years ago, the Wall Street Journal published an excerpt from a book that remains its most commented article of all time. Under the fiery title, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," Yale law professor Amy Chua set out a manifesto for motherhood in proudly recounting her ironfisted...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jan 8, 2014

Restore the shuttered-up New Year's of yore

First of all, I would like to wish a happy new year to all the readers of Labor Pains. While labor news has generally been a gloomy topic of late, it is my hope that this year will bring brighter things for me to write about.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 8, 2014

Masuzoe to run for Tokyo governor

Former health minister Yoichi Mau00adsuu00adzoe indicates he will run for Tokyo governor next month.
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.
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2013

Something worth passing down

Japan Times staff writer Reiji Yoshida has hit the nail right on the head in the Dec. 16 article, "Deceptive rice price reforms viewed as too late for industry," and in his co-authored article of the same date, "No country for small-time rice farmers."
LIFE / Digital
Dec 24, 2013

Even our Facebook 'grunts' could be monetized

As Mark Twain observed: "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." And that was a long time before the Web. Which brings us to a meme that was propagating last week though social media. Its essence was an assertion that Facebook monitored — and stored — not...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 23, 2013

Secrets, lies, gaffes, glory: 2013 in quotes

A mix of scandals, achievements, political missteps and commemorations highlighted 2013. Here's a rundown of the quotations that shaped the Year of the Snake.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Dec 22, 2013

Duty-free goods for foreign travelers

The government has started to consider that the list of duty-free articles, which foreign tourists can buy without paying consumption tax, should be expanded.
EDITORIALS
Dec 19, 2013

Defense buildup won't bring security

With the adoption of Japan's first comprehensive guideline for security policy and diplomacy, the Abe Cabinet appears to operate under the illusion that the use of force ultimately could resolve the difficult situation the nation finds itself in.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2013

Turkey playing 'orientalism' card against West

For many years, most Western journalists defended the Turkish government against the the suspicions of secular Turks who worried about radical Islamic or authoritarian agenda. But the liberal reforms stopped several years ago.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 16, 2013

Kyojima: Tokyo's epicenter of disaster risk?

Kyojima in eastern Tokyo is a perfect storm of natural-disaster risk, but while the metropolitan government is trying to get old people out, young people are moving in.
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2013

An insane offset to a greedy tax

Regarding the Dec. 5 Kyodo article "Stimulus package to ease tax hike OK'd": If there was ever a more blatant plan to use power to embezzle money from the public purse than Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's insulting intention to ease the effects of taxation by proffering a stimulus package, then I have yet...
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2013

Government without oversight

Even if the state secrets bill becomes a law, it will be important for people to continue grass-roots movements to oppose it and to prevent from being used to curb their right to know and to express their thought and opinions.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 3, 2013

Power shifting in the Pacific

If China continues to strengthen its influence, will Japan, on its own or in collaboration with Australia, help reinforce the U.S. politically and militarily in the Asia-Pacific region?
Reader Mail
Nov 27, 2013

Hopefully sensible heads prevail

With regard to the Nov. 25 article titled: "ADIZs common but China's is worrisome," I'd like to add my two pence worth.
Reader Mail
Nov 27, 2013

Germans back legal prostitution

Regarding the Nov. 23 article, "Germany is having second thoughts on legalized prostitution": I'm a German researcher and I was a co-organizer of the protest against Alice Schwarzer's recent event in Berlin.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 26, 2013

State secrecy bill could have a chilling effect on reporting

The state secrecy bill currently before the Diet could have a chilling effect on news reporting in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 9, 2013

Learning to revel in the odd with the Ig Nobel

"I noticed there was a suspicious-looking email in my in box with the subject 'Ig Nobel' and 'Congratulations.' At first I thought it was some kind of spam. I was going to disregard it, but then I recalled the famous Ig Nobel awards," relates Dr. Masanori Niimi of Teikyo University in Shukan Shincho...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 3, 2013

This is the year of the typhoon

We have never had more taifū (台風, typhoon)-related news than we have had this year. Japan has had at least 28 typhoons so far in 2013 and the number is likely to surpass 30 — the first time this will have happened in 19 years.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Nov 2, 2013

Can Japanese really be such cold sushi in the sack?

Sex in Japan is a knotty issue — even if you're not a fan of tying up your lover with rope, also known as shibari. No matter how you write about it, it raises ire. If you point out that Japan has a vibrant sex industry in which every sexual act other than vaginal penetration can be legally bought and...
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2013

Lawmaker under fire for letter to Emperor

The repercussions continued Friday after independent Upper House lawmaker Taro Yamamoto the previous evening handed an apparently politically inspired letter to Emperor Akihito.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2013

Nothing new in NSA scandal

The surprising thing about the scandal of Washington spying on its friends is that people are surprised. Reports of an Australian decoding operation against the Japanese date back to 1976.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2013

Anti-nuclear lawmaker tries to get Emperor's attention

Upper House lawmaker Taro Yamamoto, an anti-nuclear activist who was formerly an actor, creates a public stir when he apparently approaches Emperor Akihito for political purposes at a garden party hosted by the Imperial Couple.
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2013

Diplomatic efforts take priority

Regarding the Oct. 19/20 Kyodo article "Abe skirts Yasukuni snare": I believe that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has opted for a judicial decision. It's true that Yasukuni Shrine has enshrined a lot of people killed in the Pacific War, and Japanese citizens should respect them. But this shrine was once...
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Oct 28, 2013

'Fired' English teacher fights cancer and HIV: readers' mail

Readers offer a range of views on the case of Briton Neil Grainger, the English teacher struggling with cancer and HIV whose contract was not renewed by his employer, Waseda International.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 20, 2013

School aims to give biracial kids a place to 'be themselves'

Melissa Tomlinson doesn't have very happy memories of elementary school. As an 8-year-old, she "never had a chance to eat lunch normally — the other kids put something in it, or they mixed the milk and soup and orange together and told me to eat it."
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2013

Taiwan opposition leery of China trade accord

The opposition DPP generally understands the economic realities facing Taiwan, but it is apprehensive of the political perils of a closer trade and services partnership with China.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?