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Reader Mail
May 2, 2017

Don't cherry pick smoking evidence

Jeff Birtwistle's letter "Making a case against ban on public smoking" in the April 16 edition is another flat-earther response to the dangers of secondhand smoke. It seems like he has googled "evidence" that secondhand smoke does not cause cancer, therefore Japan need not regulate smoking in public...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Apr 29, 2017

Power politics: Japan's most popular political platforms

Looking back at some of the political platforms that have been heavily endorsed by voters over the past century in a bid to predict where the country might be headed under the 'third generation' of postwar Japanese.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 27, 2017

All Shizuoka's a stage for SPAC's theater festival

At a recent news conference, Satoshi Miyagi, the artistic director of Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC), gave notice of an imminent invasion — by girigirijin.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Apr 22, 2017

Tsubasa Watanabe: Model mixes punk with fashion on the runways of New York

At her first test shoot in Los Angeles, Tsubasa Watanabe was surprised by the outfit the photographer was asking her to wear: Hanging from the fingers of his outstretched hand was a pair of thong underwear.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 21, 2017

Home of the cultured pearl, Toba in Ise-Shima has both history and living tradition

"To Bond," Ian Fleming wrote in his 1964 novel, "You Only Live Twice," "they all seemed beautiful in the soft evening light ... the gleaming, muscled buttocks, cleft by the black cord, the powerful thong round the waist with its string of oval lead weights."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2017

U.S.-Korean war hype rings hollow as verbal jousting continues

Despite the aggressive saber-ratting between Washington and Pyongyang, Japanese officials aren't betting on the U.S. attacking North Korea anytime soon.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Apr 13, 2017

Argentine Lamas hired as new Japan men's national team basketball coach

Julio Lamas has assumed the head coaching position for the Japan men's national squad, the Japan Basketball Association officially announced on Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 12, 2017

Hollywood's 'Ghost in the Shell' remake misses the mark

After the online petitions, the countless think pieces and Twitter tirades, Hollywood's "Ghost in the Shell" was never going to have an easy passage. Rupert Sanders' film — a $110 million live-action movie based on a beloved manga and anime property — was ill-fated from the start, tarnished by the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 12, 2017

The young comics of 'Laughing Lucky Cats' learn that in comedy, timing is everything

The struggles of comics, be they up-and-coming or down-and-out, is a popular theme in Japanese film and television. A recent example of this was "Hibana," a 10-part original Netflix drama about the decade-long career arc of a manzai (comic duo) act.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 8, 2017

Higher education keeps overreaching

Since the mid-2000s, the number of Japanese people who turn 18 in a given year has remained constant at about 1.2 million. That will change with the high school graduating class of 2018, which will be smaller than the class of 2017.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 7, 2017

Wave of small explosions hit southern Thailand after king signs new charter

Thai police on Friday reported 22 attacks, including at least five small bomb blasts, in Muslim-majority southern Thailand only hours after King Maha Vajiralongkorn signed a new constitution on Thursday as a step toward ending military rule.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 4, 2017

Envy, Mono and Downy devise a dream lineup for After Hours music festival

It's no secret that the Japanese music industry has a hollowing-out problem; you are either a pop act on a major label with high levels of exposure or an obscure underground act for whom not losing money on a show is a major success. Guitarist Nobukata Kawai of hardcore band Envy knows the latter reality...
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 3, 2017

At least 10 people killed, 50 injured in Russia metro blast, authorities say

At least 10 people were killed and 50 injured when an explosion tore through a train carriage in the St. Petersburg underground system on Monday, Russian authorities said.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Apr 3, 2017

Murata excited to finally get chance to fight for title

London Olympic boxing gold medalist Ryota Murata will get his first world title shot when he meets WBA interim middleweight champion Hassan N'Dam for the vacant title on May 20 at Ariake Colosseum, his Teiken Gym announced on Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2017

Starving for talent, Yoshinoya offers to pay college tuition for student workers

Beef bowl chain Yoshinoya promises to foot the tuition of 10 student employees if they promise to work at the fast-food restaurant for four years after graduation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2017

For Britain, the real work on Brexit starts now

On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May began Britain's exit from the European Union by invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 29, 2017

'Author: The JT Leroy Story': Was there truth behind the fiction?

Call it a massive literary hoax or twisted identity theft. Or just call it art. Either way, "Author: The JT LeRoy Story" will fascinate and at the same time cause much frustrated head-scratching.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 25, 2017

MLB Network’s Martinez, Waltz inform and entertain during WBC telecasts

Good show put on by Major League Baseball and the organizers of the 2017 World Baseball Classic Asia rounds held in Seoul and Tokyo earlier this month.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 22, 2017

Japan's weak yen could trigger a trade war

All bets may be off if Trump labels Tokyo a currency manipulator, a move that may force Abe's hand on reform.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2017

Germany's past: from shame to fascination?

Having a healthy relationship with the past is good as long as its lessons are not forgotten.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 19, 2017

Hiring a lawyer in Japan, and what to do if it all goes wrong

A Lifelines reader writes in about the negative experience he had with a lawyer in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2017

Are Trump's China trademarks a big deal?

'Trademark squatting' contributes to an atmosphere of general chaos when it comes to intellectual property in China.

Longform

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