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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 17, 2014

A Promise: 'It's hard to care about these doomed lovers'

'A Promise" seeks to be an intensely intimate portrait of repressed desire; a European "In The Mood For Love" set in pre-Great War Germany, with enough attentive butlers, elegant interiors and Sunday-finest promenades to make any Merchant-Ivory fan swoon.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Dec 17, 2014

Readers' letters: What to do about 'haro'? And where to study, Japan or China?

A selection of emails received in response to recent Community stories.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 16, 2014

About 300 Chinese said fighting alongside Islamic State in Mideast

About 300 Chinese people are fighting alongside the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, a Chinese state-run newspaper said on Monday, a rare tally that is likely to fuel worry in China that militants pose a threat to security.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Dec 15, 2014

There's still more to know about ne, after all

Last week, we introduced the end-of-sentence particle u306d and its uses. The basic meaning of u306d is to show or require agreement.
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2014

Worries about secrets law linger

As Japan's state secrets law finally takes effect a year after it was enacted, much of the concern that many people had about the legislation remains unaddressed.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 10, 2014

Japan needs a real debate about the falling yen

Japan — and the world — deserve a real debate about where the yen is headed
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 10, 2014

CIA misled Congress about brutal, ineffective terrorist interrogations, Senate report finds

The CIA misled Congress and White House officials about its interrogations of terror suspects and mismanaged a program that was far more brutal and less effective than publicly portrayed, according to a report by Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2014

Kyoto-based NICCO refuses to forget about women of Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, where social norms prohibit women from appearing in public and their rights are limited, the Taliban's repressive regime and years of war have heavily damaged the country's heritage and society.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2014

Laotians learn about land rights through theater

The Japan International Volunteer Center supports villagers in Laos by educating them about land rights, using theater as a way to help them understand the legal system and develop a better future for their nation independently.
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2014

Worried about broader fallout, Japanese government moves to contain air bag crisis

The transport ministry, concerned that a public-relations fallout could envelop Japan's auto industry, is finally scrambling into action, creating a task force to speed up recalls and delve into the Takata crisis.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 1, 2014

Attitudes about money continue to affect marriage prospects

Unmarried men still don't expect their future spouses to contribute much financially to a household.
Reader Mail
Nov 22, 2014

Also ask voters about Article 9

When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said recently announced his decision to hold a snap election next month. He said, "We do need to ask Japanese citizens about the tax raise from 8 percent to 10 percent." His words seem to be very democratic but why not ask Japanese nationals about the change of Article...
Reader Mail
Nov 19, 2014

Teach more about the Ainu

Why hasn't LDP Hokkaido prefectural assembly group member Masaru Onodera been asked to resign? The Ainu are among the most indigenous of people to ever dwell in the archipelago now called Japan since the Jomon era. It's believed by many cultural anthropologists that the Ainu have lived in northern Japan...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2014

Republican rethink about U.S. foreign policy

U.S. military misadventures are leading Republicans to think afresh about the world and American foreign policy.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 13, 2014

MOS Burger employee posts hateful message about Chinese former co-worker outside restaurant

Fast-food giant MOS Burger has come under fire after a Japanese employee wrote a hateful message about a former Chinese co-worker on a chalk-board sign outside one of the company's Tokyo restaurants.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Nov 1, 2014

What's 'weasely' about wonderful weasels?

One of the mammals we're most likely to see in our Afan woods up here in Kurohime in the Nagano Prefecture hills is the Japanese weasel (Mustela itatsi). These wonderful little animals, known as itachi in Japanese, are master hunters that can run, climb trees, swim and dive and take down birds or other...
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Nov 1, 2014

The uncomfortable truth about 'comfort women'

Question: How did you view those people (that you infected with bubonic plague and dissected while still alive)? Didn't you have any feelings of pity?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 29, 2014

High drama at Festival/Tokyo

News in March that 38-year-old Chiaki Soma had suddenly been removed from the post of program director of Festival/Tokyo, which she had held since it started in 2009, set many theater lovers worrying about the future of the flagship drama event whose stature at home and abroad had only grown with her...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 29, 2014

Town hall meetings: Abandon logic, all ye who enter here

The first thing you want to do when you get to the meeting room, whether it be summer or winter, is open all the windows. This is because you'll have to throw all logic out the window. Open as many as possible, 'cause there's a lot of logic to heave.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2014

Tom at the Farm: 'a horror story about surviving the aftermath of a lover's death'

Is Xavier Dolan a genius? Maybe so. The Quebecois actor/filmmaker — with a beautiful, impish face and brooding eyes — is only 25 and has already made six films and appeared in 17. With his model looks and quirky sense of aesthetics, Dolan could switch careers to become a designer for Gucci any time...
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2014

GPIF to boost share allocation to about 25%, Nikkei reports

Japan's $1.2 trillion retirement fund will increase its allocation target for shares to about 25 percent from 12 percent, the Nikkei newspaper reported without attribution.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 18, 2014

Hideaki Anno: emotional deconstructionist

With dozens of the renowned filmmaker's works scheduled to be screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival over the next two weeks, we speak to the man behind the 'Evangelion' sci-fi franchise about his apocalyptic influences and prod him on the question that is on every fan's lips
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 10, 2014

Making noise about keeping the decibels down

Yoshimichi Nakajima was waiting for the train one day at his local station in Tokyo when he politely asked the station attendant to lower the volume on his microphone. He was told that would be "difficult," so Nakajima lent a hand by grabbing the mic and throwing it onto the track. He then recounted...

Longform

Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo