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Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 5, 2019

Norway's Arctic islands at risk of 'devastating' warming, report says

Icy Arctic islands north of Norway are warming faster than almost anywhere on Earth and more avalanches, rain and mud may cause "devastating" changes by 2100, a Norwegian report said on Monday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2019

The shackles of history in a democracy

The boundary between historical fact and fiction is more porous than students of history might think.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 4, 2019

Breaking the spell of aging

Extending the working lives of the elderly by offering better employment conditions is a top priority for Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Feb 3, 2019

The story behind anime localization

'The structure of Japanese storytelling does not adhere to a strict three acts. At times, the story meanders and takes the viewer on a seemingly unrelated path. ... Characterizations are richer, deeper, darker. Plots are often complex and convoluted, serving primarily as vessels to display incredible visuals.' — Mary Claypool, anime localization expert
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2019

Geotechnology and the U.S.-China trade war

If data were petroleum in the artificial intelligence era, then China would be Saudi Arabia.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Feb 3, 2019

From cosplay fan to idol, Yuriko Tiger's journey has been a colorful one

It was 1964 when 19-year-old ye-ye singer Sylvie Vartan captured the hearts of Japanese cinemagoers in the French film "Cherchez l'idole," released here as "Aidoru o Sagase" and in English as "The Chase." Her track from that film, "La plus belle pour aller danser," was a hit here, selling more than a...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 3, 2019

There's a radical plan to make South Korea's legislature 50% female

Some South Korean women are so frustrated by the country's stubborn gender pay gap that they are seeking a radical shift: equal political representation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 2, 2019

Facial recognition technology: What would George Orwell say?

This coming June, British author George Orwell's dystopian novel, "Nineteen Eighty-Four," marks the 70th anniversary of its publication. In the United States, Penguin has announced plans for a special 75,000-copy reprint. According to The New York Times, the publisher noted that, sales of the novel have...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 2, 2019

How Japan unleashed Lu Xun's ferocious literary passion

Although he was poised to be a doctor, Lu Xun, the most celebrated of all modern Chinese authors, abandoned medicine for something he felt would truly enlighten and modernize his nation: literature.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 2, 2019

Tabloid's objectification of women continues to stir controversy

The weekly magazine Spa has apologized for an article it published in December that ranked universities in terms of how easy it is to get their female students into bed. The article generated backlash but the apology was issued in response to a petition that had been drawn up in protest.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 2, 2019

'The Lone Samurai': A meticulous portrait of warrior-legend Miyamoto Musashi

William Scott Wilson's definitive 2004 biography, 'The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi' stands out not only for its meticulous historical accuracy, but also for the author's expertise on samurai texts.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2019

Stop hating on the weather forecast

It's actually pretty accurate now, even further in advance. The Midwest had plenty of warning this cold front was coming.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 1, 2019

Jailed Reuters journalists appeal to Myanmar's top court as rights group decries 'fear'

Lawyers for two Reuters reporters jailed in Myanmar for breaking a colonial-era official secrets law appealed to the Supreme Court on Friday against their conviction, as a rights group said the government wielded repressive laws against peaceful critics.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 1, 2019

Addressing Japan's demographic problems

Japan should explore every conceivable policy measure to create a society that has the most favorable conditions in the world for giving birth and raising children.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 1, 2019

Japan should let Naomi Osaka play doubles

This would be a good moment for Asian countries to recognize the economic value of allowing dual citizenship.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 29, 2019

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's great wall of resistance

Trump has never had to deal with a woman as smart and tough as the house speaker.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Jan 28, 2019

The digital drug: Internet addiction spawns innovative U.S. treatment programs

When Danny Reagan was 13, he began exhibiting signs of what doctors usually associate with drug addiction. He became agitated, secretive and withdrew from friends. He had quit baseball and Boy Scouts, and he stopped doing homework and showering.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2019

Trump, Macron and the poverty of liberalism

If liberals want to defeat populists, there is only one route: Regain the trust of the voters that form much of their base.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 26, 2019

'Murder in the Crooked House': Behind the mask of a classic Japanese murder mystery

Japanese-English translator Louise Heal Kawai reveals the challenges of sourcing translation commissions and how one text — Soji Shimada's 'Murder in the Crooked House' — was more intellectually rewarding than she initially assumed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jan 26, 2019

With deft portraits and prescient predictions, Lafcadio Hearn's 'Kokoro' offers snapshots of early modern Japan

'Kokoro,' a collection of essays published in 1896 by the prolific Anglo-Irish author Lafcadio Hearn, teems with a diverse panorama of observations from a country swelling with national pride.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN
Jan 26, 2019

Androids, infertility and ethics collide in Kazufumi Shiraishi's dystopian 'Stand-in Companion'

Kazufumi Shiraishi's novella 'Stand-in Companion' offers an interesting male perspective on infertility, plumbing the frustrations of a childless couple and the self-accusation and unspoken blame that can eat away at a relationship.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2019

China's new age of uncertainty

China's open disregard of international rules and its penchant for bullying explain why it essentially remains a friendless power.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 23, 2019

Waxing philosophical in English class with 'Thinking Experiments'

If you've ever taught English at a Japanese school, you'll likely be familiar with a certain kind of silence — pervasive and tinged with teenage ennui. Authors Alexander Dutson and James Hill want to recommend breaking the ice with philosophy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jan 23, 2019

What #MeToo? Dealmaking in escort bars thrives in corporate East Asia, including Japan

In Tokyo's Ginza, Seoul's Gangnam and Beijing's Chaoyang financial district, a familiar scene plays out almost every night of the work week. As dusk falls, businessmen flock to karaoke and hostess clubs to close deals and build relationships in the liquor-lubricated intimacy of young women.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2019

Where is the European Union's Brexit policy?

The U.K. has set a new standard for political paralysis — but the EU has little to boast about.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2019

Why California's crusade against receipts is pointless

A proposal to ban the paper slips, like plastic straws, asks little of citizens and will have just as little impact on the environment.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2019

China also built a big, beautiful wall, but it failed

Political infighting and xenophobia doomed the Ming Dynasty's attempts to shore up border security. Sound familiar?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 20, 2019

Be it ever so graying, there's no place like home

On a recent bus trip in Indonesia, I struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me who told me he was Malaysian but living in Australia, which prompted me to admit that I was American but living in Japan. This seemed to pique his interest as he next said, "I am very interested to see how Japan...
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
Jan 17, 2019

Marie Kondo's new TV series cleans up

Marie Kondo is the type of person you wouldn't initially expect lots of people to go crazy over. In the cleaning consultant and best-selling author's new Netflix show, "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo," she simply lays out the basics of her "KonMari" method of organizing homes — guided by the idea of finding...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 17, 2019

How Coretta Scott King brought her husband's message to Japan

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which this year falls on Jan. 21, is a federal holiday that marks the birthday (Jan. 15, 1929) of one of the United States' most-revered civil rights leaders.

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake