Search - member

 
 
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2015

Prisoner swap without pilot thought difficult, Jordanians say

As an apparent Wednesday evening deadline approached, in which extremists again threatened Kenji Goto with death, the freelance journalist's friends, relatives and many others nationwide listened for word of whether Amman would free Sajida al-Rishawi, the Iraqi woman the extremists named as the price...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 24, 2015

Smoke signals: Can Tokyo ever go smoke-free?

Japan has long held a reputation of being something of a paradise for smokers. Tobacco is, at least by Western standards, relatively cheap and people can still light up in many of the country's restaurants and bars. In fact, before the turn of the century smokers could pretty much puff away on a cigarette...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2015

New heir to Saudi throne is said to be relatively liberal outsider

Saudi Arabia's new Crown Prince Muqrin represents the biggest break from the kingdom's tradition of any of his predecessors in the role — both because of his lowly maternal birth and his foreign education.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2015

New Saudi deputy crown prince marks generational shift for ruling family

Saudi Arabia's interior minister, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, a close friend of the United States and a scourge of Islamist militants, will be the country's first king from the third generation of its ruling dynasty.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 21, 2015

Abe targets Finance Ministry

Angered by its resistance to some of his policy measures, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears bent on curbing the power of the Finance Ministry.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 20, 2015

Ireland's Tim Cook moment: Potential future prime minister admits being gay

Ireland's health minister, tipped as a future prime minister, came out as the first openly gay Cabinet member in a Catholic country that until the 1990s banned homosexuality.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 18, 2015

Okada defeats Hosono to win DPJ presidential election

Following a close runoff against Goshi Hosono, Katsuya Okada is elected president of the Democratic Party of Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 16, 2015

Aum accused pleads not guilty to most charges on first day of trial

Former Aum Shinrikyo fugitive Katsuya Takahashi pleads not guilty to murder and other charges on the first day of his trial at the Tokyo District Court.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2015

Shaping China's influence

It is in the best interests of Japan, the U.S., South Korea and Australia to become members of the China-established Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, to join China in shaping the future.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2015

The campaign to glorify Gandhi's assassin

A strident new campaign by a radical Hindu group seeks to rehabilitate the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 as an Indian hero who was inspired by 'love of country.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Jan 10, 2015

Point systems stir privacy fears among Net users

The battle for point card supremacy in loyalty programs is hotting up across the country, causing consumers to express concern over privacy issues as a growing number of companies get in on the act.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 9, 2015

Former Asahi reporter files libel suit over 'comfort women' issue

The former Asahi Shimbun reporter threatened by nationalists and revisionists for covering the “comfort women” issue sues a publisher and a Korea scholar over claims he fabricated his stories.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 5, 2015

Western-backed Syrian opposition body elects new leadership

Syria's Western-backed political opposition group, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, has elected a new presidential committee and a president widely seen as not tied to any of the body's international sponsors.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 3, 2015

The highlights of Japanese media in 2014

My choices for the most significant public phenomena of last year are associated with traditional media rather than the social kind, which isn't to say these phenomena didn't impact social media and vice versa, only that TV, newspapers and magazines still affect our perception of the world.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Jan 3, 2015

Debate over WW1 role; 21 Nazis snatched off Yokohama; new Red China policy adopted; Nagasaki mayor shot

100 YEARS AGOTuesday, Jan. 26, 1915
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 3, 2015

North Korean leader's sister reportedly marries son of senior official

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has married the son of one of the country's most powerful officials, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources.
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2014

Pesky political fund problems

The return of Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc to a two-thirds majority in the Lower House has all but sidelined a spate of political fund problems that hit Cabinet members before the snap election. But it has not erased them.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 23, 2014

South Korea shows the way on 'womenomics'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he wants to put more women to work to help make up for the country's shrinking population. Yet, of the 1,093 people who ran for office in recent snap elections, a mere 169 were women. Abe might want to study neighboring South Korea.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 22, 2014

Jeers, apologies and silence: Japan's 2014 in quotes

First of all, we're sorry. Everybody is sorry. This was the year that everyone apologized and everyone was sorry about something. The Asahi Shimbun was sorry so many times (even when maybe they shouldn't have been) that we're omitting them from the list. There's not enough space.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2014

India and China slugging it out in South Asia

As India and China compete with each other for economic and political influence in South Asia, they are likely to concentrate more on their relative gains vis-u00e0-vis each other than on the absolute gains regional cooperation could bestow.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2014

Iran's support for Syria tested by steep fall in oil revenues

Syrian businessmen and trade officials are worried that the economic lifeline provided by Iran is under strain from plunging oil prices despite public messages of support from Syria's strongest regional ally.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 17, 2014

Republicans tip hand on Obama lines of attack with nominees

Senate Republicans are previewing the lines of attack they'll pursue in 2015 against President Barack Obama's immigration, foreign policy and gun regulation policies during this week's debate on executive-branch nominees.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 17, 2014

Dark matter hunt begins at CERN's 'cappuccino-a-year' atom smasher

Finding one of the building blocks of the universe is a tough act to follow.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 15, 2014

BOJ rejects fresh stimulus to offset cheap oil's affect on inflation, sources say

The Bank of Japan rejects the idea that additional monetary stimulus is needed to prevent a recent decline in oil prices from pulling down inflation, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat