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COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2014

Marijuana's sobering lessons from Prohibition

Like alcohol after the repeal of Prohibition, legal marijuana will be a profitable business kept on a tight leash. And we should expect the public health consequences tol be mixed, though hardly a disaster.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 27, 2014

War redress reversal in South Korea

Recent South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese firms to compensate Koreans who were forced to perform labor for them during the war have cast a shadow on already strained bilateral ties.
JAPAN / WEDGE
Jan 26, 2014

NISA a hit with old investors, not new

NISA, short for Nippon Individual Savings Account, in which individual investors will be eligible for tax exemptions of up to five years on their financial gains, has begun this month. Banks and securities houses are rushing to promote sales campaigns to encourage individual investors to open NISA investment...
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 26, 2014

'Masters' and 'dilettantes': The murky world of hit men in Britain

They are classified as novices, journeymen, dilettantes or masters. They are Britain's hit men — killers who ply their deadly trade in return for cash, and who for the first time have become the subject of a major academic study.
WORLD
Jan 25, 2014

'Abe-genda': nuclear export superpower

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is now in New Delhi to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Indian Republic. His presence speaks volumes about closer diplomatic, security and economic ties and, at least from Tokyo's perspective, a common agenda on responding to the rise of China. India remains...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2014

16 kick off Tokyo gubernatorial race

Campaigning for the Tokyo gubernatorial election officially kicked off Thursday with 16 candidates set to battle over national-level issues ranging from energy policy to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2014

Joze to Tora to Sakana-tachi (Josee, the Tiger and the Fish)

Director: Isshin Inudo
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 20, 2014

Citizen watchdogs see secrets law reviving tax money abuses

Democratic societies often have an ombudsman system of ordinary citizens who monitor how local and national tax money is spent.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 15, 2014

'Kaz' Kumagai brings tip-top tap to town

"Anyone can enjoy being be a tap dancer in their daily life; all you have to do is casually make a rhythm with your feet when you're walking down the street," Japan's leading exponent of the art, Kazunori Kumagai, insists — seemingly oblivious to the gulf between him and most of the rest of clod-hopping...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 15, 2014

'Missing' U.K. man turns up safe in Britain

Running in fear for his life or just to escape it? A British businessman who mysteriously disappeared from Tokyo last year, sparking speculation of misadventure, has turned up back in England, safe and sound, according to a British media report.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jan 15, 2014

Marketers capitalize on university entrance exam time

Special snacks, underwear, aquatic friends and more suddenly appear in support of academic victory for Center Test takers.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2014

Power without purpose in Moscow

By suppressing opposition in Moscow, Grozny and elsewhere, Putin has only put a lid on a boiling pot. Part of the Kremlin's difficulty stems from its remarkable lack of vision — a fundamental failure to understand what Russia is, will be, or can become.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 12, 2014

'Architect of 9/11' exchanges letters with pen pal

Details from an extraordinary exchange of letters between a care worker from Nottingham, in England's East Midlands, and the alleged architect of the 9/11 attacks were revealed Saturday, offering an unprecedented insight into the mind of one the world's most notorious Islamic militants.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 11, 2014

Ariel Sharon, Israeli 'bulldozer' who vacated Gaza, dies at 85

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli general and former prime minister as famous for his ferocity in battling Arab foes as for his turnaround decision to evacuate settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip, has died. He was 85.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 11, 2014

Dire quake forecasts fail to stir a numb public

Is there a level of fear above which the mind reflexively retreats from imagining the worst? The Great East Japan Earthquake was often described as being 'beyond imagination,' and the art and science of projecting future catastrophes has had to adjust accordingly.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / NFL NOTEBOOK
Jan 10, 2014

Divisional playoffs often produce upsets

Welcome to the divisional playoffs, aka the upset round of the NFL postseason.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jan 9, 2014

Will Cool Japan finally heat up in 2014?

After years of talk, 2013 marked a watershed moment in the government's Cool Japan campaign. Which begs the question: Is Japan cool?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 7, 2014

Bar for pre-crisis bankers falls on hard times

Heartland, the bar in Tokyo's Roppongi Hills complex where bankers from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. partied before the 2008 financial crisis, has shut its doors after more than a decade.
COMMENTARY
Jan 5, 2014

The rational ignorance of the American voter

If the political knowledge of American voters is measured relative to government's expanding scope, ignorance is increasing rapidly: There is so much more to be uninformed about.
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Jan 3, 2014

Suzuki, Murakami exemplify power, passion that make skating magnetic

It has been almost two weeks now, but the emotions aroused by the recent Japan national championships in Saitama remain vivid.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 31, 2013

Tokyo prepares to get schooled in the art of beats

Although the major spectacle looming on Tokyo's horizon is undoubtedly the 2020 Olympics, there is one event this year that will be eagerly anticipated by anyone who spends longer on their gym playlist than their workout: The Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) is set to take place here in October.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 30, 2013

U.S. Army seeks bigger Pacific role

Approaching from the Hawaii coast, the mosquito-shaped helicopter buzzed around the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie twice before swooping toward the landing pad. The U.S. Navy crew on the deck crouched, the helmeted faces betraying more than routine concern as the aircraft, flown by a pilot who...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2013

A pardon for war hero convicted of being gay

Queen Elizabeth II's long-overdue pardon of war hero Allen Turing should serve as opportunity for the world to reflect on discrimination against gays.
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Dec 28, 2013

Snakes and Earrings

Take a walk through Tokyo's Shibuya or Shinjuku shopping districts and you'll soon notice the streets are filled with a certain kind of girl — stylishly dressed, sassy, with heavy makeup and dyed brown or blond hair. These are gyaru, and to get a peek inside their world, "Snakes and Earrings" is a...
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 27, 2013

Medal of Honor winner from Korean War dies

Rodolfo "Rudy" Hernandez, a U.S. Army paratrooper who received the Medal of Honor after single-handedly carrying out a bayonet assault on enemy forces during the Korean War, died Dec. 21 at a hospital in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He was 82.

Longform

Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.
Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick