Search - author

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 20, 2017

'The Miracles of the Namiya General Store': Nostalgia-fueled tears are on sale at this shop

Japanese critics are calling "The Miracles of the Namiya General Store" the "most tear-inducing" story ever adapted from a Keigo Higashino novel. The best-selling author has penned such sensations as the thrillers "The Devotion of Suspect X" and "Journey Under the Midnight Sun," but "Namiya" went a different...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 19, 2017

How the prime minister can win over Japan's neighbors

Pulling South Korea and Indonesia into the TPP tent would make the free trade pact all the more meaningful.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2017

Americans feared Trump, but normalized leftist violence

The cost of preventing thieves from stealing American's constitutionally guaranteed freedoms is growing increasingly high.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2017

Unwavering support for Suu Kyi needed

Aung San Suu Kyi is trying to maintain national unity, which is indispensable if Myanmar is to address the daunting tasks facing the young and fragile democracy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 17, 2017

Finally, non-Japanese residents can draw pensions after 10 years of paying in

Foreign residents can now receive a Japanese old-age pension if they have paid in for a total of at least 10 years, rather than 25 years, as was the case.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 16, 2017

'Bullseye! Twenty Short Stories': More of Tsutsui's metafiction mayhem

Touted as 'Japan's preeminent writer of metafiction,' Tsutsui is an expert at deftly employing this narrative device to underscore his dark social commentary.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Sep 16, 2017

The prosaic state of ancient Confucianism

"Confucianism," says historian Hiroshi Watanabe, "is perhaps the most powerful political ideology yet conceived by the human race."
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2017

Is curiosity a casualty of the post-truth era?

Ignorance feeds curiosity. Curiosity cures ignorance.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Sep 14, 2017

Written or rapped, Seiko Ito has a way with words

It's hard to describe Seiko Ito with one handy label. When I ask my friends to do it, they struggle.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2017

A disconnect in the Rohingya conundrum

Instead of directing its anger and frustration toward Suu Kyi and the NLD government, the international community, including the U.N. and the powerful Western democracies, should put pressure on Myanmar's military leadership.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2017

Being better prepared for the spike in floods and storms

Just as governments try to cushion financial shocks, so they must invest in reducing disaster risk.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 9, 2017

'The Abundance of Less': New edition revisits Japanese who live with the land

Way before Marie Kondo taught us how to clean out our closets, American Andy Couturier was learning how to live without extra stuff from folks in rural Japan.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 9, 2017

State panel to brainstorm lifestyle solutions for Japan's demographic ills

Japan is waking up to the need to think outside the box to tackle a spate of economic and social challenges posed by its declining birthrate and aging society.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2017

Trump sours on Cohn for Fed chair, looks at several candidates: sources

President Donald Trump is considering many candidates to head up the Federal Reserve and has soured on nominating his top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, to lead the central bank, according to sources close to the White House and an administration official.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 5, 2017

Abe's moment to call Xi Jinping

The North Korean crisis presents Shinzo Abe with an opportunity to build closer ties with China.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 5, 2017

Billy Harrigan Tighe brings life to the man behind 'Peter Pan' in the play 'Finding Neverland'

"All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust." In those few words the Scottish novelist and playwright James M. Barrie conjured from the mouth of Peter Pan, the mischievous young boy in his 1904 play of the same name, his own childlike outlook on life, whatever disappointments and betrayals...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 4, 2017

Japan's 'Super Mario Syndrome'

The early success of video games in Japan created market conditions that smothered e-sports.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2017

Somebody's making money off all our junk

In uncertain times, the simple self-storage space can look like the safest place to invest money.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Sep 3, 2017

How Japan got new contract law it neither wants nor needs

One possible explanation for the inexplicable change in contract law: It is a giant experiment driven by academic hubris and bureaucratic ambition.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2017

The key to winning in Afghanistan

Islamabad's proxy jihadis cannot be defeated with half measures. And yet, we have coddled Pakistan as an important ally.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 2, 2017

The naivete of youth can be a costly problem

From Aug. 15, the Yukan Fuji ran a three-part series by investigative reporter Fumiaki Tada about the "dangerous summer" that confronts Japan's young people, including the possibility of falling victim to fraud or robbery.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 2, 2017

'Soul Cage': Gritty crime tale is step forward for Tetsuya Honda

Lieutenant Reiko Himekawa heads a team of homicide investigators at Tokyo Metropolitan Police headquarters. They are dispatched to the city's gritty Ota Ward, where a human hand had been found without a body. From fingerprints, its owner is soon identified as Kenichi Takaoka, operator of a small construction...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 1, 2017

BOJ 'normalization' rides on consolidation

As central banks prepare to start unwinding balance sheets later this year, there is growing concern about the financial soundness of the Bank of Japan.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Sep 1, 2017

North Korea sentences South Korean reporters to death in absentia over review of book on hermit state

A North Korean court sentenced two South Korean journalists and their publishers to death for "seriously insulting the dignity" of the country by reviewing and interviewing the British authors of a book about life in the North, its state media said on Thursday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 31, 2017

Time for Abe to put some eggs in the China basket

As Shinzo Abe's government bets it all on Donald Trump's America, there's new evidence that Xi Jinping's China holds far more promise.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / OBITUARY
Aug 30, 2017

Hillel Wright: poet, writer and catalyst for Tokyo's literary community

Remembering Hillel Wright, who died on Aug. 1 at the age of 73.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 29, 2017

Trump's planned HIV aid cuts could spell 9 million life years lost in South Africa, Cote d'Ivoire: UNAIDS

U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to cut foreign aid supporting HIV/AIDS treatment could cost 9 million years of lost life in South Africa and Cote d'Ivoire, according to a global study released on Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 26, 2017

Definition of happiness in Japan remains a mystery

Try defining "happiness." "A state of well-being and contentment," says Merriam-Webster's dictionary, unhelpfully. It's like saying happiness is happiness.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 26, 2017

New honor for Olympic legend Mills

Legendary distance runner Billy Mills, whose performance at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics catapulted him to global fame, is receiving a special honor close to home.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 24, 2017

Urban trees save megacities millions through cleaner air, cooler buildings: study

Trees in cities reduce air pollution, absorb carbon and protect people during heat waves, saving megacities more than $500 million a year in health care, energy costs and environmental protection, according to new research.

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