Search - article-news

 
 
EDITORIALS
Dec 8, 2014

Amending the Constitution

The political landscape emerging from the Dec. 14 Lower House election will impact when or whether a revision to Japan's Constitution becomes a major agenda item.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 1, 2014

Top Chinese university warns against criticizing Communist Party

One of China's top universities has urged students and teachers to "fight against" criticism of the ruling Communist Party, an influential party journal said, in the latest curbs on free expression.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Jun 22, 2014

About half opposes collective self-defense

A Kyodo News survey said 48.1 percent of the public opposes allowing the government to legally exercise Japan's right to collective self-defense and 39 percent support it.
JAPAN
May 12, 2014

Journalist now stands by Nanjing book

In a reversal, journalist Henry S. Stokes stands by the revisionist conclusion of his Japanese book that the Nanjing Massacre never occurred, after accusing his translator of right-wing sabotage.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
May 3, 2014

Telephone fraud: ‘Hello, is it me you’re looking for?’

For young sociopathic entrepreneurs in Japan, the best way to get rich quick is by learning to say the following three lines convincingly:
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 8, 2014

Rabid right foams at the mouth over Line's Korean connection

Internet entrepreneurism has spawned all kinds of free services and applications. Some — with names such as Yahoo, Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter — have emerged as wild successes and earned sizable fortunes for their founders.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 23, 2013

Secrets, lies, gaffes, glory: 2013 in quotes

A mix of scandals, achievements, political missteps and commemorations highlighted 2013. Here's a rundown of the quotations that shaped the Year of the Snake.
EDITORIALS
Dec 12, 2013

Repeal the state secrets law

Repeal of the recently enacted state secrets law appears indispensable for ensuring that Japan remains an open society with democratic principles fully upheld.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices
Nov 4, 2013

No safe country for foreign women: the debate

Holly Lanasolyluna's article published Oct. 23 attracted an unprecedented number of online comments. More than 5,000 people also answered the accompanying poll about safety in Japan. Here are just some of the mails and comments.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Oct 7, 2013

Fukushima, suicide and nihongo fluency: readers' mails

A grab bag of readers' mail in response to recent Community articles.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Sep 2, 2013

Tin Man's throne: the rise and fall of a Roppongi royal

Gilbert Otaigbe is the current owner of Black Horse bar and nightclub in Roppongi. At the height of his success in the mid-2000s, he owned at least seven bars, clubs and restaurants.
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2013

Unbelievable front-page choice

The Aug. 18 front-page Kyodo article "Anti-Japan protests mark anniversary" was ridiculous. I would like an explanation, and I'm sure many others would, too. This was not news. It simply reminded people that protests in China occurred one year ago. And, unbelievably, above the article, there was a photo...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 28, 2013

Fukushima: evolving fear into fact

Misinformation and flawed reporting about Fukushima radiation levels and reactor stability persisted even when scientific data had become readily available.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 23, 2013

'Hate speech' in the media, but not the legal code

This writer, on previous occasions, has expressed irritation over the recent tendency for the vernacular media to rely heavily on English borrowings for neologisms with socially negative connotations, such as sexual harassment, stalking and domestic violence — to name three examples.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 12, 2013

Do dire predictions for Japan factor in a rush for the exits?

Within two hours of the massive earthquake that jolted Japan at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, the Japanese government received notice that an “Article 15 event” had occurred at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Oct 16, 2012

Labor law protects expectant and new mothers — to a point

I had a labor consultation with a woman who said: "The other day I told my company I was pregnant. My boss asked me to quit because the firm can't afford to give me time off. One of my coworkers once resigned before giving birth but I want to stay on. Do I have to quit now that I am pregnant?"
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 25, 2011

Are digital newspaper subscriptions worth it?

Japanese newspapers still have cold feet when it comes to embracing their digital editions.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 15, 2011

Media starting to tally the economic effects of foreigner flight

News reports immediately following the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant accident of panicked foreign residents lining up for the first flight home — in many cases advised to flee by their own governments — had the initial result of helping to feed the sense of angst among Japanese that...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 27, 2011

Local media react to the events of March 11

For Japan's vernacular media, the March 11 disaster and its aftermath is the proverbial 800-pound gorilla that engulfed coverage of most other news. The items that follow give some idea of the scope of reporting over the past two weeks.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 31, 2010

Hearing China's take on Senkakus

The most recent territorial dispute over the Senkaku (Japanese name)/Diaoyutai (Chinese name) Islands, located southwest of Okinawa (or north of Taiwan if you prefer), was triggered on Sept. 7 when a Chinese trawler attempted to ram two Japanese Coast Guard vessels. The blurry details of the collision...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 10, 2010

Weeklies, tabloids hawkish over China

On Saturday, Oct. 2, over 2,670 demonstrators carrying Hinomaru Japanese flags marched in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park to protest the Kan government's soft handling of a long-running territorial dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands (known in Chinese as Diaoyutai), which was rekindled on Sept. 7 when the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 15, 2009

Movie JAL doesn't want you to see snubbed by media

Big-budget movies need all the help they can get recovering their production and promotional costs at the box office, so advertisements stating that the 3 1/2-hour epic "Shizumanu Taiyo" ("The Sun That Doesn't Set") is a "big hit" should be taken with a grain of salt. First of all, every movie released...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 18, 2009

Classic tales of newsprint noir

While a senior at Tokyo's Sophia University, 23-year-old Missouri native Jake Adelstein was heading home from a Shinjuku cinema when, on a whim, he dropped into a game arcade and popped u00a5100 into the slot of a fortunetelling robot for some mystical career advice.
COMMENTARY
May 4, 2008

A chance for Beijing to take a stand on health

LOS ANGELES — As matters now stand, accredited, professional journalists from Taiwan are once again being denied press passes by U.N. authorities to cover the annual World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization. This year's event takes place in Geneva on May 19. The topic is "A Safer Future:...
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2007

'Sakura Papa' sues publisher, ex-girlfriend

Democratic Party of Japan member Yoshiro Yokomine, elected last month to the Upper House, filed a damages lawsuit Tuesday against publisher Shinchosha Publishing Co. and his former girlfriend for defamation of character over a recently published article.
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Aug 15, 2007

Surrender spared a young, doubting kamikaze

If Masamichi Shida, 80, had known a bit more about the world back in 1942, he might never have become a kamikaze.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 25, 2006

Who needs a trial when the media has hanged, drawn and quartered the accused?

Cynicism comes naturally to members of the tabloid press, who report sensational news in a sensational way and rarely think about what exactly it is they're doing. All they care about is the gory details. However, their coverage of the murder of a 7-year-old boy last month in Akita Prefecture and the...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 15, 2006

Japan Times wins award for animal rights coverage

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) today announced that The Japan Times is this year's winner of its prestigious International Genesis Award, given in recognition of its Nov. 30, 2005 "breakthrough expose" headlined: " 'Secret' dolphin slaughter defies protests."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 18, 2005

Sinister stats suggest southpaws should swap sides

I am very depressed by the news these days. But, believe me, it's not what you think. It's all because I'm left-handed, an extrovert and a writer of poetry.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go