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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2015

Sayonara Kabukicho: Life and love in Shinjuku's red-light district

Ryuichi Hiroki has become a victim of his own success, though his studio employers probably don't see it that way. This one-time maker of so-called pink films (i.e., soft pornography), who became internationally celebrated for intimate indie dramas like "Vibrator" from 2003 and "Yawarakai Seikatsu (It's...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 21, 2015

Abe could ease doubts by apologizing over WWII, says former leader Fukuda

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could help remove international doubts about Japan's stance toward its wartime past by apologizing over World War II in a statement he is planning to help mark the 70th anniversary of the war's end, said Yasuo Fukuda, one of Abe's predecessors.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2015

Islamic State threatens to kill two Japanese hostages

In an online video, the Islamic State group threatens to kill two Japanese citizens unless Tokyo pays a ransom of $200 million within 72 hours.
COMMENTARY
Jan 20, 2015

Building community resilience to disasters: legacy of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake

The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake ushered in a new era of volunteerism in Japan, and highlighted many lessons on how to prepare for disasters.
EDITORIALS
Jan 19, 2015

Okada has his work cut out

Katsuya Okada, the new leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, had better set a clear policy direction for Japan's largest opposition party if he hopes to have it come back from its 2012 fall from power.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY
Jan 19, 2015

Russia's European home

If Western sanctions are to be an effective tool in countering Vladimir Putin's ambitions, they must combine a firm hand toward Russia's president with an open one toward its people.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 19, 2015

Indian spy's role alleged in Sri Lankan president's election defeat

Sri Lanka expelled the Colombo station chief of India's spy agency in the run-up to this month's presidential election, political and intelligence sources said, accusing him of helping the opposition oust President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
EDITORIALS
Jan 18, 2015

Rajapaksa's surprise

While the new president of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena, says he wants to build a nation based on Buddhist principles of nonviolence and compassion, it is not clear if he is prepared to investigate charges that war crimes were committed during the 26-year-long civil war with the Tamil Tigers.
Japan Times
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 16, 2015

USOC gets Olympic bid wrong again

"Once you become predictable, no one's interested anymore."
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2015

Daihatsu dismantling 'Toyota Way' as market changes

When Daihatsu Motor Co. launched the Mira e:S minicar in 2011, the Toyota affiliate thought it had found a model for emerging markets. The Mira e:S — e for eco, S for smart — was capable of going 30 kilometers on a liter of gasoline (72 mpg) for a sticker price of just ¥795,000, or $6,637. And indeed,...
EDITORIALS
Jan 15, 2015

Deplorable rejection of a retrial

A Nagoya court uses a depolorable rationale to reject the eighth request for retrial of an 88-year-old death row inmate convicted of fatally poisoning five women in 1961.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 15, 2015

BOJ says minimum 1% gain in base wage needed for recovery: sources

Bank of Japan officials figure that average base wage gains of 1 percent are needed in the coming fiscal year to sustain the economy's emergence from two decades of stagnation, say sources familiar with central bank's discussions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 14, 2015

Rising stars of kabuki run new-year Asakusa gauntlet

One of the major sightseeing spots in Tokyo, and indeed in Japan, is the city's oldest temple, Sensoji, which was founded in 645 in the Asakusa district of present-day Taito Ward. Though perpetually thronged with people, its beautiful precincts attract staggering numbers at New Year's, when this is invariably...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 14, 2015

Ichiyanagi opera aims to be 'total work of art'

As part of its 40th-anniversary celebrations, Kanagawa Kenmin Hall in Yokohama will stage a world-premier version of "Legend of the Water Flame," an opera by the renowned composer Toshi Ichiyanagi that's scored around a libretto by a fellow octogenarian, the poet Makoto Ooka.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 12, 2015

South Korea's Park ready to meet North's Kim without conditions

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said she is willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and the country's nuclear weapons program wouldn't be an obstacle to holding the first Korean summit since 2007.
EDITORIALS
Jan 10, 2015

Proactive emissions plan needed

Although Japan is the world's fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, there doesn't seem to be the prospect that Tokyo will submit its COP20 emissions cut plan before the March 31 deadline.
EDITORIALS
Jan 9, 2015

'Je suis Charlie'

The world has united in defiance of the terrorist attempt to silence a French magazine. It must remain equally vigilant against over-reaction to the killings.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2015

Charlie Hebdo's cartoons aren't the issues

Those news outlets that chose not to publish Charlie Hebdo's cartoons — after 12 people were killed — might have done so out of principle rather than fear, but if so, their news judgment was off.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 9, 2015

French police swoop on wooded villages in Paris attack manhunt

Heavily armed anti-terrorism police swooped on woodland villages northeast of Paris on Thursday in a manhunt for two brothers suspected of being the Islamist gunmen who killed 12 people at a French satirical weekly.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 9, 2015

Panic grips France's Muslim community as mosques suffer reprisals

French Muslims are braced for a backlash after terrorists shouting Islamist slogans killed 12 people Wednesday in Paris.
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2015

Chocolate shortage spurs call to revive cocoa farming in Amazon basin

With chocolate prices surging, a former Credit Suisse Group AG banker wants to help revive cocoa farming in the Amazon basin, where the beans are thought to have evolved about 15,000 years ago.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 7, 2015

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For: 'seedy, hardboiled cliches turned up to 11'

In the realm of comic book movies, director Robert Rodriguez's "Sin City" (2005) was a notable exception. Where most such movies think the idea is to make comic books look less like the printed page and more like the "real world," Rodriguez pivoted hard in the other direction, trying as much as possible...
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 7, 2015

DPJ leadership campaign begins, with three candidates running

Goshi Hosono, a former minister in charge of dealing with the Fukushima disaster, Akira Nagatsuma, a former welfare minister, and deputy leader Katsuya Okada are vying for the party's top post.

Longform

It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?