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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 20, 2015

In search of Japanese and American shared values

There is a good deal of blather about the shared values that are ostensibly the foundation of the alliance between Japan and the United States. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Barack Obama invoked this mantra when they met in Washington to finalize new Japan-U.S. defense guidelines that hardly...
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jun 20, 2015

Can #socialmedia boost music sales in Japan?

Last week, Line Corp.'s, the operators of Japan's most popular messaging app, launched an in-app music streaming service called Line Music. Japan is the second-largest music market in the world after the United States, but its consumers have so far been global outliers, clinging to physical products...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 20, 2015

The new face of Japanese sci-fi chases an augmented world

Japanese science fiction has a long history. The genre could be considered to stretch back as far as the eighth-century tale of time traveler Urashima Taro or 10th-century story of moon-princess Kaguya-hime, but it was the rapid changes brought on during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) that generated one of...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2015

The secret to Lionel Messi's soccer success

Lionel Messi is widely considered to be one of the greatest soccer players of all time, but what is the secret to his success?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 19, 2015

Grasping the key to innovation

Japan should make 'new combination' innovation the nucleus of its growth strategy.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 19, 2015

8,500-year-old 'Kennewick Man' skeleton was likely Native American, not Ainu, DNA findings indicate

The much-anticipated results of a study of DNA taken from the hand bone of the so-called Kennewick Man, a 8,500-year-old skeleton discovered in Washington state in 1996, suggest the man was most closely related to Native American populations, a team of international researchers said on Thursday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2015

Tragedy should prompt a zoo rethink

The Tbilisi zoo tragedy should make governments reconsider the rules for keeping wild animals in captivity.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2015

Oil is not inexorably fading from the world stage

The age of oil will endure for the forceable future.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 16, 2015

Nissan award echoes a maturing art world

The biennial Nissan Art Award isn't new now, and it wasn't really new when it began in 2013, either — something Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn is fully aware of.
JAPAN / History
Jun 13, 2015

Mercury rising: Niigata struggles to bury its Minamata ghosts

The first thing Koichi Hirota noticed about Komatsu Hoshiyama was that he could not walk in a straight line. As the young neurologist proceeded with his examination in the cramped, sparse ward inside Niigata University Hospital, other symptoms became apparent: The 55-year-old Hoshiyama's body tingled...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 13, 2015

Cultural historian James Vardaman reflects on his journey into Japanese publishing

Between two sips of coffee, Waseda University professor James M. Vardaman comes clean to me about his decades of addiction.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jun 13, 2015

Ian Fleming ensures no cliches about Japan go unexploited in his ethnocentric masterpiece 'You Only Live Twice'

This novel may come as a surprise if you mostly know of James Bond from the movie series. First published in 1964 — the same year that its author, Ian Fleming, died — "You Only Live Twice" adds elegiac gloom to the spy-thriller formula.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 13, 2015

China's boom in old-fashioned business

There's a reason direct sales have found fertile ground in China: Trust is still a relatively scarce commodity in the country's business world.
JAPAN / Media
Jun 12, 2015

Times advisory board meets, offers recommendations

Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jun 11, 2015

Christopher Lee, actor who played Dracula and Frankenstein, dies at 93

Christopher Lee, the English actor who found fame as Count Dracula in the 1950s and whose career was resurrected a half century later with villainous roles in the "Star Wars" and "Lord of The Rings" franchises, has died. He was 93.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2015

Algorithms give us what we want, but little else

Algorithms may take the guesswork out of marketing, crime prevention and even romance. But they also take the guesswork out of life itself, making it predictably dull.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2015

Putin is no James Bond villain

Vladimir Putin is a rogue dictator, but that doesn't mean that he is intent on destroying the world with nuclear weapons unless it bends to his will.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2015

FCCJ appoints new board members

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, founded in 1945 and one of the world's oldest press clubs, elected its board of directors for 2015-2016 on Thursday.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jun 9, 2015

Blatt getting little credit, respect despite background

It's been a heck of a year for David Blatt, hired in an unprecedented move by the Cleveland Cavaliers after two decades as the premier coach in international basketball, suddenly becoming the coach of superstar LeBron James, who elected to return to the Cavaliers after four years in Miami and then coaching...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2015

You don't have to go quietly when you're laid off

All too often, U.S. companies abuse immigration regulations by replacing American employees with low-cost foreign workers on HB-1 visas.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 9, 2015

Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted cult leader Manson and 'family,' dies at 80

Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted cult leader Charles Manson and members of his so-called "family" for seven murders, then turned to writing books that took on everyone from George W. Bush to God, has died aged 80, his son said on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2015

Washington should offer to talk to Pyongyang

The possibility of division and dissension in Pyongyang gives Washington a new reason to suggest direct discussions without preconditions, but with the prospect of benefits for a change in direction.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Jun 7, 2015

Hey bureaucrats, leave those kids — and teachers — alone

To look at Japan's educational policy in action, you can't help but wonder if insularity and mediocrity might actually be the goal.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2015

The best and worst ways to default on sovereign debt

If Greece does decide to default, it should seek to make its path as smooth as possible.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 6, 2015

'Bottakuri' scams put the squeeze on the unwary

"On any given evening, you can see noisy quarrels between club staff and customers outside the local police box," attorney Katsuyuki Aoshima tells Asahi Geino (May 2), adding, "The police treat these as civil claims between the shop and the customer, and won't get involved, adopting the position of neutral...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2015

Mass death sentences now a part of life in Egypt

With its mass death sentences, Egypt's military regime is joining the ranks of Adolf Hitler's Nazis and Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 4, 2015

Study reveals famous California redwood is 777 years young

A new study to determine the age of iconic old-growth redwoods in California's Muir Woods has revealed that one of the tallest and most famous trees in the forest is much younger than many assumed given its massive size, scientists said on Tuesday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 4, 2015

Secret of Greenland's vanishing lakes found

Scientists were baffled last year after meltwater lakes atop Greenland's ice sheet suddenly drained out at rates rivaling Niagara Falls.

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