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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2014

Making a 'progressive' economy competitive

The neoliberal model has not performed well relative to the previous 30 years in terms of economic growth, financial stability and social justice. If a credible progressive alternative were to take shape, what should be the main outlines of such an alternative?
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 10, 2014

Suspected Russian spyware targets Europe, United States

A sophisticated piece of spyware has been quietly infecting hundreds of government computers across Europe and the United States in one of the most complex cyberespionage programs uncovered to date.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2014

New map shines light on Tokyo air raid horrors

In an attempt to preserve people's fading memories of the World War II air raids on Tokyo, scholars and citizens have drawn up what is considered the most comprehensive map so far of their efforts to escape from U.S. bombs.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 8, 2014

Media complicit in normalizing xenophobia

Since Japanese reporters are averse to characterizing domestic right-wing positions as being extreme, those positions come across as being normal, even sensible.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2014

China gains from U.S.-Russia face-off

The clear geopolitical winner from the U.S.-Russian face-off over Ukraine will be an increasingly muscular China, which harps on historical grievances — real or imaginary — to justify its claims to territories and fishing areas long held by other Asian states.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 6, 2014

Dinosaur that terrorized Jurassic Europe discovered

In Europe 150 million years ago, this dude was the biggest, baddest bully in town.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2014

Protests in Ukraine, Thailand likely to backfire

The specter of secession suddenly haunts Ukraine and Thailand, two countries where demonstrators have uncompromisingly battled corrupt or unresponsive rulers. Are modern states in general strong enough to survive today's explosions of popular will?
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Mar 4, 2014

Dumars the likely fall guy for Detroit's recent failures

Can someone get that dumb that fast?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2014

Tips for electing a leader with common sense

One way voters perhaps can eliminate a presidential candidate from consideration is to look at his or her watch. If it costs more than $500, they should find someone else to vote for, someone whose interests extend beyond personal enrichment.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 2, 2014

Getting all mixed up with mixed kanji readings

Gyūdon (牛丼, beef-over-rice bowl) and tonjiru (豚汁, miso soup with pork and vegetables) have much in common. Not only are they a nice combo for a quick lunch (and that it's almost noon while I'm writing this), but on closer inspection both terms also turn out to be a little off with regard to...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 1, 2014

Masako Shirasu: woman of the world

"If you use beautiful things every day, you will naturally cultivate an eye for beautiful things without giving it a second thought. In the end, you will be repelled when you encounter the ugly and the fake. If only all Japan would come to see this, how much more joyous our lives would be and how genial...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Mar 1, 2014

The Ruined Map

Angela Carter wrote that Tokyo possessed the "indecipherable clarity of a dream," one in which you might think you are in control, but have, in fact, been "precipitated into somebody else's dream." A similar sensation occurs when reading Kobo Abe's novel, "The Ruined Map," though he is careful never...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2014

Tokyo International Literary Festival brings authors and readers together

Authors, editors, publishers and translators gather with book fans this week to celebrate the second Tokyo International Literary Festival, which features 10 days of readings and workshops alongside more than two dozen events at venues ranging from coffee shops to embassies.
COMMENTARY
Feb 28, 2014

China uses Ukraine unrest as argument for stability

China's Communist Party-controlled media appear to be using the unrest in Ukraine as a teaching moment to point out the pitfalls of clamoring for more rapid reforms in a large, multi-ethnic society — one like China's.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2014

Russia's Crimean shore?

Today's Crimea, the traditional playground of czars and Soviet comissars, does not want independence from Ukraine; it wants continued dependence on Russia.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 28, 2014

U.S. strategy on Russia under fire

Days after his ally Viktor Yanukovych was ousted as Ukraine's leader, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 150,000-troop Russian military exercise on Ukraine's border. The fall of Yanukovych — and Putin's potential response to it — has reignited a debate in Washington on how to respond to the...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Feb 28, 2014

Another nail in the coffin of amateur sumo

Sumo currently exists in two forms around the world. Most famous, of course, is the Tokyo-based professional sport led by yokozuna Hakuho, et al. However, the amateur version, often termed “amasumo” in abbreviated form, is of interest to many in nations that lack direct access to Japanese broadcasts....
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2014

Olympic fanfare can't hide Russia's ills

Behind the swagger after the Winter Olympics lie serious doubts about Russia's future. Long-term price trends for the mineral resources upon which the economy depends, together with Russia's history, suggest that President Vladimir Putin's luck may well be about to run out.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2014

How we lose our marbles — and get them back

A remark by American actor George Clooney has reignited the debate over whether removing the Parthenon Marbles (aka Elgin Marbles) from the British Museum and returning them to their ancient home in Athens would be the right thing to do.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / LEARNING CURVE
Feb 23, 2014

Lado’s victory and demise weren’t without their lessons

With decreasing salaries and eroding job security, it may seem as if little has improved for instructors working in Japan's eikaiwa (English conversation) industry.
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2014

Huge stakes on the line in crisis-center Thailand

The stakes in the outcome of the Thai Crisis are huge and extend well beyond the country itself. One has to wonder whether President Barack Obama, and the world for that matter, are taking it seriously enough.
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 22, 2014

The Pillow Book

Written by Japan's original blogger, a mistress of wry observation and scalding wit, Sei Shonagon's "The Pillow Book" retains its fresh, authentic appeal more than 1,000 years after its inception. Shonagon was a contemporary and presumed rival of Lady Murasaki, author of the "The Tale of Genji." If "Genji"...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2014

China's Xi wasting time trying to eradicate vice

Despite what may be the best of intentions, President Xi Jinping almost certainly is not going to succeed in ending prostitution in Dongguan, much less China.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / ICE TIME
Feb 21, 2014

Scandalous outcome: Skating judges steal Kim's title, hand it to Sotnikova

Yuna Kim got robbed on Thursday night. Plain and simple.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Feb 18, 2014

You'll either love or hate those stinky, sticky beans

Soybeans have long been an important part of the Japanese diet. They are enjoyed in many forms — as edamame, tofu or yuba; boiled or roasted; ground up as flour; and so on. Soybeans also have religious significance, as we've seen this month during Setsubun, when roasted soybeans are thrown to signify...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2014

Where will Xi Jinping's risky reforms lead China?

As they no longer believe time is on their side, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his inner circle are attempting one of the most ambitious economic and social-policy reform plans in history.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 18, 2014

Freud's hysteria theory backed by brain scans

Sigmund Freud may have been right about repressed memories causing hysteria.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2014

Waging cyberwarfare by the rules

The news that a highly sophisticated malware program called Mask has spent the last six years stealing valuable intelligence from supposedly secure government and diplomatic computers around the world prompts the question: At what point does a cyberattack become an act of war?

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