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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 30, 2013

Foreign iPhone fans, be aware of Softbank's two-year visa rule

Softbank requires that you have at least two years remaining on your visa if you wish to pay for a new iPhone handset in monthly installments rather than fork out for the whole lot up front.
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Sep 30, 2013

Law may lead to disparities

Half a century ago, the creation of Medicare and Medicaid was a triumph of American egalitarianism. Within a decade, the United States went from a country where 1 in 3 people lacked health insurance to a nation where just 1 in 10 went without coverage.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2013

When the fury of isolationism roamed America

It is preposterous to equate today's mild debates in America about foreign policy with the furies unleashed by, and against, real isolationism before World War II.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 28, 2013

Nothing is clear about court ruling on illegitimate kids

Evidently I was wrong.
EDITORIALS
Sep 28, 2013

Rally against hate speech

Last week's march in Shinjuku, a rebuke to recent anti-Korean rallies, reasserted Japan as a country whose values include tolerance and a general desire to eliminate discrimination.
EDITORIALS
Sep 26, 2013

Ms. Merkel triumphant

The victory of Germany's conservative coalition in Sunday's elections was a rousing affirmation of the popularity of a wily chancellor whom Germans have come to call 'mummy.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2013

Diverse 'American exceptionalism'

American exceptionalism' began wth the Constitution's effort to establish a large self-governing republic, in which diverse views serve as both a safeguard and a creative force.
Reader Mail
Sep 25, 2013

The men that lack 'life skills'

Regarding Michael Hoffman's Aug. 31 article, "Married or single, Japan is a desolate country": I have a few elder moms as students, all with adult sons living at home.
Reader Mail
Sep 25, 2013

What will replace the signature?

Regarding the Bloomberg Global Perspective of Sept. 20, "The case against cursive writing": I do not think less of children or young adults who cannot write because they were not taught cursive handwriting in school. It is a laborious, lengthy, time-consuming lesson in an environment where teachers are...
WORLD
Sep 25, 2013

Rousseff slams U.S. over snooping

United Nations THE WASHINGTON POST Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday delivered a stinging rebuke of electronic espionage by the U.S. National Security Agency, telling the U.N. General Assembly that American eavesdropping constitutes "a breach of international law and an affront" to Brazil's...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Sep 22, 2013

Bo sentenced to life in prison over corruption

Ousted Chinese Communist Party heavyweight Bo Xilai gets life in prison for corruption, embezzlement and abuse of power as the fallen star's heavily publicized trial concludes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Sep 22, 2013

Pacman, Peso and Pyongyang

A few weeks ago, a Kickstarter project was posted on the Internet featuring two young men who went by the names of Pacman and Peso.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 20, 2013

Putin: arch manipulator on a mission to check U.S. will

In novelist Victor Pelevin's pungent satire on contemporary Russia, "The Sacred Book of the Werewolf," its narrator, a 2,000-year-old shape-shifter, kisses Alexander, a brutish but alluring officer with the FSB, the Russian security service — who is a werewolf, like all his colleagues. In doing so,...
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Sep 20, 2013

J. League courting disaster with return to two-stage season

The J. League has built up a richly deserved reputation for leadership and vision since it began two decades ago, but this week's decision to revert to a two-stage championship risks setting the Japanese game back by years.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2013

Fujiwara breaks TV taboo, slams secrets bill

Norika Fujiwara has broken an unwritten rule of the television business: sharing her political views. The popular model and actress has come out against a bill that stiffens penalties against civil servants who leak classified information.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Sep 18, 2013

For world, U.S. gun violence is new norm

Jimmy Davis, a 41-year-old London disc jockey, was saddened when he heard about the latest mass shooting in the United States. But like much of the world after the attack Monday at Washington's Navy Yard, he was no longer shocked.
EDITORIALS
Sep 17, 2013

Change Japan's energy policy

The Abe administration should heed public opinion and set a clear timeline for ending Japan's reliance on nuclear power.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2013

Obama didn't sell war hard enough

War is what America does best, war is what America does most. So why couldn't U.S. President Barack Obama get public support for a strike on Syria
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 17, 2013

Japanese might just miss deflation when it's gone

As BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda tries to spur Japan's inflation rate, he faces a graying public that has learned not only to live with deflation but also to enjoy it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Sep 17, 2013

Get lost in Inokashira Park and find yourself in Ghibli

Ah, Kichijoji: my favorite Tokyo neighborhood. Less than 30 minutes from the heart of the city, this hip suburb has everything a downtown dweller would want: good restaurants, good shopping, a thriving music scene and one of the coolest parks in the Kanto region. Indeed, most of my friends who live there...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Sep 16, 2013

Tokyo: the city that wants clubbers to sleep after midnight

Honorable Members of the National Diet,
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Sep 16, 2013

Activist Chinese billionaire detained

Last month, Chinese police invited Wang Gongquan in for a "cup of tea," often a prelude to detention. He had launched a public petition calling for the release of arrested dissident Xu Zhiyong, and the authorities were not amused. But Wang effectively told the police to forget it — he had no time...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 15, 2013

Abe's 2020 vision challenged

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared that the Olympics would put Tokyo 'at the center of the world.' But the real question is: Will Japan use the Olympics to join the real world
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 15, 2013

Conservative Club for Growth targets 'Obamacare'

The first sign that Republican leaders could not control their new majority came on a vote to help Americans who lose their jobs to foreign workers. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor considered the measure routine and in February 2011 put it on a list of bills that were expected to pass without objection....
Reader Mail
Sep 14, 2013

Net addicts need proper treatment

Regarding the Sept. 3 editorial "Net addiction a growing problem": I get a strong anxiety about this problem and its ramifications. In my opinion, Japanese society is likely to dismiss such addiction as a trivial matter and make light of it, to be sure, but the editorial has pointed out that the number...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2013

Zaha Hadid: queen of the curve

Zaha Hadid was once flying to Frankfurt to give a talk. Her plane taxied out, developed a minor fault, and stopped. She refused to believe the reassurances that the delay would be brief, and demanded that she be put on another flight. Her wish was impossible — to return to the stand, to unload and...

Longform

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