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Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Dec 25, 2013

Aisin's Kanamaru fits in well with new team

The Aisin SeaHorses (24-2) are tied with the Toshiba Brave Thunders for the NBL's best record through Sunday. That alone isn't anything unusual for the powerhouse NBL team.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2013

Dear Dennis Rodman: consider a few facts of life

An escaped political prisoner from North Korea asks retired American basketball player Dennis Rodman to use his friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to help Kim understand that he has the power to rebuild the country's economy so that everyone can afford to eat.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 24, 2013

Why world's newest country is nearing civil war

It was considered one of the world's great successes when South Sudan became an independent nation on July 9, 2011. After many unhappy years as a region of Sudan, the new country declared its independence with crucial support from the outside world, particularly the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2013

Do international rules apply only to weaker countries?

China's Nov. 23 declaration of an air defense identification zone extending to territories it does not control and America's Dec. 12 arrest, strip-search and handcuffing of a New York-based Indian woman diplomat epitomize these powers' unilateralist tendencies, demonstrating that universal conformity to a rules-based international order still seems distant,
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2013

2013 Mideast twists give lessons in democracy

The news that Tunisia's competing political factions have broken months of logjam and appointed a technocrat as interim prime minister sets the stage for a yearend review of the events that have followed the Arab Spring.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 22, 2013

U.S. secretly helps Colombia kill rebel leaders

The 50-year-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), once considered the best-funded insurgency in the world, is at its smallest and most vulnerable state in decades, due in part to a CIA covert action program that has helped Colombian forces kill at least two dozen rebel leaders, according...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Dec 20, 2013

Cook, writer, TV host, actress and more: Briton toasts eventful half-century in Japan

Civil servant, cook, columnist and TV personality are among the hats Jill Sinclair Ito has worn during her 50 years in the country.
EDITORIALS
Dec 19, 2013

Defense buildup won't bring security

With the adoption of Japan's first comprehensive guideline for security policy and diplomacy, the Abe Cabinet appears to operate under the illusion that the use of force ultimately could resolve the difficult situation the nation finds itself in.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Dec 19, 2013

Comiket, where otaku come to share the love

The Tokyo International Exhibition Center, better known as Tokyo Big Sight, boasts an area of more than 80,000 sq. meters of exhibition space. It's the country's largest convention center and will host wrestling, fencing and taekwondo during the 2020 Olympics.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Dec 19, 2013

Bright lights in our big cities

Christmas holiday lights can be quite the spectacle in towns and cities celebrating the festive season. And as the days get shorter and colder, they can often brighten the gloomy evenings of a frosty winter.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 18, 2013

What goes around comes around in Nagatsuka's 'Macbeth'

Whether he likes it or not, unassuming Keishi Nagatsuka is widely seen as being foremost among the coming generation in Japan's contemporary theater world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 18, 2013

Miura's sex 'Whirlpool' wows a bashful Paris

Looking around before "Ai no Uzu" began, there was an almost palpable anticipation ahead of our plunge into the realm of young Japanese people's sex lives. What to talk about while waiting for the orgy to begin?
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Dec 17, 2013

A museum where kids can play out fire-fighter fantasies

Last month I recommended the Tokyo Rinkai Disaster Prevention Park — a place where both children and adults can learn about earthquake safety in an enjoyable way. Maintaining that theme, this month we move to the other side of town to the Fire Museum in Shinjuku.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Dec 17, 2013

Tanaka informs Eagles he wants to pitch in majors in 2014

The man at the center of the posting system drama finally broke his silence, and it was music to the ears of MLB fans and executives.
EDITORIALS
Dec 15, 2013

Ishiba's ominous words

Statements by LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba underscore the danger that the new state secrets law could pose to Japanese democracy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Dec 15, 2013

No country for small-time rice farmers

In the suburbs of Tokyo, rice farmer Koichi Yuge is weighing how the government's change of heart on controlling rice prices will impact his 300-year-old family business.
WORLD
Dec 15, 2013

Some Afrikaners unmoved by Mandela death

Dirk Smit's reaction to the death of Nelson Mandela, it would be fair to assume, puts him in the minority of South Africans.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 14, 2013

Insect recipe book author offers some new lunch recommendations

How do you react when you see a cockroach in your apartment?
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 14, 2013

Haruna adds sparkle to a seasonal getaway

As the brilliant red, green and white explosions reflected off the surface of the lake, I turned to my partner with two simple words: "Merry Christmas."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 14, 2013

Japonisme and the Rise of the Modern Art Movement: The Arts of the Meiji Period

There is an art to art collecting that involves quite different skills from those employed by artists. People tend to assume it's all about rich people spending money, but, if that was all that was involved, collecting wouldn't have half the attraction it does for those obsessed by it.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 14, 2013

NSA can crack cellphone security, decode private conversations

The cellphone encryption technology that is used most widely across the world can be easily defeated by the National Security Agency, an internal document shows, giving the agency the means to decode most of the billions of calls and texts that travel over public airwaves every day.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2013

Five myths about helping out the Philippines

Among common misconceptions about assistance to victims of communities shattered by storms or earthquakes are that locals wait for the international community to come save them and that goods and services are 'free' donations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZ NOTES
Dec 10, 2013

Ai Kuwabara tops favorites list for year in jazz

For the final Jazz Notes column of the year I met up with writer, blogger and presenter of InterFM's "OK Jazz" show James Catchpole to talk about the year in jazz at Eddie's Lounge in Tokyo's Arakawa Ward. It's run by our mutual friend, groove organist Eddie Landsberg.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 10, 2013

Marinos star Nakamura honored with J.League Player of the Year award

Yokohama F. Marinos midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura was named J.League Player of the Year on Tuesday, three days after his team blew its chance to win the title on the final day of the season.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 7, 2013

Tales from on the trail of Okinawa's rail

Thirty-one years ago I set off on a quest to look for a species so rare that it seemed as mythical as a Phoenix. Not only was it almost unknown, but also the Okinawa Rail had only recently been discovered. It was, as reporters like to say, a species new to science. Nothing was known about its numbers,...
Japan Times
Figure Skating
Dec 5, 2013

Hanyu upstages Chan with record-setting performance

Yuzuru Hanyu set a new world record in the men's short program at the Grand Prix Final on Thursday night, earning 99.84 points in a fabulous performance to "Parisian Walkways."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / SWEET INSPIRATIONS
Dec 5, 2013

Satisfy that sweet tooth with a limitless pick of the trolley

Nothing beats a great dessert at the end of a memorable meal — and never more so than when you're out for a yearend splurge. Many high-end restaurants offer double the pleasure, laying on two sweet courses, or even three if you count the chocolates and other tidbits served with your coffee.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHARITY DRIVE 2013
Dec 5, 2013

NICCO driven to continue Afghan aid

Members of the Kyoto-based nonprofit organization Nippon International Cooperation for Community Development (NICCO) defied danger and entered Afghanistan as soon as the brutal Taliban government had fallen. They have since continued their difficult humanitarian support activities for more than 10 years....

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat