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COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 5, 2013

Abe's economic revival runs into Japan's reality

Is the Bank of Japan creating the biggest pyramid scheme in history?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 4, 2013

'Okinawa bacteria' toxic legacy crosses continents, spans generations

Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City houses one of Vietnam's busiest maternity clinics, but hidden in a quiet corner, far from the wards of proud new mothers, is a room stacked floor to ceiling with every parent's nightmare.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 2, 2013

Severe sports training methods became taibatsu in time

The martial arts were the inspiration for the famous baseball team at the First Higher School of Tokyo, a late 19th century powerhouse that helped make yakyu, as baseball came to be known, the national sport of Japan.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 2, 2013

Crony capitalism: corruption, disparities and stifled initiative

Crony capitalism is the scourge of contemporary Asia, lining pockets and diverting resources in ways that systematically undermine the public interest, accentuate disparities, sap innovative and entrepreneurial impulses — while also subverting governance.
JAPAN
May 27, 2013

NRA ranks radiation leak at lab as Level 1

The Nuclear Regulation Authority on Monday provisionally evaluated the severity of last week's leak of radioactive substances at a Japan Atomic Energy Agency laboratory in the village of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, as Level 1, within the bottom tier of the 7-scale international gauge.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 27, 2013

No one's being overly bullish yet, Kuroda says

Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda said Sunday he saw no signs of "excessively bullish expectations" in asset markets and the nation can cope with rising interest rates, provided the economy improves.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2013

Hold the false prophets of doom accountable

Apocalyptic prophecies and the raucous festivities accompanying them are indisputably alluring. But imaginary cataclysms have real-world consequences.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 26, 2013

Is it safe? Ruling party pushes nuclear village agenda

In July 2011, then Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordered stress tests on all Japan's 50 nuclear reactors to assess their safety. By May 2012, they were all idled and for the first time in 40 years the nation was not generating a single kWh from nuclear energy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
May 25, 2013

Uganda boxing trainer gives expert advice to aspiring pugilists

If you don't get into the ring once or twice, then you're a coward, Geoffrey Ima says as he describes people's attitudes toward boxing in his hometown in Uganda. Ima has been in the ring hundreds of times and came to love boxing so much, he wanted to earn a living from it — a career choice that led...
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2013

Why China's developmental state says no to liberalism

Modern history is the story of how liberal democracy, originating in Britain and America, spread around the world. This may sound like an absurd fantasy. In actuality, this Whiggish narrative of progress underpins most newspaper editorials, political commentary and speeches in the West, and frames larger...
EDITORIALS
May 21, 2013

Window on China's defense policy

China's critics are usually disappointed by its annual white paper on national defense. Beijing's eighth white paper since 1998 is notable for its view of U.S. policy.
JAPAN / Society
May 19, 2013

Incentives needed to lure students to U.S., experts say

Incentives are needed to reverse the decline in Japanese enrollment at U.S. universities as Japanese companies compete harder and earlier to recruit new graduates, experts said at a symposium.
JAPAN
May 19, 2013

$2 billion eyed for Africa natural resource projects

Tokyo plans to supply $2 billion over the next five years for Japanese firms to carry out natural resource development projects in African nations, trade minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Saturday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 17, 2013

Overstayers need speed, lawyer says

Since debuting in October as Japan's first law office catering to foreign nationals, Tokyo Public Law Office Mita Branch — Foreigners and International Service in Minato Ward has been deluged with appointments.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 16, 2013

TV show gives peek into world of Chinese porn censors

In the annals of bizarre bureaucratic desk jobs, the Chinese government may have all others beat.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 16, 2013

Thaemlitz's mix tackles antidancing law

It's fitting that I should be meeting Terre Thaemlitz on May 1, International Workers' Day — she wryly refers to herself as a "feminist Marxist" before we begin our interview in proper.
WORLD
May 13, 2013

Cursive handwriting disappearing from schools

The curlicue letters of cursive handwriting, once considered a mainstay of American elementary education, have been slowly disappearing from classrooms for years. Now, with most states adopting new national standards that don't require such instruction, cursive could soon be eliminated at most public...
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2013

Problems with figuring poor countries' GDP cloud judgments about which policies work

Since we can't be sure whether one poor country's GDP is higher than another's, we should not use GDP alone to determine which policies lead to growth.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2013

Ideological splits endanger Arab nation-state

The 'Arab Spring' generated a wave of hope for democratization of authoritarian regimes. The outcomes have called into question the viability of the Arab nation-state.
JAPAN
May 7, 2013

Fukushima debris disposal falling short

The Environment Ministry admits that disposing of disaster debris in Fukushima Prefecture will not be completed by the April 2014 target.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 2, 2013

Huffington Post looks to weave new Web in Japan

The Japanese version of the Huffington Post will offer a website that spurs more interaction between the media and the public and empower Generation Y, the children of the baby boomers, said Shigeki Matsuura, editor-in-chief of Huffington Post Japan, which is scheduled to launch next Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 26, 2013

Buoyant Abe's true colors emerging

Riding high in the polls, Prime Minister Abe begins to reveal his true colors as a right-leaning historical revisionist, four months into his administration.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2013

LDP plans expansion of JET program

The number of teachers hired for the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program would be doubled in three years under a proposal drafted by the Liberal Democratic Party to boost Japan's global competitiveness and nurture international talent.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2013

LDP looks to double JET Program's ranks in three years

The number of teachers in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program might double in three years under a new economic proposal.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan