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Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2017

LDP usurping spirit and power of democracy

Regarding the story "Nearly 70% of public doesn't buy Abe's Moritomo explanations" in the April 16 edition, in a little reported incident on April 13, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe used his majority wild card in the Diet to shelve any possibility of a timely investigation into his and his wife's dealings...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 20, 2017

Longtime JT baseball columnist Graczyk dies at 68

Wayne Graczyk, a longtime columnist for The Japan Times, passed away on Tuesday night or overnight in Kumamoto. He was 68.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 20, 2017

The amateur members of Tokyo Symphony Chorus perform like true professionals

The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (TSO) opens its 2017/18 season on April 22 at Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall, but the performance will be lacking one crucial element during the opening piece: the orchestra.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 19, 2017

Birth of a Twitter trend: the story behind #gaijinconfessionfriday

Last week, a simple hashtag kicked off an outpouring of guilt and humor on Twitter from Japan's foreign residents.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 19, 2017

Roger Pulvers challenges the idea of a hero in directorial debut, 'Star Sand'

Roger Pulvers has had the sort of free-ranging, multifaceted career that seems like a dream in this specialized age, when academics labor in their narrow professional silos.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / A MATTER OF HEALTH
Apr 19, 2017

Language barriers at Japanese medical institutions put foreign patients at risk: expert

Here's a little-known, unnerving truth about health care in Japan: for non-Japanese, the death rate is higher than that for Japanese.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 18, 2017

U.S. aircraft carrier strike group still thousands of kilometers from South Korea, photos show

The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, initially believed to be arriving soon in waters off the Korean Peninsula as part of a show of force to Pyongyang by the U.S., appears to still be thousands of kilometers away, photos posted to the navy's website have shown.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 17, 2017

A $165 billion money manager says Japan's stock gloom overdone, predicts surge after geopolitical risks ease

Japanese stocks have been battered so badly that they're too cheap to ignore, says the $165 billion investor Pictet Asset Management Ltd., after the Topix index tumbled to its fifth straight weekly loss.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Apr 16, 2017

Japan's traditional blues for bright and cheery kids

"It's stinky!" shouts my 4-year-old daughter, jumping up and down with an expression of pure glee on her face. The object of her fascination is a large vat containing a dark, murky substance that does indeed have a distinctly earthy aroma.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 15, 2017

'The Social Life of Kimono': Innovation faces tradition in the fight to keep kimono relevant

In 1985, a 24-year-old art student from England visited Japan for a summer holiday, fell in love and never went home.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 13, 2017

At 104, Toko Shinoda talks about a life in art

The only living Japanese on a postage stamp, 104-year-old Toko Shinoda reflects on a lifetime devoted to art.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 12, 2017

Xi, Trump talk on phone in bid to tamp down surging tensions over North Korean nukes

As a U.S. Navy "armada" steamed toward the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump over the phone, reiterating the need for a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear standoff.
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Apr 11, 2017

Hanyu's legend continues to grow with latest masterpiece

It has been 12 days now since Yuzuru Hanyu's epic free skate at the world championships in Helsinki won him a second title, and rather than receding into the memory banks of our minds, it continues to resonate.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 10, 2017

Short, sweet and to the point: the one-line retort

'Kankei nai' is the ultimate brush-off, meaning 'Nothing to do with me.'
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 8, 2017

A new EU gateway for Japan

The reality that the U.K. can no longer be a single major gateway to Europe has to be acknowledged by Japanese officials and business leaders.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 6, 2017

Knocking, 'recruit suits' and bowing: Etiquette key for Japan's job-seekers

Ever thought about how many times to knock on the door when you are heading into a job interview? In Japan, it matters.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2017

Trump says Obama adviser Rice may have committed crime, vows to explain 'at the right time'

U.S. President Donald Trump, declining requests for evidence, said on Wednesday he thinks Susan Rice, a former top adviser to President Barack Obama, committed a crime by seeking the identities of Trump associates mentioned in intercepted communications, the New York Times reported.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Apr 5, 2017

AI will never replace human interaction, forum speakers say

Will there be a time in the not-so-distant future when people won't need to learn a second language — instead relying on machine translation powered by artificial intelligence to interpret real-time conversations?
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 3, 2017

Former U.S. defense chief's North Korea strategy: Deal with it as it is, not as we wish it to be

"We must deal with North Korea as it is, not as we wish it to be."
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Apr 3, 2017

Let's discuss the cherry blossom season

Every spring, people across Japan are enraptured as the cherry trees explode into bloom, clothing the country in pink.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2017

Real cost of Fukushima disaster will reach ¥70 trillion, or triple government's estimate: think tank

A private think tank says the total cost of the Fukushima disaster could reach ¥70 trillion ($626 billion), or more than three times the government's latest estimate.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 1, 2017

'Killing Commendatore': Murakami's latest lacks inspired touch of earlier works

Haruki Murakami has lost his magic.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2017

Scientists gear up for a battle against fake news

New forms of social media help deceivers reach a far larger audience than they could find using traditional outlets, prompting scientists to search for solutions.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 28, 2017

Decoupling is hard to do for Japanese stocks still tied to the yen

Japan's stock market is again showing itself handcuffed to U.S. growth prospects and its own currency.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2017

North Korea sparks debate in China

The question many are asking in Beijing is whether President Xi Jinping is strong enough to thumb Beijing's nose back at North Korea's supreme leader.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 27, 2017

It's not 'broken' but 'being fixed': semantic games in Japanese when stuff fails

The Japanese language offers a number of words and expressions that help convey bad news in a less painful way.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 27, 2017

Japan's coveted cherry blossoms and other ecosystems threatened by alien species

Spring has come — the season when cherry blossoms bloom nationwide.

Longform

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