Search - news

 
 
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Oct 20, 2013

Political winds buffet NHK

An NHK insider warns that the quality of Japan's public broadcasting system is threatened by a poor personnel appointment for which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pulling the strings.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 15, 2013

Aso keeps an eye on U.S. debt ceiling from a respectful distance

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso says it is up to the U.S. to resolve its debt impasse, not for Japan to fret over its investment in U.S. Treasuries.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2013

Keep the government out of the Redskins' name

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office should get out of the business of determining what is and isn't offensive. There is no hope of settling on a precise standard.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2013

Busan is still Asia's film-fest gem, but its sparkle is fading

During the Q&A session after the screening of his new film "Stray Dogs" at the 18th Busan International Film Festival, which ran Oct. 3-12, Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang mentioned that not only was his previous film not distributed in South Korea, it wasn't even shown at BIFF. Tsai was one of the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 12, 2013

Apologies for the apologies: the 'dogeza boom' on steroids

Japanese people like to apologize; or maybe "like" isn't the right word. As in English, many Japanese terms that have the meaning of an apology are used for the sake of perfunctory politeness, so a sincere apology requires effort, and there's no more powerful apology than dogeza, the act of prostrating...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 10, 2013

World Cup place on line for mediocre England

England's national football team is like the English weather. Rarely very good, seldom that bad . . . a sort of middle line, occasionally hitting a high like beating Brazil (albeit in a friendly at Wembley) but generally a safe bet with few extremes.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Oct 5, 2013

Has business blackballed the yakuza? Don't bank on it

The Financial Services Agency (FSA) publicly spanked Mizuho Bank last month by slapping it with a "business improvement order" for letting Japan's organized crime groups use its facilities. At least $2 million in illegal transactions were cited.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2013

The 'why' of violence against women

Cultural attitudes regarding rape must change if we are to create a safer future for the next generation of women and girls.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 1, 2013

World perplexed by U.S. shutdown

As the U.S. government creaked toward a shutdown Monday, the world looked on with a little anxiety and a lot of dismay, and some people had trouble suppressing smirks.
Japan Times
PRESS / Corporate Trends
Oct 1, 2013

Sayuri Daimon Named Managing Editor of The Japan Times

The Japan Times today announces the appointment of Sayuri Daimon as the new Managing Editor for The Japan Times. Daimon is the first woman to fill this role in the newspaper’s 116-year history.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 30, 2013

Hashimoto's Osaka merger dream in jeopardy

Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) co-leader and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto was facing a critical battle. And he lost.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2013

Mandatory organ donation

It is estimated that 18 people die in the U.S. every day due to a national shortage of organ donations. This crisis could be solved if organ donation were mandatory.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 25, 2013

Applied Materials to buy rival Tokyo Electron

Applied Materials Inc., the world's largest supplier of chip-making equipment, has agreed to acquire Tokyo Electron Ltd., its closest rival, for $9.39 billion (¥926 billion) in stock, in the largest bid by a foreign corporation for a Japanese firm in six years.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2013

Deleveraging results garner incomplete grade

Almost everyone agrees that too much borrowing was at the core of the financial crisis and Great Recession. Where do we stand five years after Lehman Brothers
Japan Times
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Sep 24, 2013

Kato's attempt to change NPB doomed by lack of power

Ryozo Kato had the ideas to be the commissioner Japanese baseball needed, but not the muscle.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 13, 2013

Population of North Korea gulags has shrunk: experts

The population of North Korea's city-size political prison camps could be tens of thousands lower than the estimate used for more than a decade by aid groups and the U.S. government, according to recent reports and accounts from researchers, who put the new number at between 80,000 to 120,000.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2013

Inose lauds 'Team Japan' for bringing games back

Tokyo's success in landing the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics was thanks to the country's all-around effort involving athletes, lawmakers and business leaders, Gov. Naoki Inose said after returning from the International Olympic Committee's general assembly in Buenos Aires.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 7, 2013

Fukushima: health disaster or PR fail?

One thing about having a nuclear accident in a rich country is that at least there is going to be good medical care and long-term monitoring. The repair and clean-up operation is another matter, of course — which is why Japan is currently under pressure to accept help from abroad in fixing the appalling...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 7, 2013

Don't worry: Team Abe is tackling the nuclear crisis at Fukushima

Even if the public remains overwhelmingly skeptical about nuclear safety in general, and anxious in particular about the impact of the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on the environment, there is reassuring news that we can now rest easy.
WORLD / Society
Sep 7, 2013

A 'he or she' may actually prefer to be called 'ze'

As Nicholas Gumas settles into his third year at George Washington University in the U.S. capital, he won't just ask incoming students for names, majors and hometowns. If the situation calls for it, he will ask for preferred gender pronouns (PGPs).
WORLD
Sep 7, 2013

Google races to keep out government spies

Google is racing to encrypt the torrents of information that flow among its data centers around the world in a bid to thwart snooping by the U.S. National Security Agency and the intelligence agencies of foreign governments, company officials said Friday.

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