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Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 7, 2013

Leak fuels row over U.S. targeted killings

President Barack Obama's plan to install his counterterrorism adviser as head of the CIA has opened the administration to new scrutiny over the targeted-killing policies it has fought to keep hidden from the public, as well as the existence of a previously secret drone base in Saudi Arabia.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 6, 2013

Chinese target-locked MSDF ship, chopper

Chinese warships directed their fire-control radar on a Japanese destroyer and a helicopter last month in the East China Sea, the Defense Ministry says.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 4, 2013

Extroverts fail, and introverts flounder, but the rest of us will probably succeed

Spend a day with any leader in any organization, and you'll quickly discover that the person you're shadowing, whatever his or her official title or formal position, is actually in sales. These leaders are often pitching customers and clients, of course. But they're also persuading employees, convincing...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Feb 4, 2013

Puppy Bowl grows in leaps, bounds

When reporters from The New Yorker, "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams," "Good Morning America," The Associated Press and The Washington Post, have all converged upon one event, it must be important. An appearance by the president. A press conference about dignified matters, with plenty of throat-clearing...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 4, 2013

Russians cast wary eye on volunteerism

A country doctor, a tiny, dilapidated village hospital, an indifferent health bureaucracy — and now, coming to the rescue, volunteers from distant Moscow, bringing furniture, equipment, money and, maybe most important, good cheer.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2013

A question of Chinese sovereignty

China's 'historic rights' claims in the South China Sea have prompted Southeast Asian nations to argue that China is flouting international law.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2013

Rhetoric won't solve problems

For Asia, it is potentially bad news that the U.S. president seems to have little room for seriously considering the delicate balances between nations.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 29, 2013

Few chinks in Abe's armor as Diet reconvenes

The 150-day ordinary Diet session that kicked off Monday will be an opportunity for the opposition camp to confront the new Liberal Democratic Party administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Age in the runup to the July Upper House election.
Japan Times
Events
Jan 29, 2013

Preparing the foreign community for Japan's next big natural disaster

For newcomers to Japan, especially those who come from countries that don't experience frequent earthquakes, preparing for natural disasters like the megaquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region on March 11, 2011, may not come so easily.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Jan 27, 2013

You read about them here first

Ever since 1897 The Japan Times has reported daily in English on people, places and goings-on in and beyond this country. During those 116 years, our articles have often included information that never made it into the Japanese-language press — as in 1934, when the Society Page carried an interview...
WORLD
Jan 26, 2013

Iran reformists, hardliners debate 'free' elections

A heated debate about who will be allowed to run in Iran's presidential election has erupted five months before the vote, stoking concerns about a repeat of the protests that followed the contested 2009 poll.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 25, 2013

New Yorker opens doors for foreigners in Sapporo

Ken Hartmann, 71, still opens doors for ladies, and still speaks with a brusque, no-nonsense New York accent even after 27 years in Japan.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2013

Two more JGC workers in Algeria confirmed dead

Two more Japanese workers are confirmed dead after the hostage crisis in Algeria, bringing the total number of Japanese casualties to nine.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 21, 2013

Lethal threat to bats spreads south in U.S.

In the dead of winter, bats should be in a deep sleep. But at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, they are out and about, flying erratically in many cases, acting crazy. Out of nowhere, they have launched their mouse-size bodies at unsuspecting visitors, forcing people to shoo them off with fishing...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Jan 20, 2013

Veteran athletes, coaches adamant that corporal punishment has no place in sports

The tragic death of a 17-year-old Osaka high school student and basketball captain in December sheds light on a disturbing aspect of Japanese culture that has existed for decades: corporal punishment.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 13, 2013

Magazines struggle to maintain relevance

The print edition of venerable U.S. weekly news magazine Newsweek is no more. From the Jan. 4 issue it relaunched as a digital-only publication.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 11, 2013

Gomez, Ogawa helping Shiga stay in playoff picture

In 10-game increments, you can get a pretty good measure of how a team is playing during the long, 52-game bj-league regular season.
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2013

Business lobbies urge deregulation, quick budget work, TPP, self-help

The nation's business leaders Monday urged the new government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to pull the country out of its economic doldrums and deregulate more to boost foreign investment in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 6, 2013

Frederik Schodt: pop culture ambassador to the world

Quick quiz: Who was the first Japanese civilian to be issued a passport?
COMMENTARY
Dec 31, 2012

Cloudy prospects for Asia, 'Arab Spring,' global weather

To begin on a happy note, the world didn't end this year. Dec. 21 came and went without a sign of the Four Horsemen, leaving the Mayans (or rather their ancestors) with egg all over their faces.
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2012

2012: a year of low points

For many people in Japan, the past year felt like a doubly busy year. In 2011, life here seemed to be on hold, waiting for the next earthquake, tsunami or radiation disaster. But by the end of 2012, the regular rhythms, worries and needs of the country started to return to normal. The past year was a...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 29, 2012

Matsui praised for impact on baseball

Kyodo, AFP-Jiji Fans in Japan were saddened Friday by the news of power-hitter Hideki Matsui's retirement from baseball at the age of 38, many wishing he would resume his career in the country.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2012

Abe this time around to skip daily interviews in order to keep gaffes at bay

Apparently older and wiser after his first term in office, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will not hold daily press interviews any more to avoid the verbal slips that plagued his hapless predecessors.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2012

Japan's role in U.S.' Asia pivot

Proponents of the Obama administration's "pivot," or rebalance of attention and resources, toward Asia should be heartened by the results of Japan's parliamentary election. The Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) landslide victory in the Lower House on Dec. 16 augurs well for a reinvigorated relationship...

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