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COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 24, 2013

Top students shunning Japan

Making English the standard language at graduate schools in Japan won't be enough to attract more of the 'outstanding' students from abroad.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 24, 2013

Furigana — for when you need a little help with kanji

While watching a variety program on NTV over lunch a few weeks ago, I happened to see the word 儚い (hakanai) flash up on the screen.
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jun 24, 2013

Going with the flow in the trade office for Japan

There are some things to say as one leaves the New York office of Japan's JETRO, having worked amid the ebb and flow of trade for 44 years.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2013

Africa's 100 million girls with mutilated genitals

Elimination of female genital mutilation in Africa will be impossible unless laws are supported by efforts to change entrenched social attitudes.
SOCCER / J. League
Jun 23, 2013

Yokohama defender Dutra turning back time as he nears 40

Yokohama F. Marinos left-back Dutra will celebrate his 40th birthday before the current J. League season is over, but that does not mean he intends to shift down a gear anytime soon.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 23, 2013

Temples, dragon boats and fireworks in Chinese Nagasaki

There was a time when the journey from East China to Nagasaki was a long and treacherous one across an unpredictable sea. Once a ship entered the verdant hill-sheltered bay that led to the city, the passengers thanked the gods for their safe arrival. After anchoring in the harbor, a procession accompanied...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 22, 2013

Old school potter goes native in the wilds of southeast Okinawa

It took a devil of a time before finally managing to locate the home of potter Paul Lorimer, the building tucked into a rural lane on the fringes of the Sashiki community on Okinawa Island's southeast coast.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 22, 2013

Tourism goal within reach, JTA chief says

The rapid drop in the yen helped lure a record 3.17 million tourists to Japan from January to April, but achieving the government's goal of 10 million this year will require more work, Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Norifumi Ide said.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 22, 2013

Slim Whitman, country crooner who was loved and mocked, dies at 90

Slim Whitman — the country crooner and yodeler who influenced members of the Beatles and whose voice helped repel an alien invasion in director Tim Burton's 1996 sci-fi parody "Mars Attacks!" — died Wednesday at a hospital in Orange Park, Florida. He was 90.
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Jun 22, 2013

Kyoto temples ready for purification ceremony

Numerous temples in Kyoto will hold the traditional purification ritual known as "Nagoshi no Harae" on June 30.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 21, 2013

MUFG to pay $250 million to New York over transfers to sanctioned states

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. agrees to pay $250 million to New York to settle claims it transferred billions of dollars for countries facing U.S. sanctions, including Iran, Sudan and Myanmar.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 21, 2013

Markets worldwide tremble at prospect of U.S. ending stimulus policies

A wave of selling washed across the financial world Thursday, driving the stock market down, pushing interest rates up and bringing new concern that the forces propping up growth are in danger of fading.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 21, 2013

In electronic snooping, level of oversight is key

Americans are learning what electronics whizzes and hackers have known all along — that computers and smartphones, which make our lives more productive and entertaining, have at the same time ended privacy as most of us have understood it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 21, 2013

How top lowbrow U.S. humor translates in Japan

Somewhere in the history of American cinema, someone (maybe John Waters?) decided that gross and profane and funny could all sit on the same park bench and start up a friendship. That was way back in the 1970s.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 21, 2013

June blooms decorate Japan

While the ongoing rainy season means staying indoors to some people, for others, it is a chance to get out and enjoy the beautiful tapestry of ajisai (hydrangeas), whose colors vary from white to blue to pink to purple — and all shades in between.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / A TASTE OF HOME
Jun 21, 2013

In search of a steamed morsel or two of Hong Kong fare

Bamboo baskets of steaming dumplings, fluffy buns stuffed with sweet-and-savory barbecued pork, crisp spring rolls and endless pots of jasmine tea ... Dim sum (or yum cha), that Hong Kong tradition, is a staple of Chinatowns the world over. Except, it seems, in Japan. However, if (like many people I...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 21, 2013

'The Numbers Station'

The CIA needs a major public-image overhaul. Last year's "Argo" and "Zero Dark Thirty" did much to salvage and then revamp what had essentially become Hollywood's go-to institution for portraying bad, bad stuff such as conspiracy, betrayal and government BS. Ultimately though, those two movies — though...
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jun 21, 2013

Turn the lights out for a piece of 'me' time

"Turn off the lights, and take it slow tonight": If this reads like advice on how to pamper yourself at the end of a long work week, that isn't entirely off the mark.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 21, 2013

'Les Miserables'

Director: Tom Hooper
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 20, 2013

Producer Yosi Horikawa goes all natural on 'Vapor'

Yosi Horikawa's beats burble, hiss, slosh and gurgle. On his debut full-length, "Vapor," the 34-year-old producer may wield some identifiably hip-hop rhythms, but they're tangled in a rich, intricately detailed tapestry of field recordings, sampled percussion, snatches of tribal chants and warm, guileless...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 20, 2013

Get worldly with duo Charan-Po-Rantan

The two sisters of Charan-Po-Rantan say they're content in their own world. On latest album, "Futae no Rasen" ("Double Spiral"), the duo dwells on remaining inside this world — a place soundtracked by an accordion.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 20, 2013

Loeb Sony drive based on faith in Abe

Corporate activist Daniel Loeb took his team to Japan in April 2012 to determine if the world's third-largest economy was ready for investment. The Bank of Japan had set a new 1 percent inflation goal, an encouraging step in a country where growth had stagnated for two decades.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2013

West's tolerance of Putin emboldens oppressors

With each step Vladimir Putin takes to restrict the freedoms of the Russian people, like-minded leaders see the weak U.S.-EU responses and are emboldened.
Reader Mail
Jun 20, 2013

Foreign meddling led to wars

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's June 13 article, "The trouble within Islam," is dripping with unintended irony. He slams the Mideast, Muslim countries particularly, for being incompatible with a modern, pluralistic world. The problem with this is that the Middle East is a huge chunk of our...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji