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COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 1, 2015

Abe and history: What's next?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe needs to dramatically and definitively address the 'comfort women' issue head on.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 29, 2015

Expressive emoji win over Merriam-Webster's wordsmiths

From tsunami to head honcho, English boasts no end to Japanese loan words. Artsy chefs now talk of umami and revelers belt out karaoke, so it is no surprise to see the Merriam-Webster dictionary honoring another new arrival: emoji, familiar to mobile users worldwide.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 20, 2015

Danish filmmaker's emotional, queasy 'Second Chance'

Scandinavian countries consistently come out tops on the happiness index but Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier ("Love is All You Need") continues in her apparent quest to dig up the darkest muck in the river bed of the human soul. If you're familiar with Bier's world, you'll know how her characters always...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 18, 2015

Chief Cabinet secretary is much more than top government spokesman

Which politician is most often quoted by Japanese media outlets? The answer undoubtedly is the chief Cabinet secretary, who holds two news conferences each weekday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2015

Dangerous deja vu all over

David Cameron's Conservatives are treading a dangerous path in renegotiating the U.K.'s membership and obligations in the EU.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 14, 2015

Maya Inoue makes a play to refine her father's theatrical legacy

Hisashi Inoue's death at the age of 75 on April 9, 2010, at his home in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, was a major event in the postwar Japanese theater world. It moved many dramatists to stage works by the great author and playwright who combined comedy and searing social and political commentary into...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 13, 2015

Filmmakers Ash and Kamanaka discuss radiation, secrets and lives

Two filmmakers who have tackled the Fukushima issue — American and Japanese, storyteller and activist — discuss their work and their films, and consider the notion of 'being a 'foreign' filmmaker.'
Japan Times
WORLD / EU SPECIAL 2015
May 12, 2015

EU Film Days offers new insights into Europe

Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
May 6, 2015

Uchiyama defends title with patented KO

Watanabe Gym chairman Hitoshi Watanabe confessed that he hadn't been sure if it was right to select undefeated fighter Jomthong Chuwattana as the opponent for his own Takashi Uchiyama, because he knew the Thai could pose a legitimate threat.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 5, 2015

China's military says army has yet to fully embrace the rule of law

China's armed forces, the largest in the world, have yet to become a military that follows the law in full, its official newspaper said on Tuesday, underscoring the problem of rooting out deeply-rooted corruption.
JAPAN
May 3, 2015

Mori Trust heir shows how women can shine

The daughter of real estate magnate Akira Mori fits the mold for the government's female empowerment campaign and is preparing to take over.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 20, 2015

China paper blames poor upbringing for top-level graft

Poor family upbringing is to blame for some of the most serious corruption facing China and officials should learn from the examples of heroic figures from the earliest days of Communist rule, a top paper said on Monday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 18, 2015

N. Korea warns U.S. envoy in Seoul of 'bigger mishap' than knife attack

A North Korean propaganda unit said the U.S. ambassador to South Korea could face a "bigger mishap" than the knife attack to his face last month if he does not stop insulting North Korea with "laughable" accusations.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2015

Feckless Europe kowtows to China on AIIB

Europe's decision to support the AIIB over U.S. objections reflects its own weakness more than America's.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2015

When everything is a crime in the United States

The U.S. has a criminal justice system with too many opportunities for generating defendants, too few inhibitions on prosecutors, and ongoing corrosion of the rule and morality of law.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2015

The BBC's worldwide coverage is losing its way

BBC worldwide coverage is increasingly losing its way, suffering from budget cuts, dumbing down of content, loss of news priorities and a sacrifice of a true world view.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 8, 2015

Inward-looking election campaign reflects Britain's global retreat

Britain's membership in the European Union hangs on the outcome of a knife-edge election in four weeks' time, but the issue and that of the country's wider global role have been largely absent from a campaign narrowly focused on domestic worries.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2015

On the right path, China must cut coal reliance

China's recent progress in reducing emissions shows that, with the right combination of government policies, corporate initiatives, and public pressure, even the largest and most polluted countries can clean up their act.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 1, 2015

Robert Altman has his fingerprints all over 'Birdman'

In 1992 Robert Altman made "The Player," a scathing satire on how shallow Hollywood filmmaking had become, and it came damn close to winning him an Oscar for best director. The next year, he made "Short Cuts," based on the stories of Raymond Carver, and again came up short at the Oscars.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
Apr 1, 2015

Flushed with success: Innovative new toilet accessory to offer full body wash

Bidet-type commodes equipped with built-in washers and pre-warmed seats made news after Japan's media reported that they were enjoying heady demand.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 31, 2015

'Tenimyu' 2.5-D shows net over 2 million tickets sold

There's kabuki, noh, butoh, bunraku, regular plays, glitzy musicals and Japan's unique all-female Takarazuka musical theater troupe — but another home-grown performance-art genre has for some time been carving a niche in this country's diverse entertainment world in the shape of so-called 2.5-D musicals....
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Mar 23, 2015

How Europe and U.S. stumbled into spat over China-led bank

Sometimes geopolitical shifts happen by accident rather than design.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2015

Redouble efforts to close the EU-Turkey gap

Never have the European Union and Turkey needed one another more, and yet rarely have they been so distant.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 23, 2015

Supplementary aids place teachers on thin ice

Teachers in Japan, as in the U.S., may find themselves without legal cover if they choose to use supplementary classroom materials that they've picked out themselves.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2015

Why Asia should welcome the Fed's 'taper'

Asian governments will need to act differently if U.S. Fed 'tapering' leaves less money sloshing around global markets. Challenges like excess money supply will seem preferable to massive capital outflows.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2015

The real lesson from the Clinton email imbroglio

The flap over Hillary Clinton's use of private email reflects the tension between the drive for transparency and the instinct for privacy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 17, 2015

Japan's accounting problem

Japan's 'lost decades' were not quite as disastrous as commonly assumed.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 13, 2015

Scientists want DNA-changing tests on human embryos, eggs stopped

With rumors that scientists are about to announce they have modified the genes of human eggs, sperm, or embryos, five prominent researchers on Thursday called on biologists to halt such experiments due to fears about safety and eugenics.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 7, 2015

Where will 'proactive pacifism' lead us?

Seventy years after World War II ended, should we be thinking about war or about peace?
EDITORIALS
Mar 6, 2015

A brutal murder in Moscow

The assassination of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov last week shows that Nemtsov himself might have overestimated the state of affairs when he said in an interview the day before his death that Russia's opposition was at the absolute low point.

Longform

People in cities across Japan will pop into their local convenience store for any number of products they believe will help them with a night of drinking.
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