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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
May 31, 2014

Anti-stalking laws 'are a dead end'

On May 8, the National Police Agency gathered police officers from all over the country to declare a war on stalking. This gathering was even held before members of the all-girl pop group AKB48 were attacked by a man with a saw at a handshaking event. (It's still unclear whether the assailant was stalking...
Reader Mail
May 31, 2014

An urban gem that deserves reassessment

I don't know if any other Japan Times readers have recently been to the sides of the Kanda and Zenpukuji rivers below Omiya Hachiman Shrine, but it is quite shocking what civil engineers are doing to the environment in the middle of Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2014

Russia's hand in east Ukraine violence is exposed

After the fighting in Donetsk this week, there's no doubt Russia is working to destabilize Ukraine. Countries participating in Russia's South Stream natural gas pipeline project should pull out.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 29, 2014

Teamwork, defense keyed Ryukyu title

What made the Ryukyu Golden Kings' remarkable championship season even more startling was the team's cohesiveness and singular focus. It started in training camp and lasted until the final second ticked off the clock at Ariake Colosseum on Sunday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
May 28, 2014

Japan: a haven for the psychologically troubled

For the troubled Western expat in Japan, the reality of being on another continent can collide with normalized Japanese antisocialism to form a cocktail effective in tuning out a lot of the 'just be a normal adult' voices.
Reader Mail
May 28, 2014

Helping hand from the military

As a Thai citizen who has been observing the political situation in Thailand closely, I understand that most Japan Times readers might not accept the military coup in Thailand, but this is the best decision Thailand can come to at the moment.
Japan Times
SPORTS / NOTES ON A SCORECARD
May 27, 2014

Mao makes right choice in deciding to take year off

"The feeling here is that she would be better served by taking a year off — like Vancouver Olympic champion Kim Yu Na did — to recharge her batteries before making such a huge choice. Perhaps some time away will let her gain some perspective."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
May 26, 2014

Letters: Kikokushijo encounter trouble upon re-entry

Japanese returnees and others discuss the trials and tribulations facing those educated abroad if and when they attempt to settle back in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2014

New digital technology wave replacing labor

People scrambling to keep up with digital technologies need to know that the world we are entering is one in which the most powerful global flows will be ideas and digital capital — not goods, services and traditional capital.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 25, 2014

Decisive battle looms for Syrian rebels in Aleppo

High spring in Syria's largest city and the final battle has arrived. From his vantage point on a front line in Aleppo's northeast, Abu Bilal, a rebel commander, had spent the past month staring at a ridge line about a kilometer away that marked the closest Syrian military position.
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2014

China and Russia strike a deal

The $400 billion deal that China signed with Russia for natural gas has caused Western handwringing as expected, but a broader view suggests that Beijing has other interests that may outweigh this partnership.
JAPAN
May 23, 2014

School axes policy of barring foreigners

The chairman of three private cooking schools in Saitama scraps his discriminatory policy of barring foreign students and apologizes for being 'immature and stubborn.'
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
May 23, 2014

More and more smartphone users in Japan look to news curation

Curation isn't just for museums anymore. There has been a recent uptick in the popularity of smartphone apps that customize news for users in Japan, and this customization is called kyurēshon.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
May 21, 2014

Nash's strong leadership molds Toyama into title contender

Bob Nash's tenure with the University of Hawaii men's basketball team came to an end in March 2010 after a three-year run as head coach and a 34-56 overall record in that span. For Nash, that opportunity came after a 23-year stint as an assistant coach at the school.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 21, 2014

Yang Liping speaks out

"My dance is not something I learned from someone; my mentor is nature and I learn from watching nature," is how the Chinese star Yang Liping explained the roots of her art in a recent interview for The Japan Times.
Reader Mail
May 21, 2014

Abe makes old-timers bristle

At his recent press conference on the need for Japan to legalize its use of collective self-defense, how many times did Prime Minister Shinzo Abe say "... protecting the property and lives of the people and ensuring the security of the country as prime minister"? He occasionally mentioned the lives of...
JAPAN
May 20, 2014

Government silent on report Fukushima No. 1 workers fled during crisis

The government is refusing to comment on a media report that Masao Yoshida, the now-deceased chief of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant at the time of the meltdowns, was quoted as saying most of the plant's workers evacuated the site despite of his order to remain.
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2014

Why censoring search engines is a good idea

The European Court of Justice deserves praise for ruling recently that a Spanish national should not suffer shame or embarrassment for his former financial difficulties every time an acquaintance or potential employer types his name into a brower.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 20, 2014

Washington mixes signals about aims toward China

Even while reconfirming its 'pivot to Asia,' Washington tries to construct multifaceted bilateral ties with Beijing, raising questions about the ultimate fate of longtime alliances between the U.S. and a number of Asia-Pacific countries.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
May 18, 2014

Hiroshima's Maru has learned a walk is as good as a hit

Yoshihiro Maru is getting on base more by swinging his bat less.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 18, 2014

World Cup 2014 views from Ishikawa: USA and Australia

A Team USA fan and a Socceroo follower in Komatsu, Ishikawa Prefecture, discuss their teams' prospects in next month's FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / EMBASSY PRESENTS ECO-FRIENDLY LIFESTYLE
May 18, 2014

Swedish tradition of outdoor activities

Children living in the city were able to enjoy nature's wonders during a Sunday event earlier this month at Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park in the Hiroo district of Tokyo.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 17, 2014

Xinjiang attack suspects arrested

Chinese police have arrested seven people suspected of involvement in an attack and bombing at a train station last month in the western city of Urumqi, the Global Times newspaper reported Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 15, 2014

Time to get over the 'shock' of aging actresses

"Americans can be strange about aging," said French actress Jeanne Moreau, in a brief interview she gave me back in 2005. She was then at the tail end of her 70s and had just co-starred with French heartthrob Melvil Poupaud in "Le Temps Qui Reste," as his sympathetic but alluring grandmother. As the...
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2014

Nigeria's kidnapped girls and Iran's brave women

Both Turkey and Iran have seen a big expansion in the number of women going to university in recent years. The demand by women to decide their own cloethes and fates will surely grow in tandem.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
May 13, 2014

Activist seeks to tap power of youth for political change

The world's top economies and financial watchdogs have repeatedly warned Japan to take action against its snowballing debt, but it's the younger generations of Japanese who stand to be most affected by the repercussions as a shrinking and rapidly aging population bleeds social security dry.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2014

Perils of financial freedom

Chinese officials should be under no illusion that free markets are a panacea for the financial sector.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 11, 2014

Toyama, Akita advance to Final Four for first time; Ryukyu, Kyoto also earn spots

Maybe 13 is a lucky number after all.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 10, 2014

Takachiho: Gods and gorges in divine Miyazaki

The already cloudy sky darkens perceptibly as our car descends into Takachiho Gorge. This area of extreme scenic beauty — carved out of the earth by lava flow from Kyushu's volatile Mount Aso and further eroded by local rivers such as the Gokase — is already fairly hidden, in an untrampled corner...

Longform

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