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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 9, 2017

It takes threats from the unstable for us to question security

Adolf Hitler is like that bad tooth you can't keep your tongue off, though it hurts to touch it. Seventy-two years postwar, he keeps surfacing. He fascinates. All the way up and all the way down the age scale — from Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, 76, who last week praised Hitler's "motives," to the...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 9, 2017

Abe's extremism undermines Japan's interests

Alas, Japan's extremists have still not given up trying to find honor in the nation's 1945 wartime defeat and and the ideology that led to it.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2017

Most Americans are a little too relaxed about nukes

A new survey has revealed that Americans are surprisingly willing to make a first nuclear strike — and kill millions of civilians abroad.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2017

A glimmer of good news about fake news

Some people just might be more open to changing their minds than we thought.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 25, 2017

Twisting, stretching carbon nanotubes holds promise for future power generation

A new, high-tech yarn that generates electricity when stretched or twisted could use ocean waves and human motion to lower man's dependency on fossil fuels, researchers said Thursday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Aug 20, 2017

Educator calls for better understanding of black history in Japan

On occasion, I still get asked this question: Of what value is a column dedicated exclusively to black issues — particularly here in Japan?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Aug 2, 2017

Hope after the horror revealed in letters from postwar Hiroshima

Sixty years on, letters that formed the basis of Austrian writer Jungk's acclaimed account of life after the A-bomb are set to be published.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Jul 31, 2017

Let's discuss "One Piece"

Popular manga 'One Piece' will become a live-action TV drama through a collaboration with a Hollywood production team.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jul 29, 2017

'Dream Messenger': A woman searches for her son in Tokyo and New York

The Japanese novel has taken some interesting twists and turns in the post-bubble era, but quality has often been the price of experimentation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2017

The Democrats are a lost cause

As long as the Democratic Party's leadership is owned by big-monied special interests, it will never give the people what they want and need.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Jul 16, 2017

When open minds fight closed courts in Japan

Pressure from academic Lawrence Repeta opened Japan's courts to scrutiny by journalists from outside the press clubs, as well as scholars and bloggers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 25, 2017

Remembering the life and works of Boye De Mente, a giant of writing on Japan

Any Japanophile will have at least one of the 30 or so books authored by Boye Lafayette De Mente during his long and prolific writing career in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 17, 2017

The extraordinary untold Japan story of 'You Only Live Twice'

On the 50th anniversary of the premiere of the fifth 'James Bond' film in Japan, we explore spy rings in Tokyo, a secretive Sherlock Holmes society and an Australian double agent behind 007's Japanese adventure.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 17, 2017

'In the Woods of Memory': Okinawan novelist makes history visceral

It is almost impossible to find a serious novel that does not touch on the subject of death. "In the Woods of Memory," taking for its theme the death of the soul, is no exception.
CULTURE / Books
May 27, 2017

'Record of a Night Too Brief': Hiromi Kawakami uncoils life's mysteries with an exploration of dreams

When I met the popular author Hiromi Kawakami in London recently, I asked her thoughts about the great authors of Japan's literary past. Did she, for example, enjoy the novels of Meiji Era (1868-1912) great Natsume Soseki?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
May 14, 2017

Racial and ethnic hate speech thrives in online games

Spend enough time hunting terrorists or wandering dystopian wastelands in online games and you are bound to come across players hurling xenophobic and racist taunts at each other, from Islamophobes in Europe to South Koreans and Japanese bickering over disputed islands.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 13, 2017

North Korea news simmering on front and back burners

Returning from their Golden Week holiday break, the weekly magazines have directed much of their attention to the Korean Peninsula, with a fusillade of commentary by politicians, former diplomats, journalists, academics and the ubiquitous commentators referred to as gunji hyoron-ka — usually translated...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2017

Identifying the deadly sins of U.S. imperialism

The U.S. has been intervening in other countries through a variety of mechanisms that have led to their destabilization.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 14, 2017

Scientists invent device that draws water from thin air

People living in arid, drought-ridden areas may soon be able to get water straight from a source that is all around them — the air, American researchers said Thursday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 13, 2017

DNA can track migrations of fish

Scientists have tracked fish off New York by following the traces of DNA left in the water, a technique that could help gauge life in rivers, lakes and oceans around the world, a study showed on Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 12, 2017

Hollywood's 'Ghost in the Shell' remake misses the mark

After the online petitions, the countless think pieces and Twitter tirades, Hollywood's "Ghost in the Shell" was never going to have an easy passage. Rupert Sanders' film — a $110 million live-action movie based on a beloved manga and anime property — was ill-fated from the start, tarnished by the...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2017

How Trump should prepare for Xi

U.S. President Donald Trump needs to become something he's never been when he meets Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week — a knowledgable statesman.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 25, 2017

'Tokyo: A Biography': Tracing the life of a city

Cities are intrinsically inviting subjects for a writer. Part human, part natural; arena of history and mantelpiece of memory — cities provide the setting for the archetypal encounter of the individual with the masses.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 18, 2017

False sense of security? Experts weigh the threat that terrorism poses Japan

Widely regarded as a safe place to live, Japan currently sits in ninth position on the Global Peace Index's list of the most peaceful nations on the planet. The East Asian nation is generally believed to be an orderly society that has incredibly low homicide and assault rates, and it certainly doesn't...
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Mar 18, 2017

Breaking the comic book glass ceiling

Four years ago, Chinese-American writer Marjorie Liu had a simple but persistent idea: create an epic fantasy comic book series about a classic Japanese kaijū (strange beast) movie monster that has a connection to a girl.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2017

China shouldn't treat South Korea as an enemy

Beijing should rethink its self-defeating strategy of trashing Seoul.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 11, 2017

2017 looks more like '1984' than 1984 ever did

Goerge Orwell's '1984' is a fitting best-seller for 2017, a year of 'post-truth,' 'fake news' and 'alternative facts.'
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2017

Dems: win by out-Trumping Trump

The Democrats can only succeed against Trump by getting louder, meaner, more over the top and beating him at his own game.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 4, 2017

'Comfort women' in South Korea who serviced U.S. forces seek justice

Historical 'comfort women' cases involving Japanese and U.S. forces should be mutually reinforcing and underscore the ongoing need to hold Tokyo, Seoul and Washington accountable in ways that address the traumas and indignities endured.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.