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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 13, 2016

New Myanmar government proposes keeping some junta curbs on protests

Myanmar democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi is facing criticism from rights groups and student activists who say her ruling party is planning to retain restrictions on free speech once wielded against it by the country's former junta.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 2, 2016

Stalking the elusive subtleties of Japan's political humor

Certain Japanese publications are rife with political word play, and deciphering these puns and riddles can be a fun challenge for language learners.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 13, 2016

Why Abenomics is failing

Only when a synergy is achieved between easy money policy and a growth strategy to stimulate private-sector investments can the engine of a virtuous circle get started.
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 8, 2016

Chelsea aims to salvage season by winning F.A. Cup

It's Chelsea for the F.A. Cup.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2015

The outcome of the Spanish election? Disarray

Spain is a perfectly reasonable country that has managed its democracy well for 40 years. Unfortunately, it may just have made itself ungovernable.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Dec 6, 2015

Beware Japan's old problems posing in new packaging

When government announcements describe 'new' problems and propose solutions, they should be taken with a side-order of salt.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Nov 23, 2015

Variations on '-te ii': asking and granting permission in Japanese

Introducing the proper way to ask and give permission, with varying levels of politeness.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Nov 16, 2015

And now for something completely unconstitutional

When did the Abe-verse become an alternate reality where past violations of the nation's basic law can, with a straight face, be used to justify further violations of the same type?
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Sep 21, 2015

Don't get mixed up between 'ni totte' and 'ni taishite'

Watashi-ni totte Nihon-no okāsan-mitaina mono-desu. (She is like a Japanese mother to me.)
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 28, 2015

Oil is Islamic State's lifeblood

A key to defeating the Islamic State militant group is preventing it from gaining control of lucrative oil fields.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Jul 19, 2015

Fukushima trials to explore viability of hydrogen fuel network

Fukushima and the Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute (FREA) are kicking off a renewable energy project with a view to making the prefecture a hydrogen supply center by as early as 2016.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Jul 13, 2015

Coming to terms with 'kuru'

Chotto, sanpo-ni itte-kuru-yo. (I'm going to take a walk for a while.)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 27, 2015

Visualizing Japan's 'ugly' online desires with cultural critic Hiroki Azuma

In 2009, critic and philosopher Hiroki Azuma had a dream. It was a recurring dream (as befitting of someone well-versed in the psychoanalysis of Freud and Jacques Lacan), and riddled with complexities. In his own words, which open the introductory chapter of "General Will 2.0: Rousseau, Freud, Google,"...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2015

Turkey's Kurds poised to play a pivotal role

Last weekend's elections in Turkey have given the Kurds an opportunity to make a much larger impact than ever before and dealt President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a setback from which he is unlikely to recover.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 6, 2015

Refusing to check out of the Hotel Okura

With the iconic landmark poised to close for renovation in August, we explore its significance to the development of modernist architecture in Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 20, 2015

Know the way of the sword, know thyself: a kendo primer

With Tokyo poised to host the world championships for the first time since the inaugural competition in 1970, here's all you need to know to get the most out of the bouts.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2015

What can Obama salvage from Arab summit?

President Barack Obama must try to convince the Gulf Cooperation Council that the U.S. has an Iran policy that encompasses their security needs.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 19, 2015

Halilhodzic passes over Endo for national team

New national team manager Vahid Halilhodzic called up Kensuke Nagai and Takashi Usami, but appeared to bring the curtain down on record cap-holder Yasuhito Endo's Japan career as he named his first squad on Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 17, 2015

LLLL stays 'Faithful' to honest approach

Despite his elusive online persona, Kazuto Okawa, aka LLLL (pronounced "four-el"), is strikingly open and honest about his views in person. Speaking in a small Koenji cafe, he discusses his sophomore album, "Faithful," released this week via Tokyo label Progressive Form, with a critical approach that...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2015

Impose a land tax to fight inequality in the U.S.

Henry George advocated forcefully for a land tax in his 1879 book, 'Progress and Poverty.' More than 135 years later, perhaps its time is ripe.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2015

Risks to democrats who nod to blurred truth

Democratic societies are faced with the temptation to close one's eyes and ears to inconvenient truths. For example, we do not want to admit that Russian President Vladimir Putin has long since crossed the line into war with regard to Ukraine.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Dec 16, 2014

Ring in the new year with refinement

The quintessential washoku, or traditional Japanese cuisine dish, is nimono — vegetables and other ingredients simmered in a broth of dashi stock, sake, mirin, sugar and soy sauce or miso. Nimono can be made in advance and served warm or cold, saving the cook some effort.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 25, 2014

Bo Ningen teams up with Savages for Dadaist jam

For many music fans, getting up early at multiday music outings is no easy task. But the few thousand folks who mustered the energy to get to the Red Marquee stage for the start of Fuji Rock 2013's final day were treated to one of that summer's festival highlights, Bo Ningen.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Oct 16, 2014

Naturalize or get out, party tells jobless foreigners

Foreigners could lose long-term access to social support if the conservative Jisedai no To (Party for Future Generations) has its way.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Sep 6, 2014

A tale of two parks, and their preservation

As I sit in my study here in Kurohime in the hills of northern Nagano Prefecture, through the window I can see 2,053-meter Mount Kurohime, a dormant volcano that's forested to the top.
EDITORIALS
Aug 26, 2014

Opposition strength through unity

The current Japanese political landscape shows the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito alliance dwarfing all opposition forces in both chambers of the Diet. Could the merger of two opposition parties now in negotiations make a difference?
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 23, 2014

Shiite militiamen kill dozens of Iraqi Sunnis in mosque shooting

Iraqi Shiite militiamen machine-gunned minority Sunni Muslims in a village mosque on Friday, killing dozens just as Baghdad is trying to build a cross-community government to fight Sunni militants whose rise has alarmed Western powers.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 15, 2014

Egyptian mummification is older than previously thought, researchers find

It has long been known that the practice of mummification of the dead in ancient Egypt — fundamental to that civilization's belief in eternal life — was old, but only now are researchers unwrapping the mystery of just how long ago it began.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 12, 2014

Islamic State using Mosul Dam to help fund caliphate

Islamic State militants who last week captured the Mosul Dam, Iraq's largest, had one demand for workers: Keep it going.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 28, 2014

Talking Pinter with Leveaux; an 'authorized' interaction

When we met last weekend, the world-renowned English theater director David Leveaux was relaxing with a cigarette "in the lovely sunshine" outside a rehearsal studio by Tokyo Bay. He was there for an intensive afternoon's work with the three Japanese actors who form the cast of his upcoming production...

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.