Search - 2012

 
 
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 30, 2014

Insects crawl onto our dinner plates — that's a good thing

I am a fairly fearless eater. I've dined on boiled goose blood and fish bladders in Hong Kong, llama pate in Chile, and fermented whale meat on the Faroe Islands — although I draw the line at Greenland's seal-and-blubber soup. Upon hearing that the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo had recently started offering...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2014

Oil prices and Saudi democracy

Saudi Arabia's top policymakers deny they have deliberately sought lower oil prices, and there are good reasons to doubt the kingdom is wielding the oil weapon as part of some grand geopolitical strategy.
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Dec 30, 2014

Yen's slump seen longest since gold standard ended

If your New Year's wish is for more yen weakness, get ready to celebrate.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2014

China steps in as the banker to call in a pinch

Thanks to China, Christine Lagarde of the International Monetary Fund, Jim Yong Kim of the World Bank and Takehiko Nakao of the Asian Development Bank may no longer have much meaningful work to do.
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2014

Pesky political fund problems

The return of Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc to a two-thirds majority in the Lower House has all but sidelined a spate of political fund problems that hit Cabinet members before the snap election. But it has not erased them.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 29, 2014

DPJ presidential race in focus as party regroups

The Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition force in the Diet, is back in the public spotlight.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 27, 2014

Learning to love robots

With half the decade complete, we examine an industry that has significantly changed the way we think about ourselves.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2014

End of the Facebook Revolution

When Facebook has already blocked an announcement inviting Muscovites to attend a January rally in support of an anti-corruption activist, imagine what it would do — or, for all we know, has already done — for the U.S. government.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2014

Is Israel headed for 'an abyss'?

Settlement policies, military actions and now the Israeli national election in March and the U.S. elections in 2016 threaten to isolate Israel totally from the world of democracies.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 25, 2014

How Japan's economy put itself out to pasture

Simply put, Japan is a bankrupt nation, even as gross domestic product outgrows that of the U.S. economy on a per capita basis.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 25, 2014

'Kawaii' gets a landmark

While Japanese cool hunters might lament the lack of pop cultural exports in recent years — all the more conspicuous when compared to K-Pop's successful forays westward — kawaii (cute) culture has quietly permeated into global consciousness with all the effortless grace of singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu...
SPORTS
Dec 25, 2014

Top world sports news of 2014

The Japan Times editors selected these world sports stories as the most important of 2014.
EDITORIALS
Dec 24, 2014

Standing up to threats

A Sapporo university's decision to retain an instructor in the face of rightist threats is a victory for freedom of expression and other fundamental democratic rights.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 24, 2014

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reappointed to role, new Cabinet expected

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was re-elected to the post in the Diet on Wednesday and was set to launch his new Cabinet later in the day.
WORLD
Dec 24, 2014

U.S. to pay $3.2 million to contractor freed from Cuba prison

Alan Gross, the contractor freed last week after five years in a Cuban jail will receive $3.2 million from the U.S. government as part of a settlement with his employer, the U.S. Agency for International Development announced on Tuesday.
BASKETBALL
Dec 23, 2014

Fukuoka fires Duncan after 6-16 start

The Rizing Fukuoka, who gutted their roster of several prominent bj-league veterans in the offseason, made another big move on Monday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 23, 2014

In Jakarta, that sinking feeling is all too real

The Ciliwung River flows from a volcano south of the Indonesian capital, through the heart of one of the world's most densely populated cities and almost into Jakarta Bay. Almost, because for the final mile or so of its course, the river would have to flow uphill to reach the bay.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 22, 2014

Jeers, apologies and silence: Japan's 2014 in quotes

First of all, we're sorry. Everybody is sorry. This was the year that everyone apologized and everyone was sorry about something. The Asahi Shimbun was sorry so many times (even when maybe they shouldn't have been) that we're omitting them from the list. There's not enough space.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 22, 2014

The annual pain and pleasure of punished comedians

Japan is a country of traditions. You take off your shoes when you go indoors. You rinse your body before entering the bath. And you sit around the house with family on Ōmisoka (大晦日, New Year's Eve) and do nothing but watch television and eat food before going to the jinja (神社, shrine) at...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 22, 2014

Airport facial recognition system eyed but only for Japanese

As Japan braces for a surge in foreign visitors in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, pressure is mounting to expedite how visitors are processed at airports.

Longform

It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?