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COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 10, 2015

The 'postwar period' isn't over

The 'history war' between Japan and China will continue as long as the two countries are unable to resolve the gap in their interests in international political terms and address the contradictions between their national interests and strategies.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 8, 2014

Promises of 'taboo' topics rarely live up to the billing

When you see the word 'tabu016b' in a headline, it's probably not really a taboo, mainly because self-censorship ensures that topics that really are taboo are treated with commensurate caution. Thus, an article claiming to expose some taboo might titillate, but probably won't reveal enough to invite litigation.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 24, 2013

Film copyright protections stymie world treaty on books for the blind

Hundreds of negotiators from around the world have descended on Morocco over the past week to finalize a treaty aimed at ensuring that millions of blind and vision-impaired people can get books in accessible formats such as audio, Braille and large print.
Reader Mail
Aug 2, 2012

Clarification from Cambodia

A week after the 45th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) on July 9-13 in Phnom Penh, which ended without the issuance of ASEAN's traditional Joint Communique, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers agreed on ASEAN's Six-Point Principles to deal with the South China Sea issue. The Statement of ASEAN Foreign Ministers...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 11, 2011

Should Japanese-style painting represent the nation as a whole?

Mise Natsunosuke has been drawn into the fold of neo-nihonga (new Japanese-style painting) practitioners, a pigeon-hole he happily investigates but is also troubled by. In earlier exhibitions he has shown complicity with both the destruction and the resurrection of nihonga, which he pursues in his current...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 27, 2010

What's in a name? Politics as usual

When the Democratic Party of Japan indicated in its political manifesto that it favored voting rights for foreign permanent residents, the reaction from some quarters of the media was visceral. In early April, publisher Takarajima-sha produced a 96-page "emergency publication" titled "Gaikokujin Sanseiken...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 21, 2009

The key words that kept Japan abuzz in 2008

Last October, publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha released the 61st edition of its "Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki (Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words)" — a massive 1,614-page tome that retails for just ¥2,980. I have a facsimile copy of the book's first edition, launched on Oct. 10, 1948. In the introduction,...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 21, 2009

The key words that kept Japan abuzz in 2008

Last October, publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha released the 61st edition of its "Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki (Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words)" — a massive 1,614-page tome that retails for just ¥2,980. I have a facsimile copy of the book's first edition, launched on Oct. 10, 1948. In the introduction,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 15, 2006

Article of faith draws ire at the highest level

I wish to report a miracle.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 19, 2006

Wrapping paper that influenced l'art japonais of Paris

HOTEI ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINTS; edited by Amy Reigle Newland; specialist advisers: Julie Nelson Davis, Oikawa Shigeru, Ellis Tinios, Chris Uhlenbeck; foreword by Suzuki Juzo. Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2005, two volumes in slipcase, 528 pp., 140 color and 140 b/w illustrations, $249...
EDITORIALS
Mar 13, 2006

BOJ's intentions must be clear

The Bank of Japan has decided to lift its quantitative easy-money policy, an emergency and unprecedented measure introduced five years ago to pump vast amounts of interest-free money into a stagnant economy plagued by falling prices. The much-heralded decision, made Thursday, opens the way for a return...
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2006

Fukui favors cautious, phased interest rate hikes

Interest rates are on the way up, Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui said Friday in testimony to a House of Representatives committee on financial and monetary matters.
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 2006

Something wiki this way comes

'W ikipedia": Anyone looking for information online in the last few years is bound to have come across this funny word. Type any search term into Google, and a Wikipedia entry will probably pop up somewhere on the first page or two. On "Japan," for example, the Wikipedia entry comes in an impressive...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Aug 7, 2003

"Tell the Moon to Come Out," "Illustrated Oxford Dictionary"

"Tell the Moon to Come Out," Joan Lingard, Puffin Books; 2003; 208 pp.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 29, 2002

Music of the J-people

Japanese pop music is crap. So say many of my friends, especially the non-Japanese ones. They reach that conclusion after noticing that the charts are full of chipmunk-voiced idols who are long on looks and short on talent -- and whose shelf lives are only slightly longer than sushi.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
May 28, 2001

Progress made in how Japan sees Korea

The latest instance of textbook controversy has reminded me of the changing descriptions in the entry on Korea in different editions of a well-known Japanese-language dictionary. Reports have it that the South Korean government was so upset by a certain textbook that its protests brought on a diplomatic...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Mar 15, 2000

Seeds of knowledge

Welcome to the digital revolution, where we crunch numbers, process information and mine data. Maybe we don't get grease under our fingernails, but one wonders how far we've progressed beyond the industrial revolution. Though the metallic cling-clang of factories is rare, isn't there something familiar...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 4, 2023

China’s defense chief slams U.S. military operations near his country's territory

Just hours after the U.S. criticized an 'unsafe' encounter with a Chinese navy ship, China's defense minister struck back, blaming such moves on 'hegemonic actions' by the United States.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 25, 2023

How China, the U.S. and others watered down a key U.N. climate document

China, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are among countries that significantly altered a U.N. document that will shape global climate policy for years to come, a report has said.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2022

History repeats itself with Russia-Ukraine war

The echoes of history are clear at every juncture of the unfolding conflict of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 2, 2022

North Korea fires off at least 23 missiles, including one landing near South Korean waters

The South's military announced later in the day that its fighter jets had responded by firing three missiles into waters north of the de facto marine border between the two nations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 13, 2022

Unraveling one of rock’s deepest mysteries: Les Rallizes Denudes

The Japanese band that emerged in the late 1960s was known for its rumbling rhythms and ear-shredding feedback — but almost nothing was known about its leader, Takashi Mizutani.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 6, 2022

'Get lost': Iran schoolgirls join protests over Mahsa Amini death

Students are reportedly staging sporadic rallies in defiance of a lethal crackdown by the security forces.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 27, 2022

Ukraine is on the offensive but struggling to get more powerful weapons

Ukraine's backers have shied away from sending the longest-range missile systems, combat aircraft and NATO standard tanks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 4, 2022

Foreign films, English titles and the dilemma distributors face

Leave as is? Translate? Change altogether? A movie's success doesn't depend entirely on what we call it, but it can have a big effect.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 20, 2022

Odesa is defiant. It’s also Putin’s ultimate target.

Odesa, grain port to the world, city of creative mingling, scarred metropolis steeped in Jewish history, is the big prize in the war and a personal obsession for Putin.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?