Search - 2013

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2014

Devastating use of barrel bombs in Syria, Iraq

In spite of a U.N. Security Council resolution banning the use of 'barrel bombs' — a type of improvised explosive device filled with shrapnel, oil and chemicals — both the Syrian and Iraqi governments continue to use them against civilians.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 17, 2014

Cricket star Khan overplays hand in Pakistani power game

Cricket hero Imran Khan rode a wave of discontent to finally break through as a serious player in Pakistani politics in last year's election. Now he is aiming even higher, leading thousands on a march to the capital in a bid to unseat the prime minister.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2014

Power play: the debate over renewable energy

On Aug. 26, 2011, the same day that Prime Minister Naoto Kan resigned after widespread criticism of his handling of the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant that followed the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, the Diet passed legislation that created a new feed-in...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 16, 2014

Gomez earning his stripes with Tigers

Mauro Gomez probably couldn't believe his luck when he saw the pitch Chris Seddon threw him.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 16, 2014

Skipper Nakahata building new identity with BayStars

Three years ago, it might have been difficult to identify Kiyoshi Nakahata with a Japanese professional baseball team other than the Yomiuri Giants. He played his entire career with the Kyojin, served as a coach with the team after his playing days were finished and stayed in the family as a commentator...
EDITORIALS
Aug 16, 2014

Student absenteeism on the rise

Absenteeism for compulsory schools in Japan rose in fiscal 2013 for the first time in six years. Some of the students absent for 30 days or more feel permanently behind and give up going to class.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Aug 15, 2014

Wakayama negotiating to bring back Pavlicevic

After a complete organizational shake-up that included a planned switch to a new coach, veteran bench boss Zeljko Pavlicevic is in discussions with Wakayama Trians ownership to return to lead the team for the 2014-15 season, The Japan Times has learned.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2014

Vodka: market riches after communism's fall

Early on, Russia's Yeltsin government (1991-1999) imposed heavy tariffs on the import of medicines and staples while granting societies of the handicapped and sports clubs the ability to import vodka without tariffs. It marked a new era in the country's economic history.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2014

The bill for Putin's policy will be high

Virtually every retaliatory move against the West proposed by Vladimir Putin as a result of the Ukraine crisis has backfired on Russia and left it in a far weaker financial position.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 15, 2014

Developing countries get lesson in basic health from Japanese schools

Developing countries are studying health measures used in Japanese schools, such as regular body measurements, lunch distribution and the use of school infirmaries, to promote the health of their own schoolchildren.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 14, 2014

Seiho to take Summer Sonic into the night

Three years ago, Seiho Hayakawa could often be found playing shows at basement venues around Osaka. Today, he's all over the map.
WORLD / Society
Aug 14, 2014

U.S. appeals court declines to block Virginia gay marriage ruling

A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday declined to delay its ruling striking down Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage, meaning gay people in the state will be able to get married unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 13, 2014

The long, bone-chilling gaze of new director Ayumi Sakamoto

Directors have various ways of communicating in interviews — beyond the usual talking points, that is. Koji Fukada drew me geometrical diagrams to explain the intertwining relationships in his coming-of-age drama "Hotori no Sakuko (Au Revoir l'Ete)." Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki sketched me...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 13, 2014

Female anxiety shot from every angle

The Japanese film industry used to be like much of the rest of Japanese society: male-centered and male-run. It made plenty of movies about women and for women, but their directors were all men. That began to change when Naomi Kawase won a Cannes Camera d'Or prize in 1997 for her first feature, "Moe...
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2014

Japan paid ¥380 million in compensation for accidents by U.S. military personnel

Over the past decade, Japan has ponied up a hefty sum to help compensate victims of accidents caused by U.S. military personnel or civilian employees.
EDITORIALS
Aug 13, 2014

Convictions, not justice, in Cambodia

A show trial of former Khmer Rouge members may offer some fleeting relief in Cambodia, but the crimes committed there some four decades ago demand more.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Aug 13, 2014

Past victimhood blinds Japan to present-day racial discrimination

Until Japan gets over itself and accepts that racialization processes are intrinsic to every society, it will never resolve its constant and unwarranted exceptionalism.
BUSINESS
Aug 13, 2014

Sumitomo joins Goldman in expecting the aluminum market to swing into a deficit

The global aluminum market will swing into a deficit this year for the first time since 2006 as cuts in output deepen and demand from automakers grows, according to trading house Sumitomo Corp.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 13, 2014

Obama adviser Axelrod fires back at Clinton over 'stupid stuff' remarks

President Barack Obama's longtime political adviser fired back at Hillary Clinton over her recent criticism of the commander-in-chief's foreign policy doctrine of avoiding messy entanglements.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2014

How vodka limits hastened the USSR's demise

When the Soviet Union finally disintegrated at the end of 1991, Boris Yeltsin, the new Russian leader, decided not to repeat Mikhail Gorbachev's error of restricting access to vodka. Some say it was Gorbachev's sober way of life — and his attempt to impose it on his countrymen — that makes Russians dislike him in retrospect.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 12, 2014

Chi-na aims to win fans over one step at a time

For many musicians, dreams of success take the form of a big break: perhaps a major label record contract, a lucrative tour deal or a barnstorming festival set. However, a quick fix isn't the style of Tokyo indie quintet Chi-na, who is gradually growing in stature through a steady process of connecting...
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 12, 2014

EU officials seek to limit impact of Russia's food import ban

European Union regulators on Monday began analyzing, product by product, the impact of a Russian ban on EU food imports and agreed on emergency measures to support peach and nectarine growers in what they described as a "signal of intent."
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2014

Only 7.4 percent of Japanese companies have female leader

Fewer than one in 14 Japanese companies has a female president, a survey has shown, and more than half of the women inherited the role from a relative.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2014

Impact of a vodka glass on history

Toward the start of the 1970s, the Soviet government realized there was nothing it could do about the supposedly enthusiastic 'builders of communism' imbibing huge quantities of vodka. Hence, the Soviet government figured it might as well make more money off the habit.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 11, 2014

Hillary Clinton criticizes Obama's foreign policy

Distancing herself from President Barack Obama's foreign policy, potential 2016 U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said in an interview Sunday that the U.S. decision not to intervene early in the Syrian civil war was a "failure."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech / ADVANCES IN PROGRESS
Aug 11, 2014

Future appears bright for indoor veggie farms

A 1,260-sq.-meter factory in Kashiwanoha, Chiba Prefecture, is kept extremely clean, shutting out external air because it affects product quality, and workers wear clean-room suits and take a warm shower before entering the facility.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat