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Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 14, 2014

At America's court of last resort, a handful of lawyers now dominates the docket

The marble facade of the U.S. Supreme Court building proclaims a high ideal: "Equal Justice Under Law."
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Nov 30, 2014

Video shop worker jolted into career as diversity advocate

When the Great Hanshin Earthquake hit in January 1995, Taro Tamura, then 23, was quick to sense the need in foreign communities for disaster-related information.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 22, 2014

Seizing the initiative for women at work

Faced with a domestic economy that is sputtering, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has in recent months attempted to promote a sector that has long been underutilized in Japan — women.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 12, 2014

Takata chairman stays out of sight as air bag crisis imperils dynasty

Takata Corp. Chairman Shigehisa Takada's failure to come forward and address an air bag crisis ensnaring the world's biggest automakers risks shaking investor confidence in the 81-year-old company's prospects.
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2014

Patent law must retain incentives

As the government drafts amendments to the patent law, the question is how effective the new rules will be in ensuring fair corporate remuneration to inventors so that they keep their engineering talent in Japan to enhance the nation's industrial competitiveness.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2014

Ukraine's vote, Russia's fate

When Ukraine's voters go to the polls on Sunday, not only the fate of their country will be at stake; so will the future of a significant part of Europe.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 1, 2014

Singin' ballet star leads top show's Tokyo cast

Any pantheon of classic Western musical comedy films would include 1952's "Singin' in the Rain" starring the legendary actor and dancer Gene Kelly. Set in late- 1920s Hollywood as it was transitioning from silent films to talkies, it depicts a romance between an established leading man named Don Lockwood...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2014

Families fear hundreds left out of abductee debate

Feb. 7, 1976, should have been just another Saturday for Susumu Fujita.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2014

Disaster risk discussed at conference organized by Harvard students

The lesson to be learned from devastating natural disasters is how important it is to prepare for them before they happen, experts at a panel discussion organized by the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) stressed Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 14, 2014

Instant camera gets mojo back with cute focus, Korean push

Digital cameras and smartphones have become so pervasive that many people think film cameras are now fit only for antique collectors.
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.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2014

Microsoft's emerging markets problem: Few want to pay for genuine product

On a trip to Beijing a decade ago, Bill Gates was asked by a senior government official how much money Microsoft Corp. made in China. The official asked the interpreter to double check Gates' reply as he couldn't believe the figure was so low.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 14, 2014

'I am Catherine Jane': a book whose value transcends its style

The memoir of Catherine Fisher's horrific 'triple rape' and her tireless 12-year crusade for justice must be supported.
WORLD
Jul 9, 2014

At 37.5 million, auto recalls break single-year U.S. record, with six months to go

With six months left in 2014, automakers have already recalled more vehicles in the U.S. than in any other year on record.
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2014

Japan outlines sanctions reward for N. Korea's action on abductions

Japan will lift some of its sanctions on North Korea to reward the progress it has made in setting up an “unprecedented” panel to reinvestigate the abduction issue.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2014

The government decides 'Redskins' bothers you

Some Americans who are paying attention to the absence of Native American revulsion over the name 'Washington Redskins' are not comfortable with the government saying, in effect, that if people are not offended, they should be.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2014

China turning its attention to the Middle East

Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent invitation to Arab states to upgrade their strategic relationships with China reflects Beijing's broader goal of rebalancing its focus westward in response to America's 'pivot' toward Asia.
EDITORIALS
Jun 6, 2014

Public pension reforms

A new labor and welfare ministry report highlights the possible need to extend the period during which workers pay premiums into national pension plans so that the benefits paid out to retirees can help sustain retirees' livelihoods at the levels promised.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 5, 2014

Memory collides with politics in Putin's 'Normandy landing'

D-Day observances have always been part memorial, part politics.
COMMENTARY / World
May 23, 2014

Modi's foreign policy agenda

When Shinzo Abe led his party to a landslide victory in Japan's 2012 general election, he broke from protocol by taking a congratulatory call from Narendra Modi, then a state leader in India. The mutual respect between the two strongly nationalist prime ministers could pay handsome dividends.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 22, 2014

Godzilla: the monster with multiple personalities

"Godzilla" was the first Japanese movie I saw. It was also the first for many other American baby boomers, though we did not view Ishiro Honda's 1954 original, but a version that had been heavily edited and dubbed for the U.S. market, with additional footage featuring Raymond Burr as an intrepid American...
Japan Times
WORLD / EU SPECIAL 2014
May 9, 2014

EU enjoys close ties with Japan

Today is Europe Day, marking the day in 1950 when then French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman laid out a vision for post-war Europe that was to form the basis of the integrated Europe we know today.
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2014

Is it right to describe Israel as an apartheid state?

Although a de facto apartheid already exists in the West Bank, one of reasons to avoid using the term apartheid is that it doesn't start conversations. It ends them.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2014

Freedom of expression under fire in America

If you can lose your job in the U.S. as Mozilla's CEO did — because those in charge found his politics repugnant — there are only two options available to those of us who need to earn a living: Keep our opinions to ourselves, or lie about them.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan