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CULTURE / Books
Dec 28, 2013

Epicenters of death

This study of the Great Kanto Earthquake by scholar Charles Schencking, begins not as you might expect, with the cataclysmic temblor of 1923, but with the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011. In this latter event, optimism was predicated on the assumption that swift and decisive action would...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 28, 2013

Incredible India and the New Delhi Dissensus

On a recent visit to New Delhi, I met an activist promoting the rights of dalits (untouchables), who quipped, playing off a current national-branding campaign: "India is indeed incredible . . . but only in paradox."
LIFE / Digital
Dec 24, 2013

Even our Facebook 'grunts' could be monetized

As Mark Twain observed: "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." And that was a long time before the Web. Which brings us to a meme that was propagating last week though social media. Its essence was an assertion that Facebook monitored — and stored — not...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 9, 2013

The revival of a Great Depression-era retread

Paul Krugman and other economists now advocate the kinds of things Keynesians typically promote to stabilize the economy during a recession to become a permanent part of the U.S. fiscal architecture.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Dec 7, 2013

Impending Japan-China war has the makings of a Clancy classic

On Nov. 23, China announced the creation of a newly expanded air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, overlapping a large expanse of territory also claimed by Japan. The move has produced a visceral reaction in the Japanese vernacular media, particularly the weekly tabloids. Five...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 7, 2013

Wabori: Traditional Japanese Tattoo

It may not have been their sole purposes for visiting Japan during their respective reigns, but Queen Victoria's grandson George V and the last emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, both received tattoos on visits to Japan, despite the government's ban on a craft reserved primarily for the branding of criminals....
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 28, 2013

Researchers create database of infectious diseases

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have created a digital database of infectious-disease cases dating back 125 years, a treasure trove of information that could help scientists and public health officials better understand how to fight the spread of deadly afflictions.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 23, 2013

Nuclear whistle-blower spills secrets the way the media should

Genpatsu Whiteout' continues to climb the best-seller list, propelled by a guessing game over the identity of its author, who seems to know a lot about the nuclear energy business.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 21, 2013

Oldest genome of a modern human points to mixed ancestry for Indians

The genetic analysis of a 24,000-year-old arm bone of an ancient Siberian boy suggests that Native Americans have a more complicated ancestry than scientists had previously realized, with some of their distant kin looking more Eurasian than East Asian.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 15, 2013

Study says modern-day dogs closely related to European canines

Amid the harsh, icy lands of ancient Europe, early man found himself an unexpected companion — the snarling, carnivorous wolf — which would eventually become his modern-day counterpart's best furry friend.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 9, 2013

Excess Baggage

The debut novel from author Karen Ma centers on the complicated relationship between a Chinese family and an estranged sister who become reunited in Japan after three decades apart and brings into question how culture, rather than family, shapes the individual. The constant theme of the novel is the...
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 3, 2013

Babies know songs they hear in the womb: study

Babies who have a lullaby played to them regularly while still in the womb can recognize the song months after birth, a study has found.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2013

Tea party anti-elitism harks back to Alger Hiss

The anti-elitism displayed by America's tea party harks back to the beginning of the socialist-and-liberal baiting dialogue of the late 1940s, especially to the perjury trial of Alger Hiss.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 27, 2013

Hitler escape book's authors in plagiarism row

The notorious claim that Hitler escaped his Berlin bunker to live incognito in Argentina first gained popular currency in 1945, when Stalin spoke of it. Since then the idea has resurfaced occasionally, with alleged photographic and documentary evidence pored over by conspiracy theorists. Now the theory...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 26, 2013

Japan Inc.'s hurt pride may be behind bout of fresh phone fears

What's the explanation for the current surge in concern over the poor manners and inattention of addicted cellphone users — especially considering smart phones are arguably no more distracting than the previous generation of mobile gadgets
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Oct 26, 2013

Twitter users find out the hard way that anonymity is just fleeting

In the ego-driven game of Twitter, Jofi Joseph was, for a while, one of the winners.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Oct 25, 2013

Space trash tax eyed

Space is getting awfully messy. The amount of debris in Earth's orbit keeps multiplying each year, damaging satellites and putting astronauts in harm's way. If the problem gets severe enough, it could eventually make low-Earth orbit unusable.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 24, 2013

Farthest galaxy churns out stars

Scientists have discovered the most distant galaxy ever confirmed, whose light took more than 13 billion years to reach Earth, providing a snapshot of the early universe. The faraway system resides in the night sky just above the handle of the Big Dipper.
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2013

Behavioral economics show that women tend to make better investments than men

It's happy hour at Hanaro in Bethesda, Md., and I'm with my wife. We're there about an hour, gobbling plates of half-price tuna rolls and washing them down with $3.50 Blue Moons. Have to hurry, happy hour ends soon. My wife slows down and cautions me to do the same. I don't listen. Keep 'em coming, right...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Oct 18, 2013

Norma Field, champion of Japan's leftist literature, retires — but not from anti-nuclear activism

A colleague once told me he didn't want to be attached to lost causes,' says academic Norma Field. 'I've never understood thinking like that. The bright spots in human history are so few. We should embrace and magnify them.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 13, 2013

Defective gene gives some stronger, darker view of life

Some people just see the world more darkly than others.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 11, 2013

Social polarization dated back to Stone Age

Social polarization wasn't invented yesterday. Ask the scientists studying the bones of prehistoric Europeans. Hundreds of skeletal remains, many from a newly discovered cave in Germany, have produced a startling reminder of the power of social boundaries.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 6, 2013

Making someone look you in eyes hurts persuasion

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" If you have ever used that line during a disagreement, you might want to think again. Forcing eye contact when trying to change someone's mind may actually cause listeners to become more stubborn, a new study shows.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 5, 2013

King's powerful sequel to 'The Shining'

'Did I approach the book with trepidation?" asks Stephen King in the author's note to "Doctor Sleep." "You better believe it."
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2013

Diverse 'American exceptionalism'

American exceptionalism' began wth the Constitution's effort to establish a large self-governing republic, in which diverse views serve as both a safeguard and a creative force.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 21, 2013

Protagonist returns with the burdens of later life

In popular Irish mythology it's often said that the seeds of the Celtic Tiger were sown shortly after Italia '90, when the country's team reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup soccer tournament for the first time.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 21, 2013

Amateur sleuths pursue callous California killers

In "You Only Live Twice" (1964), the 12th in Ian Fleming's series of James Bond novels, a perplexed Tiger Tanaka, MI5's Japanese secret police liaison, informs 007 he was unaware that ninjas still existed.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 12, 2013

Cute craving a cash cow for Hello Kitty creator

Tanya Stanich, a 43-year-old lawyer, clutched a handful of pink and black Hello Kitty notebooks at Sanrio Co.'s store in Manhattan's Times Square and touched a sequined bag adorned with the face of a cartoon cat.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 7, 2013

What's the real story behind 'Emperor'?

"Emperor," a film directed by Peter Webber that takes up the subject of Emperor Showa and the postwar occupation period, has been showing at local theaters since July. The film's protagonist is Gen. Bonner Frank Fellers, who served as a subordinate to Supreme Commander Allied Forces Gen. Douglas MacArthur....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Aug 31, 2013

To J.D. Salinger, new book would likely seem a hit below the belt

J.D. Salinger would hate this.

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.