Search - community

 
 
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Mar 19, 2016

The Meiji Era and the soul of Japan: part 2

An ambitious young man of the 1880s, flattering a girl he may want to marry (or may not, if a more advantageous alliance materializes), asks her, "What are you reading these days, Osei?" When Osei in reply mentions "Outlines of the World's History" by William Swinton, Noboru, the young man, is suitably...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2016

A 'cashless society' is wonderful — until it's not

If we want to move toward a cashless society then we also need to think seriously about limiting the ability of the government to use the payments system as an instrument to control the behavior of its citizens.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 16, 2016

Views from Tokyo: Are Japan's Sunwolves ready for Super Rugby?

Fans offer their views on the prospects for the Sunwolves, Asia's first Super Rugby team.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 16, 2016

'The Decline of Western Civilization' is a punk masterpiece

The Sex Pistols played their final gig at San Francisco's Winterland in January 1978. About a year later, Sid Vicious died from an overdose, and so did punk rock — according to the music magazines. The Pistols' chaotic tour of America, however, had dropped like a stone in a still pond, and the ripples...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 16, 2016

Trump says foreign policy team still not ready

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump acknowledged on Tuesday he does not yet have a foreign policy team, and three former U.S. military and intelligence officials who have endorsed him are little known in either the Republican Party or the wider foreign policy community.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 16, 2016

Beijing sets up South China Sea tsunami alert center

China has set up a tsunami alert center in the South China Sea, the head of the country's maritime regulator said Wednesday, in Beijing's latest effort to bolster its jurisdiction in the disputed waters.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 15, 2016

Without naming names, Japan video showcases effort to halt China maritime expansion

The Foreign Ministry releases a video highlighting Tokyo's own measures to help Southeast Asian nations match Beijing's maritime muscle.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 15, 2016

Despite new sanctions, North Korea plans to conduct nuclear, missile tests soon: Kim

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will soon conduct a nuclear warhead test and a test launch of ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the North's official KCNA news agency reported Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Mar 14, 2016

How a U.N. committee riled Japan with its criticism of women's rights

Recent recommendations issued to Japan by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women sparked a sharp response from Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Mar 13, 2016

Making an impression in Japan: a hanko primer

Everything you wanted to know about chops, from cheapo ¥100-shop seals to the Privy Seal of Japan, which is wielded by the Emperor and hewn from pure gold.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 13, 2016

China to create 'international maritime judicial center' amid rising sea tensions

China will set up an "international maritime judicial center" in a bid to help protect its sea rights, the country's chief justice said Sunday, a move that analysts say Beijing could use to bolster its claims in the disputed South and East China seas.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Mar 12, 2016

Learning from a neighborhood stroll

As winter makes its exit from the archipelago and the pink petals of spring begin to emerge, I feel an intense pang of nostalgia for my old neighborhood on Tokyo's east side. Sure, the city's cherry blossoms are beautiful in places like Yoyogi Park and Shinjuku Gyoen, but one of the nicest things to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 11, 2016

Needs of post-3/11 Tohoku stay in focus for filmmakers

The dramatic imagery that emerged from the disasters of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, documented so extensively by mainstream and social media, is hard to forget. However, there were and still are many stories to be told about the people who were left to pick up the pieces of their lives...
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2016

Upgrading anti-disaster measures

It's imperative that officials at the national and local level check regularly whether anti-disaster measures are adequate and up-to-date.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2016

The world is witnessing a new interventionism

The consequences of Russia's intervention in Syria stretch far beyond the Middle East, heralding a new era in geopolitics.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 11, 2016

U.S. may need more missile defenses to counter growing threat: admiral

Current U.S. missile defenses can counter an attack on U.S. territory by North Korea or Iran but Washington will have to boost its response capacity if those countries keep expanding their missile forces, a top U.S. admiral said on Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / 5-YEAR MEMORIAL OF GREAT EAST JAPAN EARTHQUAKE
Mar 11, 2016

Municipalities bundle IT services to ensure security

The Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami destroyed nearly every piece of social infrastructure and lifeline in the Tohoku region on March 11, 2011. Power, water and gas supplies were all interrupted in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures, while communication lines in and out of the prefectures...
Japan Times
JAPAN / 5-YEAR MEMORIAL OF GREAT EAST JAPAN EARTHQUAKE
Mar 11, 2016

Maintaining remnants of disaster for future

Sept. 1, known as Disaster Prevention Day, was designated as such by the government in 1960. On this day every year, cities and towns nationwide, as well as schools, companies and even small community groups, run evacuation drills to prepare for natural disasters such as typhoons, landslides and earthquakes....
Japan Times
CULTURE
Mar 10, 2016

Looking for comfort in art following the Great East Japan Earthquake

In her film "Heart of a Dog," the American artist Laurie Anderson explores loss as exemplified by the death of a loved one. A recurring theme is the attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, an incident that profoundly changed the way New Yorkers like Anderson confronted their environment....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Mar 9, 2016

Five years on, Fukushima evacuees voice lingering anger, fear and distrust

Some of the thousands of uprooted Fukushima residents speak out about the ordeal that began five years ago and continues to exact a toll to this day.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Mar 9, 2016

Minamisoma mayor sees future for Fukushima 'nonnuclear' city in energy independence

Turning to the use of solar and wind power in tandem with energy-saving measures, Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai is aiming for his city to be energy self-reliant by 2030.
Japan Times
JAPAN / REVISITING 3/11
Mar 8, 2016

3/11 lesson: Prepare, at all costs, for the worst

Should a devastating earthquake hit central Tokyo tomorrow, the skyscraper office buildings of Mori Building Co. would be able to provide temporary shelter for about 10,000 people.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2016

Funassyi character lends support and product license to Tohoku recovery groups

The pear-like character Funassyi may seem at first glance to be from another world, but the unofficial mascot of Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, is starting to make a real difference in this one.
JAPAN / History
Mar 8, 2016

Suga slams findings of U.N. panel on discrimination, cites U.S., U.K. support for 'comfort women' deal

The view of a United Nations committee criticizing the recent "comfort women" agreement between Seoul and Tokyo is "extremely regrettable and unacceptable," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Mar 6, 2016

Immigration: the missing piece in the Tohoku recovery puzzle?

Entrepreneurship, reconstruction and tourism still may not be enough to save rapidly depopulating Onagawa.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 6, 2016

Japanese bands plan overseas spring offensive

TV Asahi's weekly "Music Station" program has rarely served as a staging ground for exciting young domestic acts in recent years. It has been more of an opportunity to gawk at Johnny's boy bands and test how many members of AKB48 can fit on the interview bench.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Mar 6, 2016

Tohoku returnee taps biz expertise to revive tsunami-stunned Ishinomaki neighborhood

Like many other coastal areas devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, when entrepreneur Takashi Tachibana, 46, first stepped into the remote Ogatsu district to help Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, it was chaos.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 5, 2016

Our new school's on song despite cabals

Almost exactly five years ago, on March 11, 2011, an earthquake followed by a devastating tsunami wreaked havoc in the northeastern Tohoku region. Here where I live amid the faraway mountains of Nagano Prefecture, all of us connected with the C.W. Nicol Afan Woodland Trust wondered what we could do to...

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