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EDITORIALS
Dec 24, 2014

Challenges for Abe's new term

Newly reelected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shouldn't view his recent election victory as a vote of confidence in his economic policies.
Reader Mail
Dec 24, 2014

The Christian message in Japan

Michael Hoffman's The Living Past article on Dec. 20, titled "Christian missionaries find Japan a tough nut to crack," gives a well-researched history of Japan's first encounter with the Christian faith 400 to 500 years ago, but says little of what has been happening since then. There is much to be encouraged...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Dec 24, 2014

Standing up to the country's flagship carrier

An airplane crash in 1977 would inspire one JAL employee, Taeko Uchida, to get serious about union activism in a way that would decades later find her leading a legal and labor battle against Japan's flagship carrier.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 24, 2014

Dow ends above 18,000 for first time after quarterly GDP revised up to 5%

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, with the Dow closing above 18,000 for the first time ever and the S&P 500 ending at a record after an unexpectedly strong report on economic growth.
EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 2014

Protecting sexual minorities' rights

A Japanese civic group survey has the ruling Liberal Democratic Party standing out from other parties in its failure to view issues involving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual people as human rights problems.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2014

A tipping point for Pakistan?

The attack on an army school in Peshawar, Pakistan, was the Taliban's single deadliest in its history. The question now is whether it will turn out to be a turning point for Pakistan in its relations with the group.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2014

Making obesity a disability will only fuel problem

The decision by Europe's highest court that obesity can be a disability will only give the many overweight people in rich countries legal grounds to feel righteous about their condition, regardless of its causes.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 23, 2014

Still haunted by WWII, Asia looks for Abe atonement in 2015

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's election victory means he will helm Japan into the 70th anniversary of its World War II defeat in 2015, a watershed year that will set the tone for Tokyo's fraught ties with Beijing and Seoul.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 22, 2014

Jeers, apologies and silence: Japan's 2014 in quotes

First of all, we're sorry. Everybody is sorry. This was the year that everyone apologized and everyone was sorry about something. The Asahi Shimbun was sorry so many times (even when maybe they shouldn't have been) that we're omitting them from the list. There's not enough space.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Dec 21, 2014

Ishin-DPJ tieup, Kepco's greed to play key roles in April polls

In terms of domestic politics, the recent Lower House election was merely a prelude to next April's nationwide local elections.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Dec 21, 2014

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble: a gaijin's lot in Japan?

A selection of readers' responses to Debito Arudou's last column, 'Time to burst your bubble and face reality.'
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2014

Vexed Riken halts Obokata's bid to prove stem cell discovery

Discredited scientist Haruko Obokata's quest to prove her stem cell discovery comes to an end as Riken halts a monthslong attempt to verify the “STAP cell” phenomena.
EDITORIALS
Dec 19, 2014

Can the opposition mend its ways?

It's time Japan's political opposition learn from their failures of the past two years, especially their crushing defeat in the Dec. 14 Lower House election, to rebuild themselves in a way that enables them to challenge the ruling bloc and to give voters a real choice.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2014

Under Xi, China is coming clean on dirty air

Recent developments in China suggest that, after decades of prioritizing economic growth over the environment, the country now seems set to pressure and even embarrass some of its most powerful corporate citizens to curb pollution.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2014

Pakistan's new war on the Taliban may ensnare U.S.

The massacre earlier this week at a school in Pakistan not only is likely to set off a new round of fighting between the country's army and the Taliban but also may push U.S. President Barack Obama to renew the counter-terrorism partnership with Pakistan that has deteriorated since the U.S. killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2014

Broken U.S. moral compass

The most disturbing and basic question with regard to the maintenance of Guantanamo and any one of the so-called Black Sites in recent years is why American officials seemed to want so badly to torture when to do so was known — even to the CIA — to be so unprofitable.
EDITORIALS
Dec 18, 2014

Russia's downward slide

The decision by Russia's Central Bank to practically double interest rates in the middle of the night is a bad sign. The question now is how President Vladimir Putin will double-down to get Russia through a perfect economic storm.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2014

Asia isn't ready for Chinese economic turmoil

As China's first full year of rebalancing draws to close, how has President Xi Jinping done?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Dec 17, 2014

Readers' letters: What to do about 'haro'? And where to study, Japan or China?

A selection of emails received in response to recent Community stories.
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2014

Ruble collapse could shake Putin's grip on power

Russia failed to halt the collapse of the ruble on Tuesday, leaving President Vladimir Putin facing a full-blown currency crisis that could weaken his iron grip on power.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 16, 2014

Rock, J-pop and dance: Albums we liked in 2014

The year-end album charts in Japan have a tendency to prop up the same acts year after year: Exile, anything that ends in a "48," and almost every group from the Johnny & Associates stable of boy bands. Writers at The Japan Times, however, spent the year looking past the charts to find a few gems lurking...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2014

ECB must banish the specter of deflation

The European Central Bank is moving, hesitantly but ineluctably, toward quantitative easing, as the threat of deflation — and the ineffectiveness of its previous measures — leaves it no choice.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2014

Why CIA torturers won't be punished

U.S. Department of Justice memos gave CIA a free pass to torture without being punished. Serious crimes were committed, but interrogators will go unpunished.
EDITORIALS
Dec 15, 2014

Abe's mandate by default

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should not take his Liberal Democratic Party's widely predicted big wins in the Lower House election on Sunday as carte blanche from voters to run his administration exactly as he wishes.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / DECISION 2014
Dec 15, 2014

Election results a mix of good and bad for Hashimoto's Ishin no To

For Ishin no To (Japan Innovation Party), the Lower House election was a mixture of good and bad as the party held onto virtually all of its seats , courtesy of the proportional representation system, amid predictions it would lose big.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 15, 2014

How China spies on Hong Kong's democrats

James To was growing uneasy. When the veteran Hong Kong Democratic Party lawmaker looked in his rearview mirror, two silver Mercedes Benz saloons kept appearing behind his gray Volvo sedan.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 14, 2014

Political and economic factors driving devolution

The push to return powers from Brussels to the British government, and to devolve powers from the British government to the regions, have become buzzwords in the U.K.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 14, 2014

Nagoya: What do you think of Abe's decision to call a snap election?

Voters and non-voters alike give their views on today's Lower House election, which was called by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe only two years after the last one.

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