Search - question

 
 
COMMENTARY
Oct 21, 2014

Abe's 'womenomics' is little more than skin deep

The sudden resignations of two female Cabinet ministers over separate spending scandals suggest that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prefers to appoint warm, telegenic figures to help him sell unpopular policies rather than strong, independent-minded women.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 21, 2014

EMAF packs a lot onto its musical menu

In its first week, the Red Bull Music Academy Tokyo has treated local audiences to a wide gamut of sounds, from hip-hop to deep house to noise, while keeping the capital's billboards comprehensively smothered in advertising. The two-day EMAF Tokyo (Electronic Music of Art Festival), held under the auspices...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 19, 2014

Thai regime hunts for legitimacy in Myanmar

Thai Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha visits Myanmar, of all places, to try to add a layer of legitimacy to his regime following the military coup last May.
WORLD
Oct 19, 2014

Ukraine says it has agreed on interim gas price with Russia

Ukraine's and Russia's leaders have reached a preliminary agreement on a price for gas supplies this winter, but Kiev may need international help to pay, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Saturday.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Oct 18, 2014

Getting to the heart of Murasaki's 'Tale of Genji'

"If any society in the world can be described as unique," wrote historian Ivan Morris, "it is that of Heian Kyo in the time of Murasaki Shikibu."
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 18, 2014

Russia, Ukraine near deal on gas supplies after tough Milan talks

Russia and Ukraine made progress on Friday toward resolving a dispute over gas supplies in time for winter, but European leaders said Moscow still has to do much more to prop up a fragile cease-fire and end fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / ROBERT WHITING'S 1964 OLYMPICS RETROSPECTIVE
Oct 17, 2014

Schollander, Hayes were spectacular at Tokyo Games

The 1964 Tokyo Olympics had a profound impact on the capital city and the nation. In the third installment of a five-part series running this month, best-selling author Robert Whiting, who lived in Japan at the time, looks at some of the stars who emerged during the competition.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 17, 2014

Don't overstate Japan 'danger'

Chinese allegations that the Abe government is moving toward a militarist foreign policy demonstrate China's inability or unwillingness to acknowledge that current Chinese behavior contributes to the enhancements in Japanese security policy that China wishes to avoid.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Oct 17, 2014

BIFF 2014 plays down unavoidable controversies

The biggest event of the year for South Korea's film industry is the opening night of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), which marked its 19th year Oct. 2 to 11. Whether or not they have films screening at the festival, almost all the major Korean movie stars show up and strut the red carpet...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 17, 2014

Son's $51 billion acquisition run faces speed bump

Billionaire Masayoshi Son's 300-year business plan for SoftBank Corp. sees no pause in acquisitions that saw him splurge $51 billion in five years. Higher interest rates in the U.S. and Japan may put the brakes on his debt-fueled ambitions.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 17, 2014

Priest, air passenger among six hospitalised in Spain for Ebola tests

Spanish authorities reported four new patients with suspected Ebola symptoms on Thursday, including a feverish passenger who started shaking on an Air France flight to Madrid and a Spanish priest who had recently been in Liberia.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2014

Tokyo International Film Festival contender 'Pale Moon' gets to the root of all evil

The bad news? Japan has only one entry in the Competition section at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival. The good news? The submission, Daihachi Yoshida's "Pale Moon," is a major contender for the $50,000 Tokyo Grand Prix.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EMBASSY AVENUE
Oct 15, 2014

Raising children Swedish style

Children and parents enjoyed Swedish products for kids during the Sweden Kids Week event last weekend at the Embassy of Sweden in Tokyo.
Reader Mail
Oct 15, 2014

No justification for Islamic State

I am shocked that The Japan Times published the Oct. 10 AFP-Jiji article "Ancient prophecies of apocalypse give Islamic State jihadists hope." The article contains implied praise for Islamic State — the most horrifying terror group in the world. Carefully read, the article reflects a desperate attempt...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Oct 15, 2014

Is it time to bid bye-bye to 'haro'?

When was the last time someone Japanese used your presence as an excuse to say 'haro' whilst furtively glancing sideways at their companions to confirm they just made the funniest joke ever?
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 15, 2014

'Polygraph' blurs realities in a dark blend of blood and beauty

The 1980s murder at the center of "Le Polygraphe" echoes that of an actress in the Canadian city of Quebec — a killing for which the chief suspect for a time was the renowned Quebecois dramatist Robert Lepage, who cowrote the play in 1987 with actress, author and theater director Marie Brassard. Postmodern...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 15, 2014

Serbia walks an East-West tightrope highlighted by upcoming special parade for Putin

In his 1949 memoir "Eastern Approaches," British officer Fitzroy Maclean wrote of standing on top of Belgrade's fortress and watching the Nazis retreat across the Sava River, leaving the capital to the Red Army and Yugoslav partisan guerrillas.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 14, 2014

Ebola threatens Africa's development

The World Health Organization's dramatic warning that the Ebola epidemic threatens the 'very survival' of societies has a public health consultant wondering where all the millions of dollars in aid to African countries to improve their health systems have gone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 14, 2014

Getting a glimpse of Tokyo's metal underbelly

Loud Park will go down this weekend at Saitama Super Arena, drawing fans excited to see mainstream metal acts such as Manowar, Dream Theater and veteran Japanese group Loudness, who was the first heavy metal band from this country signed to an American label and is halfway through its third decade of...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 14, 2014

Obama, foreign military chiefs to thrash out plans to halt Islamic State advance

President Barack Obama was to hash out a strategy to counter the Islamic State group on Tuesday with military leaders from some 20 countries including Turkey and Saudi Arabia amid growing pressure on the U.S.-led coalition to do more to halt the militants' advance.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 14, 2014

Ferguson protesters struggle to maintain focus on slain teenager

Young black protesters from Ferguson, Missouri, want to keep their anger focused on the fatal police shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown as their movement takes on a national dimension that threatens to dilute it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 11, 2014

The horrific act that connects Islamic State to a few Japanese schoolchildren

Beheadings. Dismemberings. The world is turning into a horror movie.
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 11, 2014

Thrashing San Marino of no value to anyone

It was the most pointless exercise in football — literally. San Marino, the worst European team ever to play international football, came to Wembley in its usual lambs-to-the-slaughter role and lost 5-0 on Thursday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 11, 2014

Kobani's fall would be symbolic setback for Obama Syria strategy

It's not a particularly strategic location, the United States and its allies never pledged to defend it, and few people outside the region had even heard of it before this month.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2014

Okinawa braces as massive Typhoon Vongfong powers north

Japan was bracing on Friday for its strongest storm this year, a supertyphoon powering north toward the Okinawa island chain that threatens to rake a wide swath of the nation with strong winds and torrential rain.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2014

Should adult sibling incest be against the law?

The German Ethics Council's recommendation that consensual sexual intercourse between adult siblings should cease to be a crime leads a university ethics professor to wonder whether a rational debate on the subject is even possible.

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