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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Dec 29, 2014

Discussing sex crimes and Japan's 'safety myth'

A selection of responses to Rachel Halle's recent column, 'Foreign student's account of treatment in rape case points to gaps in Japan's safety myth.'
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2014

Pesky political fund problems

The return of Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc to a two-thirds majority in the Lower House has all but sidelined a spate of political fund problems that hit Cabinet members before the snap election. But it has not erased them.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Dec 28, 2014

The year in education: After all the talk, can Japan walk the walk in 2015?

With ideas coming in thick and fast in 2014 and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe having effective carte blanche after his landslide election victory, it's now or never for key education reforms.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2014

Hacking of low brow movie raises high stakes issues

The movie 'The Interview,' featuring the supposed blowing up of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, is a sad commentary on the idiocies of our troubled times. It should not have been made.
EDITORIALS
Dec 26, 2014

Occupy Central's spirit endures

The Occupy Central movement that shut down the heart of Hong Kong for 79 days over the demand for greater democracy in the Special Administrative Region is over. But the impulses that drove the movement have not disspated.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 26, 2014

Chinese city probes 'AIDS demolition team' threatening residents

A city in central China is investigating reports that workers tasked with demolishing homes for a new development are threatening to infect residents with AIDS if they don't move out, state media reported on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2014

Unlocking ASEAN's true economic potential

Some critics insist that ASEAN members vary too widely in terms of economic development to create a smoothly functioning manufacturing entity. But ASEAN, unlike the European Union, is not trying to form a monetary union.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 25, 2014

Medical detective work is next phase in Ebola fight

Medical detective work will be the next big phase in the fight against Ebola when the United Nations deploys hundreds of health workers to identify chains of infection as the virus passes from person to person, top U.N. health workers said.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 25, 2014

Tornadoes kill four people, cause major damage in Mississippi

Tornadoes unleashed by thunderstorms along the U.S. Gulf Coast ripped through southeastern Mississippi on Tuesday, killing four people, injuring many others and causing extensive damage, authorities said.
Japan Times
SPORTS
Dec 25, 2014

Top world sports news of 2014

The Japan Times editors selected these world sports stories as the most important of 2014.
Reader Mail
Dec 24, 2014

Priorities of dignity and security

Regarding the Dec. 10 editorial, "A test for Taiwan and China": I would like to bring the following points to the attention of The Japan Times readers. The "nine-in-one" nationwide local government election of the Republic of China on Taiwan on Nov. 29 marks the largest local government electoral event...
Reader Mail
Dec 24, 2014

Thumbs up for decontamination

Three years and nine months after the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor explosions, finally our house, about 65 km away from the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma-machi, was decontaminated. It took a whole week to clean our piece of land and house.
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
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 24, 2014

Mastering the art of incense takes longer than you think

If you find all this incense as intriguing as I did and are ready to sign up to become a master in the Way of Fragrance, then I suggest you start right away, if not 20 years ago.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 23, 2014

South Korea shows the way on 'womenomics'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he wants to put more women to work to help make up for the country's shrinking population. Yet, of the 1,093 people who ran for office in recent snap elections, a mere 169 were women. Abe might want to study neighboring South Korea.
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 22, 2014

U.S. sanctions are a tragedy for Cuba, farce for Russians

Western leaders imposing sanctions on Russia need to ponder whether they really want to turn Vladimir Putin's Russia into something like Castro's Cuba — only far bigger and more dangerous.
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2014

Change Olympic stadium design

A decision should be made soon on whether design changes are necessary to the new National Stadium planned for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics so that it conforms to the international Olympic spirit and stands as a legacy that future generations can be proud of.
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
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 22, 2014

Tokyo: What's your worst Christmas memory?

An unscientific selection of views from around the capital suggests that Americans have more fun than Japanese at Christmas.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2014

India and China slugging it out in South Asia

As India and China compete with each other for economic and political influence in South Asia, they are likely to concentrate more on their relative gains vis-u00e0-vis each other than on the absolute gains regional cooperation could bestow.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 20, 2014

Public protest in Japan: Power to the people?

"Freedom of assembly and association as well as speech, press and all other forms of expression are guaranteed." — Article 21, Constitution of Japan
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Dec 18, 2014

FIBA chief Baumann strikes tough tone on JBA ban

FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann repeatedly stated that the Japan Basketball Association's "lack of vision" is a fundamental problem stunting the sport's development throughout the nation.
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.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Dec 17, 2014

Japan and others gain from Jamaican brain drain

In the last part of this series on Jamaicans in Japan, Baye McNeil speaks to a teacher, author and poet in Yokohama and an attorney in Tokyo.

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