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COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2014

Another test for Erdogan

Today the biggest challenge to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to emanate from another Islamic leader, Fethullah Gulen, a cleric exiled to the United States who is alleged to have masterminded the investigation of a burgeoning corruption scandal.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jan 9, 2014

Tao makes the cut in new drama

At age 28, actress and model Tao Okamoto is already one of the few women in history — along with actress Farrah Fawcett and Jennifer Aniston's Rachel character from "Friends" to name a couple — to have a haircut named after her.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2014

'Hotori no Sakuko (Au Revoir l'Eté)'

Compared to his avant-garde French new-wave peers, Eric Rohmer seemed to direct in a lighter, more conventional key: All those casually chic young heroines photographed in the more attractive parts of France, all those stories about their various love troubles. Also, from a Hollywood perspective, his...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 7, 2014

Tamogami pledges SDF disaster prep

Toshio Tamogami, a former top officer in the Air Self-Defense Force cashiered for historical revisionist comments, formally announces he will run for Tokyo governor, pledging to build a stronger disaster response system with the SDF to brace for terrorist attacks during the 2020 Olympics or a massive earthquake hitting the capital.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2014

Time to relegate 'moral laws' to history's dustbin

Nothing lasts forever — especially in the U.S. with its 50 percent divorce rate — and it's clear that same-sex marriage will eventually be the law of the land.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2014

Is English Tamogami's weak suit?

As Toshio Tamogami's candidacy in the Tokyo gubernatorial race raises concerns that his nationalistic views could worsen already strained ties with China and South Korea, Internet users were quick to question if his English skills were up to snuff.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2014

How South Korea rides out emerging-markets turmoil

With seven of every 10 high school graduates attending a university, there is a surplus of educated people in South Korea. Estimates are that 40 percent of college graduates are redundant.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2014

NSA-less costs of making life safe

Aren't there other ways of spending tens of billions of dollars that would save more lives than America's National Security Agency is credited with saving each year
JAPAN / BULLETIN BOARD
Jan 6, 2014

Tokyo job fair to help students from Southeast Asia

A job fair for students from Southeast Asian countries seeking employment in Japan will be held Sunday in Tokyo. Recruiters from various industries, such as manufacturing, travel, transportation and retail, will be in attendance.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Jan 3, 2014

Drawing out the demons and dreams of Fukushima

Artist Geoff Read is currently focused on helping Fukushima's children articulate their hopes and fears. As he explains, 'In my Strong Children Japan Project, the most important thing the pictures can do is to help these children have a safer childhood.'
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2014

Century engine starts now

The last two centuries (and possibly more) didn't 'start' with the turning of the calendar from 00 to 01. Each century began bending the arc of history, in essence, in its 14th year.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 3, 2014

It's the Year of the Horse, so bring on the feedbag

2014 is — according to the Chinese zodiac — the Year of the Horse. Born in a distant year of another cordial horse, we thus celebrate the spin of the 12-year cycle. This year is our year!
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2013

A terrible year for Syria and Egypt

Even with the most optimistic assessments, the Syrian conflict is unlikely to be settled in 2014. As for Egypt, nearly 20,000 people have been sentenced or are now facing trials for belonging to or supporting the 'wrong' political camp.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2013

Putin plays games to salvage Sochi Olympics

Ahead of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, President Vladimir Putin is playing his own game of trying to make his autocratic regime more palatable to world leaders wondering whether they should show up at all.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO BAR ADVENTURE
Dec 31, 2013

On a pub crawl, every drink is one for the road

For newcomers or current residents in Tokyo, where people are known to sometimes come off as cold and distant, attempting to chat up a complete stranger on the street or in a bar can make even the biggest social butterfly feel shy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 31, 2013

2013 was an amazing year in tech

If you go by the headlines, the iPhone 5S and Google Glass were the big technology stories of 2013, and Twitter's IPO was the event of the year. The coverage of Glass focused mostly on its privacy implications — not its ability to change the world. And iPhone and Twitter were just more of the same....
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 30, 2013

U.S. Army seeks bigger Pacific role

Approaching from the Hawaii coast, the mosquito-shaped helicopter buzzed around the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie twice before swooping toward the landing pad. The U.S. Navy crew on the deck crouched, the helmeted faces betraying more than routine concern as the aircraft, flown by a pilot who...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 30, 2013

Is being nice to customers really so disgusting?

That women in Japan are oppressed, neglected, or otherwise compelled to speak well above their natural pitch in formal settings has become a tired, cheap refrain among some American journalists.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 29, 2013

South Korea's house of cards

Except for Samsung Electronics, South Korea's manufacturing industry appears to be on the verge of a big stall. How long Samsung will be able to maintain its market dominance is an open question.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Dec 29, 2013

Education in 2013: an 'A' for ambition, but Japan will have to do better

Will 2014 be the year we start to see a genuinely forward-thinking, globalized outlook for education in Japan? The rapidly changing global economy, regional tensions and shrinking population suggest huge challenges await the country's youth on their emergence into the job market in the coming years.
COMMUNITY
Dec 29, 2013

Orphan of distance? Find time to latch onto some Okinawans this New Year's

Japanese New Year's is a decidedly family affair. If you can't find a family to invite you in from the streets for a bowl of soba, it's important to find the right group of friends — friends who will make a point to gather on a cold New Year's Eve with a fellow orphan of distance. Friends who find themselves, like you, far from their homes and families, caught between two worlds.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 29, 2013

Syrian civil war tests borders drawn less than a century ago in Mideast

That half of his farm lies in Syria and half in Lebanon is a source of mystery and inconvenience for Mohammed al-Jamal, whose family owned the property long before Europeans turned up and drew the lines that created the borders of the modern Middle East.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2013

Cracking the feminist psyche, wallet

On the evening of Dec. 19, a Pantene commercial ran on U.S. television that skirted all the formal avenues of parent company Procter & Gamble's typical advertising process. Storyboards weren't pored over in P&G's Cincinnati headquarters. Average Americans didn't provide feedback in consumer research...
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2013

America's one-sided application of diplomatic law

The entire Indian foreign service bureaucracy has been antagonized by the arrest and search of a colleague in New York. As U.S. relative power wanes, is diplomatic trust worth breaking with a growing number of friends and allies?
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2013

Why is work a zero free-speech zone?

If a reality TV show star, or any American for that matter, can be fired for expressing him- or herself when at work — or not at work — then the right to free speech is a meaningless abstraction that applies only to the tiny fraction of super-rich Americans who don't have to worry about getting fired.
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Dec 27, 2013

Mao must let the triple axel go for shot at gold in Sochi

Enough already. It is time for two-time world champion Mao Asada to give up the triple axel.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2013

Christmas Grinch in China

The extension of Chinese President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption and anti-extravagance campaigns is blamed for creating a Grinch responsible for diminishing Chinese holiday cheer this year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2013

Kaori Shoji's 2013 Top 10: films that aren't backward about coming forward

It has been a year of documentaries made on big ideas and small resources. At the other end of the spectrum, some of the best fiction films had the look and feel of a documentary, attesting to the modern notion that the individual and his/her story are just about the most interesting things around.

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