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Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 16, 2014

Ukraine, Russia agree short truce as Crimea referendum gets under way

The Ukrainian and Russian Defence ministries have agreed on a truce in Crimea until March 21, Ukraine's acting defence minister said Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 16, 2014

Dangers of collective self-defense

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's eagerness to drop the government's long-standing constitutional interpretation that Japan cannot exercise its right to collective self-defense is dangerous, as it could lead to military action abroad by the Self-Defense Forces.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 15, 2014

Olympics highlight the need for foreign blue-collar laborers

In a recent column, Tokyo Shimbun sportswriter Masaru Ogawa called on past and future Olympic athletes to come forward and talk about what he sees as the biggest problem facing the Tokyo 2020 Games: lack of construction workers. Next year, work on venues will start in earnest, but Japan is already burdened...
EDITORIALS
Mar 14, 2014

Will pay hikes become a trend?

The pay raises offered by leading Japanese firms this week are an encouraging sign that some companies, at least, are translating better corporate earnings posted the past year into higher wages for workers — thanks partly to unusual government pressures put on management.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 13, 2014

Top court case highlights U.S. rift over sex science

As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear a religious dispute over the "Obamacare" contraception mandate, advocates on both sides are trying to set the court straight on the science.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2014

Ruling bloc readies bill to bolster cybersecurity amid growing attacks

Lawmakers in the ruling camp are preparing to submit a bill to the Diet next fall aimed at strengthening the government's cybersecurity to more quickly counter an increasing number of attacks.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 11, 2014

Japanese jingoism won't help Fukushima's refugees

The Abe government's inability to handle its crisis at home belies its global ambitions.
Reader Mail
Mar 8, 2014

Arguing point on 'massacre' hurts Japan

Recently no day seems to pass without our having to put up with double talk from a Japanese leader or a director of NHK (the national broadcaster). It wasn't even a year ago that then Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose made a spectacle of himself because of his comments in a New York Times article [suggesting that...
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 7, 2014

Suga mum on Ukraine sanctions for Russia

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga declined comment if Tokyo will impose economic sanctions against Russia over its deployment of troops on Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula, only saying Tokyo will "properly deal with the situation by closely consulting with relevant countries."
EDITORIALS
Mar 5, 2014

Much more than mere vandalism

Although most of more than 300 copies of 'Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl' and other Holocaust-related publications recently discovered vandalized in Tokyo and Yokohama libraries have been replaced, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department should leave no stone unturned in its effort to find those responsible for the acts.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 5, 2014

Japan's embrace of Russia under threat with Ukraine crisis

Russia's incursion into Ukraine is setting off alarm bells in Tokyo, where officials worry that any push by the nation's Western allies to impose economic penalties will undermine its drive to improve relations with Moscow.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2014

Abe between rock and hard place after Putin nabs Crimea

Russia's deployment of troops on the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine put Japan in a difficult position Monday, as Tokyo, which has tried to build closer ties with Moscow, joined its Group of Seven counterparts to issue a statement strongly condemning Russia.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 3, 2014

Repairing the tripartite ties

Japan's relations with China and South Korea are at their lowest ebb since Japan normalized its diplomatic relations with them. One way to break the jogjam could be a tripartite free trade agreement.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 1, 2014

Japan's reactionaries waging culture war

The contemporary culture wars that have erupted over Japanese identity and history are undermining the country's national interests and damaging its reputation.
BUSINESS / Economy / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 1, 2014

Economic figures reveal more than you see

The Cabinet Office's Economic and Social Research Institute on Jan. 17 released the finalized figures on the country's economy's stocks (the net value of accumulated assets at a balance date) and flows (net transactions, including income and expenditure, during an accounting period) that were recorded...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 1, 2014

Yanukovych resurfaces in Russia; claims to be Ukraine's rightful leader

Speaking for the first time since leaving Ukraine, fugitive president Yanukovych labels the parliament in Kiev illegitimate and vows to return when it's safe.
COMMENTARY
Feb 28, 2014

An Abe-Park dialogue needed

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has entered her second year in office with little prospect that the chilly relationship between Japan and her country will improve.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 25, 2014

Vandalized Anne Frank diaries are troubling sign of the times

It would be an astounding coincidence if the shameful vandalism of copies of Anne Frank's memoirs was not related to the request by a southern Japanese city to have the U.N. World Heritage organization enshrine farewell letters written by World War II kamikaze suicide pilots alongside other historical documents.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 25, 2014

Okinawa assembly probes why Nakaima reversed base stance

A special investigative committee of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly met last week and early this week to determine why Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima reversed his campaign pledge to get U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma moved outside Okinawa.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 24, 2014

Should young criminals face harsher penalties?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet approved a bill this month to bolster punishments issued under the juvenile law. This is partly in response to growing calls by people victimized by juvenile offenders to reduce their apparent impunity.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 24, 2014

'Abenomics' no help to breweries

While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies help manufacturers such as Toyota Motor Corp. rack up record profits, challenges to his reforms are showing up in a more mundane spot: the outlook for beer.

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