Search - community

 
 
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 21, 2014

Deadly gunbattle in eastern Ukraine shakes fragile Geneva accord

At least three people were killed in a gunfight in the early hours of Sunday near a Ukrainian city controlled by pro-Russian separatists, shaking an already fragile international accord that was designed to avert a wider conflict.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Apr 20, 2014

Evacuees still wary of returning

An evacuation order for part of the Miyakoji district of Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture, was lifted April 1, but many residents haven't returned yet because of lingering concerns about radiation. They are also worried about the lack of jobs, shops and medical services.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 20, 2014

For Hindu nationalists, a chance to right wrongs

From a distance, the scene is as colorful as any in India. Men dressed as Hindu deities, with tinsel crowns and tridents, wait for their turn on the stage. Teenagers saunter by trucks carrying effigies of mythological heroes and listen to speeches.
EDITORIALS
Apr 20, 2014

Nuclear disarmament challenge

A conference in Hiroshima highlights the divide between nations that advocate the outright elimination of nuclear weapons and those, like Japan, that hope for a gradual phaseout because they rely on a deterrent 'nuclear umbrella' for their own security.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Apr 20, 2014

To teach to test or for communication — or both?

Which is more important: to communicate in a second language or to test well?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 20, 2014

The one that got away

In 2004, the job of looking after the local foreigner went to Rikimatsu-san, a 75-year-old fisherman intent on teaching me the ways of the Seto Inland Sea.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Apr 19, 2014

Nakama set to retire

Never a superstar, but always a hard-working, team-first player, shooting guard Jumpei Nakama has enjoyed popularity and the respect of his peers since the bj-league's inception in 2005. He's been a fan favorite throughout the country as the league has grown nonstop for nearly a decade.
Reader Mail
Apr 19, 2014

Stigma comes with treatment for depression

This is in response to Michael Hoffman's April 13 Big in Japan column, " 'Big Pharma' manipulating the market? Now that's depressing." The role of pharmaceutical companies aside, we feel that the article does little to accurately discuss the complicated issue of depression and its treatment, or to dispel...
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Apr 18, 2014

Aomori's Ocitti appreciates fans' unbridled support for first-year franchise

The Japan Times features periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. Stanley Ocitti of the Aomori Wat's is the subject of this week's profile
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 16, 2014

U.N. finds fear-mongering in Ukraine by speakers of Russian

Ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine have falsely claimed to be under assault to justify Russian intervention, the U.N. human rights office said Tuesday as it warned that such propaganda could affect Ukraine's presidential election next month.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Apr 16, 2014

Hague jars with Japan's family law, a zero-sum game with only one outcome

A Japanese lawyer told me: 'To Westerners, marriage means 1+1=2. But in Japan it equals 1.' This made perfect sense to me, but perhaps I should explain.
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 16, 2014

Could England's lead cultural agency offer a long-term template for Japan as a whole?

Arts Council England, generally referred to as the Arts Council, is a national agency which, in its own words, "champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people's lives."
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Apr 15, 2014

No sign of 'Showtime' in future for listing Lakers

Hey, everyone has a bad decade or so.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2014

In test of post-Fukushima policy, town rallies for restart of reactors

For residents of Satsumasendai, their old nuclear plant jobs take priority over a quake they never felt and an atomic disaster they never had to deal with.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 14, 2014

Suit over dismissal to tackle thorny issue of language teachers' employment status

At the heart of the Sulejman Brkic case is the issue of what, in legal terms, the nature of his employment status was while he worked for language school ICC: Was he an employee or a contractor?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Apr 14, 2014

What's one thing you would change about the Tokyo subway system?

Tokyoites pick out one way to make the capital's usually reliable subway system just that little bit better.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 13, 2014

In Assad's coastal heartland, Syrian conflict creeps closer

For three years, residents of Syria's Mediterranean provinces have watched from their coastal sanctuary as civil war raging further inland tore the country apart, killing tens of thousands of people and devastating historic cities.
Reader Mail
Apr 12, 2014

Brother Russia, Ukraine diverge on key values

Regarding the April 9 Bloomberg article “U.S. labels some eastern Ukraine protesters as ‘paid provocateurs’”: As a Ukrainian now living in Tokyo with my Japanese wife, I have been following events back home since the protests late last year against a corrupt government and the subsequent ouster...
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Apr 11, 2014

Tea ceremony at Nara's Saidaiji Temple

People who attend the tea ceremony Saturday and Sunday at Saidaiji Temple in Nara can drink green tea from a huge bowl 30 cm in diameter. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2014

Iitate farmer's cautionary tale translated

Kenichi Hasegawa is a man of conviction.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 11, 2014

Russia reportedly omitted details on Boston Marathon bombing suspect

Russia declined several FBI requests for more information on Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev two years before the deadly 2013 attack, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing an unpublished U.S. government review.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 10, 2014

In Iran, many of 1979 U.S. hostage takers mellow, now favor evolution to revolution

Three decades after hard-line students occupied the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took diplomats hostage for 444 days, many of the now middle-aged revolutionaries are among the most vocal critics of Iran's conservative establishment, officials and analysts said.
EDITORIALS
Apr 10, 2014

Reality check for Mideast and U.S.

Israelis and Palestinians had better assess their dwindling options after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's latest Mideast peace efforts hit a wall, and acknowledge that a negotiated settlement is much better than their unilateral options.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Apr 9, 2014

Foreign workers fear exploitation as Olympic projects gather steam

My first Labor Pains column of the new fiscal year will look at the government's recent proposal for bringing in foreign workers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices
Apr 9, 2014

Post-Fukushima reform throws up a few surprises

The magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011, devastated the northeast, killing more than 15,000 people and causing level 7 meltdowns at three reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Observers believed the sheer size of the catastrophe and its subsequent effects...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 9, 2014

'In the Heights' sizzles across distant cultures

I had a few reservations about the first Japanese production of "In the Heights," the Broadway sensation nominated for 13 Tony awards in 2008.
EDITORIALS
Apr 9, 2014

Aim for lasting peace in Africa

Sadly, 20 years after the start of the genocide in Rwanda, in some African countries conflict and suppression of human rights are all too commonplace.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2014

Would independent Scotland have its own spies?

If an independent Scotland does have to develop its own intelligence network, it will lead to an intriguing question in the independence debate: Who will pose the biggest threat to the physical and economic security of the state?

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