Search - 2014

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2014

Japan's image hurt by Abe's militarist facade: Nye

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's nationalistic views on history are hurting Japan's chances in an increasingly public PR battle with China and South Korea, a Harvard professor says.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Apr 4, 2014

Japanese game developers create immersive virtual worlds with Oculus Rift

Oculus Rift is the true people's choice in the virtual-reality community. From its grassroots upbringing through crowdfunding to its multibillion dollar buyout by Facebook last week, Palmer Luckey's immersive headset, which tracks the head movements of the wearer to plunge them into virtual environments,...
EDITORIALS
Apr 4, 2014

Opportunity to rethink whaling

The government should take the International Court of Justice's ruling against Japan's Antarctic whaling activities as a cue to work out ways to balance declining consumer demand for whale meat with the desire of some to preserve the nation's whaling tradition.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 4, 2014

Japan's Russian dilemma

For the Japanese, President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea was an unsurprising return to Russia's historic paradigm. Thus it is understandable that many now consider the recent hopes for serious talks between Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the Northern Territories as stillborn.
COMMENTARY
Apr 4, 2014

Wary West caught off guard by Putin's wild ways

At this point, the West has no idea what Russia is willing to do to restore its influence, but Russia knows exactly what the West will — and, more important, will not — do. This has created a dangerous asymmetry.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2014

The New Yorker is bad for cartooning

Writer-cartoonist says The New Yorker magazine prints a lot of awful cartoons, yet uses its reputation in order to elevate terrible work as the profession's platinum standard.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 4, 2014

Lebanon marks "devastating" milestone with millionth refugee

The number of Syrian refugees who have fled to Lebanon officially topped 1 million on Thursday, highlighting the growing humanitarian catastrophe caused by Syria's civil war and the huge burden placed on its poorly prepared neighbors.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 3, 2014

'Sanbun no Ichi (One Third)'

Caper movies have their conventions, one being that the crook anti-heroes may get to run their fingers through their loot, but they hardly ever get to keep it. The prototype is Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing" (1956), in which elaborate planning and clockwork execution pay off in a blackly comic reversal...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2014

Will Ukraine's new boss be like the old boss?

The question facing Ukrainians is whether Petro Poroshenko, the man who seems poised to win the presidency on May 25, will prove that all their recent efforts to put an end to decades of corrupt, oligarchic rule have been in vain.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 3, 2014

Kanye West cancels Fuji Rock headline spot

Kanye West has canceled his headline appearance at this year's Fuji Rock Festival "due to artist circumstances," according to festival organizers.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 2, 2014

West stumbles as autocratic forces trumps economics

A quarter-century after the fall of the Soviet Union, authoritarian rulers such as Vladimir Putin and Bashar Assad are showing they can and will defy international norms, suppress dissent and use military force. American policymakers are struggling with how to respond.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2014

Calculating a nation's well-being instead of GDP

As leaders in Germany, France, the U.K. and U.S. call for a new, more comprehensive policy target to replace gross national product, a group of economists see promise in the measurement of 'wellbeing' or life satisfaction.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2014

Russia's natural gas weapon looks overblown

On close inspection, the threat that Russia could use its natural gas as a doomsday weapon involves much bluff. If used, it would probably do less damage than imagined while imposing long-term costs on Russia.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2014

Gulf widens between Qatar and its neighbors

Saudi Arabia's recent decision to withdraw its ambassador from Qatar has revealed the gravity of the crisis in the Gulf Cooperation Council, composed of Saudia Arabia's most immediate neighbors. Gulf politics is shifting.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2014

Failed 'resets' with Russia allow for a cold peace

The ideological antagonism of the Cold War may be gone, but Russia now defines itself as an alternative civilizational and social model. A cold peace is possible.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 29, 2014

Fashion Week Tokyo: opposites attract womenswear designers

Collections reflect the antithetical nature of fashion in Japan
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2014

What does the West now want?

The U.S. has acquired a dangerous militarist outlook on world affairs in which problems are defined primarily in military terms. In the case of Ukraine, such a view could lead to catastrophe.
Japan Times
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Mar 28, 2014

Kakuryu secures promotion to yokozuna, but will he now revert to form?

In the days since he defeated fellow ozeki Kotoshogiku to win his first makunouchi championship at the Haru Basho in Osaka on Sunday March 23, new Mongolian yokozuna Kakuryu has been getting used to the helter-skelter off the dohyo lifestyle he will have for the rest of his sumo career.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 27, 2014

Man With A Mission and Buzz The Bears keep punk's spirit alive at Punkspring

It's not every day you get to exchange thoughts on punk rock with a talking wolf.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Mar 27, 2014

Hanami! Sakura! Spring snacks have also sprung

I am not one to require too much of a reason to throw a mini cream puff party in the office, but Beard Papa's announcement of karintō cream puffs was a good one; so, I take the liberty of starting this spring snack write-up with our impressions.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?