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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 22, 2014

Tokyo: Is there any food you won't eat in Japan?

Natto, seaweed, squid, octopus, shiitake: While Japan's culinary treats are a major draw for new residents and visitors alike, everyone has their limits, vox pops in Tokyo reveal.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2014

Reforms open SE Asia's 'last frontier'

Newly democratizing Myanmar is a suitable destination for Japanese direct investment as it is Southeast Asia's "last frontier," two researchers based in Singapore said at a symposium in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
Jan 21, 2014

Japan's nuclear waste problem

The government plans to step up its efforts to select a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power generation despite having searched for more than a decade, without success, to find a willing host community.
COMMENTARY
Jan 21, 2014

A Dutch cure for the Dutch disease

When a country like the Netherlands, which built one of the world's most expansive welfare states in the 1960s and '70s, reverses course to reduce welfare dependency and to restore work incentives, it is worth noting.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: TECH
Jan 20, 2014

On: Tech looks at printing, scanning, apps and more

With the ongoing shift to smartphones in Japan, mobile flea-market apps have been getting a fair bit of attention recently. Fril (fril.jp), Mercari (mercari.jp), and Mom's Market (maifuri.jp) all stand out in this space as sellers of second-hand fashion and general goods, but newcomer A2mato aims to...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Jan 20, 2014

My niece, the drug smuggler

Imagine two New York Jewish women groomed among the stylish and well-educated on opposite shores of Long Island. They meet up in Tokyo for the first time. In a strange twist of fate, they are not sipping tea from fine bone china, as they might have back home. Instead they find themselves seated on opposite...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 19, 2014

China, South Korea face familiar woes in English quest

Japan isn't alone in its struggles with teaching English. China and South Korea have experienced similar frustrations, but their responses and results have been quite different.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2014

Let Iraq, Afghan regimes look after themselves

What more than a decade ago was believed by Americans to be the omnipotence of the U.S. in the Middle East and Central Asia is today being replaced by a fear that the U.S. is responsible for why everything seems to be going wrong.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 17, 2014

Ditch reactors, don't focus on Olympics: Hosokawa quote

Japan should have declined the 2020 Olympics because the country has to focus on what to do about nuclear power, ex-Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, who is set to run for Tokyo governor, says in a recently published book.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Jan 17, 2014

Coach serves up support for Japan's budding tennis stars

Arriving in Japan in 1986, Colombia-born coach and player Rodrigo Hernandez brought with him a wealth of experience and expertise gained from working with and competing against some of the greats of world tennis. Expecting to stay only a year, he's been coaching here ever since.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 17, 2014

A vision for Japan's future

Thanks to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's 'Abenomics' initiative for national economic recovery, Japan's economy as well as its currency and stock markets started the New Year on a positive note for the first time in a long while.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 17, 2014

Fortune, fame or betrayal? It's all in the omikuji

All Japanese shrines have omikuji (fortune-telling sticks) — just like all McDonald's have fries.
EDITORIALS
Jan 16, 2014

Assist Myanmar's reform efforts

Nearly three years after its transition from military to civilian rule, Myanmar faces difficult challenges in its path to democratization and economic reform, including the infrastructure necessary to attract business investment and a military-centered constitution.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Jan 16, 2014

Japan's mobile apps provide an 'A' for every 'Q'

Question and answer sites have for a decade been one of the most popular user-contributed services on the Web — and Japan is no exception. On the traditional Web, the market has been occupied by a few big players, but the recent popularity of smartphones has attracted new startups to the mobile Web...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Jan 15, 2014

Three cases, three paths to legitimacy for Supreme Court

When I began studying Japanese, one of my goals was to be able to read the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan's version of The Wall Street Journal. Achieving that goal, however, meant realizing that it is possibly The Most Boring Newspaper on Earth.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jan 15, 2014

No refuge from booze in Tokyo, paradise for alcoholics in denial

Many of us foreigners living here know deep down that we and many of our friends are at least mild alcoholics, masking each other's addictions, and the allure of alcohol is not an easy monkey to get of your back. It's difficult in any city, though living in Tokyo provides it's own unique set of problems.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 15, 2014

Tokyo: What's the strangest thing you've seen in a vending machine?

From melon to books, eggs and stewed morsels, interviewees around Tokyo share their most wonderfully weird vending machine encounters.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2014

India's shambolic Afghan policy

India stands at a crossroads where it remains keen to preserve its interests in Afghanistan but has refused to step up its role as a regional security provider.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2014

Cannabis enters real world of taxes and regulation

Americans are just starting to see the first, hard details in the tricky balancing act of transforming recreational marijuana use into a legal business — in Washington and in Colorado. The big deal about legalization is that it may not be such a big deal, at least right away.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 13, 2014

A hard day's grind for porn's professionals

A day on set with Akira Takatsuki, arguably Japan's most famous porn director in the subgenre revolving around well-endowed female talent, and AV stars Shiori Tsukada and Mumin reveals a world of work like any other — except for the sex stuff.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 13, 2014

London sets out to be the capital of menswear

Bring on the boys. London Collections: Men autumn-winter 2014 brought with it a new message to promote and a new voice to shout about it.
BASKETBALL
Jan 12, 2014

Shimane fires Vlaikidis, names ex-JBL star Hanson new bench boss

The Shimane Susanoo Magic, who have lost seven straight games, including their past three by a combined 59 points, made a coaching change on Sunday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 12, 2014

No lack of ideas on a course of action for English education

Last week's Learning Curve column, "English fluency hopes rest on an education overhaul," looked at the persistent mismatch between the education ministry's stated goals and the actual outcomes of English language education in Japan.

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