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Reader Mail
Oct 2, 2013

U.S. interest in a Japanese affair

In the Sept. 26 Kyodo article "Abe tries to counter militant image in U.S.," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says that under the current interpretation of Japan's Constitution, Japan's warships cannot "come to the aid of U.S. warships operating around Japan in international waters if they are attacked from...
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2013

Transcript of Caroline Kennedy's Senate hearing

Statement by Ms. Caroline Kennedy
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 21, 2013

Rokkasho: nuclear white elephant or yen sucking black hole?

As one approaches Rokkasho, a small town of 11,000 on the remote, windswept coast of Aomori Prefecture at the very north of Japan's main island, Honshu, one sees dozens of power-generating windmills spinning away. Aside from this ambitious renewable energy project, Rokkasho also is the site for a national...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Sep 19, 2013

Sony, Microsoft to square off at Tokyo Game Show

In Japan, the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) is gaming's main event. This year, heavyweights Sony and Microsoft are set to square off at Chiba's Makuhari Messe convention center with brand new consoles in tow. Who will come out on top?
EDITORIALS
Sep 18, 2013

Mr. Abe's ominous defense moves

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's approach to changing the government's traditional position on the right to collective self-defense undermines the foundation of Japanese democracy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 13, 2013

Briton relies on samurai spirit as he sets out on 126-km walk for charity

Like many before him, Trevor Skingle became fascinated with samurai ethics while learning a martial art. But for this Briton, the samurai respect for the arts in traditional Japan resonated with his own life choices.
Japan Times
JAPAN / INTERPRETATION & TRANSLATION
Sep 2, 2013

Focusing on people, not just words

English interpreters in Japan may often be regarded as those who convert English into Japanese or vice versa. However, Mutsumi Katayama, who has worked for more than 20 years as a freelance professional interpreter, focuses more attention on interpersonal communication.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2013

Knock down barriers to FDIs

If Japan wants to regain its international competitiveness and recover its innovative capabilities, it must encourage leading foreign firms to come to the Japanese market.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 24, 2013

A look back at when Tokyo was awarded 1964 Olympics

It's been more than 50 years since Tokyo was awarded the 1964 Summer Olympics, and it was done before several landmark events that shaped the second half of the 20th century.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2013

Multilateral accord presents pitfall if alliances are missing

South Korean President Park Geun-hye's call for multilateral dialogue in Northeast Asia is premature without a framework for military cooperation with Japan, South Korea and the U.S.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 17, 2013

Stone weighs in on Japanese defense

It's August, when the Japanese media's attention turns to peace, or, at least, the absence of war. The anniversaries of the atomic bombings and subsequent surrender occasion print and broadcast discussions of what Japan learned from its bloody mid-century military campaign. For most people the fact that...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2013

Foreign colleges feel globalization-excluded

As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pursues deregulation, the "third arrow" of his "Abenomics" economic plan, Temple University's Japan campus is closely watching to see if he will create a more favorable situation for foreign schools here by granting them the same tax perks and credits as Japanese universities,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Aug 14, 2013

Papers that pushed for Pacific War revisited

Papers from the long-locked safe of the late Lt. Gen. Teiichi Suzuki, an Imperial Japanese Army wartime Cabinet minister, reveal his faulted argument that Japan had the wherewithal to wage war against the Allies.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2013

Businesswomen assemble in Odaiba to close gender gap

Hundreds of working women from Hokkaido to Okinawa gathered at the 18th International Conference for Women in Business in Tokyo's Odaiba district to discuss ways to close Japan's huge gender gap and help women play bigger roles in the workforce.
Reader Mail
Aug 7, 2013

Time for collective self-defense

Hisahiko Okazaki's well-reasoned July 30 article "Japan could soften U.S. cuts" should stimulate discussion on the rights or wrongs of amending Article 9 of Japan's Constitution.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Aug 5, 2013

Ol' blue eyes isn't back: Tsurunen's tale offers lessons in microcosm for DPJ

Spare a thought for Marutei Tsurunen, Japan's first European-born naturalized immigrant parliamentarian, who was voted out in last month's House of Councilors election.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 3, 2013

Where's the love? Japanese feel unhappy, unloved and pessimistic

The results of a Pew Opinion survey released in July 2013 found that the public mood in Japan is improving but remains "mostly one of dissatisfaction." However, that dissatisfaction is 10 percent lower than the level registered in 2007 during Shinzo Abe's first spell as premier.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2013

Nation's troops long way from hitting the beaches: experts

Japan has taken an increasingly proactive role in defending its territory since the end of the Cold War allowed it to shift its defensive posture to address threats from North Korea and China as public memories of the war begin to fade.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 30, 2013

Long-living Japanese society needs better 'quality of death'

A quarter of a million bedbound elderly people are kept alive in Japan, often for years, by a feeding tube surgically inserted into their stomach. A few months ago, my 96-year-old grandmother became one of them.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 28, 2013

Cheer over Reagan's arrival won't trickle down to most Japanese

The Ronald Reagan moment Japan investors have long fantasized about has finally arrived.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jul 27, 2013

Examining nexus of sports, international relations

Editor's note: Whiting was a guest speaker and panelist at the inaugural gathering of the International Sports Relations Foundation in Seoul recently. This is a new organization founded by Moon Dae-sung, a Republic of Korea's National Assembly member and 2004 Athens Olympics taekwondo gold medalist,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2013

Beach-storming drill in U.S. hones SDF amphibious edge

One thousand members of the Self-Defense Forces have been learning how to recapture territory in the face of enemy fire, and while the shoreline may be California's, the skills they are building could one day be used closer to home.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 6, 2013

Yoko Narahashi: From Hollywood to Hirohito

From "Empire of the Sun" to "The Last Samurai," and from "Memoirs of a Geisha" to "Babel" — when Hollywood film directors have turned their cameras to the Land of the Rising Sun, there is one person they have insisted on having by their side: Yoko Narahashi, a casting agent, producer, sometimes director...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / GAME OF NUMBERS
Jul 4, 2013

LDP spin team hammers voters with 'Abenomics' mantra

The Upper House election will be a test of the economic strategies being pursued by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's coalition government — or so says his ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 3, 2013

Antidote for Abe's nationalism

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should think carefully before taking bold strides toward changing the U.S.-imposed Constitution and restoring Japan's 'greatness.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2013

Deepening, revising ties with Southeast Asia

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Japan mark the 40th anniversary of their cooperative relations this year. ASEAN and Japan's partnership, which began with the establishment of the ASEAN-Japan forum on synthetic rubber, has evolved over the 40 years. The two parties have formed close cooperation...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 25, 2013

Authors take polar-opposite tacks as they try to decipher Japanese women

It's an all-too-familiar story: On the romantic front, foreign ladies living in Japan have it bad while the guys do unbelievably well. For every woman who complains about Japanese men's aloofness and lack of communication skills, there is a man who boasts about all the local chicks he's had.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jun 23, 2013

The 'barbarians' were coming — like it or not

'Sonnō jōi!": "Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians!"
EDITORIALS
Jun 22, 2013

Putting their heart into tourism

How can Japan be serious about attracting foreign tourists when website promos have to be dropped because the computer translations are so poor?
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Jun 18, 2013

Readers' letters: praise for Article 9, scorn for TPP and concerns for education

Some readers' letters in response to recent Community articles:

Longform

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