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JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Jan 4, 2014

Here's eyeing Japan 2014 — warts an' all

"To know the future, look at the past," is a familiar Buddhist aphorism. However, it's also said that a prophet isn't honored in his hometown — which is why I live in Tokyo. As we ride into the Year of the Horse, I thought I'd canter awhile through times to come and report back on what I found. My...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2013

Pollution rife on Okinawa's U.S.-returned base land

When the last U.S. service members moved out of the Nishi-Futenma housing area at Camp Foster, in 2006, the land was slated to return to civilian use as part of ongoing attempts by Tokyo and Washington to reduce the military burden in Okinawa — host to more than 70 percent of American bases in Japan....
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 22, 2013

Parliamentary democracy without a viable opposition

The lack of a viable opposition party is causing a serious crisis of democracy in Japan.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Nov 7, 2013

White House mulls separate leaders for NSA, Cyber Command

The Obama administration is considering ending a controversial policy that since 2010 has placed one military official at the head of both the nation's largest spy agency and its cyberoperations command, U.S. officials said.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2013

New maritime challenges

The recrudescence of territorial and maritime disputes, largely tied to the competition over natural resources, will increasingly have a bearing on maritime peace and security.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 4, 2013

Washington state to vote on mandatory GM labels

Flip on a television anywhere across Washington state and within minutes the barrage of advertisements makes clear that the latest fight over whether to require companies to label foods containing genetically modified ingredients has turned expensive and polarizing — not to mention perplexing for many...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 2, 2013

Koizumi takes up post for Tohoku reconstruction

Shinjiro Koizumi's appointment Monday as parliamentary secretary in charge of Tohoku's recovery has generated much attention amid mounting criticism of the government for failing to speed up reconstruction efforts or end the radioactive water spill into the sea at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2013

Where does Manning rank in the annals of espionage?

Cleared of the most serious charge — aiding and abetting the enemy — but convicted of most everything else, including espionage, Pfc. Bradley Manning is now facing sentencing, which could land him behind bars from roughly zero to more than 100 years.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 19, 2013

The quest is to clone a mammoth: The question is, should scientists do it?

The idea would make headlines around the world and bring tears of joy to the planet's journalists. An adorable baby woolly mammoth, tottering on its newborn legs, is introduced to the media.
EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2013

What political parties have to offer

Voters shouldn't let the Upper House election campaign lull them into thinking that the Liberal Democratic Party no longer cares about constitutional revision.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 11, 2013

Hague Convention on child abduction may shape Japan's family law — or vice versa

Giant Hello Kitty-emblazoned kudos to Japan for finally signing the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction. Now comes the hard part: actually making it work.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jun 4, 2013

By opening up the debate to the real experts, Hashimoto did history a favor

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto has been busy making headlines around the world with his controversial views on Japan's wartime sex slaves (or "comfort women," for those who like euphemisms with their history). Among other things, he claimed there is no evidence that the Japanese government sponsored the...
Japan Times
WORLD / TICAD V SPECIAL
Jun 1, 2013

JICA helps Africans develop their future

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), an independent governmental agency that coordinates official development assistance (ODA) for the government, has played an important role for the country in its relations with foreign nations. The following is the story of a JICA staff member who worked...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 26, 2013

Xenophobia stretches from the street to the dinner table

The territorial disputes between Japan and its nearest neighbors over the islands of Takeshima (Dokdo in Korean) and the Senkakus (Diaoyu in Chinese) have gradually faded from the front pages; but this does not necessarily mean there have been no repercussions.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2013

When the 'Iron Lady' bent to the will of Beijing

With regard to the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, Margaret Thatcher got some good advice from Singapore: Be neither defiant nor submissive.
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Apr 15, 2013

Online, Chinese heap scorn on North Korea

The views posted on Chinese Internet sites about the diplomatic faceoff with long-term ally North Korea have been anything but diplomatic.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 17, 2013

Japan's rollercoaster modern history has kept coming off the rails

At the end of this month, Roger Pulvers will be leaving Counterpoint. In his last three columns since his inaugural weekly Counterpoint on April 3, 2005, he will consider in turn Japan in the past, present and future.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Mar 9, 2013

'Kony2012' and the fight for truth in the Internet age

A year ago, Jason Russell was a nobody. Not a nobody, precisely, but just ordinary. Normal. He was a healthy father of two, living in San Diego, and was happy in his work as a director for Invisible Children, a nonprofit organization he'd helped found.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Mar 5, 2013

Buying property in the age of Abenomics

According to most business media, now is the time to act if you are thinking about buying a home. Though the Liberal Democratic Party has yet to confirm that it will go ahead with the consumption tax increases the Democratic Party of Japan passed last year, it seems likely that the first hike to 8 percent...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 26, 2013

No room for subtleties when laying off workers

Thanks to a feature that appeared on the front page of the Dec. 31 issue of the Asahi Shimbun, oidashi beya is the first topical neologism of 2013 if you don't count "Abenomics." It's not clear if the term, which translates as "expulsion room," was coined by the newspaper, but since then the blogosphere...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 20, 2013

China may prevent Korean unification: U.S. report

A recent report by Republican staff members in the U.S. Senate warns that China, because of its deepening economic ties with North Korea as well as its ancient claims on Korean land, could attempt to "manage, and conceivably block," the eventual unification of the two Koreas, if ever the Kim family falls...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 7, 2013

Relatives of U.S. lawmakers lobby on bills before Congress

In 2007, in the wake of the biggest lobbying scandal in decades, Congress limited the ability of family members to lobby their relatives in the House of Representatives or Senate. But it declined to ban the practice entirely.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 25, 2012

LDP returns with all its old baggage

They're baaaack. After warming the opposition bench for more than three years, the Liberal Democratic Party has returned to power, hungrier and more eager than ever to rule.

Longform

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