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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 24, 2014

Ball and chain: gambling's darker side

With lawmakers debating whether to legalize gambling in time for the 2020 Olympics, we look at the other side of the coin — addiction
JAPAN
May 12, 2014

'Gourmet' comic stokes Fukushima ire

The popular manga series "Oishinbo" came under fire again Monday after a character based on a real-life former mayor refers to Fukushima Prefecture in its latest issue as unlivable because of the radiation leaking from the ruined power plant there.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
May 7, 2014

Economic divide fueling surge in Xinjiang unrest

Hundreds of migrant workers from distant corners of China pour daily into the Urumqi South railway station, their first waypoint on a journey carrying them to lucrative work in other parts of the far western Xinjiang region.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 19, 2014

Team Abe's alternate-reality Kool-Aid

Japan's relations with China and South Korea are in tatters, there has been no progress on dealing with North Korea's nuclear weapons program, strains with Washington persist, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks are at an impasse, whaling got harpooned and hopes for a deal with Russia on the northern...
EDITORIALS
Mar 23, 2014

Education ministry's heavy hand

Two weeks before school starts, Japan's education minister tells the town of Taketomi, Okinawa Prefecture, that it may not use the junior high school civics textbook it adopted in place of the 'conservative' textbook selected by an area-wide council.
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 / 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.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.