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COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2014

Should adult sibling incest be against the law?

The German Ethics Council's recommendation that consensual sexual intercourse between adult siblings should cease to be a crime leads a university ethics professor to wonder whether a rational debate on the subject is even possible.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Oct 6, 2014

Frontiers place title hopes in Cameron

In order to finally win the X League championship, the Fujitsu Frontiers have perhaps found the last piece of the puzzle with the acquisition of American quarterback Colby Cameron.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 23, 2014

Remaking the EDM experience for Japan

Glitter showered the crowd at August's all-night Sonicmania event as electronic artist Zedd cued up his hit song, "Stay the Night." The crowd bobbed along at first, but as the track built and let loose in a whirlwind of bass and synthesizer the audience followed suit with fists pumping in the air and...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2014

Shaming students' teachers shows little class

The Finns, known for having the world's best schools, would be aghast at the thought of revealing the names of teachers alongside their students' annual achievement test scores — a future possibility in Japan.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Sep 6, 2014

Trio of NPB teams hit it big with midseason acquisitions

The Seibu Lions were fielding a toothless lineup early in the NPB season while Ernesto Mejia was up to his usual hard-hitting trick on the other side of the world with the Gwinnett Braves, the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Sep 3, 2014

Fan-favorite Inaba jumping into sunset

Atsunori Inaba may have been Japan's most popular player among foreign fans during the 2013 World Baseball Classic. The quadrennial competition doesn't just bring 16 nations together, it allows the baseball cultures of various nations to come together. Prominent among these is Japan's ouendan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 31, 2014

Understanding chronic student absenteeism

No matter how chronic absenteeism is defined, it is crucial that school districts in both Japan and the U.S. intervene early to stem a threat to the future of the younger generation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 28, 2014

Johansson brings some superhero savoir faire to 'Lucy'

If Scarlett Johansson were to have one superpower, perhaps it would be the ability to master any language possible.
WORLD
Aug 26, 2014

Happiness study draws frowns from critics

A high-profile 2013 study that concluded that different kinds of happiness are associated with dramatically different patterns of gene activity is fatally flawed, according to an analysis published on Monday that tore into its target with language rarely seen in science journals.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 23, 2014

Tallying the environmental cost of meat

What are the costs of the meat we eat — the hamburgers, pork chops and chicken breasts?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 20, 2014

The Great Beauty

'The Great Beauty" recalls two other films set in Rome: "La Dolce Vita" and "Roman Holiday." The former takes huge bites out of the city's decadence and debauchery in much the same way as "The Great Beauty." The latter takes a mere lick at the pleasures proffered by Rome and declares satisfaction. The...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 20, 2014

Debate on foreigner voting rights reignites ahead of 2020 Olympics

The debate over voting rights for non-Japanese residents is flaring up again, amid a drive to attract more foreign workers ahead of the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Aug 19, 2014

Japan's historic love of corn

The fact that corn or maize has a Japanese name — tōmorokoshi — indicates that it entered the country centuries ago, before it was the norm to import the name of a food as-is and spell it out phonetically (as with tomatoes or asparagus, for instance).
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2014

Power play: the debate over renewable energy

On Aug. 26, 2011, the same day that Prime Minister Naoto Kan resigned after widespread criticism of his handling of the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant that followed the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, the Diet passed legislation that created a new feed-in...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 16, 2014

Grisly Sasebo murder defies explanation

Homicides involving dismemberment, referred to in Japanese as bara-bara jiken (scattered incidents), fall into a wider category known as ryōki hanzai (bizarre crimes) — written with kanji meaning "hunting the strange." Typically when minors were involved in such cases they tended to be victims, not...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 14, 2014

How Japan's art inspired the West

In the decades after Japan was forcibly opened to large-scale international trade in the early 1850s, a fever spread across Europe for items from the exotic country: its textiles, ceramics, paper fans, woodblock prints and more. Meanwhile, the term "Japonism" was coined to describe works made in Europe...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 9, 2014

Gazing in awe on nature's flying bullet, the brown booby

"Sleekly elegant" is a befitting way to describe a catwalk model in the fashion world, suitable even for an ultramodern city tower or a bullet train, and appropriate on the race circuit for describing a pleasingly aerodynamic two-seater convertible. It is a surprisingly relevant way too for describing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 6, 2014

A palace fit for the queen of consumption

What sort of person would decide to build the biggest house in America? Not just the biggest, but a monstrous, mega-mansion replica of the Palace of Versailles, overlooking Florida's Walt Disney World, complete with its own bowling alley, spa, 10 kitchens, 30 bathrooms, and an entire wing for the kids....
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2014

A little self-control can add up to big savings

An American economics columnist reports that having to spend cash out of an envelope rather than just pulling out the debit card has made her much more frugal.

Longform

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