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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 4, 2014

Owarikara takes its fans to the edge with 'Saihate Songs'

The band name Owarikara loosely translates into English as "starting from the end." However, singer and guitarist Hyouri Takahashi gives a much more specific interpretation.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 4, 2014

Crunch's debut mini-album aims for a 'sense of minority'

In a music scene where the border between underground and mainstream can be incredibly difficult to traverse, it's not surprising that many bands trapped in the indie-sphere bemoan their lot.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 4, 2014

Tim Deluxe makes 'Radicle' move to get healthy

We've all been there before. Sometimes it's a New Year's resolution, sometimes it's the realization that you're out of breath just running up the stairs to catch your last train — but at one point or another, we've all decided to try and get in shape.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 4, 2014

Nationalists press Abe to revisit Kono apology

Right-wing lawmakers are leaning harder on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to re-evaluate the government's 1993 apology for the enslavement of women to serve as prostitutes for Japan's wartime forces, in the face of international criticism against such an effort.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 3, 2014

Independent NHK chained to Diet leash

NHK, which is often compared with the BBC in the U.K., has been a focus of public attention and intense criticism in recent weeks. Many people are taking a closer look at the public broadcaster, including its history and whether it has been politically influenced by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's right-leaning...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Mar 3, 2014

In Japan, you can leave it all up to the moving company

It's often described as one of the most stressful events of human life — but in Japan moving house is virtually a breeze.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 2, 2014

Xi orders terrorism crackdown after deadly rail station attack

China's President Xi Jinping ordered a crackdown on "violent terrorist activities" after 33 people died when knife-wielding assailants rampaged through a train station in a southwestern city Saturday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Mar 1, 2014

Japan finds bitcoins can bite back, too

Tokyo has once again become the center of a world-wobbling virtual financial crisis. Let me emphasize the word virtual. That's because the world's best-known and perhaps largest exchange of the virtual currency known as bitcoin — Mt. Gox, located in Tokyo's Shibuya district — appeared to have all...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 1, 2014

Japan's reactionaries waging culture war

The contemporary culture wars that have erupted over Japanese identity and history are undermining the country's national interests and damaging its reputation.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 1, 2014

Visit Japan's ancient past in urban Kyushu

Back in the late 1970s, the city planners of Karatsu, a fishing community on the northern coast of Kyushu, decided to build a new road. This provided a rare opportunity for local archaeologists. Seizing the chance to burrow with abandon in the densely developed region, they established a dig and began...
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 1, 2014

J. League seeks to widen scope in Asia

As two decades have now elapsed since its inception, the J. League is entering a new era.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 1, 2014

Yanukovych son's biz empire probed

On a street in ousted President Viktor Yanukovych's political stronghold, Donetsk, stands the imposing headquarters of the Mako Group, a Ukrainian conglomerate spanning banking to construction.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 1, 2014

Women doctors profiled and advances in medical tech revealed; CM of the week: Nissan

It's a big week for physicians on television. First there's the two-hour special "Uman Dokuta, Mitchaku" ("Close Coverage of Women Doctors"; TV Tokyo, Mon., 7:54 p.m.), which reports on the activities of various female doctors working throughout the country. Japan has 300,000 doctors, 20 percent of which...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2014

Problems with 'Abenomics'

The economic recovery we see in Japan now is almost entirely due to the massive 30 percent depreciation of the yen. We are back to the 'structural reform' vicious circle of the Koizumi years.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Feb 26, 2014

It's their plan for your money, so assume deception

An expat approaching a financial adviser with money to invest could be considered akin to the proverbial duck innocently waddling up to a nabe party with a bundle of leeks slung over his shoulder.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 26, 2014

Children's film festival to launch in Okinawa

Kinder International Film Festival in Okinawa celebrates it's first event.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 26, 2014

For young women sex industry offers safety net the government doesn't

Young women with little education and no prospects for marriage face a dire job situation, except for one area.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 25, 2014

Quattro's Yuichi Ushioda hits the sea for a solo album

"The philosopher Shunsuke Tsurumi said in an interview that, when you see something like a rainbow and feel moved by it, that moment is eternity," singer-songwriter Yuichi Ushioda tells me at the 3rd Stone Cafe in Tokyo's Shimokitazawa area. "I want to be able to notice moments like that. These moments...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 25, 2014

Jesus Weekend will keep your family pet from a pit of despair

"Animals don't commit suicide, but this song is so sad that even animals would want to kill themselves."
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2014

Olympic fanfare can't hide Russia's ills

Behind the swagger after the Winter Olympics lie serious doubts about Russia's future. Long-term price trends for the mineral resources upon which the economy depends, together with Russia's history, suggest that President Vladimir Putin's luck may well be about to run out.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 25, 2014

SoftBank reportedly has sights on Line

SoftBank Corp. is seeking to buy a stake in Line Corp., the mobile-messaging service controlled by South Korea's Naver Corp., sources said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / NOTEBOOK
Feb 25, 2014

Cultural tour in Kamakura, Flavored soy milk

events
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 23, 2014

Keep calm before carrying on when speaking Japanese

In Haruki Murakami's 1985 novel "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World," one of the two protagonists is a coolheaded data agent working for the monolithic "System" that protects the world from "Semiotec" data thieves. He takes on a job that's a little too dangerous and finds himself confronted...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / LEARNING CURVE
Feb 23, 2014

Lado’s victory and demise weren’t without their lessons

With decreasing salaries and eroding job security, it may seem as if little has improved for instructors working in Japan's eikaiwa (English conversation) industry.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 22, 2014

Noam Chomsky: Truth to power

Often dubbed one of the world's most important intellectuals and its leading public dissident, Noam Chomsky was for years among the top 10 most quoted academics on the planet, edged out only by William Shakespeare, Karl Marx, Aristotle.

Longform

Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.
Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick