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Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2014

Abe adviser says WSJ article on military buildup is false

Etsuro Honda, a key economic adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, denies stressing that one of the main goals of 'Abenomics' is for Japan to build up a more powerful military and stand up to China, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2014

'Nebraska'

Nebraska" is a film about very little indeed. An old man on the cusp of senility, Woody Grant, gets a piece of junk mail telling him that he's the lucky sweepstakes winner of $1 million. His wife, his two sons, his friends all tell him that it's just a scam, but he's intent on traveling from his Montana...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 19, 2014

Osaka: What did you make of ANA's 'blond, big-nosed foreigner' ad?

All Nippon Airways caused quite a stir last month with the release of an ad many foreign residents found offensive. But what did foreigners and natives in Japan's comedy capital make of it
EDITORIALS
Feb 18, 2014

Reunions at last, for Koreans

February has been a good month for Northeast Asian diplomacy in light of the Chinese and Taiwanese governments' meeting officially for the first time since 1949 and the South and North Korean governments' holding their highest-level discussions in seven years. Pyongyang gave the go-ahead for long-postponed family reunions this week.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2014

What to make of a president who'd rather crack the whip

President Vladimir Putin wants a strong sovereign and prosperous Russia, but he believes that Russians are incapable of deciding for themselves and need a shepherd with a whip — an almighty autocrat.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 12, 2014

Nagoya: What do you think about the April sales tax increase and how will it affect you?

Denizens of the Chubu capital offer their tuppence-worth on the impending 3-percent consumption tax hike to 8 percent from the start of the fiscal year.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2014

Iraq near implosion as 'bad years' come back

Iraq's 'bad years' seem to be making a comeback, and this time the U.S. has little leverage over Iraq to control events from afar.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 4, 2014

When will they learn: Old folks still falling for swindlers

Telephone swindlers are finding new, inventive ways to cheat old people.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 3, 2014

Tokyo: What do you make of the Japan Sumo Association's decision to charge fans $120 to watch live tournaments online?

The Japan Sumo Association has just introduced a pay-per-view system for live streams of top tournaments. Costing $10 per day and $15 for the final day, or $120 for the entire tournament, the concept drew sharp criticism from overseas fans.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 2, 2014

Post-school life can bring visa complications

After The Japan Times published a Lifelines column on Dec. 15 that focused on visa issues, we received a lot of mail from readers asking about their particular individual situations. We would like to stress that it is always best to have a professional look at personal cases.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 2, 2014

Cooling down the history wars

To protect the integrity of history teaching, historians and teachers should insist, forcefully, that there are many spaces where patriotism can be cultivated in a modern democratic society but that the history classroom is not one of them.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Feb 1, 2014

Steamer surveys new island; Forces land on Hainan Island; Kyu Sakamoto profiled; Leftists suspected in shrine bombing

The N.Y.K. Bonin liner Chefoo, which returned to Yokohama yesterday, gave an interesting account of her exploration of the newly formed island near Minami Iwojima.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 29, 2014

Osaka and Nagoya: What are your hopes for the year ahead?

The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) deaf community has trouble finding interpreters who know about LGBT issues. I hope to interpret at LGBT events and help spread interest in Japanese sign language.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 29, 2014

Wholesale changes continue slow decline of Evessa

The Osaka Evessa were in dire straits at this time a season ago, losers of 19 of 24 games before the All-Star break. Then Bill Cartwright arrived and did a remarkable job leading the team's reclamation project. The ex-Chicago Bulls bench boss went 17-11 in a short, memorable stint in charge.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 22, 2014

Tokyo: Is there any food you won't eat in Japan?

Natto, seaweed, squid, octopus, shiitake: While Japan's culinary treats are a major draw for new residents and visitors alike, everyone has their limits, vox pops in Tokyo reveal.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Jan 20, 2014

My niece, the drug smuggler

Imagine two New York Jewish women groomed among the stylish and well-educated on opposite shores of Long Island. They meet up in Tokyo for the first time. In a strange twist of fate, they are not sipping tea from fine bone china, as they might have back home. Instead they find themselves seated on opposite...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 15, 2014

Tokyo: What's the strangest thing you've seen in a vending machine?

From melon to books, eggs and stewed morsels, interviewees around Tokyo share their most wonderfully weird vending machine encounters.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 13, 2014

A hard day's grind for porn's professionals

A day on set with Akira Takatsuki, arguably Japan's most famous porn director in the subgenre revolving around well-endowed female talent, and AV stars Shiori Tsukada and Mumin reveals a world of work like any other — except for the sex stuff.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2014

Russian road to mediocrity

Only a few economists in Russia seem to stress the importance of understanding the impact of the current mass outflow of capital and the sharp deterioration of the situation in world commodity markets.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 8, 2014

Has Abenomics improved things for you or the country over the past year?

I can't really say that things have improved for the country as I don't often have the chance to follow politics. But, based on what I feel about my family, things have improved in the last year. I'm not sure if it's because of Abenomics, but some things have changed for the better.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 31, 2013

New Google ad service called 'game-changing'

 
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 29, 2013

So much for nau: What will we say next?

The end of the year is always a good time to reflect on what is, was and will be. With regard to language, one of the most stimulating things I have recently read in this respect was from an article in the journal Nihongogaku (日本語学) about a study in which Japanese university students were asked...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 22, 2013

Danish PM's 'selfie' snapshot of her credibility crisis

When Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt took a "selfie" on her smartphone on Dec. 14 — like millions of people do every day — she doubtless had little idea of the commotion that would ensue. In the photograph, taken at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela, the most admired political...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 18, 2013

Tokyo: If you could be prime minister for a day, what would you do?

Top concerns for would-be PMs around the metropolis: Fukushima, demographics, women in the workplace, the consumption tax, education, energy, English — and beer.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 15, 2013

To stay here long term, visa seekers need to prove they can pay their way

From finding a residence status that suits your circumstances to signing up a sponsor, getting a visa to stay in Japan for the long term can be a challenge.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 11, 2013

Tokyo: Where do you get your news fix from?

NHK, The Japan Times, 2channel, Nihon TV . . . Fox? Tokyoites look to a wide range of sources to sate their thirst for news.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2013

Nuke 'black box' needed: investigator

The global nuclear power industry needs to share cross-border information to prevent accidents, replicating the transparency of international air traffic control, according to the head of an investigation into the disaster at Fukushima No. 1.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat