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COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2013

Deciphering Kim's actions

The day is fast approaching when Kim Jong Un and his clan will have to take responsibility for the country's dire condition, and it may come soon after his aunt dies.
COMMENTARY
Dec 30, 2013

Stagnation sustained by 'wrong type of debt'

The global economic recovery has been anemic because excessive private-debt creation before the crisis and subsequent attempts at deleveraging have weakened demand considerably.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2013

A pardon for war hero convicted of being gay

Queen Elizabeth II's long-overdue pardon of war hero Allen Turing should serve as opportunity for the world to reflect on discrimination against gays.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 28, 2013

In memoriam: Those we lost in 2013

2013 saw the loss of a number of personalities who stood at the top of their respective fields. As the year quietly draws to a close, we reflect on those we lost, their contribution to the world and their ongoing legacy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 28, 2013

Is teacher demoralization the next step?

Publicizing the names of teachers in newspapers when their students fail to measure up could be a prescription for demoralization in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2013

Winners of 2013's behavioral economics oscars

The Oscars won't be awarded until March, but those who hand out the annual Behavioral Economics Oscars (Becons) are famously impatient, and it is time to announce this year's winners.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2013

'Frenemies' in the Mideast

The recent interim nuclear agreement between Iran and the so-called P5-plus-1 countries, led by the U.S., has provoked unprecedented criticism of U.S. policy from two of its strongest Mideast allies: Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2013

How the Federal Reserve was created

A century ago this week, Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act, creating a central bank for a nation that was only beginning its economic ascendance. This is the story of how it came to be, from a nearly catastrophic financial panic to secret meetings of plutocrats on the Georgia coast to the pitched...
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 22, 2013

U.S. secretly helps Colombia kill rebel leaders

The 50-year-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), once considered the best-funded insurgency in the world, is at its smallest and most vulnerable state in decades, due in part to a CIA covert action program that has helped Colombian forces kill at least two dozen rebel leaders, according...
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Dec 20, 2013

Odds on Ando making Olympic team for Sochi very long

"Do you believe in miracles?"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Dec 18, 2013

A secrets law for whom? Look who gets a free pass

Ancient Confucian scholars regarded law as a necessary evil, something used on lower orders of people who lacked the moral refinement to act righteously without prompting. Yet this just states a basic truth about law: It is something we do to other people. You and I know how to act properly, right? It's...
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 14, 2013

Beyond Newtown: 71 other young children killed by deliberate gunfire in 2012

The man with the gun burst into the apartment and opened fire. The first victim was a young woman, dead at 21. The second victim was her 25-year-old roommate. But it was the third victim who would cause the most anguished screams when the bodies were discovered. Shot in the head, he was a 6-month-old...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 11, 2013

Eda gambit viable, just for subsidy?

Cresting criticism of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over his strong-arm tactics to pass the state secrets bill, ex-Your Party Secretary-General Kenji Eda hopes to form a new opposition party by year's end, qualifying him for subsidies.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 9, 2013

Otaku culture gets under the skin

Tattoos in Japan have long moved on from the kind often romanticized by the West — that imagery of flamboyant yakuza that so many seem reluctant to relinquish. But a brief glance at the policies of Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto reveals a nation still unwilling to allow tattoos into mainstream society...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Dec 7, 2013

Who is responsible for a corporate scandal?

Recent scandals involving Japanese businesses have included bank loans to the underworld and misrepresentations of restaurant menus at leading hotels, and many of the media reports have focused on how management takes responsibility for the mess. I would like to highlight three points that need to be...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 5, 2013

Postal employees carry extra burden during the holiday season

Sales quotas make postal employees' lives miserable at the end of the year.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 3, 2013

Japan's secrets bill turns journalists into terrorists

The Japanese public supports Prime Ministe Shinzo Abe's bid to defeat deflation and stand up to China, but it's not with him on the secrecy bill.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2013

Climate change as a form of terrorism

The typhoon in the Philippines is a useful reminder that we need to think more about what can be done, both on climate mitigation and on disaster preparation.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 16, 2013

Creationists all thumbs over digits research

It's back to basics this month, with a look at evolution, science and religion.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 9, 2013

Excess Baggage

The debut novel from author Karen Ma centers on the complicated relationship between a Chinese family and an estranged sister who become reunited in Japan after three decades apart and brings into question how culture, rather than family, shapes the individual. The constant theme of the novel is the...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2013

Should we outlaw hate-filled extremist parties?

The Greek government's crackdown on the country's far-right Golden Dawn party revives the vexing question of whether we should outlaw the more hateful, extremist political parties.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 4, 2013

Diet reform paralyzed by hypocritical habits

Indecision is a much-criticized feature of Japanese politics. Diet sessions are rife with unproductive wrangling as the ruling and opposition camps dispute the timing of the submission of bills while avoiding constructive discussions on them.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Nov 2, 2013

At a loss for words to explain Tanaka's loss

For awhile it was a joke even to ask the question.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 2, 2013

Trust no one: Japan's magazines offer a bleak message

What a bleak picture emerges from the nation's weekly and monthly periodicals: Trust is simple-minded, mistrust paranoid.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 2, 2013

Physical activity may be brain food for kids

There's little dispute that physical activity is good for kids: It not only helps develop muscles and fend off obesity, it also offers opportunities to socialize and learn new skills.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2013

Pros and cons of continuing the money ride for the rich

It is time for the Fed to understand that the U.S., too, is part of the global economy and to consider whether it should continue running its money ride for the rich — aka quantitative easing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Oct 28, 2013

Copyright extension opponents ready for new fight

For most of history, a great character or story or song has passed from its original creator into the public domain. Shakespeare and Charles Dickens and Beethoven are long dead, but Macbeth and Oliver Twist and the Fifth Symphony are part of our shared cultural heritage, free to be used or reinvented...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 27, 2013

MasterCard debit card holders shouldn't panic

A reader from Australia, JF, contacted Lifelines with a question about using her MasterCard debit card here. She is coming to Japan soon and was concerned about a notice she had seen on MasterCard Japan's website, indicating that certain types of cards issued overseas could not be used in ATMs here:...

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