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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2014

A wealthier Africa will depend on health care

One of Africa's biggest challenges to greater GDP growth and personal wealth is inadequate health care. Preventable and treatable diseases plague the population.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2014

Mexico's reformer Pena Nieto can't quit Castro

It isn't clear what Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto gains by ignoring the reality that Cuba has no elections, no political parties, no free press or freedom of expression, and that dissidents are harassed and jailed.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2014

New boss to steer Keidanren back to politics?

Sadayuki Sakakibara, the incoming chairman of Keidanren, says his priority in leading the nation's top business lobby is to help get Japan back on a growth track, but observers say he may also try to re-establish the organization's influence in politics.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 6, 2014

Happy 30th to a California apple that changed life to the core

Almost exactly 30 years ago (on Jan. 24, 1984), a quirky little computer company launched a new product and in the process changed lives and maybe the world. The company was called Apple and the product was named after a type of Californian apple — the Macintosh.
Reader Mail
Jan 29, 2014

Doubts about today's morality

On the basis of new NHK chief Katsuto Momii assertion that the use of "comfort women" only seems wrong by "today's morality," one might infer that there exists some shred of international morality in today's Japan and that there was no recognizable human morality here whatsoever in the past.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jan 25, 2014

The Tale of Genji

Recognized as the world's first novel, Murasaki Shikibu's "The Tale of Genji" is a spiraling epic that encompasses a beautifully complex portrayal of 11th-century Japanese Imperial Court life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 22, 2014

Komanosuke Takemoto: a rare voice of tradition

The traditional performing art of bunraku (ningyō jōruri) involves three puppeteers together operating a cast of single puppets, with a gidayū bushi to the side comprising a story-teller (tayū) and a shamisen player (shamisen- hiki) seated on a round platform (yuka).
Reader Mail
Jan 22, 2014

Ideas for an English education

About 10 years ago while motorcycling in Fuji-Hakone National Park, I met a Japanese motorcyclist who had just returned from a two-year work/study program in Australia. He spoke English very fluently and had landed a job teaching his second language at a junior high school in Izu and was very excited...
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 19, 2014

Want a one-way ticket to the red planet?

Since its announcement in May 2012, the Mars One project hasn't had an easy ride. Critics have questioned all aspects, from the technical feasibility to its funding model. But recent developments from the project seem to be bringing the goal of starting a human colony on Mars by 2025 a little closer....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Jan 15, 2014

Three cases, three paths to legitimacy for Supreme Court

When I began studying Japanese, one of my goals was to be able to read the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan's version of The Wall Street Journal. Achieving that goal, however, meant realizing that it is possibly The Most Boring Newspaper on Earth.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 12, 2014

The way we were, or reflections for the new year

In the dusky light of ōmisoka (大晦日, Dec. 31), I spotted something that's become a rarity on Tokyo streets: a dead animal. Actually it was a yamabato (山鳩, turtle dove) — and its feathers were tragically strewn among the blood and gore like a terrible crime scene. Some tsūkōnin (通行人,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 9, 2014

Takenaka touts Nikkei surge

Stocks could surpass a level not seen since 2007 if the Abe administration pushes through in its drive to loosen business regulations, said Heizo Takenaka, a member of a government council on special economic zones.
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 / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 5, 2014

English fluency hopes rest on an education overhaul

Ringing in 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a dream: One nation that will actively re-engage with the global marketplace.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 4, 2014

Slippery slope to Yasukuni, Nago oiled by lucre

As with the Yasukuni story, most of the commentary on Okinawa base relocation deal focused on its contentious nature, but also like the Yasukuni story, the main impetus behind the actions reported was economic.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jan 4, 2014

Reform vows, Constitution to dog Abe in 2014

At the beginning of the new year, I would like to review the achievements of the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the challenges it faces in its second year on the economic and political fronts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 28, 2013

Epicenters of death

This study of the Great Kanto Earthquake by scholar Charles Schencking, begins not as you might expect, with the cataclysmic temblor of 1923, but with the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011. In this latter event, optimism was predicated on the assumption that swift and decisive action would...
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2013

Free Chinese-made software poses security risk

Japanese-language input program Baidu IME — potentially installed on millions of computers, including at government agencies — sends every character typed to the software provider's server without user consent.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2013

Text of Abe statement pledging continued peace efforts, remorse for past

Today, I paid a visit to Yasukuni Shrine and expressed my sincere condolences, paid my respects and prayed for the souls of all those who had fought for the country and made ultimate sacrifices.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2013

When leaps in technology make cheating easier

As economists keep reminding us, the optimal level of cheating isn't zero. Sometimes the costs of monitoring tests and chess games, for example, can outweigh the benefits of the underlying activity.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 12, 2013

FCC faces outcry over allowing cellphone calls during flights

It didn't take long for Tom Wheeler, the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, to face controversy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 11, 2013

Tokyo's 'fayrest that ever was'

Scene 1: Late evening, Sept. 23, 1990, at the tiny Greek amphitheater, Shin-Okubo, Tokyo
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Dec 10, 2013

Shueisha manga push hard into the global market

One week before Thanksgiving on Nov. 28, readers of The New York Times were greeted by a spiky-haired, wild-eyed manga character named Monkey D. Luffy, his fists clenched and chest bare, charging forward as if the newsprint could barely contain him. Behind him in massive text screamed the words: "Hey...
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Dec 9, 2013

'Privacy' services thwart investigation of rape video sites

Researcher Garth Bruen long has investigated the seamier corners of the Internet, but even he was shocked to discover Rapetube.org, a site urging users to share what it called "fantasy" videos of sexual attacks.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2013

Six reasons to worry about the Iran nuclear deal

The interim nuclear agreement between the Great Powers and Iran is creating a lot of anxiety for people who support the deal, because not much proof has been offered to suggest that it will actually work.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 5, 2013

Secrets bill clears panel by force

The Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling coalition was set to forcibly pass the contentious state secrecy bill into law as early as Thursday night, after it rammed the legislation through the Upper House Special Committee on National Security earlier on the day.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2013

Obama's risky Afghan gambit

The Obama administration's decision to conduct U.S. training and counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan through 2024 means virtually an indefinite American troop presence there.
WORLD
Nov 25, 2013

Iran deal could complicate U.S. foreign policy efforts in Mideast

As it continues to juggle balls through seemingly never-ending foreign policy crises, the Obama administration finally has brought one safely to ground, at least temporarily.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 24, 2013

Do New Year's the right way this time

With the yearend rush fast approaching, Dave has a very timely question about Japanese New Year cards:

Longform

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