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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Aug 5, 2013

SOFA: an unequal treaty that trumps the Constitution?

The prime minister's dogged focus on amending the American-tainted Constitution might reflect an uncomfortable unspoken truth — that it may be easier to change the Constitution than revise another document of potentially greater importance: the Status of Forces Agreement between Japan and the United States, which governs the legal status of the U.S. military presence in Japan.
Reader Mail
Jul 31, 2013

Preventing another caste system

Extraordinary, insightful and humane: These are the words that came to my mind upon reading Kevin Rafferty's July 24 article, "Obama's blunder with Bangladesh."
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 23, 2013

Obama's toughest campaign yet: selling health care reform

Deep inside the White House, in a bare room that the chief of staff uses for meetings, David Simas is still thinking about turnout.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 22, 2013

Standing up for a longer life span

Michael Jensen, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnessota, is talking on the phone, but his voice is drowned out by what sounds like a vacuum cleaner. "I'm sorry," he says. "I'm on a treadmill."
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 21, 2013

'Motor City Madman' rocks political world

On the final morning of the 2013 National Rifle Association annual convention in May, the day was bright, the mood was festive and Ted Nugent was neither dead nor in jail.
Reader Mail
Jul 20, 2013

Myanmar isn't out of the woods

Regarding the July 17 front-page AFP-JIJI article "Myanmar leader vows to free all political prisoners": It's ironic that history's biggest perpetrators of human rights violations — the erstwhile colonial powers — have today become the biggest advocates of human rights. This becomes all the more...
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 20, 2013

Nation set for rare political continuity

After cycling through seven prime ministers in seven years, the Upper House election is about to see the nation break free from its most vexing political pattern: instability.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 18, 2013

Vampire Weekend to go 'Modern' at Fuji Rock

Over the course of three albums, Vampire Weekend has cultivated a unique sound from a wide spectrum of influences, including experimental rock musician Keigo Oyamada (aka Cornelius). Vampire Weekend lead singer and songwriter Ezra Koenig has a fond memory of the musician, often described as Japan's counterpart...
Reader Mail
Jul 17, 2013

Deserving of a medal of honor

Regarding the July 9 AFP-JIJI article "Man who battled Japan nuke disaster passes away": I am profoundly saddened by the news of the death this month of Masao Yoshida, 58.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
Jul 17, 2013

Resting in peace has never been so easy

The array of after-life choices, especially for families with fewer financial means, is growing.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jul 8, 2013

Police 'foreign crime wave' falsehoods fuel racism

These Community pages have reported many times on how the National Police Agency (NPA) has manufactured the illusion of a "foreign crime wave," depicting non-Japanese (NJ) as a threat to Japan's public safety (see "Upping the fear factor," Zeit Gist, Feb. 20, 2007; "Time to come clean on foreign crime,"...
JAPAN / Politics / GAME OF NUMBERS
Jul 4, 2013

Abe camp faces little true opposition, also little mandate

As one expert has it, the July 21 Upper House poll looks to be a cakewalk for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc.
Reader Mail
Jul 3, 2013

Brazen proposal on Okinawa

On a June 10 news talk show, Kevin Maher, the former U.S. Consul General Okinawa and chief of the Japan Desk at the U.S. State Department, said the suggestion by the Chinese People's Liberation Army deputy chief of staff that the Senkaku Islands issue be shelved for now is like a thief proposing a condition....
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2013

Preposterous population forecasts for Africa

It's hard enough to see how the world can sustain another 4 billion people by 2100. The alarming figure is that three-quarters of that growth will be in Africa.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 28, 2013

Nippon Ishin pledges to 'clarify historical facts'

Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) unveils policy pledges for the Upper House election next month, including a promise to push for decentralization of government power and revise the postwar Constitution.
WORLD
Jun 28, 2013

Snowden had contempt for leakers

When he was working in the intelligence community in 2009, Edward Snowden, the U.S. National Security Agency contractor who passed top-secret documents to journalists, appears to have had nothing but disdain for those who leaked classified information, the newspapers that printed their revelations and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2013

Five myths about the National Security Agency

One common denominator of NSA whistleblowers is that they feel ignored when attempting to bring illegal or unethical operations to the attention of higher-ups.
Reader Mail
Jun 27, 2013

Responsibilities toward the state

The June 23 Bloomberg article by Peter Gumbel, "French high school curriculum includes pitfalls U.S. should try to avoid with its Common Core," talks about the relatively high standard of the French baccalaureat secondary school graduation exams, and a corresponding dropout rate.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 8, 2013

U.S. taps servers in vast data-mining program

The National Security Agency and FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet firms, extracting audio and video chats, photos, emails, documents and connection logs. U.S. taps firms' servers, mines Internet data
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 6, 2013

Urban shift aided PM but brought corruption

The protests triggered in Turkey by plans to redevelop a park into a shopping mall at first seem an unlikely cause for public anger. In reality, the demonstrations over Taksim Square's Gezi Park go to the very heart of Turkey's modern discontents.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Jun 3, 2013

Join Wall Street, save the world: The rise of the benevolent class

Jason Trigg went into finance because he is after money — as much as he can earn. The 25-year-old certainly had other career options. An MIT computer science graduate, he could write software for the next tech giant. Or he might have gone into academia in computing or applied math or biology. He could...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 29, 2013

Four core 2008 Clinton staffers would pass on a 2016 bid

Howard Wolfson, the 2008 communications director for Hillary Rodham Clinton, has said he will not return for a 2016 presidential campaign. Neither, for that matter, will Neera Tanden, the campaign's policy director. Ditto for Mark Penn, the chief strategist, and Patti Solis Doyle, the embattled campaign...
Japan Times
WORLD
May 25, 2013

Angelina Jolie: a brave woman and a role model

An article written by Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie provoked headlines around the world when she chose "not to keep my story private" and revealed she had undergone a double mastectomy to lower her risk of breast cancer, which was high due to her genetic inheritance. The impassioned letter, published...
BUSINESS / Tech
May 21, 2013

China tapped Google server secrets

Chinese hackers who breached Google's servers several years ago gained access to a sensitive database with years' worth of information about U.S. surveillance targets, according to current and former government officials.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2013

Echoes of Watergate in IRS scandal

The nature of President Barack Obama's administration is being clarified as revelations about IRS targeting of conservative groups merge with myriad Benghazi mendacities.
Reader Mail
May 16, 2013

Sincerely clueless in Tokyo

The thing that struck me about Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose's Muslim-slurring remarks (May 1 front-page article "Inose apologizes for slurring Muslims") is his apparent clueless obliviousness.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 13, 2013

Is missile defense useful?

As Japan pours huge sums of taxpayer money into its missile defense system, the SDF is functioning more like a subcontractor for the U.S. armed forces.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell