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Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 15, 2014

Buzzwords of 2014: from killer drugs to robotic refusals

Once again, the massive reference book 「現代用語の基礎知識」("Gendai Yōgo no Kiso Chishiki," "The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words") is on sale. This annual publication that tracks additions to, and changes in, the Japanese language and various world developments over the previous year...
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Dec 14, 2014

Readers' letters: Hague abduction pamphlets, East Asia ties, temping teachers and learning English

Some emails received in response to recent Community articles.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 12, 2014

Shonan complex offers a curated lifestyle

A discreet black sign, concrete floors, industrial-style ceilings, wooden shelves filled with design toys and gourmet treats. This may sound like the minimal interior of an urban lifestyle store in some hip corner of Tokyo, but the reality is more surprising. It is, in fact, a new branch of one of Japan's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 11, 2014

Taking flight with Arata Isozaki

I once almost got to interview the architect Arata Isozaki, but it was canceled due to his ill health at the time. No doubt a consideration in the cancelation was the fact that interviews with him can go to extreme lengths, as Isozaki has much to tell, having collaborated with almost every big name in...
Reader Mail
Dec 10, 2014

Advances without atonement

I read with interest William Pesek's Dec. 6 opinion piece, "Japan's media needs to act as a watchdog, not a lapdog."
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 9, 2014

Methamphetamine use soars in Iran as lifestyles speed up

Women in headscarves and men in tatty clothes puff on a glass pipe as smoke swirls around their faces. The pictures published by Iranian media and blogs in recent months are a sign of a new drug epidemic: shishe, or methamphetamine.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 8, 2014

Bangkok hotel is one crime scene in Sony hack

The incursion into Sony Pictures Entertainment's computer system reached its climax in, of all places, the elegant St. Regis Bangkok in the capital of Thailand.
EDITORIALS
Dec 4, 2014

Weighing Abe's Asian diplomacy

Japanese voters should consider the results of the Abe adminisration's diplomatic moves with regard to South Korea and China, when they cast their votes Dec. 14.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2014

Tibet core to Sino-Indian ties

Tibet historically was the buffer that separated the Chinese and Indian civilizations. Ever since Communist China, in one of its first acts, gobbled up that buffer with India, Tibet has remained the core matter with India.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 28, 2014

A modern annex for an old favorite

I always feel a little inadequate arriving at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, shambling up its gravel drive in my slovenly journalist garb and running one hand over my face to check if I've shaved that day. It's such an elegant venue that I feel I really should be arriving in more style, possibly...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2014

Should Putin fear rebel leader who 'pulled the trigger of war' in Ukraine?

The ultranationalist who triggered Russia's military involvement in Ukraine views himself as a warrior in a bigger war against a godless West.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 26, 2014

Seeking Japan's gods and nobles in roots, stone and moss

If you've had a hankering to go hiking with Shinto deities, why not try the Kumano Kodo trail in Wakayama Prefecture?
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 25, 2014

U.S. senator calls for declaration of war against Islamic State

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a possible Republican candidate for president in 2016, is calling for a formal declaration of war against Islamic State militants who control parts of Iraq and Syria, the New York Times reported Monday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 24, 2014

Local governments finally getting around to public toilets

There will soon be many more Western-style toilets in Chiba Prefecture's public rest rooms
WORLD / Politics
Nov 24, 2014

Israeli Cabinet approves Jewish nation-state law

A divided Cabinet approved on Sunday a bill to anchor in law Israel's status as the nation-state of the Jewish people, legislation critics say could undermine its democratic foundation and the rights of its Arab minority.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 20, 2014

Treasures worth standing in line for

There is a fundamental problem with the Tokyo National Museum (TNM), which I come up against time and time again. In a nutshell, the venue is too big for its exhibits and too small for its audience. This is underlined yet again by the latest exhibition "National Treasures of Japan."
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2014

Putin-bashing at G-20 meeting was juvenile

What were Western leaders trying to achieve by humiliating Russia President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit?
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 16, 2014

In Iraq, Iranian masters behind feared Shiite militias

Among the thousands of militia fighters who flocked to northern Iraq to battle the extremist Islamic State group over the summer was Qais al-Khazali.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 15, 2014

Holiday gifts they'll cherish from cover to cover

As the holiday season rolls around, it's time to dash about in a mad panic in search of gifts that say "I've given this one some thought, honest." Or you can just let us do the thinking for you, with gift suggestions from our regular book reviewers — tailor-made for the Japanophile reader.
WORLD
Nov 14, 2014

Islamic State leader, in taped speech, calls for attacks in Saudi Arabia, 'volcanoes of jihad'

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called for attacks in Saudi Arabia, said his caliphate was expanding across the Arab world and called for "volcanoes of jihad" in a speech purported to be in his name on Thursday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 10, 2014

Obama faulted over thinning bench of China policy experts

Three years after President Barack Obama vowed to shift his focus toward Asia in response to China's growing power, the advisers who set that policy in motion are gone. So is their expertise.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 8, 2014

Mediator says South Sudan rivals reach deal to end conflict

South Sudan's warring parties committed to ending fighting and bringing their months-long conflict to an end without conditions, the chief mediator for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)regional African group, said Saturday after two days of talks in the Ethiopian capital.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 4, 2014

Chinese Communist Party's great leap backward

Chinese President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign was supposed to signify a shift toward a more transparent system based on the rule of law, but the officials who have been purged so far have been Xi's political adversaries. Xi appears to be pulling China backward politically.

Longform

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