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Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 3, 2014

For 'Once,' Broadway spurns glitz

Written and directed by John Carney, the award-winning 2006 musical film "Once" — a simple, bittersweet love story set in his hometown of Dublin and featuring wonderful music by co-stars Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova — was perfect on its own. Wouldn't a Broadway stage treatment ruin the quiet,...
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 2, 2014

Ishin no To is fighting for its political life

Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party), co-headed by populist Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, captured 54 seats in the December 2012 Lower House election, making it, and him, national political forces.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2014

In rural Akita, skeptics doubt 'Abenomics' will cure ills

Mihoko Asaka wants to know how candidates in this month's election will create jobs and halt the drastic population decline that is bleeding her home region of youth and vitality, but she has little hope they will offer real solutions.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2014

OPEC's other problem: weak demand for oil

Sluggish demand growth in response to the quadrupling of oil prices between 2002 and 2012 is at least as a big a challenge for OPEC as rising shale output.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 27, 2014

Shinzo Abe's political agenda

People should be aware that Japan has such an unstable person in its leadership position, who can make the final decision for the nation to take military action.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 27, 2014

Get a taste of Georgian wine at Festivin

In the four years since it started, Festivin has grown from an intimate gathering of natural wine enthusiasts to one of the most eagerly anticipated wine celebrations in Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 26, 2014

Supreme Court assails vote disparity in 2013 election but doesn't nullify results

The Upper House election in the summer of 2013 was borderline unconstitutional due to an “outrageous” disparity in the weight of votes between districts, the Supreme Court said.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 26, 2014

Court rejects Osaka mayor's bid to ban unions from using school buildings

The Osaka District Court ruled Wednesday that a city ordinance banning labor unions from using public facilities such as school buildings for meetings was illegal and unconstitutional, ordering the city to pay a union around ¥417,000 in compensation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Nov 25, 2014

A losing bet on green energy

A decision by power utilities to not buy electricity generated by renewable energy sources has caused huge problems for companies that invested heavily in the solar power business.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Nov 25, 2014

U.N. report says number of female human traffickers 'exceptionally high'

Nearly three in 10 convicted human traffickers worldwide are female, according to a U.N. report Monday which found that women play a bigger role in trafficking than other major crimes such as murder or robbery.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Nov 24, 2014

Long-term African expats and new migrants alike face growing 'integration gap' in Japan

With dysfunctional Japanese immigration policies having led to a sharp increase in incarceration rates among African immigrants, a growing number have given up on integration in favor of living a double life: married with children in both Japan and Africa.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 23, 2014

LDP incumbents look to have electoral lock on nation's nuclear heartland

The political fate of Fukui's aging reactors has long been in the hands of powerful pro-nuclear Diet members, and the upcoming election is not expected to change that.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Nov 23, 2014

Teaching quality, not lesson quantity, may be key to Japan's top math marks

Japan spends less on education than most OECD countries, so why do its students continue to outperform their Western counterparts in math?
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Nov 22, 2014

Newtown massacre shooter indulged dark obsessions online: report

By the time Adam Lanza massacred 26 children and adults at a Connecticut school two years ago, he was living in nearly complete isolation, communicating with no one except an online network of people obsessed with mass murder, a report released on Friday said.
EDITORIALS
Nov 21, 2014

Opposition must get its act together

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is seeking a vote of confidence for his "Abenomics" policies in the Dec. 14 election of the Lower House. But as the chamber was officially dissolved Friday, the opposition parties still lack a common ground beyond their unanimous criticism of Abe's economic policies as failures...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 21, 2014

Explosive mix at Takata air bag factories

The dusty, industrial town of Ciudad Frontera, Mexico, has moved from the far reaches of the global auto supply chain to the front lines of an investigation into why air bags from Takata Corp. are blowing up with lethal force in accidents.
EDITORIALS
Nov 19, 2014

Abe seeks a fresh mandate

The opposition parties need to pick up the gauntlet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has thrown and give voters a real alternative to his policies.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2014

Ex-Murakami Fund executive seeks to raise ¥10 billion overseas for activist fund

Strategic Capital Inc., run by a former executive of the Murakami Fund, is seeking to raise more than ¥10 billion from overseas investors within a year for an activist fund that will invest in Japanese companies with excess cash and pressure them to increase shareholder returns.
Japan Times
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Nov 16, 2014

Abe bill would steal from temps to engorge industrialists

Akemi Hirose, 39, recalls when her contract as a temporary worker at a medical organization in Kanagawa Prefecture was suddenly terminated three years and three months after she started.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 15, 2014

Tomonoura: lost in a storied landscape

The priest from Fukuzenji Temple is sitting cross-legged on a cushion in front of us like a Zen-sage. He has his back to a window of the Taichoro Guesthouse as he explains the significance of the astounding view before us. We are looking out at the nearby islands of Sensuijima and Bentenjima floating...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 15, 2014

Creative crooks stay one step ahead

The "Ore, ore" ("It's me") fraudsters and their ilk, who telephone elderly people and pretend to be a relative in need of money to help them out of a jam, keep coming up with new scams.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 15, 2014

Japan's 21st-century tsunami stones

A familiar sight along Tohoku's Sanriku coastline are the tsunami stones erected by past generations that alert residents to the high-water mark of previous tsunami and the perils of building any closer to the sea.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Nov 15, 2014

Wada proud to represent MLB

Tsuyoshi Wada entered Game 2 of the MLB-Japan All-Star Series on Friday night at Tokyo Dome to the strains of Tom Petty's 1989 hit "Free Fallin'," which was serving as the de facto soundtrack to Rob Wooten's exit from the game after having given up a run.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / NFL NOTEBOOK
Nov 13, 2014

Fill-in starting QBs Sanchez, Stanton face pressure to lead teams, win

Over the past three weeks, three of the top four NFC teams — Dallas, Philadelphia and Arizona — have lost their starting quarterbacks to injury.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 13, 2014

Film fest fans can get a fix at any number of events this month

The Tokyo International Film Festival may be finished, but movie buffs still have a lot of choices for festivals this month.

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake