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Secrets, lies, gaffes, glory: 2013 in quotes

Year of Olympic highs and Fukushima lows yielded its fair share of bon mots and faux pas

By Brett Bull

Dec 23, 2013

A mix of scandals, achievements, political missteps and commemorations highlighted 2013. For a rundown of the quotations that shaped the Year of the Snake, let’s start at the top, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Control freaks

| TIM O’BREE ILLUSTRATIONS

“Let me assure you the situation is under control,” Abe said in a speech on Sept. 7 in front of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Buenos Aires. He was referring to the contaminated groundwater problem at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Olympic Games following the speech.

Amid the heat and humidity in Japan, a good night’s sleep is growing increasingly elusive without the heavy use of air conditioning.

Summer has arrived in Japan and so have hot sleepless nights

By Tomoko Otake

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

For many people, utility poles and power lines have become such a familiar part of Japan’s landscape that they often go unnoticed.

Why Japan’s utility poles won’t be disappearing anytime soon

By Alex K.T. Martin

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