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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 3, 2012

Koki Mitani: Japan's Mr. Comedy

Koki Mitani is far and away the nation's best-known dramatist. Although theater is quite a niche medium here, most people in Japan — whether male or female, young or not so young, Japanese or not — recognize his face, even if they couldn't name many of his works. Recently, indeed, I was amazed when...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 2, 2012

Japan's great outdoors becomes Oregonian's office-cum-playground

Gliding through powder across Mount Hakkoda in Aomori Prefecture or scanning the surfers at Shonan Beach in Kanagawa Prefecture, Gardner Robinson's life and work merge so completely that on the clock and on the slopes are one and the same.
JAPAN
May 29, 2012

Hashimoto school grads prep for run

With the first stage of Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's Ishin Seiji Juku school for aspiring politicians concluding Saturday, the 2,000 students who entered in March will be whittled down to between 800 and 1,000 by the end of June.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 29, 2012

New feed-in tariff system a rush to get renewables in play

On July 1, a new law takes effect requiring utilities to purchase electricity generated from five renewable energy sources at a fixed price for a set length of time, under what is known as a feed-in tariff system.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 27, 2012

For some, jail is the best place for aged care

So it's come to this: "Prison is heaven, freedom is hell." A country of which this can reasonably be said is in sad straits. Can it be reasonably said of Japan? It's the subhead of a recent article in Shukan Shincho magazine whose main title is "Happy prison life." Prison life is not happy, unless in...
JAPAN
May 26, 2012

Successful comedian apologizes for leaving his mom on welfare

Junichi Komoto, a member of the popular comedian duo Jicho Kacho, apologized Friday for letting his mother continue to receive welfare benefits after his career took off.
Reader Mail
May 24, 2012

Tattoo bias shows Japan's colors

Regarding the May 18 article "Osaka's Hashimoto puts municipal workers' tattoos into the limelight": I am quite disappointed in Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's decision to "out" municipal workers who have tattoos and to suggest that they should find employment in other fields.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 22, 2012

Canteens put employees' health on the menu

Until just a few years ago, shashoku — short for shain shokudō (company canteens) — were sources of convenience food, where meals was gulped down, not chewed and savored, and where the offerings were cheap but bland.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 22, 2012

Once one and only, Sony seeks to regain that status

Despite reporting a record ¥457 billion annual loss last year, Sony Corp. earlier this month said it would return to the black in fiscal 2012 with a ¥30 billion profit.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 20, 2012

The sky's the limit

After the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 last year, the performance of the spectacularly tall Tokyo Sky Tree going up in the capital's downtown Sumida Ward became a subject of heightened interest to experts, residents and the general public alike.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 20, 2012

Japan faces a long, hot, nuclear-free summer

Is Japan — and particularly the Kansai region — going to have enough electric power to get it through peak summer demand? The Meteorological Agency's three-month projection for May through July, posted on its website (www.jma.go.jp/jp/longfcst/000_1_10.html) hedges its bets. For the four main islands,...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
May 18, 2012

Japan Post would prefer to let sleeping dogs, and accounts, lie

With a trillion yen sitting dormant, government is eyeing so-called sleeping savings accounts and banks are getting nervous.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 15, 2012

Exporting culture via 'Cool Japan'

The auto and electronics industries have served as the economy's main locomotives for decades, but now they are being eclipsed by heavier global competition, particularly from their aggressive Asian rivals.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2012

Utilities' bond risk climbing amid nuclear shutdowns

The bond risk of nuclear power companies had the largest weekly increase in seven months led by Kansai Electric Power Co., the utility likely to face the biggest electricity shortage this summer, after the country shut its last reactor.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 13, 2012

'Where are they now' special; celebrities battle it out; CM of the week: Tokyo Gas

The variety show "Bakuho the Friday" (TBS, Friday, 7 p.m.) expands from an occasional special to a weekly series. The title is a mashup of Bakusho Mondai, the comedy duo who act as hosts, and jōhō, which means information. The theme is in-depth information about showbiz people, in particular those...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 8, 2012

Efforts to save Japanese crested ibis take flight

Japanese spirits were uplifted recently by the news that three "toki," or Japanese crested ibis, chicks were hatched in the wild for the first time in 36 years, the culmination of a ¥300 million project that was started in 1999 to breed the endangered wading birds outside captivity.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 1, 2012

Constitution again faces calls for revision to meet reality

Thursday marks the 65th year since the Constitution took effect in 1947.
COMMENTARY
May 1, 2012

Hands behind Sudan's war

Once again Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir waved his walking stick in the air. Once again he spoke of splendid victories over his enemies as thousands of jubilant supporters danced and cheered. But this time around the stakes are too high.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 29, 2012

Japanese families on endangered list

The family is humanity's oldest and most universal institution. But its shape, size, aims and ideologies seem infinitely variable. Japan's families down the ages have been polygamous and monogamous, multigeneration and single-generation, swarming with children or comparatively, if not entirely, devoid...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 26, 2012

Rockers CN Blue stand out amid dancey K-pop

Since its 2009 debut in South Korea, CN Blue has been a bastion of rock in a music scene dominated by danceable electro-pop.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 24, 2012

Yahoo Japan: Same name, very different company

Although they have similar names and operate Web portals with a variety of services, Yahoo Japan Corp. is in many ways a very different company from Yahoo Inc.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 17, 2012

Retail power slow to make inroads despite nuclear crisis

Regional utilities have long dominated the power market, but companies and local governments are starting to get interested in new retailers offering much cheaper rates.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 13, 2012

Ota exemplifies impact good role players can have

Role players rarely dominate the headlines. But smart coaches and successful player-personnel bosses build teams that get potent production from lesser-known players.
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2012

Surge in fuel imports may come with dire side effect

To make up for its dwindling supply of nuclear power, Japan is on a frenzied but costly hunt for fossil fuels.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 10, 2012

Teachers with two left feet struggling with dance classes

A new education rule that kicked in this year has created a fresh challenge for gym teachers across the nation: how to teach hip-hop.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 8, 2012

Mainstream media toes the line on sales tax

A bill to increase the consumption tax has finally been submitted to the Diet. Approval is by no means assured, owing partly to the fact that the substance of the issue has changed since the idea of a consumption tax was originally formulated. The Liberal Democratic Party saw it as a source of funding...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 3, 2012

Volunteers struggle to track neediest residents

Welfare commissioners cover a broad array of tasks, including regularly checking in on elderly and disabled residents, looking for signs of child abuse, providing local residents with information about services, and even helping them dispose of garbage.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 1, 2012

Yonaguni: Japan's most westerly isle

A colossal, dark-skinned man rides along the sidewalk on a motorbike: no helmet, two small children aboard — a vision of life in the laconic Tropics. There are times here too on Yonaguni, the westernmost land mass in Okinawa Prefecture, when you see a curvaceous island woman in a vivid, flower-patterned...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear