Search - u_times

 
 
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 2, 2015

Death sentence upheld for Akihabara rampage killer

The Supreme Court finalizes the death penalty of Tomohiro Kato for the vehicular homicide and stabbing spree that left seven people dead and 10 injured on the streets of Tokyo's Akihabara neighborhood in 2008.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2015

Turbulent times for Skymark

Skymark Airlines Inc., the nation's third-largest carrier, which filed for bankruptcy protection last week after its moves to buy a fleet of Airbus A380 superjumbos to expand into the international flight market flopped, should seek to rebuild itself by refocusing on and consolidating its domestic operations....
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2015

China fights deflation on its own

During the past two years, China has tightened fiscal and monetary policy in the hope of offsetting the adverse effects of the large stimulus package implemented in response to the 2008 global financial crisis.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2015

What U.S. 'upward mobility'? Elites replicate themselves

There cannot be any doubt that America's renowed upward social mobility is a thing of the past. If anything, the U.S. now excels in the self-replication of economic elites — as Europe did in the 19th century.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2015

'Selma' and the biopic perversion of history

The Ava DuVernay-directed film 'Selma' is at the center of controversy due to its semi-snubbing by the Oscars and correct observations that it plays loose with history.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 2, 2015

Hair-care industry has anxious consumers coming and going

An underground health movement says over-shampooing leads to hair loss.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2015

A dispossessed Palestinian advises a refugee from Syria

A dispossessed Palestinian writer advises Syrian refugees not to believe in promises from the international community and never to stop loving Syria.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Feb 1, 2015

Not small potatoes: a dog named Satoimo

This dog would make a lovely companion for another canine in need of a friend. And with the right friends, Satoimo himself will grow into an ever more confident and trustworthy partner.
COMMUNITY / Voices / OVERHEARD
Jan 31, 2015

Time leap

None of our kids (in the U.S.) called me. It's my birthday today.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 31, 2015

The mountain village that tried to disappear

Our arrival at Yunishigawa-Onsen Station in Tochigi Prefecture is more than a little disconcerting.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 31, 2015

Goverment's pension manga displays some pretty old values

On Jan. 12, people who will turn 20 this year attended ceremonies marking Coming-of-Age Day at auditoriums run by local governments. Some wore outrageous getups as final statements of youthful folly before "entering society" and some exercised their entitlement by getting drunk and acting out, but most...
Japan Times
SPORTS
Jan 31, 2015

Japan Coaches' Awards recognize top coaches from throughout the nation

Sometimes, or perhaps many times, the success of athletes and sports teams can be achieved with an enormous amount of effort provided by those who give them instructions and strategies — coaches.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Jan 31, 2015

Ichiro's move to Marlins can generate results for both

Ichiro Suzuki's introductory news conference with the Miami Marlins was held at a Tokyo hotel on Thursday, in a large room filled with media members — no fewer than 20 television crews, dozens more photographers and even more writers. There was an MC on hand to push the proceedings forward, and the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Jan 31, 2015

Crime and punishment: Abe's Mideast crisis

In general, crime prevention is a good thing — it helps stop crime. By punishing people for minor transgressions, you stop them from committing larger misdemeanors and discourage crime overall. If the principle is applied blindly, however, it can produce some awkward results.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Jan 30, 2015

NBA has a different look as All-Star break nears

Up is down and down is up in the NBA these days.
Japan Times
SPORTS / NOTES ON A SCORECARD
Jan 30, 2015

No reason for fans to despair over Nishikori's defeat

What a difference three years makes.
EDITORIALS
Jan 30, 2015

New ODA policy raises risks

The Abe administration will soon endorse a new basic policy on official development assistance under which Japan may extend aid to the armed forces of developing countries provided the aid is used for nonmilitary purposes such as assistance in times of disaster.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jan 30, 2015

In less than a year, Tonko House earns an Oscar nomination

They had plum jobs at one of the best companies in the world. Their successes were the envy of their peers. But last summer, two peak-career professionals quit their lucrative day jobs to found a start-up. With no income or investment, they built their own studio, mostly by hand, and started working...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2015

Venerable Children's Castle in Tokyo set to close after 30 years

After 30 years, Kodomo-no-shiro (National Children's Castle), the venerable children's arts and sports complex in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, is set to shut its doors.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 30, 2015

Russian bomber planes disrupt U.K. civil aviation in 'significant escalation'

Britain summoned the Russian ambassador on Thursday and asked him to explain why two Russian Bear long-range bombers had flown over the English Channel the previous day, forcing British authorities to reroute civil aircraft.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2015

Goto's mother pins hopes on Abe

The mother of hostage Kenji Goto said Thursday she is pinning all her hopes on the government of Shinzo Abe, as she believes he can bring her son home alive.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 29, 2015

Exodus: 'Verisimilitude alone doesn't make a story more engaging'

You could read the Book of Exodus in less time than it takes to watch Ridley Scott's provocatively pointless big-screen version, and it would probably be more entertaining. Even at 2½ hours, this biblical blockbuster feels rushed, as if the story has been shorn of all its connective tissue. Sweeping...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2015

Jordan reportedly offers to swap would-be bomber for captured pilot; no mention of Goto

Jordanian state-run television reported Wednesday that Amman was ready to release an Iraqi failed suicide bomber on death row if the Islamic State group freed a captured Jordanian pilot, citing a government minister in the Middle East country.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2015

Prisoner swap without pilot thought difficult, Jordanians say

As an apparent Wednesday evening deadline approached, in which extremists again threatened Kenji Goto with death, the freelance journalist's friends, relatives and many others nationwide listened for word of whether Amman would free Sajida al-Rishawi, the Iraqi woman the extremists named as the price...
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jan 28, 2015

JFA right to pass up convenient opportunity to fire Aguirre

It remains to be seen how much longer Javier Aguirre will continue as national team manager, but at least the Japan Football Association did not use last week's early exit from the Asian Cup as an excuse to fire him.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2015

Back to the love hotel for ex-pink film director

Interviews with people you know well can turn awkward if you try to be the probing questioner instead of the coffee-shop companion. No such worries with 61-year-old Ryuichi Hiroki, the former pink film (i.e., soft pornography) director who made his commercial and critical breakthrough with the erotically...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 28, 2015

Japan-South Korea relations remain hostage to history

Japan and South Korea face a stark choice: to find ways to settle their disputes over history or stay locked in a frozen political relationship that plays into China's hands.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 28, 2015

Roppongi Kabuki cites sci-fi, punk

Known for its nightlife, its fleets of Ferraris and condos with sky-high prices, the affluent central Tokyo district of Roppongi will soon go where even that multinational neighborhood has never gone before — when the launch of a program named Roppongi Kabuki will see that ancient form of traditional...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 28, 2015

Fossils push back snake origins by 65 million years

Snakes have been slithering on Earth far longer than anyone ever realized.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers