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LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 9, 2014

I hereby take myself as my lawfully wedded yome

I was trudging home the other night with a dōryō (同僚, colleague) after another in a series of sābisu zangyō (サービス残業, unpaid overtime) sessions, debating whether to skip dinner or stop off at the nearest 24-hour sūpā (スーパー, supermarket). Out of the blue, my colleague asked...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 8, 2014

Still hunting shadows three years after 3/11

One of the great statistical mysteries that persist several years after a natural disaster is the figure that appears without fail each month in columns representing the number of people that are still missing.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 8, 2014

Fukushima: animal kingdom

Kumassy is a cat. As yet he has no owner.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 8, 2014

Disaster survival tactics and a 3/11 baby; CM of the Week: Daiwa House

This week marks the third anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. On a practical level, TBS's two-hour special, "Shinsai chokugo: Seishi wo wakeru 72-jikan ni subeki koto" ("Right After the Disaster: 72 Hours Means the Difference Between Life and Death"; Mon., 9 p.m.), offers advice on how to...
EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2014

Enormous tasks ahead for China

As Premier Li Keqiang kicks off the National People's Congress, Japan, for its part, needs to think about developing a coolheaded strategy for dealing with perceived Chinese territorial and political provocations.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2014

Fukushima points the way for disaster readiness

As one travels across the region evacuated after the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant meltdown three years ago, it is obvious that the effects of the disaster vary from village to village, and are far more complicated than the hazard map, with its concentric circles of safety levels, indicates.
BASKETBALL
Mar 7, 2014

Walters, USF's Japanese-American sideline supervisor, named WCC Coach of the Year

For six seasons, head coach Rex Walters has worked to build the University of San Francisco men's basketball team into a bigger, better program. There have been setbacks and disappointments, but also accomplishments and success stories.
JAPAN / THREE YEARS AFTER 3/11
Mar 7, 2014

Illegal nuclear dumping in Shiga raises alarms

The illegal dumping in Takashima, Shiga Prefecture, of 300 tons of radioactive wood chips along a river sets off alarm bells.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2014

Hirata sentence based on lay judges' too harsh judgment: journalist

Friday's sentencing of former Aum Shinrikyo fugitive Makoto Hirata to nine years in prison was surprisingly harsh, possibly a result of amateurish anger felt by lay judges at the social injustice, a well-known expert said after the ruling.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 7, 2014

Barely-a-bear Kumamon could be the next faker to shock Japan

Japan's "deaf composer," Mamoru Samuragochi, has turned out to be an imposter. Wow, who's next? Well, I'll tell you.
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2014

Radiation checks clear most food items

Three years after the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, fears and rumors still circulate among people both inside and outside of Fukushima Prefecture over radiation contamination of food.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Mar 7, 2014

Era of personal genomic medicine dawns at last

When President Bill Clinton announced in 2000 that Craig Venter and Dr. Francis Collins of the National Human Genome Research Institute had succeeded in mapping the human genome, he solemnly declared that the discovery would "revolutionize" the treatment of virtually all human diseases.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2014

Putin's contribution to Obama's miniaturization

Russian President Vladimir's aggression in Ukraine has contributed to the miniaturization of Barack Obama — after Obamacare shattered the general belief in Obama's competence and honesty.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2014

'12 Years a Slave'

It's hard to resist comparing "12 Years a Slave" with "The Butler."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2014

'Indignados'

Tony Gatlif's movies have always been about music, rhythm, movement and the rush of travel as much as any particular story, and his latest, "Indignados," takes that to an extreme. Inspired by the best-selling screed of former French resistance fighter and concentration-camp survivor Stephane Hessel "Indignez-vous!...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 6, 2014

Kawasaki commemorates those lost on 3/11

Toro Nagashi, or "lantern floating" is a traditional custom involving the release of candlelit paper lanterns into a river to symbolize the guiding of the souls of the deceased toward peace.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2014

Despicable Me 2 (Kaito Gru no Minion Kiki Ippatsu)

Director: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 5, 2014

Nomura's 'Don Quixote' enlists comedy to counter today's real foes

"Whenever I am creating a new play here at Setagaya Public Theatre, I aim for something that's as universal as all those kyōgen (traditional comic theater) or noh classics that are as vivid now as when they were first staged 600 years ago. If it isn't like that, it won't reach an international audience,...
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 5, 2014

Noh meets opera in a blend of high cultures

Bringing together the codified and traditional worlds of Japanese noh theater and European opera seems impossible. Such ostensibly different histories, sounds and visuals: How could it work?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 5, 2014

'The Closed Small Space, Cosmos: Painting of an Indoor Scene'

Whether focusing on the stage, salons or the dinner table, artists have always found something fascinating to depict while indoors. To many of them, being inside merely opens up different and new universes to depict.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 5, 2014

In Crimea, Moscow's reality war in full force

Two days before Russian forces began the operation to seize Crimea, somebody threw two Molotov cocktails through the window of Black Sea TV.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2014

Protests in Ukraine, Thailand likely to backfire

The specter of secession suddenly haunts Ukraine and Thailand, two countries where demonstrators have uncompromisingly battled corrupt or unresponsive rulers. Are modern states in general strong enough to survive today's explosions of popular will?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 4, 2014

Owarikara takes its fans to the edge with 'Saihate Songs'

The band name Owarikara loosely translates into English as "starting from the end." However, singer and guitarist Hyouri Takahashi gives a much more specific interpretation.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2014

Base salaries up for first time in 22 months in January

Salaries increased for the first time in nearly two years in January as companies boosted pay for part-timers, aiding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's effort to end 15 years of deflation.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 2, 2014

Getting all mixed up with mixed kanji readings

Gyūdon (牛丼, beef-over-rice bowl) and tonjiru (豚汁, miso soup with pork and vegetables) have much in common. Not only are they a nice combo for a quick lunch (and that it's almost noon while I'm writing this), but on closer inspection both terms also turn out to be a little off with regard to...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Mar 1, 2014

Japan finds bitcoins can bite back, too

Tokyo has once again become the center of a world-wobbling virtual financial crisis. Let me emphasize the word virtual. That's because the world's best-known and perhaps largest exchange of the virtual currency known as bitcoin — Mt. Gox, located in Tokyo's Shibuya district — appeared to have all...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2014

Doraemon, the robot cat, gets your tongue

An earless blue robotic cat, one pocket bulging with gadgets from the future and a lifelong fear of mice: Who is he? Japan roars the answer — but English readers may be stumped. Because, even though he's a government-appointed "cultural ambassador" and a familiar face in more than 30 countries, with...

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