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Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Mar 16, 2013

How can the royal family champion women and endorse Saudi Arabia?

In its latest human rights report, not a great read, the United Kingdom's House of Commons foreign affairs committee wondered if the government attitude to "countries of concern" isn't a wee bit too "low key." Britain's relations with Saudi Arabia, for instance, would benefit from a "bolder" approach,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 16, 2013

The Sandman and other gift-bearing creatures

Easter is upon us, and you know what that means: chocolate rabbits! Each year on Easter Sunday, a magical rabbit (actually a hare) comes out of the forest and brings baskets full of eggs, candies, toys and chocolate rabbits. The Easter Bunny, as he is called, hides the baskets inside each house, and...
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Mar 15, 2013

Second-round resurgence makes Samurai Japan a legitimate title contender

Two-time defending champion Japan has shown signs of improvement after a shaky start in the World Baseball Classic. Or as infielder Atsunori Inaba put it: 'We've become a better team as the tournament has progressed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 15, 2013

Tracing the secret success of an unsung hero

At first glance it seems as though filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul came out of nowhere, made documentary "Searching for Sugar Man" on his home computer, then floated onto the red carpet to be awarded an Oscar.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 15, 2013

Classical community unites to celebrate bicentennials of Verdi and Wagner

This year marks the bicentennials of the births of two great composers: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) and Richard Wagner (1813-83), both giants of the classical music world who brought opera to the peak of its artistic expression in the 19th century.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2013

Prodding big food firms into the field of ethics

Consumers should take it upon themselves to become better informed about what they eat and drink and to let ethics influence purchasing choices.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2013

Leaders we can trust again

Leaders with a compelling vision whom we can trust again could turn back the tide of public cynicism in democratic governance. But where are they
EDITORIALS
Mar 15, 2013

Systematize infrastructure repairs

Japan's central and local governments must systematize their plans to effectively cope with aging national infrastructure such as roads and bridges.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 15, 2013

'Purachina Deta (Platinum Data)'

Why are so many Japanese sci-fi thrillers so sure our near-future rulers will try to tyrannize us, dehumanize us or, as in "Batoru Rowaiaru (Battle Royale)," make us slaughter each other, even when our only crime is possessing raging adolescent hormones? Given what I've seen of Tokyo's Kabutocho financial...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 15, 2013

Film festival focuses on Osaka

Of all the films the late actress Isuzu Yamada starred in, none of them better symbolized the vicissitudes of her real life than the 1936 "Naniwa Ereji (Naniwa Elegy)."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 15, 2013

'Searching for Sugar Man'

Ever heard of a Detroit-based musician by the name of Sixto Rodriguez? If so, you're extraordinarily well informed, or perhaps you spent some time in South Africa during the late 1970s. But if you're unaware of the man or his music, "Searching for Sugar Man" is the best place to start, and the payoff...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 14, 2013

Miyabi Matsuoka takes an enlightened approach to teaching the harp

To Miyabi Matsuoka, the harp is a mirror that reveals who you really are. She says she can tell the personality of a harp player by the way he or she manipulates the instrument, which affects the sound they create.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 14, 2013

On the ubiquity of great design

Originally made as a program broadcast on NHK's education channel, "Design Ah!" — led by graphic designer Taku Satoh, Interactive designer and artist Yugo Nakamura, and musician Keigo Oyamada — has gone one step further to become an interactive exhibition. Taking the films and sounds of the television...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Mar 13, 2013

Japan ends second round with win over the Netherlands

Two-time defending WBC champion Japan beats the Netherlands 10-6 in the final second-round, Pool 1 game, scoring eight times in the second inning.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 13, 2013

F-35's story illustrates challenge of paring U.S. defense budget

With an ear-ringing roar, the matte-gray fighter jet streaked down Runway 12 and sliced into a cloudless afternoon sky over the Florida Panhandle. To those watching on the ground, the sleek, bat-winged fuselage soon shrank into a speck, and then nothing at all, as U.S. Marine Capt. Brendan Walsh arcked...
LIFE / Digital
Mar 13, 2013

Online, some are more equal than others

A few years ago, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman published a bestselling book with the title "The World is Flat." In it he used the concept of "flatness" to describe "how more people can plug, play, compete, connect and collaborate with more equal power than ever before — which is what is...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2013

Work resumes on Aomori's new Oma nuclear plant

At the remote northwestern tip of a snowy peninsula, beyond a small road of fishing shacks and empty one-story homes, 600 construction workers and engineers are building a brand-new nuclear plant for a country still recovering from the most severe atomic disaster since Chernobyl.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2013

Carpentry seminars help bring men out of isolation

One snowy Sunday morning in late February, elderly men were awkwardly driving nails into half-finished furniture under the instruction of skilled carpenters at a factory in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 12, 2013

Panasonic's first female director says gadget makers need major changes

The economist picked by struggling Panasonic Corp. to become its first female director said Japan's electronics makers need drastic changes to align their business models with those of companies including General Electric Co. and Siemens AG.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 12, 2013

Do dire predictions for Japan factor in a rush for the exits?

Within two hours of the massive earthquake that jolted Japan at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, the Japanese government received notice that an “Article 15 event” had occurred at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 12, 2013

Tokyo: Do you support Japan abandoning nuclear power even if it means increases in electricity prices?

Even if it's true that electricity bills will rise, I don't agree with using nuclear power due to the simple fact that it is not 100 percent safe. And, whilst I don't have kids yet, I hope to be a father one day, and I don't want them to grow up in a nuclear-dependent world.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 12, 2013

Blithe as can be about the risks to everything

Due to the existence of human-induced threats, those of use living in the developed world are less secure than we think.
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2013

Problematic proposals on bullying

A government panel's recommendation that 'morals' become a regular school subject is problematic because of the ideological threat to students.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 10, 2013

Tohoku has been truly rent asunder for untold generations yet to be born

There are now three Tohokus ... and there have been since the afternoon of March 11, 2011.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 10, 2013

A survey of 20th-century thinking

THINKING THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, by Tony Judt with Timothy Snyder. Penguin, 2013, 432 pp. $18 (paperback)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 10, 2013

Providing lessons on nuclear policy

FALLOUT FROM FUKUSHIMA, by Richard Broinowski. Scribe Publications, 2012, 273 pp., A$27.95 (paperback)
Japan Times
JAPAN / TOHOKU TRAPPED IN TIME
Mar 9, 2013

Water is both the savior and the bane at Fukushima No. 1

Those who were at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant two years ago probably remember their fears after towering tsunami knocked out the reactor cooling systems, triggering three core meltdowns.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 9, 2013

Thom Yorke: 'If I can't enjoy this now, when do I start?'

You don't necessarily associate Thom Yorke with fun. Radiohead's frontman and principal songwriter has tended to have different kinds of adjectives attached to him in his two decades in the music pages: 'intense,' 'tortured' and 'angst-ridden,' or 'impassioned,' 'essential' and 'important.'

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person