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Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 8, 2012

Okinawa's first nuclear missile men break silence

In October 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union teetered on the brink of nuclear war after American spy planes discovered that the Kremlin had stationed medium-range atomic missiles on the communist island of Cuba in the Caribbean, barely over the horizon from Florida.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 8, 2012

The sorry state of affairs in Japan is enough to turn WGs into FGs

Many years ago I coined a phrase — "Frozen Gaijin" — to describe a particular kind of foreigner living in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jul 7, 2012

In wake of 3/11 disasters, successful Italian helps those who helped him

After 21 years in Japan and for most of that time working 15 hours a day, Calabrian restaurateur Elio Ermanno Orsara has achieved a certain measure of success.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jul 3, 2012

In formulating immigration policy, no seat at the table for non-Japanese

Last month the Japanese government took baby steps toward an official immigration policy. Ten ministries and several specialist "people of awareness" (yūshikisha) held meetings aimed at creating a "coexistence society" (kyōsei shakai) within which non-Japanese (NJ) would be "accepted" (uke ire).
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 1, 2012

Innovation, marketing by the book doesn't hold in globalized world

Creativity and innovation hold the key to being competitive in a global environment, but what does it really take for a company to recruit or build innovative talent?
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Jun 26, 2012

Swallows not dwelling on disastrous interleague campaign

The Tokyo Yakult Swallows survived the interleague season.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 21, 2012

Japan also has stake in universal rights, says ex-Congo child soldier

Michel Chikwanine, a university student in Canada who was once a child soldier in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has suffered things no ordinary Japanese child will ever have to.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jun 20, 2012

Online crowdfunded tuition service entangled in controversy

Crowdfunding, a method that enables projects to raise money over the Internet, has become one of the hottest trends in the world of Web-startups. The most successful of these is Kickstarter.com, which has hosted more than 45,000 projects.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 18, 2012

Foreign players' message sometimes lost in translation

Foreign ballplayers in Japan have had their words misunderstood for as long as there have been foreign ballplayers in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 16, 2012

Clowning around in Tohoku to help children

The Japanese entertainment world is supposed to be a very hard one to crack for foreigners in these lean years of economic doldrums. Once in a while a few people manage to carve out a niche for themselves through a combination of talent, perseverance and luck.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Jun 12, 2012

Couple move to the beat of a different drum

American Chris Holland and Lisa Kakinoki from Yokohama, both 26, first met in 2006 when they were studying at J.F. Oberlin University in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 10, 2012

It's not that easy to quit

"If you don't like it, quit."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 9, 2012

Anti-aging tips for the elderly — don't let the society age you

I can never remember my mother being younger than 50. I'm sure she was born 50, and married my father at 60. Then they went to a store and bought me when they were both 63.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 7, 2012

Nagasawa quiets down for 'Seven'

Some musicians simply ooze self-confidence. They walk into the room like they own it, flashing a smile that instantly melts a thousand hearts. But Tomoyuki Nagasawa is not one of those musicians.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 5, 2012

Much ado, but micro-important

A few weeks ago, as a panelist at a symposium on Japan's accession to the Hague Convention on international child abduction, I found it hard to disguise my ire. One of the speakers was a lawyer opposed to Japan joining the convention, and who refused to even use "abduction" to discuss what she called...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 25, 2012

Play reveals manzai's U.S. roots

Watching the fast-paced, two-person manzai routines that characterize much of Japanese TV comedy these days, it's difficult to imagine that two key influences on that genre's birth were stars of cinema's silent era: Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 14, 2012

Atomic exit deserves warm welcome in land of nuclear apprentices

As of May 6, Japan became a nuclear power-free zone. All of the nuclear plants throughout the country are offline, either as a result of last year's Fukushima disaster or routine maintenance. The government and electric power companies are hoping to see them back in action soon, but public sentiment...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 12, 2012

Can Japan's countryside be saved from the edge of extinction?

Once upon a time in Okayama, Japan, lived an old man and an old woman who had no children of their own. One day, the old man went into the forest to cut down bamboo while the old woman went to the river to wash clothes. While at the river, she noticed a giant peach bobbing up and down in the water. She...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 11, 2012

Clooney comes of age as land and loves collide

Of all the descriptors actor George Clooney gets pegged with, "father" is not usually among them. Academy Award-winner? Sure. Activist? Yes. Sexiest Man Alive? You bet. It was his turn as a dad in "The Descendants" last year, however, that earned him a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2012

Chen saga heavy on diplomacy — and luck

Amid so much uncertainty over the fate of human rights advocate Chen Guangcheng and his family, the role that luck played in Chen's saga stands out.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 8, 2012

The best of Views from the Street

A pick of some of best —and the rest — of the vox pops over the years, in chronological order:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 5, 2012

Japan a fond spot in solitary Kiwi's running quest

In this age of reality TV, cheap exhibitionism and superhuman feats, is there still space for the common man? Justyn "Jup" Brown's reply is a resounding yes.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 29, 2012

Otosan, Japan's top dog

Upper House election night, 2010. All over the country people are watching television and waiting to see if there will be an upset as the results from polling stations slowly trickle in.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 22, 2012

Matsumoto in May means 'crafts '

England gave the world the Windsor chair, but it was the city of Matsumoto in central Nagano Prefecture that reinvented it for Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 17, 2012

Bread and becquerels: a year of living dangerously

My New Year's resolution back in January was to survive this year, and many more to come, which means keeping myself and my family as far from harm's way as possible.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 15, 2012

Wild Watch turns 30 this month

As April 2nd's 30th anniversary of my first Wild Watch column in The Japan Times neared, I was in India — teeming Delhi to be precise, with its cacophony of people, honking traffic and barking dogs, though a tailorbird would stop and call outside my window, where a palm squirrel never tired of chattering....
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Apr 11, 2012

Evessa claim star Washington has decided to 'retire'

Osaka Evessa power forward Lynn Washington has been the most recognizable player in bj-league history.
COMMENTARY
Mar 28, 2012

The inexorable march of creative destruction

In retreat, Sears set to unload stores
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Mar 27, 2012

JET teacher outfoxes board, Dr. Savoie's Hague prescription: readers' responses

Some responses to Patrick Budmar's Feb. 28 Light Gist column, "Teacher outfoxes board, exposes bid to fleece JETs":

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan