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JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
May 5, 2013

Yakuza links put nation at added nuclear risk

On April 15, two alleged terrorists in Boston killed three people, injured more than 170 others and terrified a nation — for about $100 it cost them to modify pressure cookers into bombs. We should be glad they didn't come to Japan, where they may have been able to explode a ready-made nuclear dirty...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 5, 2013

Antics of 'Animal' hard to forget more than 25 years later

He wasn't the best foreigner to ever play in Japanese baseball, but Brad "The Animal" Lesley was surely one of the most colorful and unforgettable characters to ever put on the uniform of a Central or Pacific League team.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 5, 2013

The right to die: letting individuals make the choice themselves

It was not the most elegant way to launch a national conversation about the right to die, but this past January Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, 72, certainly drew attention to the issue of terminal patients. Unfortunately he did so by saying that old people should "hurry up and die" to unburden the nation's...
Reader Mail
May 5, 2013

What was there to celebrate?

As for the front-page April 29 article "Sovereignty celebration hit by protests": Soon after the security treaty between Japan and the United States was furtively signed on Sept. 8, 1951, the San Francisco Peace Treaty was gloriously signed between Japan and the relevant countries.
Reader Mail
May 5, 2013

Mom should not have to pay

Regarding the April 25 Kyodo article "Mom, firm in crane case ordered to pay": It seems that some measure of justice has been served in the case of the epileptic driver who killed six schoolchildren in 2011. Accidents are dicey situations that force us to confront the enigmatic intersection between intention...
Reader Mail
May 5, 2013

Viewing the enemy as we are

Regarding Hiroaki Sato's April 29 article, "Photos of carnage would check war sentiment": This is very true. So many "armchair warrior" Americans seem to revel in war sentiment. Case in point: the iconic photo of a badly burned Vietnamese girl running naked down a highway after her village was hit by...
Reader Mail
May 5, 2013

The 'right' stand against 'wrong'

As a longtime teacher of comparative religions at several universities, let me add a note to a recent topic in the news and among letter writers. When judging a behavior or attitude connected with a religion, we should think first whether the actions under judgment are the result of the religion itself...
Reader Mail
May 5, 2013

Motivations of disabled workers

I often wondered in my youth why disabled people wanted to work so enthusiastically, because I thought some of them could live in protective institutions without any anxiety.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 4, 2013

An introspection on what's behind the make-your-baby-sleep industry

When my friend Hannah had a baby, someone gave her "Go the F—k to Sleep," the bedtime story written by an exasperated New York dad whose toddler was driving him nuts at night.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 4, 2013

Shimane's Davis stands tall in Game 1 win over Hamamatsu

Shimane center Jeral Davis dominated defensively in Game 1 of the Western Conference first-round playoff series, helping the Susanoo Magic rout the visiting Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix 80-67 on Friday afternoon.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 4, 2013

The French left turns on Francois Hollande

The freshly cut inscription on the marble "tombstone" was savage and to the point: "Betrayal! Here lie the promises of F. Hollande which were made to workers and their families in Florange on 24 February 2012. From the steelworkers of Lorraine." With barely suppressed anger and bitterness, Frederic Weber,...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 4, 2013

Evolution: a new boost for 'aquatic ape' theory

It is one of the most unusual evolutionary ideas ever proposed: humans are amphibious apes who lost their fur, started to walk upright and developed big brains because they took to living the good life by the water's edge.
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
May 4, 2013

International cultural festival on tap in Suita

A fair is being held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, on May 11 and 12 to offer various cultural experiences from around the world.
EDITORIALS
May 4, 2013

Mr. Kaieda must lead and fight

An Upper House by-election victory in Yamaguchi Prefecture is a boon to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ahead of nationwide Upper House elections this summer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 3, 2013

Yoshida's ode to a distant Okinawan island

Many directors hit everything from the books to the streets in preparation for their next film, but for his second feature, “Tabidachi no Shima Uta — Jugo no Haru (Leaving on the 15th Spring),” Yasuhiro Yoshida went far further than most.
JAPAN
May 3, 2013

Nation's first egg bank deluged with donors

Japan's first egg bank for infertile women is expected to log its first donors this month, with 38 out of 100 applicants already selected.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 3, 2013

'Evil Dead'

When Sam Raimi's low-budget splatter flick "The Evil Dead" emerged in 1983, it had the same sort of queasy impact you get when you hear a thud and feel something dragging under your tires. "The Evil Dead" was a terrifying and ghoulish film like no other, a signpost of sorts, marking new territory on...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 3, 2013

Girl group bases style on Nikkei ups and downs

Kanon Mori, Yuki Sakura, Hinako Kuroki and Jun Amaki have been following the Nikkei 225 stock average obsessively since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in December. The oldest of the foursome is Mori, but she is still only 23. The youngest is Kuroki, 16 and still in high school.
EDITORIALS
May 3, 2013

Dreamliner to the air again

All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines receive the go-ahead to resume flights of their 787 Dreamliners after Boeing modifies the jetliner's battery system.
JAPAN
May 2, 2013

60,000 sign petition in one week for fired Prada employee

As many as 60,000 people signed a petition in just a week to urge the Japanese arm of Italian fashion house Prada to withdraw its countersuit against a former employee who sued the company for firing her based on appearance.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 2, 2013

Huffington Post looks to weave new Web in Japan

The Japanese version of the Huffington Post will offer a website that spurs more interaction between the media and the public and empower Generation Y, the children of the baby boomers, said Shigeki Matsuura, editor-in-chief of Huffington Post Japan, which is scheduled to launch next Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 2, 2013

Heritage status will mean big changes

Local and prefectural governments and businesses surrounding Mount Fuji welcomed the news that the World Heritage Committee is expected to designate Japan's most famous and popular mountain as a World Heritage site, despite concerns about what it will mean to the local environment and questions about...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 2, 2013

Pianist provides a tribute to Canadian jazz legend for his debut

One decision that faces jazz musicians toward the start of their careers is whether to continue the traditions of what's gone before them or to try and strike out in a new direction.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2013

Australia, Indonesia moving as close as perceptions allow

Irritants in Australia-Indonesia ties stem from popular Australian misperceptions about the changes in Indonesia and political condescension by some leaders.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2013

Refereeing errors in the debt debate

Lost in the sound and fury over the Reinhart-Rogoff research errors is the real question of whether high national debt drives slower growth, or vice versa.
Reader Mail
May 2, 2013

Let go of the sorrow and anger

If China or South Korea were asked not to visit a place or do something it had been used to doing for years, I am sure the answer would be "this is our country and you have no right to interfere, so just stay away." And they would be right.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic