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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Nov 4, 2012

Yoshiko Tatsumi: Cookery guru serves wisdom with her soups

"Never fight a war with Chinese people, because we would lose," Yoshiko Tatsumi sternly warned, "with absolute certainty," a 40-strong group of mostly middle-aged women gathered recently in her spacious three-story residence set in gardens in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 28, 2012

Context the key at alt fashion fest

Watching the Fashion Week Tokyo models pounding polished catwalks in the glitzy Hikarie building in shopping-central Shibuya, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Paris.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 21, 2012

Hagi: restful cradle of a revolution

I had just been re-reading Paul Theroux's African travelogue, "Dark Star Safari," and was up to a part where he explains that he never books rooms on his journeys, just turns up and leaves the rest to chance.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 21, 2012

Using the noodle to gain insight into Japanese culinary culture

SLURP! A Social and Culinary History of Ramen — Japan's Favorite Noodle Soup, by Barak Kushner. Global Oriental, 2012, 289 pp., $90 (hardcover) Under the heading "Ramen is Japan" Barak Kushner asserts: "Ramen (regular and instant) permeates all features of contemporary Japanese life." He goes on to...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 14, 2012

Developing a natural aesthetic

JAPAN AND THE CULTURE OF THE FOUR SEASONS: Nature, Literature and the Arts, by Haruo Shirane. Columbia University Press, 2012. 311 pp., $29.50 (hardcover) The starting point for this illuminating study lay in the author's curiosity about the formation of the saijiki, or seasonal almanacs, that have been...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 7, 2012

Tabloids return fire, urge China business pullout

On Sept. 29, the 40th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, Sankei Shimbun editorial writer Ryutaro Kobayashi asked how it would be possible for Japan to continue discussions with a China that had "lost its national dignity."
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 3, 2012

Nippon Ishin no Kai: Local but with national outlook

After months of preparation, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's new political party, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party), was formally inaugurated at a mid-September gathering that drew more than 3,000 supporters.
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2012

Somber marking of Japan-China ties

On Sept. 29, Japan and China marked the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations. Unfortunately, bilateral ties are in a sorry state, with mutual distrust the deepest since ties were normalized due to a dispute over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Leaders of both countries...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Oct 2, 2012

Divergent views on Debito; the fate of mixed-nationality kids

Arudou's writing still needed Most of the readers who indignantly criticize the writings of Debito Arudou seem to share the same outlook. Arudou, they say, should shut up and accept the good with the bad.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Oct 1, 2012

Flip-flop on no-nuclear energy policy bodes ill for the future of Japan

On Sept. 14, the Japanese government presented to the public a new national energy strategy. This long-awaited plan included as its focal point the objective of eliminating nuclear power by the end of the 2030s. Less than a week later, however, Japan's hopes for a nuclear-free world were dashed. In the...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 29, 2012

Terry's legacy tainted by scandals

Four Games.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Sep 28, 2012

Parker not expecting to win fifth straight scoring title

Shimane Susanoo Magic forward Michael Parker, the four-time reigning scoring champion, predicted on Monday he won't win the scoring title this season.
COMMENTARY
Sep 24, 2012

Gaffe calls welfare of candidacy into question

It is a measure of Mitt Romney's inadequacies as a candidate that he has not been able to turn his latest gaffe — his dismissive reference to the 47 percent of Americans who "are dependent upon government" — into a teachable moment and a campaign advantage.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 19, 2012

New stats about old folks

Some new numbers about elderly household income and spending.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Sep 11, 2012

Today's J-blip: Name the Tokyu train mascot

Quick! Name that mascot!
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 5, 2012

Buy now to beat the consumption tax increase ... or don't

The pros and cons of making big-ticket purchases before the consumption tax increase.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Sep 4, 2012

Toot your own horn — don't let the modesty scam keep you down

As per this column's title, this month's topic was chosen, well, "just because" it's been on my mind.
EDITORIALS
Aug 29, 2012

Pressing Mr. Noda on nuclear power

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Aug. 22 met with representatives of the Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes, which organizes a rally every Friday evening near the prime minister's official residence. Mr. Noda once condescendingly described the cries of rally participants as "loud sound."
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 26, 2012

Complacency perished in the Fukushima nuclear disaster

August, that most searing of months, compels us to reflect on the atom. Japan was atom-bombed twice in August 67 years ago, and Hiroshima since 1952 and Nagasaki since 1955 have hosted solemn anniversary ceremonies to keep the memory alive in the hope of preventing similar horror and folly in future....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 24, 2012

'The Grey' / 'Facing Ali'

The Grey" could be a welcome sight for those of us panting in summer's dog days of heat and humidity: miles of ice and snow stretching way into a horizon that merges with a forbidding, indeterminate sky. But in the next second, you realize this is a desperate tale of survival, unfolding in an Alaskan...
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2012

Noda unswayed by talks with rally leaders

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda should listen to the voices of the people and abolish all atomic reactors as soon as possible, organizers of the weekly antinuclear rallies told the nation's leader in a face-to-face meeting Wednesday.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 20, 2012

A how-to guide to becoming a translator of how-to guides

Thinking back, I never set out with the intention of becoming a translator. I was employed by a small travel agency in Osaka and was only dimly aware that such an occupation even existed. But word got around that I could read Japanese, and one winter day in 1975 I was approached by an inventor who had...
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2012

Tepco's shaky revival plan

The government on July 31 injected ¥1 trillion into Tokyo Electric Power Co., virtually nationalizing the utility, which was teetering in the wake of the nuclear crisis at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 12, 2012

Bahamas pulls off huge upset in 4x400 relay

Turkey had a surprising 1-2 finish in the women's 1,500 to steal some of the spotlight from two of Friday night's marquee events: the women's 5,000, featuring a star-studded cast of world-class runners, and the women's 4x100 relay at the Olympic Stadium.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami