Search - u_times

 
 
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

Kudos to Japan and Taiwan

Regarding the April 14 editorial "A positive step in Senkaku dispute": Disputes over sovereignty are never easy to solve. Therefore, the agreement signed between Japan and Taiwan the week before last over fishing rights in the disputed sea near the Senkaku Islands (allowing Taiwanese trawlers to operate...
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

A situation similar to Britain's

The April 12 editorial "A decisive but divisive leader" makes me contemplate a lot of things. For better or worse, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher played an active role in ending the Cold War and was one of the tough advocates of neoliberalism. A lot of people, though, believe this led...
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

Consequences of health planning

Anyone who has been around someone who is trying to quit smoking knows the common effects: increased appetite and irritability. Therefore, the headline of the April 17 AFP-JIJI article "Australians smoking, drinking less, but getting heftier, more anxious" should come as a surprise to no one.
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

U.S. doesn't deserve high score

I am baffled by the April 12 Kyodo article "Hiroshima gives disarmament grades," which reports that Hiroshima prefectural authorities have judged the United States second best in reducing its nuclear arsenal and working for nuclear weapons nonproliferation. The U.S. is spending an additional $185 billion...
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

Thatcher's dealings with Iraq

In his April 14 paean to Baroness Thatcher, "'Iron Lady' is worth emulating," Paul Gaysford advises Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to read her memoirs, "The Downing Street Years," to fully grasp her own brand of conservatism.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 20, 2013

Why do we cry? A new reading of the old sob story

When it came to solving the riddle of the peacock's tail, Charles Darwin's powers of evolutionary deduction were second to none — the more extravagant their feathered displays, he reasoned, the greater their chances of attracting a peahen. But when he tried to account for the human propensity to weep,...
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 20, 2013

Boston in lockdown as police hunt second bombing suspect

A massive manhunt is launched in the Boston suburbs after one suspect in the deadly marathon bombings is killed in a confrontation with police and the second is identified but remains at-large.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 19, 2013

Kyoto's Hamaguchi proving again he is an elite coach

For Honoo Hamaguchi and Dai Oketani, longevity is one part of their success story as the bj-league's longest-tenured coaches. What's more, their quality teams are always competitive year after year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 19, 2013

U.K. stage group to rework 'Mononoke' magic

If anyone understands the truth in the phrase, "It doesn't hurt to ask" — it's Alexandra Rutter.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2013

Ome marathoners offer support to fellow runners bombed in Boston

Organizers of Tokyo's Ome Marathon expressed their condolences to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, stressing they intend to work "hand in hand" with the race's host to help overcome the tragedy.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Apr 19, 2013

ZZZ's continue a great year

It's a new year that other indie bands could only dream of. Steady gigs, new releases and collaborations with established artists, they've all been on ZZZ's schedule for the past few months.
BASKETBALL
Apr 18, 2013

Aisin edges Toshiba in JBL Finals opener

The powerhouse Sea Horses withstood a tough challenge by Toshiba, but came through down the stretch as Aisin defeated the Brave Thunders 77-71 in Game 1 of the JBL Finals on Wednesday night.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 18, 2013

Holes in industrial ecosystems threaten manufacturing

Even in a globalized economy, nations need to have strong local production capabilities in order to bring innovation to the market, American and Japanese scholars said in a recent symposium held in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2013

Pulvers wins Noma translation prize

Roger Pulvers, a noted writer and veteran contributor to The Japan Times, has won the 19th Noma Award for the Translation of Japanese Literature, major publishing house Kodansha Ltd. said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 18, 2013

Playwright imprint focuses on newer jazz acts

At a time when stories about declining music sales are frequent and major labels aren't investing in new talent, hearing about an indie label like Playwright is music to the ears.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2013

A welcome nudge for doctors to wash their hands

Hand hygiene is the No. 1 contributor — and the most fixable — to the almost 2 million hospital-acquired infections each year that kill 100,000 people in the U.S.
Reader Mail
Apr 18, 2013

Christians' false claims of credit

In his April 14 letter, "Social justice here and now" (a response to my April 4 letter, "Where does human respect live?"), Thomas Clark proves my point. Unable to refute what I actually said — that there is a correlation between human rights and the secularity of society — he goes off somewhere else...
CULTURE / Music
Apr 18, 2013

Kis-My-Ft2 "Good Ikuze!" (Avex Trax)

Odds are, Japan Times reader, that you do not like Kis-My-Ft2. Maybe you've been unable to escape the bleating "Wanna Beeee!!!" while out strolling in Shibuya, or maybe they lost you at, "From the people who brought you SMAP and Arashi!" So this review should be quick, right? A nice hatchet job with...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 18, 2013

i-fls "Diary of Spectre" (self-release)

The first song I ever made — and I'm willing to wager many who graduated high school in the mid 2000s share this experience — was using Apple's GarageBand, a software application that lets people make music on their computers. "I made a killer techno track last night, dude," I overheard one classmate...
Reader Mail
Apr 18, 2013

Democratic defense against abuse

Regarding the April 11 article "Ishin leaders, Abe meet on revising Constitution": Once more, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has indicated his desire to revise Article 96 of the Constitution so that it can be amended by a simple majority in the Upper and Lower houses of the Diet rather than by the two-thirds...
Reader Mail
Apr 18, 2013

The joy of not being accepted

I am so grateful to professor Jeff Kingston for his April 14 review of Adam Komisarof's book "At Home Abroad: The Contemporary Western Experience in Japan." I've lived here for nearly 17 years and have never really understood my own deep feelings about this country and its people.
Reader Mail
Apr 18, 2013

Application of statistics fails

As someone who has spent his entire academic life in computational economics, I would like to comment on the April 12 Bloomberg article by theoretical physicist Mark Buchanan, titled "Beware economists who peddle cute models."
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2013

Blame Western 'demonists' for Pyongyang's belligerence

Demonists never sleep. They concoct fantasies almost daily over a North Korea that almost certainly only wants to protect itself from the threat of U.S. attack.
Reader Mail
Apr 18, 2013

Takarazuka hits discordant note

I read Mark Buckton's April 14 Timeout feature article, "Takarazuka: Japan's newest 'traditional' theater turns 100," and thought, "Maybe I need to get out more."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 18, 2013

Early photos of northern Japan capture a time of change

Although photography entered Japan in the mid-19th century, it took time to spread beyond the few port cities permitted to engage in trade with the West at that time. As a result, it was several decades before this imported Western technology reached outlying districts, and by then the Japanese concept...
Reader Mail
Apr 18, 2013

Learn from Margaret Thatcher

Regarding the April 12 editorial "A decisive but divisive leader": Once upon the time, the United Kingdom was labeled the "sick old man of Europe." Margaret Thatcher, a female prime minister, challenged that image and wiped it out.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2013

Film sheds light on plight of left-behind parents

Images of left-behind parents, holding up photos of their children, flash across the screen. In the United States, Canada, Europe and even Japan, these parents are waiting to reunite with offspring taken away by their estranged Japanese spouses.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years