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MULTIMEDIA / CABINET INTERVIEW
Jan 1, 2013

Next BOJ governor must share 'sense of crisis,' Amari says

Whoever is appointed Bank of Japan governor in April should be able to communicate well with the markets and share a keen sense of crisis with the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, new economic revitalization minister Akira Amari said.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 1, 2013

Islamist 'guide' draws liberal Egyptians' ire

During recent opposition protests, people chanted against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and decried the draft constitution he was pressing.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 1, 2013

Retired Hatoyama still on Futenma quest

Yukio Hatoyama dashed the hopes of the people of Okinawa when, as prime minister, he failed to deliver on his promise to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma out of the prefecture.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / CABINET INTERVIEW
Jan 1, 2013

NRA has final reactor say-so: Motegi

No matter what, no reactor will be restarted unless the Nuclear Regulation Authority has confirmed its safety, according to new trade and industry minster Toshimitsu Motegi.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 1, 2013

China's Muslims key to Arab investment

The praying and slaughtering begin every morning at sunrise. "Allahu akbar" intones the imam over each cow before it is strung up by its hooves and quartered.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 1, 2013

Myriad options for studying Japanese in the sticks

Reader JA is seeking a Japanese language school in the countryside here for his 18-year-old son.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2013

Japan's steely resolve suggests nationalism based on fear

More than half a century ago I had dinner in Paris with Arimasa Mori, the grandson of the Meiji Era education minister Arinori Mori, who had set the prewar pattern for a Westernized but intensely patriotic education. The Mori family hailed from Kagoshima, and the part that Arinori had played in the Meiji...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Dec 31, 2012

Kennedy powers B-Corsairs in victory over Cinq Reves

Forward Thomas Kennedy, a 19.0 point-per-game scorer, shot a disappointing 3-for-12 from the field in the Yokohama B-Corsairs' series opener on Saturday against the Tokyo Cinq Reves. But they won, and that was the important thing, he admitted a day later.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 31, 2012

2013: Beginning of the U.S. economic recovery?

There is good reason to think that 2013 will finally be the year that the U.S. economic recovery really feels like a recovery: The biggest forces that have been holding the economy back finally seem to be subsiding.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 31, 2012

America's largest mass execution now obscure

Settlers had come from miles around. The hotels were full. And some spectators were camped out in tents and wagons. The giant gallows erected between Front Street and the Minnesota River was a marvel: a perfect square, supported by oak timbers, and able to hold 40 nooses — 10 on each side.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 31, 2012

Even language has winners and losers

If there's one thing to be sure of in Japan these days, it's that by the end of the year you will have a prime minister different from the one you started out with. This year was the sixth year in succession to follow this pattern. Somewhat differently, though, this year there was a general election...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 30, 2012

As the new year approaches, Japan still reels from 2011

What a sad, sad country this is. What sad shape it's in, as this Year of the Dragon draws to a close. Economically, politically socially, individually, it is merely scraping by, surviving rather than living.
BASKETBALL
Dec 30, 2012

B-Corsairs trounce Cinq Reves, stretch win steak to seven

This was a simple formula for success on Saturday afternoon: Draelon Burns scoring 30 points and the Yokohama B-Corsairs turning the ball over only eight times.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 30, 2012

Landscaping the doors of perception in Japan

ZEN GARDENS: The Complete Works of Shunmyo Masuno, Japan's Leading Garden Designer, by Mira Locher. Tuttle Publishing, 2012, 224 pp., $39.95 (hardcover) Although the term zen-tei (Zen garden) exists in Japanese, its usage is a largely Western one, first coined by the American garden scholar Lorraine...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Dec 30, 2012

The wonderful worlds of 100 waka

The scene: England, Boxing Day 2012. The archetypical Carters are relaxing after a cold turkey lunch (with bread sauce) and are watching the Royal Family's latest sonnets being read on the goggle-box. Time for a game!
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Dec 30, 2012

Matsui should be remembered as one of Japan's best

In 2001 Ichiro Suzuki shattered expectations about what Japanese players could and could not do in Major League Baseball.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2012

Rightwing minister seeks to radically revamp education system

Conservative education minister Hakubun Shimomura said he wants to fundamentally change Japan's postwar school system to teach children about the nation's historical traditions and culture.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 30, 2012

This year's highlights and lowlights

Media figures of the year:
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2012

2012: a year of low points

For many people in Japan, the past year felt like a doubly busy year. In 2011, life here seemed to be on hold, waiting for the next earthquake, tsunami or radiation disaster. But by the end of 2012, the regular rhythms, worries and needs of the country started to return to normal. The past year was a...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 29, 2012

Textile scholar advocates sustainable fashion

Yoshiko Wada, textile artist and scholar, believes the word "sustainable" in foods and fashion shares the same philosophical taste. "Both are a holistic approach, about health, environment, and the community that supports it. We must recapture and rethink how we are going to sustain our Earth and society,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2012

Club crowd uses salsa to slam archaic law

Earlier this month, several people were seen salsa dancing in frigid weather outside bustling Shibuya Station. They weren't there to show off, but to protest what they say is an outdated law that is being used to indiscriminately crack down on their favorite dancing spots.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 29, 2012

Matsui praised for impact on baseball

Kyodo, AFP-Jiji Fans in Japan were saddened Friday by the news of power-hitter Hideki Matsui's retirement from baseball at the age of 38, many wishing he would resume his career in the country.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2012

The risks of a U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan

The Obama administration appears determined to vacate Afghanistan as fast as possible. If the latest leaks are to be believed, officials are willing to leave as few as 6,000 U.S. troops behind after 2014, concentrated at the Bagram air base and a few other installations around Kabul. The mind boggles...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 29, 2012

F.A.'s weakness gives Ferguson free rein to run mouth

Alex Ferguson doesn't do embarrassment or apologies, so the Manchester United manager will not be bothered that he did himself, his club and football a public disservice with some ridiculous comments over the past week. He has an agenda and keeps to it.

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