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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 14, 2009

From the New York streets to the king of Japanese pop

Joey Carbone has been bugging me for the last 20 years. In fact, he was bugging me even before I met him. Like a constant itch, he gets inside your head and stays there.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2009

Climate change mitigation by low-income countries

MUMBAI, CITIZENS NEWS NETWORK — The economies and resultant emissions of low-income countries are growing at a rapid pace. China and India are already among the top five greenhouse-gas emitters. The rest of the world may strive to stabilize its emissions at 1990 levels, but if China and India continue...
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 8, 2009

When scandal strikes a firm

Japanese culture and its scapegoat-seeking media often make bad times far worse for companies compromised by events. But for foreign firms less familiar with the country's societal norms, such problems can easily spiral completely out of control.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Mar 7, 2009

Couple's married life off to auspicious start

When Joyce Lam took Koji Kobayashi to meet her parents in Hong Kong in January 2008, they reminded her that, as the Year of the Golden Pig, 2007 was the most auspicious year to tie the knot in 60 years.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Q&A
Mar 7, 2009

Cultural monument or replaceable relic?

Debate is heating up between Japan Post Holdings and the internal affairs ministry over whether to raze or preserve a landmark building in front of JR Tokyo Station.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 7, 2009

Yes, we can, can't we?

I came home the other night and turned on the genkan light, which recently has taken to long pauses of darkness before deciding to come on. So much for the speed of light.
JAPAN / Q&A
Mar 5, 2009

Who gets the cash handouts, and how?

The Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc rammed legislation related to the fiscal 2008 second extra budget through the Diet Wednesday amid strong protests from the opposition parties.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2009

There's no deleveraging the illusions of politicians

BALI, Indonesia — In response to the current financial and economic turmoil, U.S. politicians wanted to be seen as "doing something" legislatively, even if costly and ineffective, in order to endear themselves to those voters who received benefits. This is evident in that the "stimulus spending" provides...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 1, 2009

Our woodland trust just keeps on growing

Last month, thanks to a very generous donation, we were able to add another whopping 119,088 sq. meters to our Afan Woodland Trust down the road from my home in the Nagano Prefecture hills outside Kurohime. This brings our total to 296,070 sq. meters — about twice the area we had when we set up the...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 1, 2009

Japanese fans geared up for World Baseball Classic

It is the World Baseball Classic, but WBC here could stand for "Whopping Big Crowds" or "Wildly Boisterous Cheering." The Japanese fans are going bonkers over Team Samurai Japan, with the No. 1 attraction being Seattle Mariners star Ichiro Suzuki.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 27, 2009

An insider's view, open to the masses

The performing-arts world in Tokyo seems to flourish in spring, with numerous (and similarly named) events taking place within the city. The Tokyo arts crowd is spoiled for choice with the Theater/Festival (formerly The Tokyo International Arts Festival), The Tokyo Performing Arts Festival and Tokyo...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 27, 2009

House legend Farley can't shake the habit

When the house scene exploded in Britain in the late 1980s, Terry Farley could surely not have predicted that he would one day play a four-hour set in Tokyo at the age of 50.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 21, 2009

Living life like a fairy tale

It's 5:40 a.m. Dawn has yet to peek over the mountains, and the forest surrounding Shonenji temple in Takachiho-cho still waits for morning.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 20, 2009

Nakagawa providing spark for streaking Takamatsu

When steady center George Leach sustained a season-ending knee injury in mid-January, it appeared the Takamatsu Five Arrows faced an uphill battle to remain one of the bj-league's elite teams.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Feb 19, 2009

Time for bj-league to take stock, make necessary changes

Baseball and soccer are well-established professional sports in Japan. And now it's time for the bj-league, Japan's first professional basketball league, to take necessary steps to earn its place as an established, respected league.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 18, 2009

Hawkins as elusive off court as he was on it

PHOENIX — For weeks and weeks I called every person I thought who might be able to put me in touch with Arizona's first sports superstar.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 12, 2009

Japan as the catalyst for improving global public health

What place should Japan occupy in the world? This existential question has troubled Japan's leaders for the past two decades. Military leadership is restricted by the Constitution. Economic might has lost its glimmer. Cultural influence, epitomized by "cool Japan," has yet to take center stage.
COMMENTARY
Feb 12, 2009

Secretary Clinton's No. 1 mission is to reassure allies

HONOLULU — We welcome the news that Hillary Clinton's first overseas trip as U.S. secretary of state will be to Japan, Korea, Indonesia and China. While her visit to Beijing will likely garner the lion's share of attention and her visit to Indonesia will generate the most speculation (can a visit by...
EDITORIALS
Feb 12, 2009

Mr. Aso playing both sides

Prime Minister Taro Aso has flip-flopped again, this time over the privatization of the nation's postal services. As prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi had exploited this as the main issue in the September 2005 Lower House election, enabling the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 11, 2009

Love not an option as the big chill settles in

A phrase heard often this winter is samusa ga mini shimiru (寒さが身に沁みる, the chill settles right into the bones), as everything — from the weather to office temperature to the predicted wintry fukeiki (不景気, bad economy, bad times) of Valentine’s Day chocolate sales — seems...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Feb 11, 2009

Clearing up digital photography

Look sharp: In digital photography, cameras that are small and easy to use tend not to take good pictures in low light and to have a crimped dynamic range. A camera's dynamic range defines how much detail it can capture in shadowy areas of the picture and brightly lit parts at the same time. The better...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 8, 2009

World Baseball Classic's controversial 13th-inning rule problematic

The Steering Committee of World Baseball Classic, Inc., has approved a controversial rule to help break a potential tie in a long extra-inning game during next month's WBC tournament, and it does not sit well with at least one Italian fan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 7, 2009

The venom of the expatriate's choice

In a corner of my office, next to a shelf containing such diverse items as a biography of Willie Mays, Quirk and Greenbaum's "A Grammar of Contemporary English," and Carole Bloom's "All About Chocolate," sits a polyethylene snake, 45 cm tall.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Feb 7, 2009

Long-shot meeting, longtime love

After training under a dyer for six months in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, art student Satoko Yamagishi decided she needed a break. In October 1998 she went to Montreal, where she met Philippe Lavoie, a Canadian computer chip designer studying Japanese.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2009

'Anime,' 'manga' grab spotlight at major exhibition

At the Japan Media Arts Festival, prepare to jet into the sky like Superman and dance with speakers blasting at your hips, as the nation's largest showcase of cutting-edge "anime," "manga" and high-tech arts gets more interactive.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past