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JAPAN
Apr 27, 2012

Ozawa not guilty of fund conspiracy

Ichiro Ozawa, former president of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, was acquitted Thursday of conspiring with former aides to make false financial reports in his political fund management body Rikuzankai in 2004 and 2005.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Apr 20, 2012

For Iwate's Malloy, Hurricane Katrina provided valuable life lessons

Natural disasters can alter one's outlook on life in a positive way, and give an individual a greater sense of purpose or focus in everything he/she does.
BUSINESS / ASEAN-JAPAN SYMPOSIUM
Apr 7, 2012

ASEAN members see mixed future; ties with Japan entering new phase

Southeast Asia has emerged from the 2008-2009 global financial crisis with a robust economic expansion that, along with China and India, makes up a new growth center of the world economy. Still, major countries in the region foresee a mixed picture in the years ahead.
Reader Mail
Mar 22, 2012

Making renewable energy feasible

Renewable energy has a Siamese twin: energy-use reduction. The two are inseparable, at least with the technologies available in the foreseeable future. The good news is that last summer's (July and August) electricity consumption was down 14 percent (see http://kaden.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20110928_480111.html),...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 20, 2012

Reflections on 3/11: reporters' dispatches

Initial hopes turn to frustration In the immediate aftermath of 3/11 I penned several optimistic pieces for European newspapers predicting that the disaster might jolt Japan out of its long period of economic torpor and social ennui. I wouldn't write the same today.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2012

Mistaken presumptions about Assad's Syria

Syria's uprising against President Bashar Assad, which began peacefully in Damascus a year ago, has become increasingly brutal and splintered. As the death toll nears 9,000, calls for international intervention have increased — but what worked in places like Libya won't necessarily succeed in Syria....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 4, 2012

Japan's lonely people: Where do they all belong?

In recent weeks, three cases of kodokushi, or "lonely deaths," have been covered extensively in the news. One involved a Saitama Prefecture family of three whose bodies were found in their apartment several months after the electricity and gas were turned off for nonpayment. Police assumed they had starved....
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Feb 15, 2012

Cosmetics review website goes public with IPO

Tokyo-based Internet company Istyle Inc. announced on Feb. 3 its intention to list itself on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Market (Tosho Mothers). The planned date of the IPO is March 8, 2012.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2012

Genba, U.S. huddle anew over '06 base pact

Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba revealed Friday evening that Tokyo and Washington have been holding talks on reviewing the 2006 bilateral accord over the realignment of U.S. bases in Japan.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 29, 2012

Expect Hall of Famer Ryan to be a positive influence for Darvish

Did you watch on TV that news conference last week introducing Yu Darvish as a member of the Texas Rangers?
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 27, 2012

Vets have Shiga making strong bid for trip to Final Four

The Shiga Lakestars sit three games behind the first-place Ryukyu Golden Kings in the Western Conference standings, and the 17-9 club has demonstrated it has a legitimate shot at reaching the Final Four for the first time.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2012

Fight with leukemia reveals marrow-match difficulties

Last January, British national Aidan O'Connor, 46, purchased an old townhouse in the heart of historic Sasayama, a town known for its wild boar cuisine and large chestnuts.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 15, 2012

Nakajima, Aoki reminders that posting system is an inexact science

There were some strange goings-on in the attempts by Japanese stars Hiroyuki Nakajima and Norichika Aoki to leave their clubs and carve out careers in the major leagues via the posting system.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2012

Iranian oil imports to be cut to aid U.S. pressure: Azumi

Japan is ready to reduce crude oil imports from Iran to help Washington put pressure on Tehran to give up its nuclear program, Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Thursday in Tokyo.
LIFE
Jan 8, 2012

Fukushima lays bare Japanese media's ties to top

Is the ongoing crisis surrounding the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant being accurately reported in the Japanese media?
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Dec 29, 2011

Kaori Watanabe: Preparing for the trials of adulthood

"Tradition," and how one might relate to it, is often met with censure in contemporary art. It implies inheritance and repetition and is occasionally thought of as uncreative. None of this has to be true, but the tension between the tradition of nihonga (Japanese-style painting) and the desire to be...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2011

Imperial law revisited as family shrinks, Emperor ages

It's not an easy job, being the emperor of Japan.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2011

Cesium-laced baby formula sparks concern, but risk low

Mothers with young children, and the overall dairy industry, were quick in reacting Wednesday to news of cesium-tainted baby formula being sold in markets, even though the reported contamination levels were well below the government-set limit.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2011

Improvement in Indian-Pakistani trade ties bodes well for resolving conflict in South Asia

The summit meetings of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation are not the most exciting of gatherings and for years SAARC has been known for not delivering. But the latest summit held in the Maldives will be remembered, not for any substantive achievement of SAARC itself but for the fact...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 13, 2011

Media takes both sides of TPP debate

Last week Kyodo News conducted a survey on the public's understanding of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Japan is thinking of joining. The TPP basically constitutes a free-trade zone among member countries in the Pacific rim region, including the United States, but right now it is still in the negotiation...
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2011

Risk-averse Noda shuns hallway interviews

Words are often the strongest weapon in a politician's armory, but the slightest slip of the tongue can turn into a huge liability, as evidenced by the number of occasions prime ministers and Cabinet members have been caught out in the last six years.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 23, 2011

Documenting disaster

THE TOHOKU EARTHQUAKE and Tsunami, the Fukushima Nuclear Reactor, and How the World's Media Reported Them, by Eric Johnston. The Japan Times, 2011, 96 pp., ¥1,260 (paperback) Seven months after Japan's devastating March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters, the jury remains out on media reporting...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Oct 4, 2011

Japan needs less ganbatte, more genuine action

Ganbatte kudasai!
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2011

Chinese social media reshape image of Japan

While Chinese mass media tend to focus on negative images of Japan, social media have begun to provide more diversified perspectives since the 3/11 Great Tohoku Earthquake. Social media have allowed Chinese to get to know Japan in a more comprehensive manner.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 16, 2011

Nashida announces plan to step down after 2011 season

Masataka Nashida is stepping down as manager of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters at the end of the season.
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2011

METI aims to wean nation off nuclear power: Edano

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will take the initiative in promoting renewable energy so Japan will be less dependent on nuclear power, Yukio Edano said shortly after taking the METI portfolio.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 11, 2011

High profile case highlights the delicate issue of foster care in Japan

On Aug. 20, police arrested voice actress Shizuka Suzuike at her home in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, on suspicion of causing injuries that led to the death of 3-year-old Miyuki Watanabe in August 2010. At the time of her death, Miyuki had been in Suzuike's foster care for almost a year. The suspect denies...
EDITORIALS
Sep 1, 2011

Unsavory ties for an entertainer

Popular TV personality Shinsuke Shimada and his agency Yoshimoto Creative Agency Co. hastily called a news conference on the night of Aug. 23 to announce his retirement from the entertainment industry, effective immediately, because of his relationship with a gangster.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 16, 2011

Volunteers feel for Tohoku, but their duties lie in Nepal

In the physiotherapy ward at Katmandu's Bir Hospital, a middle-aged woman lay in bed, her back strapped to a big mechanical device. Rukmini Roka, 56, who suffers from chronic backache, struggled to stretch her legs as required by the special therapy machine.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight