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EDITORIALS
Nov 15, 2012

Improving university education

Education Minister Makiko Tanaka, who ignored the proper procedure, bears heavy responsibility for the recent confusion over the approval of the opening of three new universities. But apart from her problematic behavior, she has raised some valid points. It is high time that the education ministry made...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2012

Red-back spider found in Kawasaki

A poisonous red-back spider was found in the garden of a home in Kawasaki, suggesting the invasive alien arachnid is creeping closer to Tokyo.
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2012

Tokyo wary of looming Beijing helm change

China is on the verge of installing a new leader, presumably Vice President Xi Jingping, to lead the nation for the coming decade at a time when its economy and society are showing strains and its growing military expansion and tensions with its neighbors, particularly Japan, are promising turbulence...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Nov 14, 2012

Brown wasn't only problem for Lakers

Sam Smith covered the Chicago Bulls for the Chicago Tribune for nearly 25 years, including all six of the team's NBA titles with Michael Jordan. He is the author of the best-selling book "The Jordan Rules" and now writes for bulls.com. He was honored with the Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Media...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Nov 13, 2012

Designer Cynthia Rowley hits the double digits

New York-based designer Cynthia Rowley celebrated her brand's 10th year in Japan with a special talk show and cocktail dinner for VIP guests during Tokyo Fashion Week. The Barrington, Illinois, native's name has long been on the lips of American sportswear fans with her bright and feminine takes on casual-to-cocktail-style...
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2012

'Senkaku' label gives bigeye tuna new cachet in Tsukiji

The Senkaku territorial row may be hurting the economies of Japan and China, but at least one company is making money out of it.
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Nov 13, 2012

Today's J-blip: Kasō Taishō's YouTube channel

Give it up for oshogatsu's amateur hour and the common (creative) man.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 13, 2012

Failing students: Japanese universities facing reckoning or reform

I had been warned of the "Circus," yet still I was unprepared.
Reader Mail
Nov 11, 2012

Is 'realistic' view a path of folly?

Regarding the Nov. 3 article "U.S. needs Japan to remain nuclear, expert says": John Hamre, CEO of the pro-nuclear Center for Strategic and International Studies," tells us: "There can't be any romanticism about alternative energy. If you're going to be a modern, sophisticated economy, you have to address...
Reader Mail
Nov 11, 2012

Primary goal of any language

Regarding Shihoko Goto's Nov. 7 article, "Japan as a role model for civility": It would be wise to bear in mind a distinction between volitional "civility", and the Japan-centric tradition as a compliance culture with a hive mentality. This is worth mentioning because transitory societal behaviors can...
Reader Mail
Nov 11, 2012

Safeguarding territorial integrity

Regarding the Nov. 7 Kyodo article "Japan, China engage in war of words at ASEM summit": It is disgusting that Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda talked about honoring international law. Did Japan care about international law when its soldiers massacred millions of Chinese civilians during its occupation...
Reader Mail
Nov 11, 2012

Own version of history and law

In the article "Japan, China engage in war of words at ASEM summit," Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is quoted as telling Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi: "Historically speaking and in line with international law, there is no doubt that the Senkakus are an integral part of our territory and Japan...
Reader Mail
Nov 11, 2012

Time to end Japan's 'occupation'

Regarding the Nov. 7 editorial "Stoking Okinawan anger": I am an 86-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran who fought in the Pacific theater of operation during World War II.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 10, 2012

Okinawa — a different world with its own time zone

After waiting 10 days on Amami Oshima for Typhoon No. 21, it finally blew in. All week long, locals had dropped by our boat to inform us that it was not safe tied up where it was — at the guest berth at the sea station. But when we inquired where we could move it to, no one knew. We couldn't leave...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 9, 2012

Veteran leadership powers Fukuoka's run to relevance

The Rizing Fukuoka have been on a roll over the past few weeks, winning five straight games and bouncing back from a three-game slide to start the season.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Nov 9, 2012

Thanksgiving dinner at Four Seasons Chinzan-so; Gramercy Tavern chef at Park Hyatt; Armani/Ristorante anniversary plan

Thanksgiving dinner at Chinzan-so The Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so in Tokyo will offer a special Thanksgiving dinner at its casual restaurant Seasons Bistro, from Nov. 16 to 22.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 9, 2012

Jazzing up the industrial city

On one side you have Montreux, a Swiss resort town on the banks of Lake Geneva that has seen many famous residents over the years, and which has been immortalized in the lyrics of the Deep Purple song "Smoke On The Water." On the other you have a Japanese city in the heart of the world's most heavily...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 9, 2012

Savor Hokkaido's warming winter menu

Autumn in Hokkaido is a comma before the long period of white winter. Autumn's food season too scurries almost directly from summer to wintry tastes, so here's a look at how the locals keep warm, starting in November and feasting all the way into May.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Nov 9, 2012

Kyushu 2012 — once more, two yokozuna heading the rankings

For the first time since 2009, the Kyushu Basho, Nov. 11-25, will see two yokozuna featured on the ranking sheet. Hakuho is in the slightly more prestigious east slot, with Harumafuji over on the west side of the banzuke.
Reader Mail
Nov 8, 2012

Limited liberty is not the solution

Regarding the Nov. 4 article "Crimes linked to U.S. forces spur calls for (Status of Forces Agreement) revision": Here's a novel idea — put all establishments that serve alcohol off limits to U.S. service personnel as well as civilian employees of the U.S. government.
Reader Mail
Nov 8, 2012

Unable to finish what he starts

I agree with Education Minister Makiko Tanaka's speculation that retiring Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara is an "out of control senior" (Oct. 27 Kyodo brief "Ishihara 'out of control': Tanaka"). Japan is rife with geriatrics running the country and the economy into the ground. Maybe it's unavoidable, considering...
Reader Mail
Nov 8, 2012

Violence in the name of faith

Regarding Greg Blossom's Oct. 18 letter, "Christianity not without violence": The barely disguised contempt that Blossom displays toward people of faith, and toward Christians in particular, in his "critique" of Jennifer Kim's Oct. 7 letter ("Tolerance for hurt feelings") suggests the sort of intolerance...
Reader Mail
Nov 8, 2012

Retreating from the car boom

The Oct. 29 front-page article "Declining Japan loses once-hopeful champions" must be seen partially as U.S.-style debunking of the Democratic Party of Japan for being less servile to the United States than the Liberal Democratic Party had been when it was in power.
Reader Mail
Nov 8, 2012

Resist purchase of the Osprey

As for the Oct. 31 Kyodo article "Some officials argue for equipping (Self-Defense Forces) with Ospreys": As if to thumb its nose at Okinawa's vociferous opposition to deployment of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, the central government is examining...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 8, 2012

No problems with Nisennenmondai's contradictions

There's a basic disconnect at the heart of Tokyo's Nisennenmondai. A series of small contradictions run through nearly all aspects of what the instrumental trio does, but they add up to make it one of the most intriguing bands to come out of Japan's underground and experimental-rock scene in the past...
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2012

Japan's telecom challenge

Competition in the mobile phone industry has entered a new phase as an increasing number of people use smartphones to enjoy access to the Internet, movies and games. The survival of mobile phone carriers now depends on their ability to provide high-speed transmission services, which are necessary to...
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2012

Ms. Tanaka's irrational decision

On Nov. 2, education minister Makiko Tanaka overturned the recommendations made the previous day by a ministry advisory body and decided not to approve the opening of three new universities in fiscal 2013.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 8, 2012

China's Hokkaido forest grab all about water

Morihiro Oguma's phone rang every day with calls from brokers representing foreign investors who wanted to buy his Japan Mineral water bottling business.
SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Nov 7, 2012

Celebration routines out of control

Former longtime Japan resident Dave Wiggins, who was a sports columnist and television analyst in Tokyo, is now a sports writer based in Vero Beach, Florida. He will be contributing a bi-monthly column on the North American sports scene to The Japan Times beginning today. Wiggins, who was a TV sportscaster...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear