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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 2, 2012

What it means to be 'Made in Japan'

"Made in Japan" is a such a simple phrase, yet it instantly evokes an image of exceptional design and high-quality production. Japan today is known for creating some of the most stylish, innovative and whimsical products in the world.
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2012

Sumitomo sees 'solar bubble' with rejection of nuclear power

As Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and billionaire Masayoshi Son lead a swarm of investors seeking to exploit Japan's solar power subsidies — the largest in the world — Sumitomo Corp. is betting on wind.
Reader Mail
Sep 30, 2012

Noda's about-face a plain shame

Regarding the Sept. 20 front-page article "Cabinet fails to OK new nuclear strategy": Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has been criticized for backtracking on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and on the government's recent pledge to aim for zero dependence on nuclear power by 2030. Backtracking on TPP...
Reader Mail
Sep 30, 2012

Game of chance sure beats war

Territorial disputes are pushing governments and the peoples of various Asian nations closer to the edge. The media is full of reports about governments urging calm, open-minded responses, with statements such as "I don't understand what the problem is." Talks between the concerned parties go nowhere,...
Reader Mail
Sep 30, 2012

Getting Taiwan on Japan's side

Regarding the Sept. 26 front-page article "50 Taiwanese boats intrude near Senkakus": I do support Japan in this conflict, but this is a major problem as long as China shows such lust for control. A brilliant way to stop this would be a 100-year-long agreement with Taiwan. It would be a needle in the...
Reader Mail
Sep 30, 2012

A demonstration of tolerance

Thank you very much for the Sept. 26 article "Muslim prayer room set up in Japanese shopping mall." As a Bangladeshi working for a Japanese company, I was so surprised to see the article when some people were making fun of the prophet for 1.5 billion Muslims because of a humiliating short film that sadly...
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Sep 30, 2012

Panasonic helped bring foreign players to Japan

Just as the Japan Basketball League is preparing to re-brand itself as the National Basketball League (NBL) for 2013-14, it is also coping with the planned loss of one of Japan's most successful basketball clubs, the Panasonic Trians.
Reader Mail
Sep 30, 2012

The only cool head in the room

Regarding the Sept. 20 editorial "Cooler heads needed over islet row": It is so right that cooler heads are urgently needed for the islet row in the East China Sea, but it is hard to make both China and Taiwan believe that Japan's "nationalization" of these uninhabited islands serves their interests...
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 30, 2012

Teleworking: Home sweet ... office

On March 13, 2011, just two days after the Great East Japan Earthquake, as massive aftershocks rocked the capital and fears of a radioactive cloud spreading over the country seemed all-too real, Yasuyuki Higuchi, president of a Tokyo-based software company, sat down and typed an email to his 2,200 staff....
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 29, 2012

Terry's legacy tainted by scandals

Four Games.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2012

Postelection fiscal cliff raises stakes for the world

As America's elections approach, with President Barack Obama slightly in front of his Republican challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, pollsters still rate the races for control of the presidency and the U.S. Senate too close to call, with the House of Representatives likely to remain in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2012

'Iron Sky'

Watching "Iron Sky", it felt like the entire point of this film was to include a scene where a slack-jawed New Yorker points to the sky, eyes wide with terror, and screams: "Space Nazis!"
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2012

Monstrous robotic behemoth brings anime fantasies to life

It's hard to say whether technology will ever catch up with sci-fi anime and realize an era when giant robots roam the earth, but for artist Kogoro Kurata and student Wataru Yoshizaki the future can't come soon enough.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 27, 2012

NHK uses carrot and stick approach to get your money

NHK finds new way to get paid, but there's also a new way to avoid paying.
Reader Mail
Sep 27, 2012

Why do producers finish last?

In his Sept. 23 letter, "The rationale for redistribution," Joseph Jaworski asks for a valid rationale to justify the redistribution of wealth. After all, no one would expect a burger flipper to make as much money as the CEO of that company.
Reader Mail
Sep 27, 2012

Indulgence that appears to work

In her Sept. 22 Japan Lite column titled "Japanese as a second body language," Amy Chavez devotes four paragraphs to the topic of Movement. It's an interesting and valid point: How do people in different cultures physically occupy and move in the three dimensional space that surrounds them?
Reader Mail
Sep 27, 2012

Nuclear assessment reliability

Michael Radcliffe's Sept. 20 letter, "Fear-mongering over fuel rods," makes dangerous and unsupported claims about the nuclear situation at Fukushima. Apparently we are to believe that a nuclear disaster is no big deal and that we should all just take a breather.
Reader Mail
Sep 27, 2012

More hazards for Okinawans

In his Sept. 23 letter, "Osprey will reduce the impact," Robert D. Eldridge emphasizes that Okinawa's burden of hosting the bulk of U.S. bases in Japan will be eased because of the medium-lift, tilt-rotor MV-22 "Osprey" aircraft's functional supremacy compared with the conventional CH-46 helicopter....
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Sep 26, 2012

Kreckovic facing huge rebuilding task in Osaka

The Japan Times periodically features interviews with personalities in the bj-league. Coach Zoran Kreckovic of the Osaka Evessa is the subject of this week's profile.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Sep 26, 2012

Get ready to broadcast video live online

Japan-based Cerevo has carved out an interesting business niche for itself as a provider of live-video-streaming hardware, most notably its Live Shell device released last year. That device enabled aspiring Internet broadcasters to stream live video directly from a camera to the Web without the need...
EDITORIALS
Sep 26, 2012

Ten years on, little progress made

Ten years have passed since then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il signed the Pyongyang Declaration (Sept. 17, 2002) with the eventual aim of normalizing a bilateral relationship. Despite the historic significance of the declaration, little progress has been...
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2012

Toyota plans slew of new hybrid models

Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday that it will introduce 21 new gasoline-electric hybrid models by the end of 2015 to meet the growing demand for fuel-efficient cars.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / LIGHT GIST
Sep 25, 2012

Grab your bentō, mat and a prime spot: It's undōkai

For the next few weekends all over Japan, mothers will be up at dawn preparing elaborate bentō, while fathers toting plastic mats will set off to school to claim a prime spot (or perhaps vice versa in some households). It's undōkai season!
EDITORIALS
Sep 25, 2012

Setting the DPJ on the right track

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was reelected as head of the Democratic Party of Japan on Sept. 21 with an overwhelming win over three other candidates. On Monday, he reogranized the party's leadership His most important task now should be to consolidate his party, which has suffered the departure of many...

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