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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 2, 2010

Toilets: Japan power behind throne

Japan, the state-of-the-art high-tech powerhouse that gave the world manga and sushi, has also achieved prowess in a more fundamental feature of daily life: the toilet.
EDITORIALS
Nov 1, 2010

No war orphans to visit this year

Many Japanese children became separated from their parents in northeastern China in the confusing days toward the end of World War II and were left behind. They are the children of those who immigrated to Manchukuo, Japan's puppet state. These children became victims of Japan's wartime policy of sending...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 1, 2010

Imae shows maturity in second trip to Japan Series

NAGOYA — Almost every other comment out of Toshiaki Imae's mouth has suggested this season's Japan Series is totally different from the 2005 edition.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2010

U.S. voters set to jump from frying pan to the fire

HONG KONG — Is the United States heading for disaster when the country goes to the polls Tuesday to elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate?
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Oct 31, 2010

Deal called biggest since '97 Kyoto pact

NAGOYA — Nearly two decades after its creation, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity has finally realized one of its main goals.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 31, 2010

Japan's Afghanistan news blackout in the spotlight

Veteran freelance journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka was finally freed last month by kidnappers after five months of captivity in Afghanistan. Though the Japanese media reported the kidnapping when it happened last April, and then Tsuneoka's release on Sept. 6, any details about his confinement or what he was...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Oct 31, 2010

Okinawan garden majesty

The world's first gardens may well have been made of coral, natural clusters of underwater beauty that could be glimpsed through the transparent water. Perfectly tone-coordinated, balanced and formed, they were refined by nature to a degree that may have suggested the divine.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 30, 2010

Exploring the back of your mind

It had been in the back of my mind for a while now. I had to call an old Japanese friend to thank her for a gift she sent me recently. The problem was, I couldn't remember her phone number.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 29, 2010

DiCillo opens the doors

Tom DiCillo is a stubbornly independent director whose career began as a cameraman on Jim Jarmusch's "Stranger Than Paradise" (1984). With films like "Johnny Suede" (1991) and "Living In Oblivion" (1995), DiCillo worked with such rising stars as Brad Pitt, Steve Buscemi and Catherine Keener. Curiously...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Oct 28, 2010

Ryokan owner Kazushi Sato

Kazushi Sato, 63, is the owner of Tsurunoyu Onsen, a hot-spring ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in Akita Prefecture. Nestled within beech woods deep in the mountains, Tsurunoyu is surrounded by natural beauty — bears wander freely, feasting on mountain grapes, and edible wild mushrooms grow in enough...
COMMENTARY
Oct 27, 2010

Brace for the race to put bases on the moon

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) has just released the full data on last year's mission to find out whether there are usable amounts of water on the moon, and the news is good. There is plenty of frozen water on the moon, plus frozen gases like methane, oxygen and hydrogen that would...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 27, 2010

Learning to live without Japanese pronouns

While I was managing a gift shop at Expo '70 in Osaka, a friend arranged the loan of a Daihatsu Hijet mini pickup. It was probably a mid-1960s model, so small that the only way I could squeeze into the cab was to remove the seat and use a folded beach towel as a cushion.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Oct 26, 2010

App unlocks augmented reality embedded in images

Dentsu leapfrogs past QR codes with an image recognition app that makes use of augmented reality on mobile phones.
COMMENTARY
Oct 26, 2010

Asia needs to make wiser use of its water

SINGAPORE — Photographed from satellites in space, Asia and the other great continents are a spectacular sight. One of the most unique features of the panoramic view is water, in both liquid and frozen forms, which covers about 75 percent of Earth's surface.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Oct 26, 2010

Plans for public space need the public's input

Dear Prime Minister Naoto Kan,
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2010

Underfunded NGOs raising domestic issues

NAGOYA — The United Nations COP10 conference is focusing on how to reduce biodiversity loss globally. In addition to formal negotiations, there are hundreds of seminars on everything from protecting marine life to accessing genetic resources on land occupied by indigenous people.
EDITORIALS
Oct 25, 2010

Reason for hope in Afghanistan

Nearly one-quarter of the ballots cast in parliamentary elections held last month in Afghanistan have been thrown out because of fraud. Remarkably, that is a good thing. While the scale of the attempt to manipulate the elections is depressing, the fact that election officials still take their jobs seriously...
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2010

Still a closed country?

At the end of September a first group of 18 refugees from Myanmar arrived in Japan as part of a commendable government initiative to take in roughly 90 such immigrants over the next three years. These members of the Karen ethnic group have been living for many years in a refugee camp in Thailand after...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2010

Werewolves prowl in a dystopian future

The vampire novel seems to have taken over the imaginations of young adults. Inspired by the success of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its spinoff series "Angel," and, in turn, inspiring shows like "True Blood," Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series is a big seller across the globe.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 24, 2010

Nibutani, Hokkaido: Travel, hospitality and the Ainu identity

Ainu are the indigenous people of Hokkaido, the Kuril Islands and much of Sakhalin. However, their culture in Hokkaido, dating back to the 13th century, was decimated after Japanese settlers began flocking to the huge northern island in the 1800s.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 24, 2010

Some recent adventures in intellectual property

Much has been made in the Japanese press about the commercial ramifications of the research in palladium- catalyzed cross couplings in organic systems that won Eiichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki the Nobel Prize in chemistry this year. The long-term studies by the pair and an American colleague, Richard...
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 24, 2010

Key facts and figures

Key data drawn from numerous quoted sources here succinctly suggest the enormous range of problems and issues facing delegates to COP10 — and the world.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2010

Mysteries through the eons

While traveling alone on horseback through a gloomy forest near Lake Biwa, northeast of Kyoto, Justice Ministry official Sugawara Akitada suddenly comes upon a filthy, shivering urchin who appears to be deaf and mute.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 23, 2010

Deplorable behavior tarnishes Rooney's reputation forever

LONDON — Thick, greedy, mercenary, unfaithful to his wife, photographed urinating and smoking outside a bar, has brought Manchester United into disrepute by his off-field actions, injured and hopelessly out of form; Wayne Rooney's resume for the second half of 2011 is surely one that even he must look...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2010

Entrepreneurs' best friend growing long in the tooth

HONG KONG — Standard Chartered Bank has an advertisement currently running on television that is eye-catching and thought-provoking. Its central message is that "not everything that counts in life can be counted" and that the bank wants to be "here for people; here for progress; here for the long run;...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2010

Senkaku challenge surmountable: departing U.S. Forces commander

Lt. Gen. Edward Rice, before he steps down next week as the commander of U.S. Forces Japan, said Thursday it is natural for any country, including Japan and China, to face bilateral "challenges" and expressed optimism the two countries will be able to move forward in a positive direction.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2010

Salarymen feeling pressure of elderly care

For Itsuo Kandatsu, cooking three meals a day is a task he performs for his wheelchair-using mother and disabled brother. But the 49-year-old Tokyo resident isn't a house husband.

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