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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 23, 2012

Scrutiny of Tohoku reconstruction funds needed

Last December there was a mild eruption of indignation when it was reported that some of the money earmarked for reconstruction of areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 would go to protect research whaling from interventionists like Sea Shepherd. Greenpeace and a few other organizations...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 23, 2012

Niigata doesn't appear ready for pro baseball franchise

Two years ago, I wrote a column about how I thought the city of Niigata appeared ready to support a Japanese baseball franchise team, should there ever be another expansion (as in the case of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2004) or if an existing Central or Pacific League club decided to move. Now,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 22, 2012

Filipino filmmaker-writer captures the stories of Asians on the fringe

Rey Ventura's prose startles with the subtle force of cinematic images: From the "rustling leaves" that signal the return of the rebel forces to the Aeta hill tribes in the Philippines to the "standing men" or day laborers populating the alleyways of the Kotobukicho district of Yokohama. As both filmmaker...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 21, 2012

Quest to save at-risk heritage homes mixes art and real estate

Every now and again news gets around of some architecturally important building that is about to be demolished. Invariably, there arises a chorus of calls for better public preservation measures and, invariably, those calls go unheeded.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2012

Companies reopen as anger eases in China

The widespread protests in China appeared to ease Thursday as Japanese companies were left with yet another stinging reminder that doing business in China comes with risks.
EDITORIALS
Sep 21, 2012

Delayed recovery moves BOJ

Apparently motivated by the European Central Bank's decision to buy unlimited amounts of government bonds and the U.S. Federal Reserve's third round of quantitative easing, the Bank of Japan announced new steps for monetary easing on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2012

Exports slide again on EU, China gloom

Exports fell 5.8 percent in August from a year earlier, declining for a third straight month on weak demand in Europe and China, resulting in a trade deficit of ¥754.1 billion, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Sep 20, 2012

Territorial row is a ticking time bomb for Asia

As the struggle to control disputed islands and valuable offshore resources has intensified in the East and South China Seas over the past few years, the United States has said repeatedly that it does not take sides in the disagreements among Asian countries over who has ownership rights.
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2012

BOJ surprises markets with additional easing measures

The Bank of Japan unexpectedly expanded its asset-purchase fund by ¥10 trillion on Wednesday, seeking to counter an increasing danger of contraction.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2012

Japanese companies become protest targets in China

As anti-Japan protests in China rage with no end in sight, Japanese businesses there are seeing their operations disrupted, while government officials seek to limit the damage to economic ties.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / ZEIT GIST: UPDATE
Sep 18, 2012

U.S. judge dismisses rapist's bid to halt case over Yokosuka assault

Australian Catherine Fisher is one step closer to seeing justice done after a Milwaukee Circuit Court judge decided earlier this month to hear the case against former U.S. serviceman Bloke T. Deans, who raped her in Japan in 2002.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 16, 2012

Japan's depressing increase in psychoactive drug use

In July, the British pharmaceutical behemoth GlaxoSmithKline reached a $3 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over the company's illegal marketing of several drugs in the United States. One of these, the antidepressant Paxil, was pushed by GSK salespersons for treating children, even...
Reader Mail
Sep 16, 2012

Worse off for reading the news

Regarding the Sept. 13 Kyodo article "Fukushima finds first child thyroid cancer after 3/11": What shameful journalism. Everyone with whom I've shared this article and who read only the headline assumed that a link had been proven between the nuclear reactor disasters at Fukushima and higher rates of...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 16, 2012

Sex samaritan keeps walking the walk

Self-styled "sex helper" Shingo Sakatsume has lost count of the abuses he claims the media and the authorities have heaped on him.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 15, 2012

Hillsborough report confirms truth

It is like blaming the passengers for an aircraft crash or the audience if a theater's ceiling collapsed.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Sep 15, 2012

Japan, Israel tied up after first day of Davis Cup World Group playoff

Japan and Israel are deadlocked 1-1 following the opening day of play in their Davis Cup World Group playoff at Ariake Colosseum on Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2012

Nomura taps new Americas execs

Nomura named Samir Patel and Michael Rietbrock coheads of the brokerage's equity business in the Americas to replace Ciaran O'Kelly as the firm recalibrates its overseas operations.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 13, 2012

Ozone plugs hole left by Coleman at Tokyo Jazz Festival

Improvisation has long been a key part of the jazz musician's repertoire, and the organizers of last weekend's Tokyo Jazz Festival (TJF) found themselves having to do some of their own improvising at the eleventh hour when news came through that headline act Ornette Coleman was unable to fly due to poor...
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / ANALYSIS
Sep 12, 2012

Island disputes could cost Tokyo 2020 Olympics

With the vote to determine the host of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games less than one year away, Tokyo's chances of landing the global extravaganza could slip away in the wake of Japan's ongoing involvement in island disputes with South Korea, China, Russia and Taiwan.
COMMENTARY
Sep 12, 2012

New ships give China's navy a stronger punch

In the latest step in its naval modernization and expansion, China recently announced that it is accelerating serial production of an advanced destroyer. This will tilt the regional balance of power at sea in its favor and put it in a stronger position to enforce its sovereignty claims over Taiwan and...
BASKETBALL
Sep 12, 2012

Cinq Reves add veteran center Jones

Veteran center Jonathan Jones, whose professional career has included stops in the now-defunct CBA, Germany, Finland, Cyprus, Israel and South Korea, will play for the expansion Tokyo Cinq Reves this season. The bj-league team made the announcement on Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2012

Syria war reporting risky, and a hard story to sell in Japan

When photojournalist Shin Yahiro heard compatriot video reporter Mika Yamamoto was killed in late August in Aleppo, he was not surprised, because he too has come under fire while covering the civil war raging in Syria.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Sep 11, 2012

Darvish, others have decisions to make ahead of next WBC

The big news last week was that the Japanese Professional Baseball Players Association decided to compete in next year's World Baseball Classic.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers