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Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Apr 15, 2012

Aoki plays starring role in Evessa triumph over Grouses

The post-Lynn Washington era officially began on Saturday, and the Osaka Evessa defeated the Toyama Grouses 85-81 in the bj-leaue series opener.
Reader Mail
Apr 15, 2012

Too soon to the back burner

Regarding Takamitsu Sawa's April 10 article, "Energy conservation is key": I agree that more conservation is of utmost importance, but I don't see Japanese companies, the Japanese government and the Japanese people doing much.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Apr 15, 2012

U.S. forces keep the world in their sights

Complex issues often become much easier to understand when they are approached with the benefit of a broader perspective.
Reader Mail
Apr 15, 2012

Disturbingly inexact language

In response to the April 12 Kyodo brief "Noda to send Edano to Fukui," I wish to pose one question to industry minister Yukio Edano: What does he and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda mean when they confirm that reactors 3 and 4 of Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi nuclear power plant "basically" meet the government's...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 15, 2012

Are women really on the ascendancy as some media proclaim?

'Joshi bakari ga naze tsuyoi?" ("Why is it that only women are strong?") asks Aera (Mar. 26). The question may be a valid one, at least when limited to international sports events, where Japan's women over the past several years have been outshining their male counterparts as they excel in soccer, women's...
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2012

Rocket failure an embarrassment for North

North Korea on Friday defied warnings from the international community and launched a rocket — which then exploded about a minute after takeoff — scattering debris over the Yellow Sea off South Korea.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 14, 2012

Canadian black-belt takes pride in action not words

For Robert Hughes, the shortest answer is doing. From his early determination to procure a traditional Japanese sword to his more recent work with Japanese students in the poverty-stricken streets of the Philippines, Hughes, 54, has spent over 30 years in Japan allowing his actions to speak eloquently...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 13, 2012

Asano goes for an A-1 hit with 'Battleship' film

History often repeats itself in the most interesting ways. In 1945, principal members of the Japanese government signed an agreement for total surrender of the country's armed forces to the United States atop the famed USS Missouri battleship, also known as the "Mighty Mo." Sixty-seven years later, audiences...
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2012

Threat of monster tsunami poses ominous possibilities

The government's revised quake-tsunami estimates have sent shock waves across Japan and forced local municipalities to reassess their worst-case scenarios.
COMMENTARY
Apr 13, 2012

Russia's 'shadow market'

We should keep in mind that Russia is a country that has spent 70 years in an inhuman experiment aimed at arranging all sides of socioeconomic life within a giant centrally planned system. Even if this time is over, many features of today's life go on reminding us of this heavy and in many ways onerous...
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Apr 13, 2012

Postal privatization comes off back burner

The Lower House's passage Thursday of a bill to revise the Postal Privatization Law is a key development in an issue that was relegated to the back burner for years, experts said.
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2012

Japan open to talks on bolstering IMF

Japan is ready to hold talks with other nations, including the U.S. and China, on how to answer the International Monetary Fund's call for more resources to handle Europe's sovereign debt crisis, Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 13, 2012

'Momo e no Tegami (A Letter to Momo)'

By the time I entered college, my family had moved house seven times. The process of adjusting to a new place grew harder as I became a teenager, though by the time of our last move I was more accepting — or indifferent, take your pick. The difference between 13 and 17, in other words, was huge.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 13, 2012

Big in Taiwan: Island singer Atari makes his own Taipei exchange

Ever since his major debut in 2006, singer Kousuke Atari — known for his masterful fusion of shima-uta (folk songs native to Amami Oshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture) with J-pop — has done remarkably well outside Japan, particularly in mainland China and Taiwan.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 13, 2012

Ota exemplifies impact good role players can have

Role players rarely dominate the headlines. But smart coaches and successful player-personnel bosses build teams that get potent production from lesser-known players.
Reader Mail
Apr 12, 2012

Texting piece leaves bad taste

Even though the When East Marries West column for April 7, titled "Texting in the proper context," was short, I felt incredulous after reading it. I would have read it again, but the text-speak writing was atrocious and difficult to read. People don't actually text like that in English; it surely defeats...
Reader Mail
Apr 12, 2012

LDP cooperation is no surprise

Regarding the April 6 editorial "Consumption tax tizzy": The Liberal Democratic Party will indeed cooperate with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's hapless march backward to the bad old days of pork barrels and amakudari (the practice of former government officials finding employment in the private sector)....
Reader Mail
Apr 12, 2012

A respectable view of 'heaven'

Regarding Grant Piper's April 8 letter, "Expressions to avoid discomfort": Piper, just like Jennifer Kim ("Expressions of religious belief," April 5 letter) and Paul Gaysford ("Sentiment that does not console," April 1 letter), misunderstood the sentiments expressed by Megumi Watanabe ("Hope for 3/11...
CULTURE / Music
Apr 12, 2012

mfp "Mindful Beats Vol. 2"

"Mindful Beats Vol. 2" has one of the most simultaneously accurate and misleading album names of the past year. On a literal level, the title tells no lies — it is a second volume of beats made by Osaka producer Masaki Konagai, who records under the moniker of mfp. Yet it also makes it sound like an...
Reader Mail
Apr 12, 2012

Classifying nonsubstantive facts

Regarding the April 6 front-page article "First glaciers in Japan recognized": This is the silliest research I have ever seen. Of course, there is ice movement; it's happening on a micro-scale in every place with ice and, by implication, with permanent ice.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 12, 2012

Fluterscooter brings a new shine to the flute

Without knowing it, you may have already seen a concert featuring Andrea Fisher. The Juilliard School of Music graduate has performed with John Legend and Herbie Hancock, and has spent time in the studio with hip-hop mainstays such as 50 Cent and Wiz Khalifa.
Reader Mail
Apr 12, 2012

Ideas that could stand debate

Regarding Grant Piper's April 8 letter, "Expressions to avoid discomfort": The question is not whether an expression is the result of "erroneous cosmology." Some of us really do not believe in such unscientific notions as God, heaven and hell, however such notions may be expressed cosmologically or poetically....
CULTURE / Art
Apr 12, 2012

Voina points to the art of dissent

The photo shows an unshaven Russian glaring into the distance from behind prison bars. It's a striking shot, so it is hardly surprising that when it was printed on a 4×6-meter banner and unfurled at an entrance to the 20-km exclusion zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the police officers...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 12, 2012

Voina points to the art of dissent

The photo shows an unshaven Russian glaring into the distance from behind prison bars. It's a striking shot, so it is hardly surprising that when it was printed on a 4×6-meter banner and unfurled at an entrance to the 20-km exclusion zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the police officers...
EDITORIALS
Apr 11, 2012

Disasters impact land prices

For the fourth consecutive year, Japan's land prices have fallen. Prices decreased an average 2.6 percent in 2011, but the decline was smaller than the 3.0 percent in 2010 as the economy bounced back from the 3/11 disasters. Commercial land prices slipped 3.1 percent in 2011, less than the 3.8 percent...
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2012

Vaunted missile shield more for show than protection

With Aegis destroyers and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles deployed and standing by, Japan's military appears ready to shoot down any debris from North Korea's rocket — or even the rocket itself — should it threaten the country this week.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 10, 2012

Rape victim marks 10 years on lonely crusade for justice

It surely isn't very often that elite Japanese bureaucrats hear the words to the national anthem quoted at them — by a foreigner. Earlier this year, Australian national Catherine Fisher says she pulled the words of "Kimigayo" from her head during a frustrating meeting with officials from the ministries...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2012

Toyota, Nissan primed for comeback

Automakers were among the companies most heavily damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami last year, but the road to recovery was fast and their plants are getting ready to make up for lost time.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’