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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 1, 2012

Naohiko Jinno: Master of public finance brings life to numbers

Born the grandson of a once-prosperous textile manufacturer in Urawa, Saitama Prefecture, Naohiko Jinno says that when he was growing up he was told by his mother, over and over again, that money was not important.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 1, 2012

An email memoir on a life in Japan

Life and Nihonjin: Dispatches From Japan, by Alex Kahney. Portland Books, 2011, Japan, 290 pp., $16.00 (paperback) Japan's habit of technological innovation alongside tradition has surfaced in recent literary fads such as the "Densha no Otoko" (Train Man) phenomenon. What started as an urgent plea for...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 1, 2012

Yonaguni: Japan's most westerly isle

A colossal, dark-skinned man rides along the sidewalk on a motorbike: no helmet, two small children aboard — a vision of life in the laconic Tropics. There are times here too on Yonaguni, the westernmost land mass in Okinawa Prefecture, when you see a curvaceous island woman in a vivid, flower-patterned...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 1, 2012

Sky Tree to offer world's highest bungee jump

Tokyo's newest and biggest visitor attraction, the 634-meter-high Tokyo Sky Tree in Sumida Ward, will open to the public on May 22. And if 11th-hour contract negotiations bear fruit, visitors to the Sky Tree may soon have the opportunity to plummet 430 meters (over 1,400 feet) toward terra firma, in...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2012

Cherry blossoms set to lift national mood

The nation was too stunned last year to partake in the national ritual of "hanami" cherry blossom viewing after the March 11 disasters left more than 18,000 dead or missing, but now people are in the mood.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 31, 2012

Chelsea unlikely to retain di Matteo

Roman Abramovich would love nothing more than for Chelsea to win the Champions League final.
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2012

Toshiba mulling investment in select segments of bankrupt Elpida: exec

A senior Toshiba Corp. executive said the company may invest in chip-maker Elpida Memory Inc., which filed for bankruptcy protection in February.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2012

Politicians battle Tepco hike

With Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s rate increase for businesses looming from Sunday, politicians were trying to somehow stop the move or at least make sure the utility won't resort to drastic actions against those customers unwilling to go along with the hike, such as cutting off their power.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 30, 2012

Helping Tokyo menus to get found in translation

One of the longtime complaints of English-speaking foreigners visiting restaurants in Japan is that few of them offer menus in English. Well, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is doing what it can to help eateries translate their menus into English and other languages, to help them become more hospitable...
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2012

Bill passed to lift temp workers' lot but no manufacturer dispatch ban

The Diet passed a bill Wednesday to amend the Workers Dispatch Law, aiming to improve the working conditions of temporary employees.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2012

AIJ head's Diet apology skips how cash vanished

The president of scandal-hit AIJ Investment Co., Kazuhiko Asakawa, admitted Tuesday in the Diet that he had covered losses in corporate pension funds and promised false returns to lure clients.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Mar 28, 2012

Japan gets new Android gadgets

I expect you've heard about as much as you can take regarding Apple's third-generation iPad over the past few weeks. It's an undeniably improved offering over the iPad 2, which itself is now a tempting buy at its new discounted price. But while the iPad is still the clear leader in the tablet space,...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Mar 28, 2012

Durant, Love friends from way back

Friday night's 289-point delight, a double-overtime home theater Thunder conquest of the Timberwolves, stimulated trampled memory sprouts of the captivating conflicts between the Nuggets — Alex English, Dan Issel and Kiki Vandeweghe — and the Spurs —George Gervin, Artis Gilmore and Larry Kenon....
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Mar 27, 2012

JET teacher outfoxes board, Dr. Savoie's Hague prescription: readers' responses

Some responses to Patrick Budmar's Feb. 28 Light Gist column, "Teacher outfoxes board, exposes bid to fleece JETs":
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Mar 27, 2012

Yasuo Sasano, manager of Kurumi Mansion

Yasuo Sasano, 62, is the manager of Kurumi Mansion, an extended-stay hotel in Tokyo's Koto Ward. Located on the Sumida riverside, across from Tokyo City Air Terminal, Kurumi Mansion's convenient position and reasonable prices have made it a magnet for savvy travelers. An added attraction is Sasano himself,...
EDITORIALS
Mar 27, 2012

Rare earths dispute now before WTO

Japan has joined the United States and the European Union in filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization over China's restrictions on its exports of rare earths — which are indispensable in the production of such high-tech products such as hybrid and electric cars, air conditioners and smartphones....
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 26, 2012

Diversity, inclusiveness should be the key words for Japan after March 11

March will forever be a month to remember in Japan. Already a year has gone by since that awful 11th of March when the world erupted in all sorts of ways around us. Given all the terrible things that happened then and continue to haunt us now, what are the values that we need to hold most dear? What...
EDITORIALS
Mar 26, 2012

Promoting Tohoku tourism

"Destination Tohoku," the tourism campaign to help promote and revive tourism in the Tohoku region, started March 18. The Japan Tourism Agency and the local governments and tourism industry in the region hope that the campaign will bring tourists back to the region, which was devastated by the 3/11 earthquake...
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 25, 2012

Sakura: Soul of Japan

"If I were asked to explain the Japanese spirit, I would say it is wild cherry blossoms glowing in the morning sun!" — Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), nativist thinker and poet
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Mar 25, 2012

Plum nuts about Ikegami

Whether you call the Prunus mume a plum or an apricot (it is related to both), the flowers are plum elegant on their leafless, shiny branches and help cheer us through winter's finale. To enjoy them to the full, I seek out Ikegami Baien Garden in southern Tokyo's Ota Ward, having hopped the Tokyu Ikegami...

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past