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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 6, 2012

Director flirts with film history in 'The Artist'

With hindsight, successful ideas always look brilliant, but that doesn't mean everyone involved viewed them as such from the outset. That's especially true in the world of film finance, where producers are loathe to gamble with people's money, and the best approach is usually the one that worked last...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 6, 2012

Brazell hands spotlight to Ando as Tigers down Swallows

Craig Brazell certainly earned the right to share the stage with teammate Yuya Ando, he just didn't feel up to it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 6, 2012

Kita-Kamakura En: Kaiseki course as delicate as blossom

It's been a long countdown, but finally spring has liftoff. The buds and leaves are out, and so are those all-important cherry blossoms. And there is no finer way of appreciating them than from a table with a good menu and a choice vantage point.
Reader Mail
Apr 5, 2012

Inaccurate review of 'Dispatches'

Regarding the April 1 review of my book "Life and Nihonjin: Dispatches from Japan": This book is not a novel. How can a book reviewer make such a blunder? If I were a reviewer and I referred to Darwin's "The Origin of Species" as a novel about small creatures, what would anyone think of what else I had...
COMMENTARY
Apr 5, 2012

U.S. and allies move to counter Chinese power

The pieces of a new strategic kaleidoscope in the Asia-Pacific region are starting to fall into place as allies and security partners of the United States seek to deter China from using or threatening force to achieve its expansive aims, particularly in the South China Sea, which forms the maritime heart...
Reader Mail
Apr 5, 2012

Ill effects on bilateral relations

Klaus Herrle, in his March 29 letter, "Painful to see payoffs to U.S.," gets straight to the point of criticizing Washington's demand that Japan pay an additional $1 billion for transferring U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam and elsewhere.
Reader Mail
Apr 5, 2012

Why criminalize teachers?

The April 2 editorial "Institutional intolerance in Osaka" states that by March 27 the board had taken disciplinary actions against 32 teachers for not standing up and singing Japan's national anthem "Kimigayo." Prefectural Gov. Ichiro Matsui is quoted as having said, "It was good that criminals intent...
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2012

Foreign law firms aim for equal treatment

While major foreign law firms often have wide networks of offices that span the globe, those firms are allowed only one office in Japan because of a law that they say has blocked them from expanding in the world's third-largest economy.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2012

Tuesday's havoc laid to rare 'May Storm'

The strong storm Tuesday that left four people dead and disrupted transportation systems nationwide was triggered by a case of rare weather conditions occurring simultaneously.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 5, 2012

Ex-champ Sudo set for a second round

In a world saturated with celebrity culture, it's not hard to sometimes get a bit envious of some stars. It's understandable, because from a distance the fame, the sex appeal and seemingly endless amounts of cash can seem pretty alluring.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2012

Myth-busting Obama's foreign policy

Barack Obama campaigned as a visionary on foreign policy. He vowed to repair the breach with the Muslim world, make a major dent in global poverty, establish detente with dictators, arrest climate change and work toward global denuclearization.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Apr 3, 2012

Experience counts for something in JR embezzling incident

When the supervisor makes an (illegal) offer his subordinates can't refuse.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Apr 3, 2012

'Silver democracy' could undermine Tohoku's reconstruction

Dear Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda,
EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 2012

Support foreign health professionals

Thirty-five Indonesians and one Filipino have passed Japan's fiscal 2011 national qualification test to become certified care workers. The Indonesians came to Japan in 2008 and the Filipino in 2009 under Japan's economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with their countries. Despite all being professionally...
COMMENTARY
Apr 2, 2012

India and the Iran sanctions

Writing in The Diplomat on Feb. 20, R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state in the Bush administration, lamented the fact that India was going to continue to purchase oil from Iran.
EDITORIALS
Apr 2, 2012

Institutional intolerance in Osaka

In June 2011, Osaka Prefecture became the first prefecture to enact a by-law to make it obligatory for teachers at prefectural schools to stand up and sing the national anthem, "Kimigayo," at school ceremonies, although it did not provide for punishment. Osaka Ishin-no Kai (Osaka reform association),...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 2, 2012

Reconstructing Tohoku to fit today

The official and unofficial memorial ceremonies marking one year since the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the Tohoku region of Japan, killing some 16,000 people, are now past. The question remains though: Will Japan's politicians and bureaucrats come together and heed a simple...
Reader Mail
Apr 1, 2012

The failure to tend to animals

Regarding the March 28 front-page Kyodo article "Noda draws on Fukushima lesson": I would like to add to the series of flashy remarks made by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
Reader Mail
Apr 1, 2012

Overcoming digital disconnect

Regarding the March 28 editorial "Challenges for electronics makers": Things have only just started to change in Japan, so I'd like to believe that this is just a confusing transition phase that will be overcome after much debate and hard bargaining.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 1, 2012

'Gon' anime; teachers' drama 'Blackboard'; CM of the week: Orangina

Among the newest additions to Japan's anime menagerie is the eponymous star of "Gon" (TV Tokyo; Mon., 6 p.m.), a cute dinosaurlike critter who is totally instinctual, which, in the world he inhabits, makes him (her?) even more of a troublemaker than your average anime character.
BASKETBALL
Apr 1, 2012

Phoenix continue march toward top spot in East

The scintillating hunt for the top spot in the bj-league's Eastern Conference is still, technically, up for grabs. Though it doesn't look like the reigning champs have any intention of relinquishing their hold on the top spot.
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.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Mar 31, 2012

Takamatsu's plight reflects poorly on league

The Takamatsu Five Arrows are awful, so bad that they don't even pretend to be a cheap imitation of a mediocre franchise.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2012

Singer finds fusion in Japan's cultural dichotomy

Japan's fusion of the traditional and modern fascinated musician Yara Eddine as a young child when she learned about the country at a school in Canada. Fifteen years later, Eddine witnessed this integration firsthand.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Mar 30, 2012

Streamlined offerings from new adult anime titles

The packages get a little smaller for adult anime.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years