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JAPAN
Mar 12, 2012

Emperor, Noda attend Tokyo memorial service

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Emperor Akihito attended a national memorial service Sunday in Tokyo to mark the first anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, remembering the people who perished and consoling the survivors of Japan's worst calamity since World War II.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2012

Thousands rally at Hibiya Park

Thousands converged on Tokyo's Hibiya Park over the weekend to hold candlelight services, play music and offer prayers to commemorate the first anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, one of the largest of many such rallies and gatherings across the capital.
COMMENTARY
Mar 12, 2012

Foreign aid: sop to conscience and bad policy

When India selected 126 French Rafale fighter aircraft (£13 billion) over the U.K.-manufactured Typhoon involving a consortium of European countries, some British politicians and commentators demanded that aid to "ungrateful" India, a fast-rising economic power, be stopped.
COMMENTARY
Mar 12, 2012

Delusional pretexts to attack Iran

The last time U.S. President Barack Obama met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it was obvious that the two men distrusted and despised each other. This time (March 5), their mutual dislike was better hidden, but the gulf between them was still as big, especially on the issue of Iran's alleged...
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2012

If you really need a seat, say so

Regarding the March 4 Kyodo article "Elderly force subway to rethink 'all priority seats' policy": The policy of setting aside priority seats on trains is often criticized for reinforcing discriminatory attitudes toward the elderly and pregnant women, as the system literally demarcates and even isolates...
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2012

A strong and big-hearted people

Despite the Great East Japan Earthquake of one year ago, I am happy to be living here. There are advantages and disadvantages of every place, and I am not always a happy foreigner here. But the 3/11 disasters revealed Japan to the world as the land of the calm, the steadfast, the united; the land the...
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2012

Energizing the new 'wasteland'

Regarding the March 6 article "Tsuruga nuke plant sits atop major fault": Japan has a chance to really shine again. Give up nuclear power and show the world that it is possible to generate power to run a country from alternative sources such as solar and wind.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2012

Filipinos find career switch pays off

Like many Kesennuma residents who worked in the fisheries industry on Miyagi Prefecture's coast, Charito Ito lost her job when the processing firm she had worked at for 14 years was wiped out by tsunami last March.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2012

869 Tohoku tsunami parallels stun

When the Great East Japan Earthquake hit Tohoku on March 11 last year, quake researcher Masanobu Shishikura grabbed a tablet computer and called up the website of the U.S. Geological Survey in Virginia to search for information.
JAPAN / QUEST FOR RECOVERY
Mar 11, 2012

A year on, Tohoku stuck in limbo

Located roughly 23 km from Fukushima's crippled nuclear plant, Hirono Station today is the northernmost stop on the JR Joban Line for passengers traveling up Tohoku's coast from Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 11, 2012

Catastrophe revisited 12 months on

The Ground Self-Defense Force troops have gone. So too the old blackboard with sheets of paper taped to it. I still remember a few of the names written in long lists there — the names of those whose muddied bodies could be identified after they were brought on military trucks to the makeshift morgue...
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2012

Kimigayo rule leaves bad taste

Regarding the March 1 Jiji Press article "Osaka passes 'Kimigayo' ordinance": It is quite right to expect public schoolteachers to stand at attention when the national anthem is played. Showing proper respect for a nation's flag and other symbols of state should be expected. But should it be a crime...
BASKETBALL
Mar 11, 2012

Strong finish propels Rizing past 89ers

Despite a strong defensive effort, the Sendai 89ers fell 67-59 to the host Rizing Fukuoka on Saturday.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 11, 2012

The power of bad news

Weekly Playboy magazine discerns among young people a rising interest in Buddhism. This is surprising, given Japan's well-known "religion allergy" — or not, given that troubled times often inspire spiritual quests.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 11, 2012

Disaster had major impact on NPB

Here we are, exactly one year after the Great East Japan Earthquake struck at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011. Japanese baseball has been greatly affected by the quake, the tsunami triggered by it and the subsequent radiation threats from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2012

Equal access to specialized care

Regarding the March 3 article, "Cancer, heart disease, stroke deaths plunge to 50-year low": People's accessibility to specialized medical resources is essential. We have to pay more attention to regional disparities, which are partly caused by uneven distribution of clinical specialists. A variety of...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 11, 2012

Obesity on the rise as Japanese eat more Western-style food

When Japanese people are ordering food, how many times do you hear them asking for "oomori" (large size)? It's the equivalent of asking for "supersize" in a U.S. fast-food joint.
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2012

Moving forward with reconstruction

A year has passed since the massive earthquake and tsunami wreaked havoc on the Pacific coastal areas of the Tohoku region on March 11, 2011, and many survivors continue to suffer from their devastating effects. The impact of the natural disasters was compounded by the subsequent nuclear crisis that...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 10, 2012

The eel deal: Sky's the limit for unagi prices

The shortage of baby eels is suddenly being felt at the restaurant level.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2012

Fukushima soil plutonium traces not seen as threat

Researchers detected a type of radioactive plutonium in soil from three different locations in Fukushima Prefecture, although the amount is too tiny to affect human health, the team said in a report published in a science magazine.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 9, 2012

With playoff spot already locked up, powerhouse Kings take on Albirex

With 14 games remaining, the Ryukyu Golden Kings have already clinched a playoff spot.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 9, 2012

Ridley Scott wants your home movies for crowd-sourced 3/11 tribute doc

Where will you be on March 11?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 9, 2012

'River'

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Hollywood rolled out multiplex-ready films focusing on the events of that tragic day. In the year since the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe in the Tohoku region, dozens of Japanese and foreign filmmakers have taken their cameras north,...
Reader Mail
Mar 8, 2012

Farcical decontamination efforts

Alex Trouchet's March 1 letter "Send debris to forbidden zone," makes an excellent point. Of course, they should! For anyone reading this, the radioactive contamination of eastern Fukushima is essentially forever.
Reader Mail
Mar 8, 2012

Distorting the idea of 'majority'

Poor analogies aside, the reasoning in Jennifer Kim's March 4 letter, "Poor analogies to 'gay marriage," borders on the ludicrous. Kim imagines that she and another reader hold the majority opinion on some unclear issue. Readers may wonder, what precisely is this issue on which the majority opinion,...
Reader Mail
Mar 8, 2012

Keeping our heads above water

I am writing in response to Andrew Sheldon's March 1 letter concerning our strike, titled "Illegitimate case for striking?" Sheldon's comments are quite off the mark about teachers at Berlitz. The union is addressing no pay increases for the past 16 years; Sheldon talks about "the next 20 years." A base...
COMMENTARY
Mar 8, 2012

Resources fuel tensions in South China Sea

For much of 2010 and 2011, tensions over conflicting claims to disputed islands, maritime territory and energy resources rippled through the South China Sea, embroiling several Southeast Asian states and China in disputes that also involved the interests of outside powers, including Japan and the United...

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