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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 12, 2011

Searching for connections drives young documentarian

Megumi Nishikura, a young documentary filmmaker in Tokyo, consolidates her goals under one main theme: "I want to remind us of our common humanity, to remember that we are all humans with the same hopes and desires and we all deserve to be respected.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 12, 2011

Poppy row overshadows Spain visit

We should have been talking about Xavi, Andres Iniesta, David Villa, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets and the other superstars of European and world champion Spain. One of the truly great teams of any era is playing England at Wembley on Saturday but the visit of the best international side on the planet...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2011

Calm at J. Village belies the danger

Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Friday for the first time let reporters into the base camp for thousands of workers striving every day to fix the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, showing off new dining facilities, a dormitory for single workers and the latest radioactivity monitors to check vehicles...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 12, 2011

Modern Greece built on myth

Greece is the cradle of democracy, but as the world has seen recently, a financial crisis is no time to put important questions to the people. Prime Minister George Papandreou's proposed referendum on the country's loan deal with the European Union, called off quickly after intense international opposition,...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 11, 2011

Experience, versatility keys to Golden Kings' success

The Ryukyu Golden Kings, coming off a third consecutive Final Four appearance, look poised to make another run at a championship.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2011

Risk-averse Noda shuns hallway interviews

Words are often the strongest weapon in a politician's armory, but the slightest slip of the tongue can turn into a huge liability, as evidenced by the number of occasions prime ministers and Cabinet members have been caught out in the last six years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 11, 2011

'Sarariman Neo Gekijoban (Warai) (Japanese Salaryman Neo)'

These are hard, uncertain times, especially for young Japanese who have failed to get the right degree from a prestigious university and the right job with a big-name company. If they can find work at all, it is often well below expectations for the rising generation of that onetime economic powerhouse,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 11, 2011

'Contagion' / 'Moneyball'

Cinema imagines the apocalypse on a regular basis, touching on everything from Mayan calendar-related polar shifts to the ever-popular walking dead. Few films, however, dare to deal with scenarios that could actually happen; that's what makes Steven Soderbergh's "Contagion," which looks at a deadly global...
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2011

'Second Osaka Castle battle' campaign starts

The first race in Osaka's unprecedented Nov. 27 double election kicked off Thursday with seven candidates vying to become governor, three days before the mayoral campaign officially begins.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 11, 2011

A taste of home: Life after National Azabu

Ask local expats what they miss most from their homelands, and they might tell you about Fig Newton cookies (Americans), Shreddies breakfast cereal (Brits), fresh coriander (Thais) or morning congee (Chinese). In other words, an authentic taste of home.
BUSINESS
Nov 11, 2011

Possible Olympus delisting discredits Japan governance

Olympus Corp.'s admission that it hid losses by overpaying advisers may lead to its delisting by the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is sparking criticism of corporate-governance standards in the world's third-largest stock market.
Reader Mail
Nov 10, 2011

Choose your tyranny in Libya

Regarding Brahma Chellaney's Nov. 8 article, "America's troubling support for oil-rich Islamist regimes": The double-standard of sanctioning a theocracy in Libya, of course, arises because of Western support for representative democracy, which is itself a imposition of the majority's values on the minority....
Reader Mail
Nov 10, 2011

Why are refugees complaining?

I enjoyed the Nov. 3 article "Karen refugees snub farm, try luck in Tokyo," but am a bit surprised. I know that many Japanese work Saturdays and nearly 10 hours a day. A two-hour commute on a train to go to work and another two hours to return home is not uncommon. I know people who have done this for...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 10, 2011

Sapphire Slows "True Breath"

The music Sapphire Slows conjures up on her debut EP, "True Breath," floats between genres: dance music, dream pop and ambient are just a few. However, the element uniting these five songs is really how unsettling they can sound — even at their most danceable.
Reader Mail
Nov 10, 2011

Carefully dismantle the eurozone

In the continuing euro crisis it may be instructive to analyze why the eurozone nations have got themselves into this appalling mess. The root cause was expressed centuries ago in the story of the Pied Piper. This is undoubtedly THE German myth — "myth" in the Jungian sense of a basic truth.
Reader Mail
Nov 10, 2011

Obfuscation by power industry

Olaf Kathaus' Nov. 3 letter, "Nonsense from a poison pen," is right and wrong on certain points. I agree that claiming that populations worldwide will be vastly affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster is far-fetched. I once read at a semi-reliable Internet site that "hundreds of millions" will die...
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2011

Teachers bolt jobs over mental angst

The number of first-year teachers who left their job for health reasons has increased twentyfold over the past 10 years, with most citing apparent emotional issues, an education ministry survey has found.
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 2011

New era for Libya

It was a far longer and far bloodier struggle than many anticipated, but Libya has been declared liberated. The 42-year rule of Moammar Gadhafi has ended, and the north African nation can begin to rebuild itself. Libya is well positioned to move forward: With extensive oil reserves and proximity to Europe,...
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2011

Softbank, Alibaba seeking partners to take over Yahoo

Softbank Corp. and China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. are talking with private-equity funds about making a bid for all of Yahoo Inc. without the company's blessing, sources said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / RADIATION DECONTAMINATION
Nov 9, 2011

Radiation cleanup plan falls short

Radioactive fallout from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has caused widespread fear, prompting the government in August to adopt basic targets for decontamination efforts in and around Fukushima Prefecture.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2011

The Commonwealth's missed opportunity

On Oct. 28-30, representatives of 54 countries, mostly heads of government, attended the bi-annual Commonwealth Meeting. High on the agenda was a report by the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), established to reinvigorate the Commonwealth, strengthen its Secretariat, and transform its approach to human rights....
COMMENTARY
Nov 8, 2011

America's troubling support for oil-rich Islamist regimes

When Libya's interim government announced the "liberation" of the country Oct. 23, it declared that a system based on the Islamic Sharia, including polygamy, will replace the secular dictatorship that Moammar Gadhafi ran for 42 years.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 8, 2011

Late-night restaurants ripe for robbery

"Gyudon" beef-on-rice restaurants belonging to the Sukiya chain have become a favorite target of robbers.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 8, 2011

Put the best interests of children above pride and prejudice

I have written about my story previously to The Japan Times, but this most recent article from Richard Cory ("Left-behind dads take desperate measures," Zeit Gist, Oct. 4) spurs me to write again.
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2011

Fukushima health concerns

As efforts to end the nuclear disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant drag on, it is important for the central and local governments to step up their efforts to closely examine the health conditions of people concerned and to decontaminate areas contaminated by radiation....
COMMUNITY
Nov 8, 2011

Spook out readers, win a Tokyo tour or tome

Share your scariest experience or tell us about your favorite spooky Japanese tale for a chance to win a Haunted Tokyo Tour or a volume of Kurodahan Press's "Kaiki" series of uncanny short stories.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb