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EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2010

Japan's 'hot' year

The kanji "sho" for "hot" has been chosen by the Japanese people as best representing 2010 in a poll organized by the Kyoto-based Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation. No doubt the memory of last summer's record-breaking heat is still fresh in people's minds, but ironically the summer also brought...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 29, 2010

Looking back on 2010 one word at a time

Perched majestically at the summit of the clutter on my desk this sunny December morning is a copy of the 2011 edition of Jiyukokuminsha's 「現代用語の基礎知識」("Gendai Yōgo no Kiso Chishiki," "Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words") — all 1,688 pages of it.
MULTIMEDIA
Dec 29, 2010

Optimism up as production posts first rise in half a year

Industrial production increased for the first time in six months in November, signaling that the export-led recovery will regain traction.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 28, 2010

Kabuki going strong, 400 years on

The media frenzy over kabuki star Ichikawa Ebizo's drunken midnight brawl in Tokyo last month may be a testament to how, 400 years after its birth, the genre remains a highly popular form of entertainment integral to Japanese culture.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 26, 2010

The king of impersonation; year-end roundup special; CM of the week: Softbank

The holiday season is upon us, and among the extended quiz specials and talk marathons there are monomane (impersonation) contests on every station. The king of impersonators is Croquette, whose repertoire of famous singers and actors numbers about 300.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2010

Prosecutor ignored evidence: report

An Osaka prosecutor who tampered with evidence to try to convict a former senior welfare ministry official failed to consider the weight of the evidence that favored the accused, the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office admitted in a report Friday.
COMMENTARY
Dec 23, 2010

A peek at the dark side of Chinese diplomacy

HONG KONG — For some people, the very name Guantanamo has come to stand for something repulsive about America — in particular the difference between what it preaches about human rights and what it practices.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 21, 2010

Deadbeat dads, navy abuse case, visas and Futenma: readers' views

The other side of the fence Re: "Japan must end the scourge of parental child abduction" by Amy Savoie (Hotline to Nagatacho, Nov. 9):
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 21, 2010

Low-cost carriers elbowing their way into Japan's skies

2010 was a landmark year for Japan's aviation industry: The government inked an open skies accord with the U.S. in October to further liberalize their civil aviation markets, and during the same month Tokyo's Haneda airport opened a new international terminal.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Dec 20, 2010

Trends in Japan 2010: yama boom

2010 was the year in which young women, clad in brightly colored Gore-Tex, were drawn to mountain hikes and natural power sports.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2010

Hope for climate-change agenda after Kyoto

CANCUN, Mexico — The official communique from the Cancun climate-change conference cannot disguise the fact that there will be no successor to the Kyoto Protocol when it expires at the end of 2012. Japan, among others, has withdrawn its support for efforts simply to extend the Kyoto treaty. This sounds...

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person