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ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 22, 2011

U.S. court victories show how to get rid of nuclear plants

Lawyer Tom Twomey knows far more than most of us about the importance of citizen participation in making energy policy. That's because Twomey has spent four decades keeping a watchful eye on electric power suppliers in New York — and he's learned that what we don't know can hurt us.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 22, 2011

Iejima: an island of resistance

During the 30-minute ferry ride from Motobu on mainland Okinawa, Iejima reveals itself in stages. First, Mount Tacchu emerges above the waves like a chunk of the peanut brittle for which the island is renowned. Next, the wind-blown scent of countless thousands of hibiscuses sweetens the stink of the...
BUSINESS
May 21, 2011

Fund managers hunt for bargains amid losses

The worst Japanese earnings season in two years is spurring top fund managers to scoop up shares of drugmakers, car companies and telephone operators.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 21, 2011

Fusing aikido and language studies a potent combination

Literally across the globe, martial arts fans flock to their favorite dojos and disciplines, thanks to the fluid strength and cool demeanor of the activity's many superstars. Equally as important to fans are the philosophies behind the physical aspects of martial arts.
COMMENTARY
May 20, 2011

Folly of official obfuscation

Politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen never seem to have learned that they will not be trusted if they repeatedly lie.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 20, 2011

'Freakonomics'/'The Red Baron'

Darren Aronofsky, whose "Black Swan" is now showing here, debuted with the cult flick "Pi" (1997), about a slightly mad math whiz who was convinced there was a pattern in stock market fluctuations that could reveal the markets' movements. As the film's hero put it, "Mathematics is the language of nature;...
Reader Mail
May 19, 2011

'Contamination,' 'exposure' differ

Some news stories do not seem to distinguish between "contamination" and "exposure" when referring to radioactive matter leaking from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. A May 11 Kyodo dispatch ("Evacuees briefly return home in no-go zone") stated that evacuees returning to Kawauchi in order to...
Reader Mail
May 19, 2011

Okinawa issue and aid don't mix

In his May 8 letter, "Better use of the U.S. Marines," Yoshio Shimoji mentioned the hundreds of deaths from tornadoes in the United States recently and suggested that the U.S. Marines based at Air Station Futenma in Okinawa might be put to better use if they were returned to the U.S. There was no suggestion...
Reader Mail
May 19, 2011

More Tepco-government victims

Regarding the May 13 article "Kan orders slaughter of all livestock in 20-km hot zone": At first the government had said that farm animals would be transferred to other prefectures after they were decontaminated. Was that just a lie?!
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2011

Top vacancy looms in IMF

The International Monetary Fund will be looking for a new managing director sooner than anyone imagined, and in the most bizarrely depressing circumstances.
JAPAN
May 18, 2011

Reactor worker error comes to light

The emergency cooling system for reactor 1 at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant may have been shut down manually before the tsunami hit March 11, according to a Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman and documents released by the utility.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 18, 2011

Happinets show Pierce the door after first season with expansion team

The Akita Northern Happinets fired coach Bob Pierce on Monday night, clearing the path for a possible titanic shift in the bj-league's coaching landscape.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 17, 2011

Tweets fuel drive to aid stricken north

Marriott Hotel, Ginza, Tokyo. On a chilly March morning less than a week after the earthquake and tsunami, a group of almost 60 people were brought together through Twitter. The purpose of this 7:50 a.m. hotel-front gathering was to collect donated goods to be taken up north to areas devastated by the...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 16, 2011

The new enervated Tepco

With the onset of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant crisis following the March 11 Tohoku-Pacific earthquake, radioactive substances continue to seep into the sea, air and soil. Residents within a designated proximity of the plant will likely have to live away from their homes a long time. The prospect...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 16, 2011

Old proverbs should be minded even in tough economic times

Recent news of the restaurant chain Yakiniku-zakaya Ebisu serving contaminated raw beef to its customers makes me think of an old Japanese proverb. It tells us that "poverty breeds stupidity." All old proverbs are invariably wise. They also tend to be true most of the time.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
May 16, 2011

NBA veteran Satterfield making impact on Evessa

The Japan Times features periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. Kenny Satterfield of the Osaka Evessa is the subject of this week's profile.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2011

When prevention is more effective than relief

When the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in March, Brian Tucker was in Padang, Indonesia. Tucker was working with a colleague to design a refuge that could save thousands of lives if — or rather, when — a tsunami like the one in 1797 that came out of the Indian Ocean, some 1,000 km southeast of...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 16, 2011

BOJ chief sees only bubbles on horizon

With his nation's economy contracting under disaster damage of as much as ¥25 trillion ($310 billion), Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa is signaling that his biggest worry is inflation.
Reader Mail
May 15, 2011

MAD: If not broken, don't fix it

Regarding Project Syndicate writer Sergei Karaganov's April 30 article, "The end of mutually assured destruction": The doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD) was the best American policy initiative to come out of the 1960s. It represents realpolitik at its finest with an emphasis on maintaining...
Reader Mail
May 15, 2011

Little comfort for disaster victims

Regarding the May 7 Kyodo article from Manila, "DPJ crisis exec found playing golf": I found Democratic Party of Japan Vice President Hajime Ishii's comments, made after he was caught playing golf in the Philippines, to be darkly comic.
Reader Mail
May 15, 2011

Bin Laden et al. abhorred leftists

It seems strange that Donald Feeney, in his May 12 letter "Case of misdirected sympathy," would have a go against the "leftist" leanings of a May 8 letter that criticized the American military's "murder" of Osama bin Laden. The argument put forward by the May 8 letter writer had nothing to do with the...
Reader Mail
May 15, 2011

Step up antiterror preparations

Regarding the May 5 editorial, "Death of bin Laden": Japan should spare no efforts to prevent terror attacks. In order to recover completely from the March 11 Tohoku-Pacific earthquake and the subsequent nuclear plant crisis at Fukushima, Japan needs to concentrate on eradicating the risk of terrorist...
Reader Mail
May 15, 2011

Pointer for tourism campaign

I admire the positive attitude of Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Hiroshi Mizohata, expressed in Judit Kawaguchi's May 10 Words to Live by column.
Reader Mail
May 15, 2011

Wish from a young Pakistani

I am a student from Pakistan currently on scholarship at the Royal Veterinary College, University of London. Before running another eloquent article about the disintegration of Pakistan, I wish newspaper editors would consider how it will hamper me emotionally as a Pakistani.
CULTURE / Books
May 15, 2011

Nintendo's Wiining ways

PLAYING TO WIIN: Nintendo and the Video Game Industry, by Daniel Sloan. Wiley, 2011, 256 pp., $24.95 (hardcover) Ten years ago, tough times had hit Nintendo with shrinking sales and profits, increasing demand for new products and growing pressure from competitors. What hope was there for a comeback from...
JAPAN / WEEK 3
May 15, 2011

Utility and opponents lock horns over planned N-plant

With the May 10 announcement by Prime Minister Naoto Kan of a fundamental review of nuclear power generation in Japan, the fate of 14 planned new reactors was necessarily thrown into doubt. However, neither ongoing events in Fukushima, nor news of the review, have changed the stance of the nation's electricity...
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
May 15, 2011

Double tragedy, questions about February 26 Incident, new 'merry-go-round' carpark, Prince Charles and Lady Di visit

100 YEARS AGOFriday, May 5, 1911

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