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JAPAN
Mar 12, 2011

Antipiracy law rife with hiccups

The enactment of the antipiracy law in June 2009 was a statement by Japan that it was ready to step up to the plate and take part in the global effort against piracy off Somalia.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 12, 2011

Arsenal fans have to be realistic

LONDON — The reaction was predictable.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2011

U.S. sacks Maher, apologizes for remarks

An apologetic U.S. government on Thursday removed a senior U.S. official from his post over disparaging remarks he allegedly made about Okinawa.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2011

Matsumoto: Abduction pact no one-size-fits-all

New Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto said Thursday he is aware of the importance of the international treaty to prevent estranged parents from spiriting offspring across borders but noted Tokyo must consider the Japanese people's interests in determining whether to sign the Hague Convention.
COMMENTARY
Mar 11, 2011

Cry against gender violence in Afghanistan

NEW YORK — Self-immolation committed by a large number of Afghan women is one of the most tragic responses to gender violence in that country.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BY THE GLASS
Mar 11, 2011

Savor the taste of bottled sunshine

Last year's World Cup gave Japan the opportunity to discover more about South Africa than just vuvuzelas: In 2010, packaged wine exports from South Africa to Japan grew by an impressive 11 percent. While the noise of the hornlike instrument is happily fading away (hopefully never to be heard again),...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 11, 2011

The Centre Pompidou brings the surreal to Tokyo

In its passage from the art world into everyday speech, the word "surreal" has ended up as mere shorthand for the bizarre and the unusual. But it originally referred to something deeper.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 11, 2011

Jett, Currie return to Runaways era

Back in the late 1970s, they changed everything. And then they disappeared.
Reader Mail
Mar 10, 2011

University deans need to wake up

Maybe my ethical clock is way behind the times, because I can't imagine why disallowing cell phones in test venues or, for that matter, any type of electronic device, unless specifically required to take the test, would be difficult to enforce. The test room is a controlled environment that should not...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2011

Al-Qaida watches as Arab dramas unfold

PRINCETON, N.J. — The Arab world has entered the most dramatic period in its modern history. Oppressive regimes are being swept away, as Arab people finally take their fate into their own hands.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2011

Briton excels at helping foreign women adjust

Japan got a little better last year in gender equality, according to the World Economic Forum: It moved up in the rankings to 94th place out of 134 countries, from 101st in 2009.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 10, 2011

Zen psychology: Daisetz Suzuki remembered

Despite the gloomy global economy, the field of positive psychology is booming. Often described simplistically by journalists as "the science of happiness," it's actually a broad focus on our strengths and talents, virtues and peak experiences in daily living. The name for this specialty originated with...
COMMENTARY
Mar 10, 2011

What to do about Gadhafi?

LONDON — There ought to be many more red faces among the world leaders who used to kowtow and suck up to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, an insane megalomaniac bully. But only a minority will ever admit that they were wrong.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Mar 10, 2011

Fashion streaming in and out of Japan

Fairy-tale beginnings
SOCCER / J. League / J. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 10, 2011

Mental fortitude saves day for Grampus, Antlers

If Nagoya Grampus' and Kashima Antlers' failure to win their opening fixtures constituted good news for the rest of the J. League, the manner in which both teams eventually salvaged a point did not.
EDITORIALS
Mar 9, 2011

Rise in food and oil prices

Political turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East triggered by the change of government in Tunisia is pushing up crude oil prices. Crude oil prices, which were rather stable in the range of $70 to $80 per barrel the past year, are now hovering above $100 per barrel.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2011

The Gadhafis: like father, like son

LONDON — "The enemy of yesterday is the friend of today . . . . [I]t was a real war, but those brothers are free men now." Thus spoke Seif al-Islam Gadhafi in March 2010, referring to the leaders of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), an armed organization that had attempted to assassinate his...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Mar 8, 2011

A worrying period for all ALTs

Dear Education Minister Yoshiaki Takaki: "How tall are you?" "How much do you weigh?" "Ooh, your eyes look like sunflowers." I guess if I got ¥100 every time a Japanese junior high school student asked me one of those questions, I wouldn't be writing this letter today.
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Mar 8, 2011

Foreign hurlers face pivotal season after recovering from injuries

Seth Greisinger walked off the field at Tokyo Dome on Thursday looking relaxed and at ease. At the same time, Alex Graman had his glove tucked under his arm as he chatted with a reporter and teammate Dee Brown in front of the visitors' dugout.
EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2011

Dealing with population trends

Preliminary findings in the 2010 census released Feb. 25 by the internal affairs ministry underline the overall trend of a shrinking and graying population as well as a demographic imbalance characterized by a population rise in a few prefectures and a population drop in most prefectures.
BASKETBALL
Mar 7, 2011

Hopson's steady hand leads 89ers past Broncos

KASUKABE, Saitama Pref. — The best location to shoot a basketball is from the free-throw line, as smart coaches will tell you, emphasizing the word "free" and reminding you that defenders can't challenge your shot when the clock is stopped and you're at the line.
BASKETBALL
Mar 6, 2011

Sojourner says JBL superiority just a myth

The ongoing debate about how to improve Japan's basketball, from the elementary school level to the professional ranks, has produced a number of different viewpoints. The one thing that most people agree on is that the current approach isn't working to create a powerful national team and a number of...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 6, 2011

Japanese families' nutritional values pay dearly for 'progress'

Last year, a gut-wrenching book by Nobuko Iwamura was published by Shinchosha titled "Kazoku no Katte Desho!" ("It's My Kitchen and I'll Do What I Like in It!"). Gut-wrenching because it describes, with the help of 274 highly unpalatable photos, the kinds of breakfasts, lunches and dinners ordinary Japanese...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 5, 2011

Harmonia Opera marks milestone

Emiko Iinuma's voice has a distinctive sugared drawl, a sweet residue from her early years as a student at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. It is more than the drawl that attracts — her voice dances, leaps across decades, travels up and down pitch, whispers hardship and rises in forthright determination....
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2011

Takefuji extends deadline for bids by investors

Takefuji Corp., the bankrupt consumer lending giant, has postponed a deadline for the submission of bids from potential investors by about 10 days from Thursday, sources said.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 4, 2011

Bunraku gets film treatment

Canadian filmmaker Marty Gross had been fascinated with Japan's traditional puppet theater, bunraku, since he saw a production during his first visit to Japan in 1970. But it was only later in that decade, when it was suggested that he make a film of a production, that he took the time to study the art...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 4, 2011

Playoff battle intense in competitive West

A gripping drama is about to commence in March and April as the bj-league's top seven Western Conference teams vie for six playoff spots. What's more, the seven teams are within seven games of each other in the standings.

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