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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 1, 2008

BOJ finds itself in 'unpresidented' state

The divided Diet has left the Bank of Japan with a vacant seat at the top for the first time since the war. This came about after Toshihiko Fukui's five-year term ended in mid-March and the government's nominees to succeed him were vetoed.
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2008

Group plans to bury Tokyo's elevated 'shuto'

A group of business executives is floating the idea of burying all of Tokyo's elevated highways 60 meters underground. The megaproject also includes a sweeping greening of the space they will leave behind and large-scale redevelopment at key highway ramps.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2008

Last stand before Russia's next chance

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday through Friday, NATO will hold its biggest summit ever in Bucharest, the capital of its new member, Romania. Incredibly, NATO has invited its fiercest critic, Russian President Vladimir Putin, to attend. For the first time since 2002, he will. His presence is an embarrassment...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 30, 2008

Ireland: From the quintessence of reaction — to what?

Second of two parts
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 30, 2008

Office sitcom, family drama special, superhero adventure

Last year, TBS and publisher Kodansha teamed up to solicit original stories for a television drama. The winning story was adapted as a teleplay and the finished drama will be broadcast Monday at 9 p.m.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Mar 30, 2008

Browne lands deal with WJBL's Koalas

Ree Browne, a former California State University-Dominguez Hills center, has signed a contract to play for the Mitsubishi Koalas of the WJBL, The Japan Times has learned.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 29, 2008

Research on some research

Most of my Stateside friends and family have knowledge of Japan only as deep as what they see on TV. Which means they think I live my life in a "dizzified" world of ninja, yakuza and robots.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2008

Hashimoto's cost-cutting plans under fire

OSAKA — If Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto has his way, employees now working on international human rights issues may become school security guards and a popular women's center will be sold off.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 28, 2008

The revolutionary tale of Mikami's enka blues

Kan Mikami once beat the crap out of David Bowie.
Reader Mail
Mar 27, 2008

A look back at the Elizabethan Era

I wholeheartedly sympathize with Erin Aubry Kaplan's righteous response in his March 23 article, "American black anger and the pulpit," just as I wholeheartedly sympathize with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright for his forthright remarks on the subject, and as I similarly sympathize with U.S. Democratic presidential...
Reader Mail
Mar 27, 2008

Afghan children get by with less

In the March 20 Japan Times we learn that "Afghan kids get candles discarded by temples" (headline). How generous! What next, discarded day-old bread? Slightly used clothing? Recycled manga? No, not for reading, but for fuel on cold winter nights.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 27, 2008

Detached or mundane?

The fame that Yosa Buson (1716-1783) enjoyed as a painter and haiku poet in his own lifetime quickly eroded in the years following his death. And while his poetic reputation was restored as early as the 19th century, it was only in the years following World War II that his paintings once again became...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Mar 26, 2008

Phone imitates MP3 imitates phone

Lighter than Air: Anorexic models might no longer be PC on the catwalks, but laptop computer makers believe that consumers just can't keep their hands off them. As usual, Apple is seen as the trendsetter, thanks to its ultrathin MacBook Air model, which is trumpeted as the thinnest laptop of them all...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 25, 2008

Pioneering women's center in Osaka slated for closure

Last month, the new governor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, announced his plan to shut down and sell or privatize 25 public facilities in a bid to tackle the prefecture's financial crisis. Except for two libraries, no prefectural facilities merit further public funding, argues Hashimoto. Included among the...
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2008

Heart of darkness

The Akita District Court last Wednesday sentenced a 35-year-old woman to life imprisonment for murdering her 9-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old neighborhood boy in Fujisato, a town with a population of just over 4,000, in Akita Prefecture. The crimes appear to point to problems that may have arisen...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2008

Defense costs bombing the U.S. budget

PARIS — As the United States and the world mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, debates are raging about the consequences — for Iraq, the Middle East and America's standing in the world. But the Iraq war's domestic impact — the Pentagon's ever mushrooming budget and its long-term...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Mar 23, 2008

Namibia's no man's land

A trek through the vast Sperrgebiet wilderness that will soon be opened to tourism reveals an abundance of flora and fauna, mountains, meteorite craters, pristine beaches, isles with names like Roast Beef Island — and swarms of killer bees.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 23, 2008

You'd have to be drunk to be fooled by Japan's booze commercials

A few weeks ago the Asahi Shimbun printed a letter from a 59-year-old man who complained about a TV commercial for Kirin's Tanrei, one of those beerlike beverages known as happoshu. In the spot, world-famous alpinist Ken Noguchi is seen climbing a mountain, the Gipsy Kings howling away on the soundtrack....
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 23, 2008

The drama of man-and-animal stories, Japan's first bone-marrow bank, and baseball batteries

Few people can resist the dramatic pull of stories that explore the emotional nexus between people and animals.
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 23, 2008

Oh what an extravaganza

Even the heavens were smiling on Tokyo Girls Collection. Balmy 19-degree temperatures — the year's highest up until then — provided the perfect setting last Saturday for the Spring/Summer edition of this hugely popular fashion-show-cum-showbiz extravaganza, allowing most of the 22,000 teenage and...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 22, 2008

F.A. must address continuing harassment of referees

LONDON — Ashley Cole would win few popularity polls.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Mar 22, 2008

Life's a smooth cruise for modern Tanabata couple

The stars aligned for Miki Otsuka and Cameron Scholes on July 7, 1997, in a chance meeting at a record store in Toronto.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 22, 2008

U.S., Japan set to battle in Global Challenge Bowl

KAWASAKI — At first glance, it looks to have replaced its predecessor. But the main concept actually offers a whole lot of new excitement to the young participants.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 22, 2008

Here they are once again — The Cherry Blossoms!

Nothing excites Japanese people the way cherry blossoms do. Cherry blossoms are something the Japanese are so proud of, they can't help but smile when someone mentions the magic word: o-hanami.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan