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Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Mar 14, 2011

Hamaguchi's steady hand on tiller steers 89ers in right direction

KASUKABE, Saitama Pref. — It's no shock that the Sendai 89ers are once again one of the most consistent, quality clubs in the bj-league. Above all, it begins with good coaching.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Mar 13, 2011

Seabed split; quake tilted Earth's axis 10 cm

The magnitude 8.8 earthquake that jolted northeast Japan was caused by a tectonic upheaval that created offshore faults stretching for hundreds of kilometers from Iwate Prefecture to Ibaraki, seismologists said Saturday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 13, 2011

Traditional paddies are great ecosystems

Japan's rice-farming areas face two broad trends: field abandonment and farm modernization. Both impact the environment as well as the economy.
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...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’