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COMMENTARY / World
Nov 13, 2010

Is America succumbing to the 'British disease'?

BERKELEY, Calif. — In the United States, the scent of decline is in the air. Imperial overreach, political polarization and a costly financial crisis are weighing on the economy. Some pundits now worry that America is about to succumb to the "British disease."
Japan Times
JAPAN / ORGAN TRANSPLANTS
Nov 12, 2010

New heart in N.Y. gave teen new lease on life

Teenagers often take going to school, studying with classmates and hanging out with friends and family for granted.
BASKETBALL
Nov 12, 2010

Rizing rout Hannaryz

Michael Parker scored 32 points, including 13-for-14 from 2-point range, Akitomo Takeno added a season-high 21 and nine assists and Thiago Cordeiro had 21 points and nine rebounds in the Rizing Fukuoka's 98-81 home win over the Kyoto Hannaryz on Thursday night in the bj-league.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 12, 2010

Economic voices to shift

HONG KONG — The Nov. 5 agreement on new shareholdings in the International Monetary Fund, which will see China become the third-biggest power in the institution, has been heralded as a triumph for a new global financial order that will challenge the old Western imperial dominance.
COMMENTARY
Nov 12, 2010

Solar energy boom in the American desert

SINGAPORE — In the remote deserts of the United States, a clean energy boom is under way with potentially far-reaching implications for the way future electricity is generated in the sunbelts of Asia and other regions.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 12, 2010

Indie breakout, 'kimchibilly' rockers bring Seoul to Japan

While K-pop continues to gain greater recognition worldwide, South Korea's prolific, small underground-music scene is still struggling to find audiences outside of Seoul.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 12, 2010

Designer retrospective tracks the zeitgeist

The best thing about graphic design is how closely it traces the mood of the day. If Japan over the last decade has been characterized by wishy-washy men who don't eat meat and a kind of wobbly-legged indecisiveness in response to the rise of China, then the graphic designer who has best catered to —...
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2010

Address trade barriers involving key markets soon, Keidanren says

Japan should start early talks with the United States, European Union, China and South Korea on abolishing trade barriers so it doesn't put itself at a competitive disadvantage, the head of a panel at the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2010

Taiwan seizes chance to make regional statement

Taiwan has thrown its support behind a proposed Pacific Rim free-trade zone and considers APEC a key forum to achieve this, according to a senior Taipei official.
EDITORIALS
Nov 11, 2010

Cause of a girl's suicide

On Oct. 23, Ms. Akiko Uemura, a sixth-grade girl in Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture, died after hanging herself. On Nov. 8, Kiryu's board of education made public a report saying she had been psychologically bullied. It denied a cause-and-effect relationship between the bullying and her suicide. But on Oct....
COMMENTARY
Nov 11, 2010

Iraqi Christians: also victims of the invasion

On Sunday, Oct. 31, when a group of militants seized a church in Baghdad, killing and wounding scores of Iraqi Christians, it signaled yet another episode of unimaginable horror in the country since the U.S. invasion of March 2003. Every group of Iraqis has faced terrible devastation as a result of this...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2010

Building the India-United States partnership

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama's first presidential visit to India offers a unique opportunity to cement a global partnership with a rapidly emerging power. Set to become the world's third- or fourth-largest economy by 2030, India could become America's most important strategic partner.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 10, 2010

Imae played major role in Japan Series

NAGOYA — What a big-time player Toshiaki Imae is.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 10, 2010

Six-mat chic: Small spaces suit us just fine

As the minimalism movement gains momentum in the United States, it's probably a good idea to re-examine the concept on our own shores. Minimalism is a Japanese birthright — what Western culture views as monkish habits, Zen aesthetics or the joys of simplicity, the Japanese have pretty much taken for...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 9, 2010

Pachinko parlors pulling in pensioners

Bored? Need to get out the house but nothing too strenuous? How bout a friendly game of pachinko, gramps?
EDITORIALS
Nov 9, 2010

Making the skies safe for air travel

The First Petit Bench of the Supreme Court in a 4-1 decision on Oct. 26 upheld a Tokyo High Court ruling that had found two air traffic controllers guilty of professional negligence in connection with a near hit in 2001, which injured some 100 passengers and crew members aboard a jetliner. The two were...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 9, 2010

Japan's long love affair with 'matsutake'

When it comes to status — and exorbitant prices — "matsutake" mushrooms may be in the same league as caviar and truffles.
COMMUNITY
Nov 9, 2010

Building a 'Little Yangon' in Tokyo

With its proximity to the Waseda and Gakushuin universities and crisscross of train lines, Takadanobaba is known to most Tokyoites as either a college town or a commuting hub. It's a cheap place to go for a drink, a place to grab a quick bite on the way home from work, or perhaps to pick up some used...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Nov 8, 2010

Batting center hit hard by recession

TOYOYAMA, Aichi Pref. — On a mild Sunday morning, a throng of enthusiastic baseball-playing youngsters were waiting for their turn, while some casual adults tried to have some fun hitting the ball at one local batting cage just outside Nagoya.
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 8, 2010

Antlers revive slim title hopes with win over Grampus

KASHIMA, Ibaraki Pref. — Defending champions Kashima Antlers reined in Nagoya Grampus' march toward the J. League title and revived their own championship ambitions with a gritty 1-0 win over the league leaders on Sunday.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2010

Chinese, Russian finance chiefs snub APEC meeting in Kyoto

KYOTO — Just days before the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum gather in Yokohama, Japan's worsening relations with two of the bloc's members threatened to overshadow the APEC finance ministers' summit in Kyoto on Friday and Saturday.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 7, 2010

Remaining in Nanking and chronicling the horrors

The history of missionary work in Asia and the Pacific region has not always been exemplary, as we know from the eradication by religious zealots of entire micro-cultures in the name of Christ.

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