Search - mail

 
 
COMMENTARY
Sep 11, 2007

Scaremongering about China, as usual

LOS ANGELES — It might almost seem like a game of geopolitical chicken: How far can we go in creating monstrous new fears about China?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 11, 2007

Volunteering: How to start making a difference this fall

First in a two-part series
EDITORIALS
Sep 9, 2007

Surviving in Net cafes

Over 5,000 people in Japan spend their nights at 24-hour Internet cafes every night, according to the first, but certainly not the last, survey on so-called Net cafe refugees by the labor and welfare ministry. On one hand, it seems that school refusers were first, then job refusers, now "home refusers,"...
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 9, 2007

Extragalactic androgyny cuts a dash in roster of chic, high-energy shows

While trivial matters such as global warming get blamed for weather going awry, Japan Fashion Week being moved forward this season by more than a month has caused more angst than a whole panorama of melting ice caps.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 4, 2007

Starting climbing, stopping scratching

Social climbing Rod is seeking rock to scale:
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 1, 2007

Adding insult to hot air at the Japanese BBQ

Some people blame global warming on farting cows, others blame it on farting vehicles. I blame it on Japanese BBQs.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 1, 2007

Sekiko Kamata

Thirty years ago, the Kanagawa International Foundation came into being with the laudable aim of promoting Japan's cultural and artistic aspects to its region's audience. KIF set up the Minami Circle, which three decades later is still working in the interests of international friendship.
EDITORIALS
Aug 31, 2007

A troubled cop off the beat

Guns possessed by yakuza gangsters pose a threat to society. But what happened early last week in Tokyo is serious as well. A "koban" (police box) duty officer of the Metropolitan Police Department assigned to the Tachikawa Police Station used a gun issued to him to shoot a woman to death in her apartment...
MORE SPORTS
Aug 28, 2007

Murofushi fails in quest for world title

OSAKA — Koji Murofushi is the reigning Olympic champion in the men's hammer throw. When he picked up a gold medal in Athens on a hot summer day in 2004, suddenly an entire nation gained interest in the obscure sport.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 25, 2007

A sprint to keep up with the slow life

The people who work in our post office are, to use the politically correct term, "a little slow." Long before I moved to this island, the government had a plan that worked. They sent those workers who were "a little slow," to work on a small island where hardly anyone one lived and where they could do...
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2007

GE considers selling Lake credit unit

General Electric Co., the world's largest provider of private-label credit cards, said Tuesday it is considering the sale of its Japanese consumer-credit unit, Lake Co.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 21, 2007

Kids' rights and cancer support

Coping after cancer M recently arrived in Tokyo from Hong Kong and, as a breast cancer survivor, is wondering where she can turn for support.
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2007

Fukui to keep pushing for higher rates, defying Abe

Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui may say no to an interest rate increase this week. It won't be his last word on the subject.
EDITORIALS
Aug 19, 2007

Another confectionary food scandal

A Sapporo-based confectionary company has joined the list of food manufacturers accused of unethical practices, by falsifying expiration dates on its main product and shipping other products contaminated with colon bacilli or staphylococci, both of which can cause food poisoning.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Aug 19, 2007

Mere death needn't be a barrier to enjoying a nice cup of tea with the deceased

'Tick, tock, tick, tock," goes the clock of human life. Living with regrets is one of the hardest things to do. What if your dad died and you hadn't had that last cup of tea with him? Not much you can do about that — or so you might think.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2007

Roh's trip to Pyongyang puts three scenarios in play

WASHINGTON — There is much speculation about what President Roh Moo Hyun will do when he meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang during Aug. 28-30.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 17, 2007

'I was totally squished, but it was ace'

It's apt that Rock in Japan takes place in between Fuji Rock and Summer Sonic. While Fuji sprawls myriad bands over a vast, scenic site and Summer Sonic hosts acts for a younger crowd in an exhibition hall and stadium, RIJ combines the best of both.
BASKETBALL
Aug 16, 2007

Saitama's James holds his own in NYC hoops tournament

"If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere," legendary crooner Frank Sinatra told us in "New York, New York."
Japan Times
CULTURE / OTAKOOL
Aug 16, 2007

How the Net made a bedroom rapper a star in Japan

The Acid Panda Cafe, an underground hip-hop club in Tokyo, is packed. The show is sold out. The racial makeup of the crowd is virtually all Japanese, except for the four African-Americans who hit the stage at 1 a.m. and launch into spirited rhyme. The words, inexplicably, are Japanese.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 15, 2007

Bliss for a Lazy Birder

Birders are often motivated by their species list — often something akin to their meaning of life.
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2007

Inflation shows Japan is doing OK again

Inflation, deflation, disinflation; expansion and contraction, it can do your head in. Markets are all about balloons and bubbles at different stages of contraction and expansion. The art is to get the best out of the expanding balloon, avoiding the deflating ones along the way.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Aug 14, 2007

Sumiko Sakamoto

Sumiko Sakamoto, 70, is a singer and award-winning actress whose heartfelt performances have made her a favorite of the late film director Shohei Imamura. Imamura cast her in three of his films, among them "The Ballad of Narayama," winner of the 1983 Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, in which her...
Events
Aug 12, 2007

KANSAI: Who & What

English tour takes in Koyasan temple town
COMMENTARY
Aug 3, 2007

Wanted: creative leadership

HONOLULU — As expected, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) were defeated in Sunday's Upper House election. And, despite concerted attempts to lower expectations, the results still embarrassed the ruling party.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 2, 2007

DanDans meets Coco Chanel

Artists' lives are seldom easy, but the reality they face in Japan can be particularly daunting.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2007

Resolution irks right wing but won't harm relations

OSAKA — The passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of a nonbinding resolution calling on Japan to apologize for forcing thousands of young women into sexual slavery during the war will further inflame Japan's rightwing politicians and media, according to experts on Japan's relations with the...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji