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BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Oct 5, 2010

Road set up for Hawks to make run at title

There are no more excuses for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2010

Back to class for Summers after the free-market lunch

LONDON — Larry Summers was snatching lunch during the African Development Bank annual meeting while I interviewed him. Under no circumstances, his minder said, were we to take pictures while he was eating — a wise precaution as it spared our cameras from the backlash of presenting him chomping greedily...
TENNIS
Oct 3, 2010

Wozniacki closes in on world No. 1 ranking

Caroline Wozniacki moved a step closer to her first world No. 1 ranking after rallying to beat Elena Dementieva 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 for the Pan Pacific Open title on Saturday.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 3, 2010

Architect triumphs in defeat

Kengo Kuma might be the most self-effacing architect around. His trademarks are not large monumental forms or breathtaking sculptural shapes, but finely wrought details such as elegant stone cladding on a high-rise tower, an unlikely pitched roof or a superbly framed view on a garden.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 3, 2010

Fukuoka: Designed for living

Inquiring as to the whereabouts of English-language bookstores in Fukuoka, the person at the Rainbow Plaza information center's desk straightaway handed me a printout of English listings, maps and directions. This, I began to realize, is a well organized city.
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2010

Hard times ahead for firms

A Bank of Japan tankan survey shows that business sentiment measured by the diffusion index among big manufacturers in the three months through September was plus 8, a rise of seven points from the previous quarter, marking improvement for six consecutive quarters. The diffusion index (DI) represents...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 2, 2010

Whiting to take stock of Nomo's lasting legacy in four-part series

Best-selling author Robert Whiting, who penned an exclusive four-part expose on Bobby Valentine's rise and fall with the Chiba Lotte Marines for The Japan Times this winter, returns with a four-part series on trailblazer Hideo Nomo's legacy on both sides of the Pacific Ocean 15 years after he left Japanese...
Japan Times
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Oct 2, 2010

Ichiro nowhere near the player Rose was

They can't see the forest for the trees.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 2, 2010

You too can become a millionaire!

In the present economic downturn, you might feel you don't have much to look forward to financially. But I'm here to tell you — don't despair! You have a lot more money than you think you do. It's just a matter of finding it.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 1, 2010

Japan's toilet business flush with success

Asia loves the Washlet. In fact, some people can't leave home without it.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 1, 2010

Will Murton get fair shot at hits record?

The single-season home-run record in Japanese baseball has been somewhat of a touchy subject for quite some time. Many associate the record of 55 with legendary Yomiuri Giants slugger Sadaharu Oh.
COMMENTARY
Oct 1, 2010

The center of Asia's divide

NEW DELHI — Japan may have created the impression of having buckled under China's pressure by releasing the Chinese fishing trawler captain. But the Japanese action helps move the spotlight back to China, whose rapid accumulation of power has emboldened it to aggressively assert territorial and maritime...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Oct 1, 2010

Rookie coach Toyama confident first time out

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with individuals in the bj-league, which begins its sixth season on Oct. 16. Coach Koto Toyama of the expansion Miyazaki Shining Suns is the subject of this week's profile.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 1, 2010

All-grrrl DJ collective touts a twee life

Shibuya is not a pretty place. In fact, Tokyo's youth mecca can look downright grimy at times. But as with most eyesores, there are pockets of beauty and Sumire Taya owns one of them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 1, 2010

'Nanase Futatabi: The Movie (Nanase Again)'

Some genres of Japanese movies are hard to "place" for Westerners, since they have no precise Hollywood equivalent. The ero guro (erotic and grotesque) genre, for example, is often lumped into the horror category by overseas festivals and DVD distributors, but the films are usually less about jack-in-the-box...
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2010

Maehara hangs tough on Senkaku dispute

Newly appointed Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara repeated Wednesday that the recent collision between a Chinese trawler and Japan Coast Guard vessels occurred in Japanese territory and demanded China take measures to prevent a recurrence.
Reader Mail
Sep 30, 2010

Can Kan make a dignified landing?

Regarding the Sept. 27 article "Kan rejects Beijing's demand for apology": Prime Minister Naoto Kan must find himself between a rock and a hard place. His position was already tenuous enough before the fishing boat incident off the Senkaku Islands. Now he faces a demand from China for an apology —...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Sep 30, 2010

Design that all adds up

Summing up stylish bookends
COMMENTARY
Sep 29, 2010

Japan vs. China: What makes societies succeed?

A namesake — a U.S. economics professor also called Gregory Clark — has caused waves with a theory that says the 18th century U.K. Industrial Revolution was due to heredity creating superior genes.
EDITORIALS
Sep 29, 2010

Rising unnatural death toll

The number of people suspected of having met unnatural deaths is on the rise, as the police dealt with some 160,000 "suspicious corpses" in 2009 — about 1.4 times more than 10 years before. But the nation suffers from a chronic shortage of experts who can examine such bodies.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2010

Matsumoto to focus on global green efforts

With less than a month to go before the convention on biological diversity in Nagoya, newly appointed Environment Minister Ryu Matsumoto said he is doing his best to make the international meeting a success.
COMMENTARY
Sep 28, 2010

Venetians raise blinds against nuclear plan

VENICE — It seemed incredible when drama rolled off the screen and onto the streets at Venice during its recent film festival. People played loud music, beat drums, blew trumpets and clashed cymbals to protest the government's decision to locate a nuclear reactor just 20 kilometers away from this ancient...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Sep 28, 2010

Building a world without barriers, borders

One afternoon in the mid-1980s, Hiroko Kimura was taking a rest from sightseeing on a park bench in Adelaide, southern Australia. As she was enjoying the warm sunshine, she spotted the words "Japs go home" carved into the wood. This was the height of the bubble years and Kimura was aware that some people...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 28, 2010

Behind the facade of family law

Last in a two-part series In mid-April, 12-year-old Michiko Watanabe, as she was now being called, found herself in a precarious situation. Earlier, her mother had clearly let her child know that she would no longer consider herself Michiko's mother if Michiko ever attempted to return to her father....
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2010

Ending the secret life of the death penalty

Japan's former Justice Minister Keiko Chiba surprised many people when she ordered the hanging of two convicted killers at the end of July.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 26, 2010

For young staff, the workplace is no joke

Mr. Sakamoto, a sales team leader at an IT systems company, got off to a rocky start when he was transferred to his current office. At the first meeting with his underlings, all in their 30s, the 43-year-old boss detected a tense atmosphere.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years