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JAPAN
Feb 20, 2010

Kansai execs fret affairs of the state

KYOTO — Senior business leaders in the Kansai region have long been able to rely on smooth relations with local and central government politicians sympathetic to their causes.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2010

Recalls nonissue in lifeline growth markets

Toyota Motor Corp. is stricken by massive recalls in the U.S. and stalled sales at home, but it is not without a lifeline — big, fast-growing markets like China and Southeast Asia, where drivers seem unfazed by what is troubling consumers in the West.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 20, 2010

Wenger must recognize Arsenal's trouble in goal

LONDON — There are times when I wonder whether Arsene Wenger is blind to the realities of his team or just plain obstinate.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2010

Expat in H.K. envoy of taste

HONG KONG — Hong Kong is a city of gastronomy, every year attracting millions of food-loving travelers from across the globe.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2010

Visions of art in an alternative key

In its own quiet way, Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions was one of the standout art events of 2009.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2010

Motherly love, both romantic and vulgar

A naked mother radiates maternal happiness as she beams at the camera with her peachy-skinned wide-eyed baby clasped to her chest. Nearby, piercing blue eyes and oddly elongated ears frame a face attached to a wooden body with women's breasts and a solitary truncated hand hovering by its side.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Feb 18, 2010

Logo for recyclables

Dear Alice,
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2010

TV rivals boldly bet on 3-D

Television viewers will be carried into a new dimension this year when they shed their old sets and go 3-D.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2010

Train buffs may be prosecuted for trespassing

OSAKA — West Japan Railway Co. is considering filing a complaint with police over train buffs who disrupted operations and delayed 13,000 passengers by trespassing on tracks to take photos of a rarely run train Sunday morning in Kashiwara, Osaka Prefecture.
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2010

Space program: Hopes and fears

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying Japanese Astronaut Soichi Noguchi was launched Dec. 21. He is now in the International Space Station some 400 km above Earth working in Japan's space lab "Kibo" (Hope), which is attached to the ISS. He will stay in space for five months, the longest stretch yet for...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2010

Stop turning cheap food into expensive fuel

LONDON — U.S. Department of Agriculture figures reveal that a quarter of U.S. cereals grown in 2009 went to biofuel, turning cheap food into expensive fuel. This pushes up food prices and damages the environment, yet President Barack Obama promised "continued investment in advanced biofuels" in his...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Feb 16, 2010

Instinct key for singer-entrepreneur

For a musician and entrepreneur with many professional faces, Australian Donna Burke is surprisingly wary of constantly taking work-related calls.
EDITORIALS
Feb 15, 2010

Golden 20 for McDonald's Russia

Twenty years ago, McDonald's opened its first store in Russia. The appearance of the Golden Arches in Moscow's Pushkin Square predated the collapse of the Soviet Union, but it should have been seen as a harbinger of the end of the autarkic Soviet economic model. The company marked the landmark event...
BASKETBALL
Feb 15, 2010

89ers bounce back in series finale against Golden Kings

Coming off a 20-point home loss on Saturday, a game in which they scored only 48 points, the Sendai 89ers probably felt like they hit rock bottom — or something close to it.
Reader Mail
Feb 14, 2010

Rights activists deserve more space

Thank you for the Feb. 10 article "NGOs air concerns over strife in Gaza Strip," which mentions the U.N. Human Rights Council resolution criticizing Israel for its human rights record in Gaza. Regrettably, Foreign Ministry official Mitsuko Shino is being disingenuous when she asserts that Japan did not...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 14, 2010

A winter's tale of time-warp Takayama

After a while you tire of the easy destinations — the usual spots with their inevitable touristic clutter. So you decide on somewhere different — somewhere that's far from the madding crowds and far, too, from the yet more madding megaphone-toting tour guides.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 14, 2010

Could 'Godzilla cherry blossom' save Japanese culture?

Cherry blossom is as quintessentially Japanese as sushi and samurai.
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 14, 2010

Tiger of the snows

White flakes slip delicately down. Dusting the glow of graceful moss-clad forest relics rotting back into the ground, they illuminate the few giants still standing — majestic Japanese yew and lofty Korean pine. The ancient trees are silent; the only sound is from the hustle of our camouflaged legs...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 14, 2010

Today's complex society in Japan spawns a new 'foreigner complex'

Among the many Japanese words and phrases that have fallen by the wayside of late and become shigo (obsolete), gaijin komupurekkusu (foreigner complex) is certainly among the least missed.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 14, 2010

Reflections of a madman

"I Am Ozzy" is a true Hollywood story in book format — a ride through rock 'n' roll history with a driver saturated in controlled substances. It's Ozzy Osborne's stumbling, rambling, decadent beyond recognition memoir, as over the top as the author himself. The book would be heartbreaking if it weren't...
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2010

Distributor hopes to screen 'The Cove' soon

A film distributor that acquired the rights to screen in Japan the documentary "The Cove," which shows the slaughter of dolphins near Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, hopes to bring the Oscar-nominated film to theaters soon.
SUMO
Feb 13, 2010

Fans object to Asashoryu's retirement pay

A generous retirement package proposed for former sumo yokozuna Asashoryu has angered some fans in Japan.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2010

Temps again get short end?

The Hatoyama administration is working on an amendment to the job dispatch law in an effort to provide greater security to temporary workers hit by the economic slump.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Feb 12, 2010

Four Seasons Chinzan-so maiko show

Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so's Japanese restaurant Miyuki will offer a Kyoto-themed meal and entertainment event on Feb. 28, inviting maiko from the ancient capital.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BY THE GLASS
Feb 12, 2010

Fine wines from a complex region

According to the philosopher Isaiah Berlin, great thinkers can be separated into two broad categories: hedgehogs and foxes. While hedgehogs view the world through one single defining idea, foxes embrace the multitude of contradictory experiences that life throws up.

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