Search - u_times

 
 
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 13, 2009

Tragedy exposes need to care more for carers' mental well-being

Shortly after 1 p.m. on April 21, 2009, a worker at Fuji Reien cemetery in Gotenba City, Shizuoka Prefecture, discovered the body of a woman on its grounds. Nearby, a semi-conscious elderly lady sat shivering in a wheelchair.
JAPAN / Media
Dec 13, 2009

Johnny is hottest of the lot

Movie press conferences in Japan are often pretty inane affairs, with vague questions about on-set "happenings" and zany ones along the lines of, "If you had superpowers like your character, what would you use them for?" Uh, world peace maybe?
EDITORIALS
Dec 13, 2009

An education in violence

Violent behavior in Japanese schools increased to an all-time high in 2008, according to a recent report from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Students, teachers and other people were victims of 60,000 violent incidents involving primary, middle and high school...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 13, 2009

Where myth meets the present

On the edge of town, by a bridge over a stream amid fields of rice stubble, there is a roughly hewn stone Buddha. The path to it is well worn, and though someone has left an offering of the last of the season's quinces at the base of the statue, today there's no one else around and only the sound of...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 12, 2009

Is service with a smile too much to ask for?

As we near Christmas, many foreigners will be going home to spend the holiday with their families. This means enduring long flights and, unfortunately for many, rude flight attendants.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 12, 2009

Relations between players, managers can be tense

LONDON — Managers tell players to use their heads, but two bosses, it seems, have literally been practicing what they preach.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 12, 2009

Doctor who treats body and soul

Beauty is not only skin deep, according to Dr. Andrew Wong. With more than 30 years of experience in the medical world, Wong observes firsthand how the stresses and preoccupations of modern society adversely affect our aging processes and overall health. To Wong, mind and body can be united to achieve...
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2009

Expanded stimulus package

The government Tuesday announced a ¥7.2 trillion emergency stimulus package, some 2.7 times more than the originally planned ¥2.7 trillion, to buoy the Japanese economy. Apart from the rather questionable economic impact of the package, confusion in the Cabinet and lack of leadership on the part of...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 11, 2009

Central bankers must finesse money supply

TILBURG, Netherlands — The current economic crisis highlights the need for major changes at central banks. It is time for a return to some form of moderate monetarism — but in a 21st-century mold.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 11, 2009

Coach says Singleton could become a star

For the Oita HeatDevils, Rashaad Singleton is the last line of defense.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2009

A decade when Japan's cinema stood up to Hollywood menace

When I started reviewing Japanese films for The Japan Times in 1989, many of the people making and distributing them were convinced that the Hollywood juggernaut was slowly crushing them. How could they hope to compete against superior Hollywood technology and vastly larger Hollywood budgets?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 11, 2009

(Near) death of a salesman

Amit started downloading music when he was 16 years old in India.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 11, 2009

Don Quixote gets punked

The contemporary Japanese dance scene has recently drifted to a more fragmented situation where groups delve deeper into their own particular take on performance, but one exception to this is Pappa Tarahumara. Founded by Hiroshi Koike (freshly back from a discussion presentation with Laurie Anderson...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Dec 10, 2009

Luxuriating at MoT and Vulcanize, customizing at Nike and economizing at Venus Fort

The luxury of fashion
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Dec 9, 2009

Sony's finger on the pulse with vein reader

Security point: Sony's new FVA-U1 is a finger-vein reader that plugs into your computer via a USB. The device is meant to protect computers from unauthorized users, externally at least. The rising popularity of vein-reading technology in Japan as a better means of securing data is praiseworthy, but a...
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2009

Hong Kong looks to Japan's automated tombs

Hong Kong, one of the world's most densely populated areas, is looking to Japan for a solution to a perennial issue — what to do with the dead.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2009

Pearl Harbor survivor back after 68 years

HONOLULU — Ed Johann will always remember the sound of planes diving out of the sky to bomb U.S. battleships, the explosions and the screams of sailors. He still recalls the stench of burning oil and flesh.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 7, 2009

Be good to your fry pan, and it will be good to you

If you value your fry pan's life, a Teflon recoating service makes good economic and environmental sense.
BUSINESS
Dec 7, 2009

Globalized road to recovery will be bumpy, U.K. economist warns

Even though many economies appear to be emerging from recession, the road to recovery is going to be pocked with setbacks and slippages in the coming year, with prospects for future growth clouded by the long-term effects of the global financial crisis, a British expert said at a recent seminar in Tokyo....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2009

Tuna farming getting a boost as species suffers

KUMANO, Mie Pref. — Thousands of tuna, their silver bellies bloated with fat, swim frantically around in netted areas of a small bay here, stuffing themselves until they grow twice as heavy as in the wild.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 6, 2009

Painting Tokyo red and gold

In times past, some Native Americans believed the autumn colors were made when the Great Hunter finally shot the Bear, whose blood spilled across the landscape in the form of red leaves.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Dec 6, 2009

Sendai guard Takahashi studies NBA to help improve his game

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. The league's fifth season began in October. Kenichi Takahashi of the Sendai 89ers is the subject of this week's profile.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 6, 2009

Path to sixth World Cup win may be tough for Brazil

CAPE TOWN, Okada stands firm: Page 16 (AP) Five-time winner Brazil was stung by a tough draw for the 2010 World Cup on Friday while co-favorite Spain was given an easy ride through to the second round.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 6, 2009

Eco cars go up in smoke

Preadolescent tarento (TV celebrities) tend to provoke my gag reflex. I can only tolerate preternatural cuteness if it's presented without irony or intensification. Ten-year-old Nozomi Ohashi, who's famous for singing the theme song to the animated movie "Ponyo," has, according to her Wikipedia entry,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 6, 2009

Rika Kayama: Finding satisfaction in being ourselves

Psychiatrist Rika Kayama is an outspoken doctor specializing in mental illness, a best-selling writer and a popular social commentator.
LIFE / Travel
Dec 6, 2009

Painting Tokyo red and gold

In times past, some Native Americans believed the autumn colors were made when the Great Hunter finally shot the Bear, whose blood spilled across the landscape in the form of red leaves.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 5, 2009

I'm a gaijin — just another guy in jeans

An editor once asked why I use the masculine pronoun "he," instead of the less sexist "he or she" when referring to people of both genders in the same sentence. Despite having grown up in what is now called the second wave of feminism, from the early '60s to late '80s, I still never quite made the change...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 5, 2009

FIFA's manipulation of playoff draw farcical

LONDON — Just in case you had forgotten, FIFA's motto is Fair Play.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 5, 2009

I'm a gaijin — just another guy in jeans

An editor once asked why I use the masculine pronoun "he," instead of the less sexist "he or she" when referring to people of both genders in the same sentence. Despite having grown up in what is now called the second wave of feminism, from the early '60s to late '80s, I still never quite made the change...

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb