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JAPAN / PARTY POWERS
Jul 29, 2009

New Komeito chief slams DPJ policies, rules out alliance

Citing the Democratic Party of Japan's "unreliable" policies, New Komeito chief Akihiro Ota says joining hands with the DPJ is unlikely even if the largest opposition force wins the Aug. 30 election.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2009
Jul 29, 2009

Politicians tap Twitter to tweak profiles

At 6:44 p.m. on July 15, Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Seiji Osaka posed a question on his Twitter profile: "I think bringing the voting age down to 18 years old is OK. What do you think about it?"
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 29, 2009

Old problem festers on China's new frontier

WARSAW — Had the August 1991 putsch against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev not failed, the riots and death recently seen in Xinjiang could have been taking place in Russia. Instead of hearing about a crackdown in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital, we might be reading about hundreds killed on the streets...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 29, 2009

Balance sheets key to an economic recovery

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Early signs of a manufacturing rebound, already strong in Asia, lend hope for some modest recovery from today's deep global recession. But a strong and durable economic expansion is unlikely until progress is made in dealing with the toxic assets poisoning the balance sheets of...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 28, 2009

Japan's funerals deep-rooted mix of ritual, form

Funerals in Japan incorporate a unique mixture of religion, tradition, culture, ritual and geography that to the outsider may appear perplexing.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jul 27, 2009

Mettle of 'thoroughbreds'

What does Prime Minister Taro Aso have in common with his immediate predecessors — Junichiro Koizumi, Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda? Each is either a son or a grandson of a well-known politician of the past.
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2009

Threats against Iran feed off modern myths

NEW YORK — Several myths regarding Iran stand in the way of the United States and other nations reaching a peaceful relationship with that country. Much of the concern that Iran may attack Israel, if Iran successfully develops nuclear weapons, rests on the statement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...
EDITORIALS
Jul 26, 2009

Precautions for climbing

The recent deaths of 10 hikers in Hokkaido's Taisetsu mountain range serve as a tragic reminder that even summer mountaineering can be perilous. Hiking in bad weather, the 10 — all in their 50s and 60s — died from hypothermia. One was on a guided tour of 2,052-meter Mount Biei. The other nine were...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 26, 2009

Myth-buster points the way to Japan's role as 'credit-crunch' pioneer

T here are five myths circulating the globe regarding the financial crisis that has it in its grip. This is the view of Pavel Minakir, director of the Institute of Applied Economic Research in Khabarovsk, Russia. His fascinating and sobering assessment of these myths appeared in a recent issue of the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 26, 2009

Japan's maglev on track for financial crash

About 40 people are crowded onto the observation deck of the Yamanashi Linear Test Line Center, holding their cameras at the ready and waiting for the world's fastest train — an experimental maglev model that's called a "linear motor car" (LMC) — to make its appearance.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 26, 2009

'Groundhog Day' man realizes why solar fans love running backward

Events this month have brought home to me once again the enduring truth of that popular slogan, "Think globally, act locally."
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jul 26, 2009

Hopping on through Mita

High on a hill in Tokyo's central Mita district, the Australian Embassy is easy to spot. Two national coats of arms bolted to the outside of the building feature oversize images of emus and kangaroos, designated as symbols of this self-styled progressive nation because they supposedly can't walk backwards....
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jul 26, 2009

Hopping on through Mita

High on a hill in Tokyo's central Mita district, the Australian Embassy is easy to spot. Two national coats of arms bolted to the outside of the building feature oversize images of emus and kangaroos, designated as symbols of this self-styled progressive nation because they supposedly can't walk backwards....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 25, 2009

Why I fly the coop

There's this foreign fellow I know that when asked about his favorite place in Japan, always answers like this . . . "The departure lounge at Narita."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 24, 2009

Bløf

Earth Celebration is certainly in touch with the times: Last year the taiko drumming troupe Kodo marked the 100th anniversary of Japanese immigration to Brazil with the Afro-Brazilian culture group Olodum; this year they are celebrating the 400th anniversary of trade relations between Japan and the Netherlands...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Jul 24, 2009

A bar crawl up Center Gai

Shibuya, I once wrote, is the heart of Young Japan, and the street named Center Gai is its throbbing artery. Some people pay handsomely for cliches like that.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 24, 2009

'The Baader Mienhof Complex'

Crowds of people take to the street to protest a dictatorship. Despite gathering peacefully, they are set upon by the police and gangs of thugs, who beat them mercilessly. A student, never having attended a demonstration before, is shot and left for dead by the cops. Official media falsely blames the...
COMMENTARY
Jul 19, 2009

Like it or not, China is not about to go away

KUALA LUMPUR — There was never the slightest doubt in the mind of a single reputable expert anywhere in the world that China was a caldron of ethnic unrest ready to boil over. Nor was there the slightest possibility that the masters of the People's Republic of China would be able to escape, within...
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Jul 19, 2009

Yokohama port anniversary, population boom, Zen bus-drivers and Japanese longevity

100 YEARS AGO
MORE SPORTS / ICE TIME
Jul 19, 2009

Soul on ice: Resilient Ando primed for second chance at Olympic glory

"Don't judge a person until you have walked in their shoes."
CULTURE / Books
Jul 19, 2009

We all live in a 'yellow peril' submarine

This 454-page thriller, written in the time frame between the outbreak of SARS and swine influenza, puts a new twist on biological warfare. Indeed, what if an insidious crime syndicate were to infiltrate medical research and then, seeking huge profits, practice extortion on a worldwide scale?
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2009

Out of step over failed price deal

SYDNEY — Australia is having to rethink its dealings with China following the bizarre jailing in Shanghai of an Australian businessman and a flurry of undercover diplomatic requests for explanations from Canberra to Beijing.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 19, 2009

History in a stunning setting

It may be hard to imagine of a Saturday night in the gaijin gulches of Tokyo's seething Roppongi entertainment district, but back in the 16th century, foreigners — especially of a Western ilk — were a complete novelty in Japan.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 19, 2009

Bowling 'em over

The game of lawn bowls may appear straightforward — players in whites repeatedly roll 1.5-kg rounded plastic "bowls" over finely cut grass — but Japan's male and female singles champions are taking decidedly different approaches to the World Singles Champion of Champions, set to begin in Ayr, Scotland,...

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