Search - u_times

 
 
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 22, 2009

Its director's cut on new Festival/Tokyo

Japan may be floundering politically and economically, but amid all the uncertainties it is a joy to report the sparkling rebirth of a major international theater event in Tokyo.
Reader Mail
Feb 22, 2009

Innovation with what's available

Regarding the Feb. 18 editorial "Surprisingly sharp decline": I agree that innovation is the key to fighting the recession, and I would like to cite two examples. First, do the Japanese people realize that, despite this recession, companies that have done well are none other than the mobile service providers...
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Feb 21, 2009

Holtz happy to coach Notre Dame alumni in 75th anniversary game

What a summer it will be for American football fans in Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 21, 2009

Tangling over chopsticks

"You know what we should do?" I tell my wife over lunch. "Find a way to insert some Chapstick onto the end of a chopstick. We could call it the "Chapchop-stick" and make millions."
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2009

'Halfway'

"Halfway" ("Harufuwei") has one of those katakana titles that is supposed to sound vaguely exotic and mysterious to its intended audience — Japanese of about the same age as its teenage protagonists — but may strike native speakers as prosaic, even boring.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 20, 2009

Snow yaks and yetis — an ice man cometh

Fans of Pop Surrealism were no doubt tickled pink to hear of their messiah, painter Mark Ryden, making an appearance in Tokyo for the opening of "The Snow Yak Show" at the Tomio Koyama Gallery. The solo exhibition features eight new works from the masterful painter, each exquisitely detailed in his characteristic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 20, 2009

Worst Taste: as stupid as they wanna be

"I like bands that are energetic and stupid. And with no sense of fashion. We hate fashionable bands whose music is no good."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2009

Bent Hamer nails another odd story

N orwegian filmmaker Bent Hamer is a generous man. At the end of our interview, while waiting for the next journalist to arrive, Hamer began putting together media kits that were piled up on a desk to be sorted out by the staff of his film's promotion company. Told not to bother, he kept at it with a...
Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2009

Kyoto got what it asked for

Regarding the Jan. 13 article "Respect 'maiko' privacy, don't act like paparazzi, Kyoto tells tourists": All of Kyoto has aggressively promoted tourism to the international community. The city.kyoto.jp Web site provides a pamphlet that dedicates two pages to the maiko (apprentice geisha), the same amount...
Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2009

People who can revitalize Japan

Many foreign residents, including myself, are angered at the Japanese government's insular, isolationist worldview, most recently reflected in the Justice Ministry's decision to deport a Filipino family, the Calderons, who have lived here since the early 1990s ("Filipino parents told to leave").
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2009

No way out left for Aso, experts say

The resignation of Finance Minister Shoichiro Nakagawa following his disgraceful display in Rome has further weakened Prime Minister Taro Aso and could prove to be the straw that breaks the Cabinet's back, political observers said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2009

Nakagawa resigns after G7 disgrace

Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa abruptly resigned Tuesday evening amid rapidly growing calls to quit over his sloppy and allegedly drunken appearance at a Group of Seven press briefing in Rome on Saturday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2009

BOJ must back bond flood: expert

The October-December gross domestic product figures announced Monday, marking the sharpest fall in 35 years, sent shock waves through recession-racked Japan.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2009

Creating demand at home must be main goal

To achieve a long-term solution to the economic crisis, the government must offset the sharp decline in foreign demand by strengthening industries that can generate demand at home, according to economist Nobuo Ikeda, a professor at Jobu University in Gunma Prefecture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 17, 2009

Berlitz launches legal blitz against striking instructors

It has been 14 months since members of the Berlitz General Union Tokyo (Begunto) first downed chalk and launched rotating strikes against the language school Berlitz Japan.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2009

Aso won't fire 'drunk' Nakagawa

Prime Minister Taro Aso refused Monday to fire Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa for his unusual behavior Saturday after a Group of Seven meeting which has led opposition parties to call for his dismissal.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2009

Toyota to cut output 54%

Toyota Motor Corp. will slash domestic production 54 percent in the current quarter as demand plunges in the U.S. and Japan.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 17, 2009

Accelerating Toyota forced to downshift

Figures for just the past five years show how much Toyota Motor Corp. has prospered. During that period, the carmaker continued to post record sales, profits, production and sales units, ultimately taking the top of the hill from General Motors Corp.
Reader Mail
Feb 15, 2009

Model for enterprising youths

Alex Martin's Feb. 11 article, "Shoe shiner buffs his trade into fine art," is a remarkable story of determination, humility, entrepreneurialism and a sharp mind for business growth. Yuya Hasegawa has raised shining shoes to an art form. The article doesn't mention the fact that there's a definite psychological...
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Feb 15, 2009

Anti-Japanese Bills, military budget eases unemployment, foreigners shun ski fields and socialists drop class struggle

100 YEARS AGO
COMMENTARY
Feb 15, 2009

Immorality of bushfires

Australia will recover from its recent bushfire tragedy damage. But can it recover from the shock of discovering how much of the damage was due to arson? Japan could provide some answers, though not all optimistic.
Reader Mail
Feb 15, 2009

Not just another castle piece

Simon Bartz's Feb. 8 Timeout Travel article, "Storming the keep of Himeji Castle," which I just read on The Japan Times Web site, is a fantastic piece of writing. I've done a small amount of travel writing about Japan and have always struggled to find an appropriate style to cover the traveler- fun-seeker-British-drinker...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 15, 2009

Do Japanese yet realize that culture's acquired, not in the blood?

There's no doubt that Japanese people's attitudes toward foreigners, and the ways they relate to them, have changed markedly in the 40-odd years since I first arrived here. But is this change we can believe in?
CULTURE / Books
Feb 15, 2009

From a master of versatility

The last page of Donald Richie's most recent offering, "Botandoro," reveals that he has, in his long and productive life, published no fewer than 35 books. The word "prolific" is unavoidable.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 15, 2009

From a master of versatility

BOTANDORO: Stories, Fables, Parables, and Allegories — a Miscellany, by Donald Richie, edited and with an introduction by Leza Lowitz. Printed Matter Press, 2008, 272 pp., $20 (paper) The last page of Donald Richie's most recent offering, "Botandoro," reveals that he has, in his long and productive...
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2009

Trial interpreters urge certification

As the courts prepare to let citizens join with judges in trying accused criminals, legal experts are calling for improving the training and status of court interpreters.
OLYMPICS
Feb 14, 2009

Tokyo pitches compact, sustainable games in bid to IOC

Tokyo organizers unveiled details of their bid to host the 2016 Olympics on Friday, emphasizing a compact, sustainable and financially robust games.

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