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JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 24, 2010

Girl idol group about mass exposure, fans

AKB48 has taken the pop singing idol phenom and multiplied it into a mass-production, mass-marketing, mass presence affair.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 1, 2010

Japanese quotes cast country's life and culture in disparate lights

SECOND IN A THREE-PART SERIES — In its current issue, the popular monthly magazine Bungei Shunju has a long feature titled "Tekichushita yogen 50," meaning "50 predictions that hit the mark."
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2010

Sengoku sees last-minute resurgence for DPJ at polls

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku on Friday downplayed media projections of a defeat for the ruling Democratic Party of Japan in Sunday's Upper House election, saying his party still has 48 hours to regain voter support.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 27, 2010

What's in a name? Politics as usual

When the Democratic Party of Japan indicated in its political manifesto that it favored voting rights for foreign permanent residents, the reaction from some quarters of the media was visceral. In early April, publisher Takarajima-sha produced a 96-page "emergency publication" titled "Gaikokujin Sanseiken...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Jun 8, 2010

Readers weigh in on U.S. military presence

Fear of breaking taboo During my 31 years in Japan I have appreciated The Japan Times' coverage of social issues such as discrimination against ethic and social minorities, which the vernacular papers give only passing mention to.
COMMENTARY
May 1, 2010

How news skews views

BEIJING — I am not good at flying kites. But during a recent visit to the Olympic Village of Beijing, I felt compelled to do so. Despite the cold and late hour, there were many kite runners around me. A salesman insisted that I try my hand before committing to any purchase, and I did. After purchasing...
COMMENTARY
Apr 26, 2010

China's true supporters versus the hackers

Caring about China can be hard to do. Many Chinese, for starters, resent it when others express concern, viewing it as an intrusion, especially when the other party disagrees with something China has done.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2010

Tokunoshima is a risky gambit

TOKUNOSHIMA, Kagoshima Pref. — When Tokunoshima, an island with about 26,000 residents officially governed by Kagoshima Prefecture but counted as part of the Satsunan Islands that lie closer to Okinawa than Kyushu, first emerged as a candidate host for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, local reaction...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Apr 20, 2010

Takada enjoying rookie season with Evessa

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. The league's fifth season began in October. Hirohisa Takada of the Osaka Evessa is the subject of this week's profile.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 28, 2010

Japanese women can't get no satisfaction

Several weeks ago, star economist and self-help guru Kazuyo Katsuma was the special guest on the TBS variety show "Kinyobi no Sumatachi e." The program's title conflates "kinyobi no tsumatachi" (Friday Wives), which once referred to Friday night "trendy drama" series centered on well-to-do housewives,...
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2010

Politically connect: Twitter use is up

Presumably exhausted from all the heat over his political money scandals, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama recently limited the number of questions he takes from reporters every morning as he leaves his official residence.
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 / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 14, 2010

Foreign trainees easily exploited as bosses take advantage of system

Several weeks ago, TV Asahi's nightly news show "Hodo Station" ran a special report on the uncertain future of Japanese agriculture.
BUSINESS
Feb 9, 2010

Toyota confident it has loyal customers

TORRANCE, Calif. — "If there's a problem, we fix it," said Bill Coyne, general manager of South Bay Toyota, sounding frustrated.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2010

Writer: Juvenile killer not a 'devil'

It all began with a letter from a condemned killer.
MORE SPORTS / ICE TIME
Nov 25, 2009

Mao, JSF appear content to retain present course

As the sand continues through the hourglass and the days until the Vancouver Olympics dwindle, Mao Asada's chances at the gold medal seem to continue to dissipate.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 22, 2009

Obsessed with 'ugly' women

When I read the news item in early November about the three men in Tottori Prefecture whose mysterious deaths were linked to a woman already under arrest for fraud, I associated them with the similarly mysterious deaths of several other men linked to a Tokyo woman who was under arrest for swindling....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Oct 22, 2009

Tokyo Girls Collection producer Ayako Nagaya

Ayako Nagaya, 37, is the president of F1 Media Inc. and the chief producer of Tokyo Girls Collection (TGC), a semiannual entertainment extravaganza showcasing Japanese street fashion, music and a myriad of products, from instant noodles to cars. Staged in Tokyo's Yoyogi Stadium, this one-day fashion...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 20, 2009

The forgotten DPJ promise on women's rights

In the weeks since the Democratic Party of Japan secured a majority in the Lower House, the new DPJ members of that institution have apparently been told to keep their mouths shut when they're around the media.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 15, 2009

Did technology kill the KTO star?

In 1977, nine years after Tony Elliott started the then-alternative media London Time Out magazine, Kansai Time Out printed its first issue, an eight-pager with local listings and a smattering of Japan-related articles. Dominic Al-Badri, chief editor from 1997 to 2004, recalls that the info-packed pages...
Reader Mail
Sep 13, 2009

Accomplices in promoting folly

How can a citizen know that what he reads, sees and hears from the media is accurate and fair? That's the question triggered by Hiroaki Sato's Aug. 30 article, "Media connivance in walking the dogs of war."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 16, 2009

Sakai's twin personalities were falling apart before bust

The advice column in the Aug. 1 Asahi Shimbun ran a letter from a 30-year-old woman who despaired over her obsession with male idols, wondering if it was the reason she didn't have a boyfriend. The guest adviser was University of Tokyo Professor Chizuko Ueno, who told her to relax. She'd survived 30...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Aug 4, 2009

Unlike humans, swine flu is indiscriminate

The biggest news a few months ago, now affecting every prefecture in Japan, has blipped off our radar screens. For the time being.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 2, 2009

No brains when it comes down to transplants

The bill to revise the Organ Transplant Law, which cleared the Upper House on July 13 and thus gained full Diet passage, is a rare example of bipartisan agreement. Known as Plan A, the new law has three significant features: It recognizes brain death as legal death, allows the harvesting of organs from...
COMMENTARY
Aug 1, 2009

Tough times for politicians

Democratic governments everywhere are in trouble. In Britain, the Labour government is tottering. In Japan, defeat looms for Prime Minister Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party. In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is clinging on amid a sea of scandal. In France, hyperactive President Nicolas Sarkozy...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 14, 2009

For Hatoyamas, politics is considered birthright

Often compared to the Kennedy family for the impressive list of lawmakers and scholars hailing from its ranks, the Hatoyama clan is one of the nation's most prominent political dynasties.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2009

Balanced news key for Yahoo Japan

While Yahoo Japan's news service has grown bigger and more powerful with the rise of the Internet, it has become tougher for the media to broadcast news with important value to its audience, said Michihiro Okumura, who leads a team that selects Yahoo Japan's news topics for its front page.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2009

Winter of Australia's discontent

SYDNEY — Now that Australia's politicians have scattered across the world — they are diligent in flying off on global research projects during long recesses — exasperated voters are enjoying relief from the mudslinging that marked the most frenetic-ever final week of a winter sitting in the Federal...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 7, 2009

Kang Sang Jung: Born but not Bred

Kang Sang Jung is one of the most influential ethnically Korean residents of Japan (zainichi). A political science professor at the University of Tokyo, he also gives lectures around the country, is a regular television commentator and has a column in the prestigious weekly current affairs magazine Aera....

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