Search - media

 
 
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jun 2, 2009

The issue that dares not speak its name

A few columns ago ("Toadies, Vultures, and Zombie Debates," March 3), I discussed how foreign apologists resuscitate dead-end discussions on racial discrimination. Promoting cultural relativity for their own ends, they peddle bigoted and obsolescent ideologies now impossible to justify in their societies...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 5, 2009

What do you think of the way SMAP's Tsuyoshi Kusanagi has been treated since his naked romp

COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2009

Small-scale abductions that can trigger war

BANGKOK — Even relatively small misunderstandings, festering underground over time and eating into the foundations of stability, can cause wars. Some poisons work immediately; other poisons take time.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 15, 2009

Japan's 'silly couple' reunite despite domestic violence

For the past few weeks, America's showbiz media has lingered over the alleged beating that R&B star Rihanna received at the hands of her boyfriend, the equally popular singer Chris Brown. Below the titillating layer of scandal is the story's more sobering subtext of domestic violence (DV), a social problem...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Feb 3, 2009

2channel: the bullies' forum

Bullying in Japan is a big problem. The victims have limited recourse. Too often they are told to suck it up and self-reflect. Or if they fight back, they get criticized for lashing out. It's a destructive dynamic, causing much misery and many a suicide.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 25, 2009

Poking fun at the ¥12,000 handout

The opposition parties' objections to the extra fiscal 2008 budget, which was put together to deal with the unexpected seriousness of the economic downturn, center on the ¥2 trillion in cash handouts originally conceived by the LDP's coalition partner, New Komeito, last summer during the final days...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2009

2channel founder ponders next step after forum's sale

A short message recently posted on Hiroyuki Nishimura's personal blog sent shock waves across the online community. In a single sentence dated Jan. 2, he announced that he had sold 2channel, his wildly popular Internet forum.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 20, 2009

Breaking the silence on burakumin

For those who don't know — and you would be forgiven considering the lack of coverage the issue receives — a buraku is the term used to describe an area where some, but not all, of the residents have ancestral ties to the people placed at the bottom of feudal society in the Edo Period. These people...
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2009

Teachers beset by unruly parents

When the 27-year-old rookie elementary school teacher in Kanagawa Prefecture began receiving phone calls from the mother of one of his students demanding an apology from the parents of their child's alleged "bullies," he thought it was just a misunderstanding by an overprotective parent.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 14, 2008

Aso the donkey plods on

Last week, when poll results showed public support for the current Cabinet at an all-time low, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party tried to move past the bad news by focusing attention on what it believes is really important. Chief Cabinent Secretary Takeo Kawamura told reporters that the LDP shouldn't...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2008

Keanu Reeves boldly goes for box-office biggie

Keanu Reeves is a creature from outer space. More precisely, he is playing Klaatu, a superior being from beyond the stars who takes the form of a human male visiting a planet that, despite millions of years of evolution, remains too fond of violence for its own good.
BUSINESS / JAPAN-U.S. SYMPOSIUMS
Dec 8, 2008

Obama victory opens door to broader relations

The election of Barack Obama as the next U.S. president offers opportunities for broader cooperation between Japan and the United States, which focused on the military aspects of the alliance during the eight years of the Bush administration, experts told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2008

Japan lags U.S. in using Net to mobilize voters

When Tadamasa Kimura says he is envious of Barack Obama's victorious campaign to become president of the United States, it's not because he's an unsuccessful aspirant to political office.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 2, 2008

God forbid if sumo goes the way of pro wrestling

In March 2007, Shukan Gendai published an article naming top-ranked sumo wrestlers who it said had been involved in match-fixing in the past. Three of the wrestlers and the Japan Sumo Association subsequently filed defamation lawsuits against the publisher, Kodansha Ltd., and several weeks ago one of...
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2008

Dolphin activist keeps up fight against slaughter

OSAKA — Renowned American dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry has dedicated his life to freeing captured dolphins worldwide. In a new documentary, he hopes to educate both Japanese and international audiences about the slaughter of the mammals in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, and the hazards of eating dolphin...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2008

'Redacted'

Brian De Palma is a man of contradictions. The director is known for filming spectacular scenes of violence: Just think of the elevator slashing in "Dressed To Kill," Al Capone's baseball bat in "The Untouchables" or pretty much all of "Scarface." Yet his riskiest and maybe best film, 1989's "Casualties...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Sep 26, 2008

Japan's mature spectators

Has democracy matured in Japan? Scholar-turned-politician Yoichi Masuzoe used to say Japan is a mature democratic nation, as its politics is led by public opinion. Recently, however, he seems to have reversed his way of thinking, as he states that Japanese citizens have become more like spectators than...
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2008

Fukuda comes out of hiding at last, speaks to reporters

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who refused to speak to reporters since suddenly announcing his resignation Sept. 1, finally came out of hiding Monday evening, claiming he has not been avoiding the media.
COMMENTARY
Aug 25, 2008

Chinese 'oldies' who raised the bar for caring

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — In the obsessive media heat of these youth-oriented Beijing Olympics, a once-famous Chinese political figure has died at the ripe young age of 87, and goes to the grave almost internationally unnoticed.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Aug 11, 2008

Beijing squeezed by Olympic ideals, populist distortions

When the Olympic games were awarded to Beijing in 2001, more than a few questions were raised about the host country. It was clear from the start that China was not just making a bid to host a sporting event — it was claiming a place in the developed world.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 20, 2008

All this fuss over just a little drink at a . . . love hotel

The big tabloid scoop last week was snagged by the woman's weekly Josei Seven, which caught celebrity/announcer Mona Yamamoto and Yomiuri Giants shortstop Tomohiro Nioka in a love-hotel tryst. The reason the incident hit such a big nerve in the media is that the night the tryst took place was also the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 15, 2008

Famed electronics hub still sparks the curious, bizarre

Tokyo's Akihabara district draws throngs not only with its hundreds of electronics shops but also because it is the mecca for "otaku" computer geeks, and fans of "manga" and "anime" pop culture.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 9, 2008

Summit aiming to offset all its CO2 emissions

TOYAKO, Hokkaido — Debate on global warming can heat up sometimes, but the Group of Eight summit shouldn't be contributing to climate change.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 22, 2008

How can the press be free if it's used as a public-relations tool?

The Supreme Court's decision on June 12 to reverse a lower-court ruling that had found in favor of a women's group received a fair share of concerned media coverage. The suit involved a program NHK had produced about a 2001 citizens' tribunal, which prosecuted Japan's wartime leaders on behalf of sex...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 14, 2008

CON-CAN launches movie competition

If you are making short films, or aspire to making them, the Web site www.con-can.com has everything in the world to offer: advice, support, the opportunity to get your work seen and critiqued and, the chance to win $10,000 in the online CON-CAN Movie Festival.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2008

NHK censorship ruling reversed

The Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling Thursday, dismissing a suit filed by a women's rights group that demanded NHK and two production companies pay compensation for altering the content of a documentary on Japan's wartime sexual slavery.
Reader Mail
Jun 1, 2008

Major donor in time of distress

Two articles on May 30, "Japanese medical team heads off to Myanmar" and "Japan pledges $50 million for food (to Africa)," gave me mixed feelings. One thing is clear: On humanitarian grounds, Japan scores high as a friendly country to friends, foes and the needy -- all who let out a distress call. In...
COMMENTARY
May 4, 2008

A chance for Beijing to take a stand on health

LOS ANGELES — As matters now stand, accredited, professional journalists from Taiwan are once again being denied press passes by U.N. authorities to cover the annual World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization. This year's event takes place in Geneva on May 19. The topic is "A Safer Future:...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 13, 2008

Confusion reigns after 'Yasukuni' doesn't tell us how to feel

The big media-related news story on April 1 was the ongoing controversy over the documentary feature "Yasukuni," screenings of which had been canceled by a number of movie theaters in Tokyo and Osaka out of fear of rightwing protests. That night, NHK's regular 7 p.m. news bulletin did not mention the...

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