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EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 2013

Bloody outcome in Algeria

Algerian special forces on Saturday stormed a natural gas complex in Ain Amenas in the Sahara desert to end the four-day seizure of the facility by Islamic militants who took many workers of various nationalities hostages. Among those taken hostages were employees of JGC Corp., a Yokohama-based major...
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2013

Abe strikes control pose as Japan scrambles for information

With the whereabouts of 10 of the 17 Japanese taken hostage at a gas complex in Algeria still unknown, the government desperately tries to gather more information.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 19, 2013

Fukushima's powder paradise

I seem to have the whole mountain to myself. The vast majesty of Fukushima Prefecture spreads out below me, all around. Up here, skiing on powdery snow, zigzagging through challenging moguls, it's easy to forget about the nuclear reactors 120 km away.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 19, 2013

Japan's growing diaspora reflects concern for the country's future

Here's a surprising fact: One Japanese in a hundred lives abroad. It's surprising because so much is made lately of Japan's growing insularity. Young people seem less interested than ever in studying overseas, and voters last month elected a new government whose platform includes strong doses of patriotism...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 19, 2013

Share house lovers; "Tonbi"; CM of the week: Open House

A "share house" is a relatively new concept in Japan: unrelated people sharing a rented residence. The new drama series, "Shea Hausu no Koibito" ("Share House Lovers"; Nippon TV, Wed., 10 p.m.) puts the inevitable romantic spin on it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 19, 2013

Beating kids to create 'fighting spirit' in sport doesn't translate

In a recent interview on the Barnes & Noble Review website promoting his latest book, historian Jared Diamond mentions how treatment of the young "varies among traditional societies just as it varies among industrial societies," and gives examples of how some of the former use corporal punishment for...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 19, 2013

Seven Japanese confirmed safe but fate of 10 others unknown in Algeria hostage situation: JGC

Amid conflicting reports Friday about casualties among foreigners who were taken hostage at a natural gas complex in Algeria, the government and JGC Corp. confirmed the safety of seven Japanese workers but said 10 others were still missing.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jan 17, 2013

Fujiwara chases a scoop in news-themed thriller

There aren't many celebrities who would make good journalists, but something tells me Norika Fujiwara is one. She's well-traveled, socially active and not constrained by the mechanisms of public-relations strategies.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 17, 2013

Matsue: 'Goma's positivity left me revitalized'

Since his 1999 debut "Anyon Kimuchi (Annyong Kimchi)," a documentary about his zainichi (ethnic Korean) family, Tetsuaki Matsue has been interested in those on the margins of Japanese society — though he is hardly the director-as-crusader.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 17, 2013

Nagisa Oshima: a leading force in film

Film director Nagisa Oshima, who died in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, of pneumonia on Tuesday at age 80, was a leader of Japan's postwar New Wave movement.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 17, 2013

Ian Buruma on 'Ai-no Borei (Empire of Passion)'

Nagisa Oshima is the best film director in Japan still making good movies. There are other good directors (Kon Ichikawa), but they are reduced to doing company hack-work. Oshima can still do the films he likes, partly because he gets financial backing in France from Argos Films, the producer of both...
CULTURE
Jan 17, 2013

Audie Bock interviews Oshima at Cannes

The award for "Best Direction" at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival actually caps the achievement of a decade for Japan's Nagisa Oshima. His latest film, "Ai no Borei (Empire of Passion)," a ghostly story of doomed love, saw its world premiere as Japan's official entry in the most important international...
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 16, 2013

Somali pair admit trying to hijack ship

In the first case prosecuted under Japan's 2009 antipiracy law, two Somali men pleaded guilty Tuesday in Tokyo District Court to charges of boarding and attempting to hijack a Bahamas-registered tanker operated by a Japanese shipping company.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2013

Frenchwoman fired for leaving Japan during nuclear crisis sues NHK

A Frenchwoman dismissed by NHK filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the public broadcaster, claiming her radio announcer contract was unjustly terminated after she temporarily fled Japan at the start of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant in March 2011.
EDITORIALS
Jan 16, 2013

Chinese media test their limits

Recent protest, including strikes by some reporters, against Chinese authorities' heavy censorship of new year articles by the Southern Weekly, a Guangdong newspaper known for its hard-hitting investigations, points to Chinese people's strong desire for freedom of speech and expression.
EDITORIALS
Jan 15, 2013

Chinese media test their limits

Recent protest, including strikes by some reporters, against Chinese authorities' heavy censorship of new year articles by the Southern Weekly, a Guangdong newspaper known for its hard-hitting investigations, points to Chinese people's strong desire for freedom of speech and expression.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Jan 15, 2013

Hall of Fame long overdue for another foreign member

Victor Starffin was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1960. Wally Yonamine was enshrined in 1994.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 15, 2013

Trians rage against dying light with Emperor's Cup victory

The Panasonic Trians grabbed their first Emperor's Cup in 16 years with a 64-61 victory over the Aisin Sea Horses in the men's final of the All-Japan Championship on Monday, prevailing in the second half thanks to their stingy defense.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 14, 2013

Hit product lists laud the year's marketing successes

Toward the end of every year, Japan's print media and many business organizations look back on "hit products" whose successes helped define consumer spending over the previous 12 months.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 13, 2013

Magazines struggle to maintain relevance

The print edition of venerable U.S. weekly news magazine Newsweek is no more. From the Jan. 4 issue it relaunched as a digital-only publication.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic