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JAPAN
Nov 23, 2010

Japan hand Chalmers Johnson dead at 79

OSAKA — American author and scholar Chalmers Johnson, whose views on postwar Japan angered American academics and Japan experts in the late 1980s but influenced a generation of students studying the country, died Saturday in California at age 79.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2010

Medvedev's Kunashiri trip spurs protest

Tokyo lodged a strong protest Monday over Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit the same day to Kunashiri Island, one of the four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido that Japan wants returned.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 29, 2010

Not all white rice tastes the same

In Japan, the freshness and seasonality of ingredients used in cooking is of paramount importance. Even in this age of mass production and imported foods, people still care about the appearance of fresh bamboo shoots in spring, or the first matsutake mushrooms in fall.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2010

Secret to work-life balance vital for Japan

While the phrase "work-life balance" has gained some currency in Japan recently, there is still a long way to go before people here can find the right mix between careers and personal life, due in part to cultural stereotypes about gender roles, participants at an international symposium in Tokyo said...
EDITORIALS
Oct 10, 2010

Freeze the settlements

Only a month after peace talks resumed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, they face their first crisis. Palestinians are demanding that Israel extend the self-imposed freeze on the construction on settlements in the West Bank; failure to do so would mean Palestinian withdrawal from the talks....
MORE SPORTS
Oct 6, 2010

Contador used drugs: report

NEW YORK (AP) The New York Times is reporting that Alberto Contador had eight times the allowable amount of a chemical which indicates doping in his system during this year's Tour de France, which he won for the third time.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 28, 2010

Behind the facade of family law

Last in a two-part series In mid-April, 12-year-old Michiko Watanabe, as she was now being called, found herself in a precarious situation. Earlier, her mother had clearly let her child know that she would no longer consider herself Michiko's mother if Michiko ever attempted to return to her father....
CULTURE / Books
Sep 26, 2010

Nightmares from N. Korea

LOVE SONGS FROM A SHALLOW GRAVE, by Colin Cotterill. SOHO Crime, 2010, 326 pp., $25 (hardcover)
CULTURE / Books
Sep 26, 2010

Caught in the jaws of Japan's justice system

The Recruit scandal dominated the media in the late 1980s and has become a notorious symbol of money politics in Japan. The image of "government for sale" undermined public faith in politicians while raising questions about values in a society uncomfortable with the unbridled materialism associated with...
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2010

Friction cited in move to free Chinese skipper

Japan was set to release a Chinese fishing boat captain as early as late Friday because his detention over a territorial dispute has strained bilateral relations, the transport ministry said.
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2010

Shameful road to the Commonwealth Games

CHENNAI, India — India's Commonwealth Games, which are set to roll in New Delhi from Oct. 3, have turned into the nation's biggest shame. At a cost of $7.5 billion — excluding improvements and additions to city infrastructure — these will be the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 7, 2010

Kamakura expat at one with all Buddhist deities

Mark Schumacher's home in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, requires a journey, both on foot and for the spirit.
COMMENTARY
Jul 12, 2010

Scholars flunk George W. Bush

NEW YORK — George W. Bush ranks among the five U.S. presidents who accomplished the least while in office, according to the Siena College Research Institute's latest survey of 238 presidential scholars. The institute has conducted the poll annually for the past 28 years.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Jul 2, 2010

Tax hike amid slump: Kan's Hashimoto dilemma

Japan's slowing recovery from its worst postwar recession is signaling the economy may be too weak to sustain the higher consumption taxes under consideration by Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 27, 2010

The guy just needs a home

It's difficult to decide which spelling to use. In Japan, the name of North Korea's striker at the World Cup in South Africa is usually rendered as Chong Tese. North Korea spells it Jong Tae Se, but in those instances where South Korea reports on the 26-year-old soccer player, it's Jeong Dae Se or Jung...
COMMENTARY
Jun 14, 2010

India's post-Bhopal recklessness

CHENNAI, India — More than 25 years ago on a cold winter night, thousands of sleeping people died after inhaling toxic gas escaping from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in the central Indian city of Bhopal. A train full of passengers at the nearby Bhopal station never moved. Nobody on it woke up.
Reader Mail
Jun 10, 2010

Tactics discredit dolphin activists

The June 5 article "More cinemas cancel plans to screen 'Cove' " reports on the Japanese extreme right's attempts to disrupt screenings of the film. The majority of the public must find rightwing harassment disturbing, believing it should be left to individuals to decide whether they want to see the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2010

Sri Lanka must invest in rights protection

NEW YORK — As the Sri Lankan government celebrates the first anniversary of its historic triumph over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), it is increasingly clear that the battlefield victory will prove Pyrrhic unless the legitimate grievances of Sri Lanka's minority communities are recognized...
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2010

What is next for Nigeria?

The transition of power since the death of Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has been swift and efficient. Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, sworn in a day after the president's passing, declared a week of mourning for his predecessor. It is unclear if Mr. Jonathan will seek to win the office in...
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2010

Kids at pro-North high schools fret tuition waiver snub

For Om Kwan Ja, excluding "chosen gakko" pro-Pyongyang schools from the government's tuition-waiver program would mean more than just having to shell out extra cash for her kids' education. It's a problem that touches on her family's identity, especially for her son, who is studying at Tokyo Korean Junior...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2010

Myth of Palestine's economic development

AL-BIREH, West Bank — A serious misconception is being propagated by the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah. Media, international organizations, foreign governments and Palestinians at large are being coaxed into believing that the flurry of economic activity in the West Bank is economic development...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2010

Grasping for a way to save the Greek sinner

MUNICH — The euro's current weakness has one culprit: Greece. At 14 percent of GDP, Greece's latest current-account deficit was the largest of the euro-zone countries after Cyprus. Its debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 113 percent by the end of 2009. As this year's deficit is projected to be more than 12...
Reader Mail
Feb 21, 2010

Kudos to Toyota and other greats

There has been much in the international media lately about Toyota Motor Corp.'s woes, with some journalists even referring to news reports as "Japan bashing." I personally do not agree with this assessment, nor do many residents of the United States. Rather, we are simply shocked and amazed that Toyota...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2010

Rail CEO to head defense panel

The government announced Tuesday it has set up a panel to revise defense policy, tapping a businessman as chairman to head the team of experts on national security.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 7, 2010

Female knuckleballer Yoshida plugging away despite the odds

I have never met Eri Yoshida, so I do not have her meishi (name card) but wonder if it reads, "Eri Yoshida, Female Knuckleballer."
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2010

Ozawa: Japan's secret shogun

OSAKA — With the post-general election honeymoon over, the Japanese public has become increasingly aware that Ichiro Ozawa, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), is the puppet-master behind Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Cabinet.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers