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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 5, 2009

Dead ends, about turns abound in the politics of roads

About a year ago, the government was all in a lather about extending the gasoline tax. Local governments and the ruling coalition, not to mention interested bureaucracies, wanted to continue the tax because they said the revenues were necessary to build more roads. Opposition parties were against the...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 5, 2009

London trauma points with relief to a convenient truth about Japan

Sometimes Japan is just different from everywhere else.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 29, 2009

Carp skipper Brown excited about team's chances

Hiroshima Carp manager Marty Brown says he expects his team to be much improved this season and does not feel any pressure to get the club into the Central League Climax Series.
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2009

Dialogue about defense

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada met with his Chinese counterpart Mr. Liang Guanglie in Beijing on March 20 and talked about bilateral issues and the security situation in Northeast Asia. They agreed on some points and disagreed on others. Despite differences on some issues, it is important...
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 22, 2009

Refuge . . . of a sort

The main character of the one-act play that follows is loosely based on the few known facts concerning a Russian nobleman-refugee named Semyon Nikolaevitch Smirnitsky. Born in St. Petersburg in 1879, Smirnitsky fled the Russian Revolution in 1919 and spent the rest of his life in Japan, mostly in Otaru,...
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2009

Aso accepts blame for Nakagawa

Prime Minister Taro Aso apologized Thursday over the abrupt exit in disgrace of Shoichi Nakagawa as finance minister and accepted responsibility for appointing him.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2009

Funereal flick out to reap Japan an Oscar

The Japanese film industry now turns out about 400 titles annually, but in a given decade only a few Japanese filmmakers win major international awards — including the biggest of all: the Oscars.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 17, 2009

What do you think about the laws on smoking in Japan?

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 10, 2009

What should be done about Japan's ticking demographic time bomb?

Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Feb 10, 2009

Talking around and about art

Trying to understand contemporary art is difficult in the best of times. It is sometimes abstract, obscure or just plain odd. The question of how to enjoy an exhibit is made all the harder to answer if you're in Tokyo and your artistic attachments aren't matched by your Japanese language skills. Japan...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Feb 8, 2009

Horne fired up about playing for Benoit, Broncos

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league, Japan's first professional basketball circuit. Steve Horne of the Takamatsu Five Arrows is the subject of this week's profile.
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Feb 1, 2009

Mucking about with horses

In Britain when I was a lad in the 1940s and '50s, horses were still a common sight in the streets. Although horse-drawn carriages had pretty well vanished except for those used for ceremonial purposes, delivery wagons ladened with milk, coal and beer were commonly pulled by horses.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 1, 2009

Chizu Saeki: Beauty's more than skin deep

Skincare guru Chizu Saeki's expertise is such that her abilities have been compared to those of a fortuneteller. She can, for example, determine people's physical and mental health condition, the key experiences that have influenced them, and even their outlook on life, merely by running her fingers...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CLOSE-UP
Jan 4, 2009

Japan's 'Mr. Television'

Picture the world's busiest television presenter, and imagine yourself squinting through the glare of high-wattage celebrity, struggling to breathe in air perfumed with pampered showbiz egos.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 4, 2009

Monta Mino: Japan's 'Mr. Television'

Picture the world's busiest television presenter, and imagine yourself squinting through the glare of high-wattage celebrity, struggling to breathe in air perfumed with pampered showbiz egos.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 19, 2008

'Lars and the Real Girl'

If 27-year-old Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling) in "Lars and the Real Girl" had lived in another community, perhaps life would have been easier for him. As it is, the citizens of a friendly little town located in the American Midwest look upon Lars with protective tenderness.
Reader Mail
Dec 14, 2008

Less paranoia about government

I would like to thank Joseph Marriott for his Nov. 30 letter reply, "Government should fear the people," to my earlier letter. His assertion "that citizens of any country should never trust their government so completely as to deprive themselves of the means to overthrow that government should events...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 14, 2008

Japan's prime minister isn't choosy about who his gaffes target

Way back in 1977 there was a famous war film called "A Bridge Too Far." Now, perhaps somebody should make a movie starring Prime Minister Taro Aso titled "Osugita Shitsugen (A Gaffe Too Many)."
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 9, 2008

Shinkansen about more than speed

Shinkansen stand as global symbols of Japanese technological innovation. Debuting just in time for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the bullet trains continue to carry people across the nation at record speed.
COMMENTARY
Dec 7, 2008

Four harsh truths about climatic change

LONDON — About two years ago, I realized that the military in various countries were starting to do climate-change scenarios in-house — scenarios that started with the scientific predictions about rising temperatures, falling crop yields and other physical effects, and examined what that would do...
EDITORIALS
Nov 28, 2008

Confusing remarks about grants

The Cabinet of former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in May decided to free up road-related tax revenues from fiscal 2009 for use in such fields as education and social welfare. At the same time, it decided that care should be taken so that road construction is not hampered and that local governments do...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 27, 2008

Viva la diva — Xtina keeps it feisty fresh

A year in a dog's life is supposed to be equivalent to seven in human terms. On the way to interview Christina Aguilera, it crosses my mind that there might be a similar exponential growth rate at work for diminutive blonde pop starlets. For how else to explain that, at the grand old age of 27, Aguilera...
Reader Mail
Nov 20, 2008

Tattoo bias not about foreigners

As I read Wayne Wilson's Nov. 6 letter, "Teacher can't swim in a pool," I felt that Japanese people were being blamed for discriminating against foreign people. Actually people are not discriminating, and I think Wilson should think about this more carefully. If he has lived in Japan such a long time,...
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2008

Panasonic's takeover of Sanyo all about green technology

Panasonic Corp.'s plans to take over rival Sanyo Electric Co. would create the world's second-largest electronics maker. But Panasonic already has plenty of gadgets. Instead, the crown jewels Panasonic wants from Sanyo are green.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / WEEK 3
Nov 16, 2008

What do you know about Nippon?

These days, you have to accomplish a lot before calling yourself a Japan expert. Knowing the language, geography, history and customs of Japan is simply not enough.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Nov 13, 2008

Understanding Ueto, Japan's reluctant star

"I never wished to become an actress or a star who performs on TV," explains Aya Ueto, the prominent model and actress. "I took this role because my management gave it to me."

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji