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Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2013

Volunteers work to clean up, reforest Kyoto's 'Poet's Mount'

Sitting on the northern side of the Hozu River gorge, on the western side of Kyoto, Mount Ogura has long been associated with the literary world, and is known as the "Poet's Mount."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 21, 2013

Britain's 'YBA' have moved on, but they still inspire

In Ben Wheatley's recent film "A Field in England," a group of deserting soldiers fleeing the 17th-century English Civil War escape through a field of mushrooms, only to be captured by an alchemist and descend into a nightmare of both body and mind — all against the backdrop of the English countryside....
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2013

The problem with Australia's refugee problem

Compared with any other English-speaking people, a great many Australians are openly racist. That's why 'boat people' these days are settled in Papua New Guinea.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Aug 19, 2013

Officials search for fortune of Chun Doo-hwan, South Korea's last dictator

South Korea's last dictator lives in an L-shaped mansion protected by 5-meter stone walls and a plainclothes security team. He almost never goes outside, his longtime lawyer says, given the scrutiny he would face. Highlighting the extent of change in the nation he once ruled, Chun Doo-hwan is whiling...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 19, 2013

Darren Johnston: dance's accidental controversialist

In 2003, prominent arts writer Allen Robertson wrote in The Times: "If there was a Turner Prize for dance, Darren Johnston would undoubtedly be on the shortlist."
BUSINESS / Companies / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Aug 18, 2013

Japan must open up to foreign investment — especially from China

Earlier this year, NHK aired the three-part TV program "Made in Japan," which dramatized an electronics company's struggle to survive tough economic times. While fictional, the story detailed the harsh reality Japan Inc. faces from Chinese competition.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2013

Foreign colleges feel globalization-excluded

As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pursues deregulation, the "third arrow" of his "Abenomics" economic plan, Temple University's Japan campus is closely watching to see if he will create a more favorable situation for foreign schools here by granting them the same tax perks and credits as Japanese universities,...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 13, 2013

Can Bezos provide what good journalism needs?

A veteran journalist never imagined that American newspaper reporters and editors would become the economically threatened steelworkers of the 21st century.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 10, 2013

In science terms, Japan has no need at all to kill whales

Final arguments from the defence and prosecution were heard in mid-July, and the world court is now considering its judgment. At issue is Japan's right to conduct its seasonal "scientific" whaling program in Antarctic waters. But the case has involved arguments about how to define science itself.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 10, 2013

Koda's baby gaffe may find different reception now

Five years ago, singer Kumi Koda caused an uproar when she joked on a late-night radio show about how a woman's amniotic fluid (yōsui) becomes "spoiled" as she gets older. The subtext of the comment was the advantage of having babies at a younger age, but those quick to ridicule Koda's lack of gynecological...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2013

The dead get their day as zombies go mainstream

My first zombie movie was "Night of the Living Dead," viewed at a midnight screening at the old Harvard Square Cinema, attended by a small coterie of late-night freaks and stoners. With its relentless dread and entrail-chomping ghouls, it was a film beyond the pale of normal, daytime moviegoers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Aug 5, 2013

The aging issue of Chiba New Town

The Chiba New Town development project was begun in the late 1960s by the Chiba prefectural government, and a decade later, joined by the Land Development Corporation, the government housing organ that would morph into the Urban Renaissance (UR) Agency in 2004. It is located in the northern part of the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / OUR MAN IN TOKYO
Aug 5, 2013

Young Ethiopia envoy brings new ideas, energy

Ethiopian Ambassador Markos Tekle Rike, 34, says he has always felt a special connection between his country and Japan, although he did not have any personal interest in this country before he arrived here 2½ years ago.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2013

The new cultural counter-revolution in China

The Chinese Communist Party's promotion these days of Confucianism and Western classical music illustrates the profound transformation this country has made again.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2013

23 residents sue to keep Setagaya off plates, claiming violation of their privacy

Residents of Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, are suing the central government to stop the introduction of license plates that they claim will violate their privacy and are being forced on them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUJI ROCK 2013
Jul 31, 2013

A year of tough choices at Fuji

Wandering around on the opening day of this year's Fuji Rock, I got the impression that numbers were down on previous years. Of course, anyone who has ever been stuck in the event's seemingly never-ending lines for the portable toilets — or who's been shut out from seeing their favorite band as the...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 31, 2013

New rocket hopes to take off with launch from the skies

Start with the largest aircraft ever built, with a wingspan longer than a football field and a split fuselage fitted with six Boeing 747 jet engines — enough thrust to get 585,000 kg off the ground, about 190,000 kg more than a fully loaded 747. Sling a 36-meter, three-stage rocket below the aircraft,...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 31, 2013

Can low-nicotine smokes end addiction?

Beverly Anusionwu, a smoker for three decades who favors Maverick menthols, was enticed to the small lab inside the University of Pittsburgh's psychology department by an ad promising free cigarettes and a few bucks for her time.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Jul 29, 2013

Haiku brought together Polish-Japanese couple

They say that languages bring people closer together and bridge distances. So, too, does the Internet.
EDITORIALS
Jul 28, 2013

Question of objectivity

A Kyoto university's announcement that research on blood-pressure drug Diovan was manipulated raises concerns about the drugmaker's objectivity.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 28, 2013

Breakneck NSA growth fueled by insatiable demand for its product

Twelve years later, the cranes and earthmovers around the National Security Agency are still at work, tearing up pavement and uprooting trees to make room for a larger workforce and more powerful computers. Already bigger than the Pentagon in square meters, the NSA's footprint will grow by an additional...
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jul 27, 2013

Examining nexus of sports, international relations

Editor's note: Whiting was a guest speaker and panelist at the inaugural gathering of the International Sports Relations Foundation in Seoul recently. This is a new organization founded by Moon Dae-sung, a Republic of Korea's National Assembly member and 2004 Athens Olympics taekwondo gold medalist,...

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan