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EDITORIALS
Jun 11, 2009

The ghosts of Tiananmen

The official Chinese verdict on the Tiananmen Incident is definitive and clear: History has validated the decision to crack down on the protesters and there can and should be no revisiting of those fateful days.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2009

First son says younger sibling being groomed

A man believed to be the eldest son of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Il said in a TV Asahi interview aired Tuesday he thinks reports that his youngest brother will become the North's next leader are true.
COMMUNITY
May 30, 2009

Writer answers ceaseless call for stimulation

Mark Schreiber was the first foreign writer in Japan to cover the wildly popular phenomenon of capsule hotels.
JAPAN
May 29, 2009

Concern greets nomination of new U.S. envoy

The nomination Thursday of a virtually unknown lawyer as the next U.S. ambassador to Japan was greeted with more concern than optimism by experts and the government.
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2009

California dream-makers in the driver's seat

LOS ANGELES — Sometimes it's not that easy living in Los Angeles. Despite splendid weather, sprawling beaches and gorgeous mountain ranges — not to mention the well-tanned Hollywood stars — you face the unrelenting, withering scorn of smug colleagues long established in New York and Washington....
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
May 12, 2009

New blood gives hype machine plenty to get its teeth into

The 2009 J. League season has so far been notable for the emergence of several excellent young players, but that in turn has raised questions over the way the Japanese press handles its teenage talent.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 10, 2009

Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in Tokyo worth a visit

One of the items on my "bucket list" is a trip to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Nope, despite being from the East Coast, I have never been there but hope to make the trek to (what I hear is) the picturesque village in upstate New York.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 10, 2009

A death from human kindness

On April 21, the body of former pop singer Yukiko Shimizu was found in a cemetery in Oyamacho, Shizuoka Prefecture, in front of her father's grave. Police assume that she committed suicide on the spot by inhaling hydrogen sulfide fumes and had probably also tried to kill her 80-year-old mother, who was...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2009

JCP basks in discontent as faith in capitalism crumbles

Under a big red flag, the Japanese Communist Party's headquarters stand as the center of a vibrant grassroots movement.
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2009

Alcoholism remains a taboo issue

OSAKA — He seems to have it all. A tenured university professor in the Kansai region, fluent in English and partially conversant in Chinese, he is consulted by senior local business leaders seeking advice on doing business in the United States and Europe and has served on local government committees...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 12, 2009

Entertainment as a fun family soap

Last weekend, actor Shunta Nakamura was arrested for possession of hashish while sitting in a parked car in Suginami Ward, Tokyo. The suspect's father, veteran actor Masatoshi Nakamura, quickly obliged the showbiz media by performing one of those tearful apologies that everyone looks forward to under...
JAPAN
Apr 12, 2009

DPJ-appointed panel analyzes scandal woes

At the request of the Democratic Party of Japan, four professors met Saturday to discuss DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa's handling of an unusually timed donations scandal that has embroiled his chief secretary and dimmed the opposition's prospects for taking power next election.
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...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 20, 2009

'Frost/Nixon'

Almost completely gripping. That would be an apt way to describe "Frost/Nixon," the sleeper hit that almost brought Academy Awards to director Ron Howard and actor Frank Langella.
COMMENTARY
Feb 27, 2009

Econ lessons from Japan

Searching the reasons for Japan's "lost decade" — the deflation and stunted growth said to have plagued Japan ever since the collapse of the "bubble economy" in the early 1990s — has long been popular among U.S. and British commentators seeking an answer to the West's current economic problems.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2009

Tokyo juiced up for Clinton visit

Bureaucrats in Tokyo are finally feeling the love from Washington as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton prepares to grace Japan with her first overseas visit Monday as America's top diplomat.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2008

Blood types — do they shape a personality or mere stereotypes?

Can blood type determine character?
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 28, 2008

Critics switched off over digital-TV plans

Yukichi Amano is one of Japan's sharpest media critics, so it was disconcerting to see him on NHK several weeks ago pimping for digital TV.
Reader Mail
Dec 14, 2008

Soka Gakkai's position on article

Unfortunately, there were a number of errors in the Dec. 2 FYI article "Soka Gakkai keeps religious, political machine humming." As I was interviewed for this article on Nov. 21, I would like to make several points in response.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 23, 2008

Deadly disconnect in the 'Real World'

REAL WORLD by Natsuo Kirino, translated by Philip Gabriel. Vintage, 2008, 224 pp., £7.99 (paper) A high school student, unhappy with life, bludgeons his mother to death with a baseball bat. He is calm and appears removed, almost abstracted from the events. He leaves the scene and disappears into the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 23, 2008

We're just playing ball

It's an open secret that TV news shows tend to go easy on big advertisers in their reporting. In the many tributes to journalist Tetsuya Chikushi, who died two weeks ago of lung cancer, no one mentioned that he was a heavy smoker. The dangers of cigarettes were never covered on his nightly TBS show,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 20, 2008

You and whose Ami?

When singer and actress Ami Suzuki appears in the TBS drama "Love Letter" this month, she'll finally realize the end of a remarkable comeback.
Reader Mail
Nov 9, 2008

American stereotype broken

About a month ago, I exercised my right to vote in the U.S. presidential election as an absentee expat. I voted for Barack Obama because of the vision of the future he has inspired in us after eight long years of political and economic divisiveness.
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2008

International sense in Japan

Regarding the Oct. 19 letter "Tourists treated differently": If Japan really wants to attract foreign tourists, it needs to acquire an authentic international sense. In my opinion, that means being able to appreciate foreign visitors as they are without relying on information from the media.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 30, 2008

Oh's career sparkled with achievements as player, manager

Second in a three-part series
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Oct 28, 2008

Head for the future

JEAN SNOW
COMMENTARY
Oct 21, 2008

Obama swings and misses on trade issues

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — "Americans are angry," said John McCain, while debating his opponent Barack Obama last Wednesday night in their final face-to-face televised debate, "and they have every reason to be angry."

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