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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."
COMMENTARY
Oct 10, 2008

Distressed Chinese dairy companies get help

HONG KONG — At a time when the United States — and now Europe — is acting to rescue financial institutions such as Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and AIG, it is interesting to note that Chinese authorities are offering a hand to distressed companies caught in the contaminated milk scandal.
COMMENTARY
Oct 6, 2008

Counterproductive antiterrorism

Buried deep in the U.S. Pentagon somewhere is an official in charge of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As he goes about his daily chores — organizing the floor shackles, bully guards, illegal confinements, arbitrary trials and occasional torture sessions — he no doubt thinks he is...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2008

N. Korea, viewed from the inside

North Koreans are aware of Kim Jong Il's reported illness and anticipating an end to his dictatorship, said a Japanese journalist who recently returned from the China-North Korea border.
Reader Mail
Sep 28, 2008

Is foreign rice really that bad?

Amid all the recent clamor over "tainted" foreign rice, Philip Brasor's Media Mix article of Sept. 21, "Koizumi branded the bad boy in latest food scandal," provides interesting food for thought. Apparently the rice in question was found to have 0.003 parts per million (ppm) of methamidophos residue,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 2, 2008

Urawaza — quirky, everyday Japanese tips — head West

Two years ago, a mysterious 20-second video clip triggered some unexpected buzz on the Web site YouTube. In the segment, an ordinary-looking housewife draws an invisible line across the chest of a shirt with her finger. Then she pinches the shirt under the armpit and at the shoulder, does a quick flipping...
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2008

Horie resumes blog after long cybersilence

Former Internet venture star Takafumi Horie is staging a comeback, but quietly, and with far less attention than he sought during his high-tech heyday a few years ago.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 14, 2008

Kutcher gets lucky — in Vegas and in life

Model turned actor and TV producer Ashton Kutcher is the first to admit he's a very lucky man. In the mid-1990s he auditioned for several U.S. TV series before joining "That '70s Show," which in 1998 launched his career as a nationally known face.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 10, 2008

Celebrity rules as the Olympics strays far from its ideal

The big story this year in competitive swimming is the LZR Racer swimsuit, which was developed by the British sportswear manufacturer Speedo. At least six world records have been set by swimmers wearing the suit. Studies have shown that its drag-diminishing properties lower racing times by 1.9 to 2.2...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 3, 2008

The obsession over those dumbed down cute mascots

Japan is overrun with cute mascots. They represent everything from chain stores to police departments, and for the past decade or so there has been a marked increase in the popularity of one species of mascot called "yuru-kyara." The second half of this word stands for "character," while "yuru" is from...

Longform

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