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COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 15, 2010

A light of hope for abused children

In the dock, Katsuyuki Okuno cut a strange figure as he listened baby-faced, chubby, graying, frightened and seemingly unable to understand what he had done.
EDITORIALS
Jun 13, 2010

Flawed pretrial investigation

On June 14, 2009, the special investigation squad of the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office arrested Ms. Atsuko Muraki, who was then chief of the welfare ministry's Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau, on suspicion of issuing a fabricated certificate to recognize an organization as a...
JAPAN / Media
Jun 6, 2010

The timing behind yakuza crackdown

The media has been filled with revelations of ties between professional sumo and organized crime. Since late May, the tabloids and gossipy "wide shows" on TV have made a huge flap over Sehei Kimura and one other stable master for allowing senior gang members to obtain box-seat tickets to the Nagoya Grand...
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2010

New Prime Minister Kan to 'rebuild trust'

Naoto Kan was voted in as prime minister by the Diet on Friday, shortly after the ruling Democratic Party of Japan elected him as its new president.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2010

Likeable, shows promise, but Tarutoko who?

When he emerged Thursday to run against Naoto Kan for the Democratic Party of Japan presidency and hence the prime ministership, many probably asked who is Shinji Tarutoko?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 4, 2010

Europe's debt crisis clouding outlook: Suda

Bank of Japan Policy Board member Miyako Suda said Thursday the economic outlook has grown cloudier because of Europe's deepening sovereign-debt crisis.
JAPAN
May 27, 2010

SDP walks a tightrope as it flirts with leaving coalition

When Mizuho Fukushima was re-elected president of the Social Democratic Party in December, she promised to pull the SDP out of the ruling coalition if the Futenma air base was relocated within Okinawa, as called for in a 2006 agreement with the United States.
JAPAN
May 26, 2010

Fukushima's Okinawa trip makes waves

The chasm within the ruling coalition grew deeper Tuesday as Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama expressed dissatisfaction over a visit by Social Democratic Party chief Mizuho Fukushima to Okinawa.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 23, 2010

Snapping with SMAP in Setagaya; swordplay with Shingo; CM of the week: Sky Perfect TV

"Pussuma" (TV Asahi, Tues., 11:15 p.m.) started way back in 1998, making it one of Japanese TV's longest running variety shows. Eternally hosted by aging idol Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and loud-mouthed actor-comedian Yusuke Santamaria, the nonsensical title is meant to cash in on Kusanagi's membership in SMAP....
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2010

India-China competition dims hopes for regional cooperation

LONDON — Established in 1985, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) had its 16th summit meeting in Thimpu, Bhutan, late last month. Apart from the fact that Bhutan hosted its first SAARC summit, there was hardly anything that inspired confidence in this largely moribund organization...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 14, 2010

Vamps bite into British rock roots

"L'Arc-en-Ciel is all about the musicianship. But Vamps are obsessed with rock music, and that's basically our watchword: 'rock.' "
JAPAN
May 13, 2010

Pot a long way from legalization

In early April, an Okinawa man in his late 20s visited activist Yusuke Sawada's office in western Tokyo. He had just finished serving his latest prison term, one of many that have kept him behind bars for most of the past decade, depriving him of the formative years of his life.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
May 13, 2010

No room for sentiment as Okada separates men from boys

In the end it was simply a matter of fine-tuning for national team manager Takeshi Okada as he named a familiar squad for the World Cup on Monday. Of the few rabbits he did pull out of the hat, however, Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi should be regarded as anything but a sentimental choice.
COMMENTARY
May 9, 2010

Beijing projects power in South China Sea

SINGAPORE — Is China becoming more assertive in enforcing its claims to control as much as 80 percent of the South China Sea, a claim that includes sovereignty over dozens of islands disputed with several Southeast Asian states?
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2010

Economic meet can't hide world's growing divisions

WASHINGTON — What a difference a year makes. Spring was in the air in Washington — both physically and in the economic metaphors — at the meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank late last month. The fog of crisis that pervaded a year ago has largely been blown away. IMF predictions...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
May 4, 2010

Last gasps of Japan's dying demagogues

Tally ho! The hunt is on for "fake Japanese" in Japanese politics.
CULTURE / Books
May 2, 2010

Sex, drugs and rock and roll, plus lots and lots more sex

With "Big in Japan," an erotic coming-of-age novel set in Japan, M. Thomas Gammarino has joined the likes of Jay McInerny ("Ransom"), Brad Leithauser ("Equal Distance"), and countless other non-Japanese writers who spend a little time in Japan when young, and then — surprise, surprise! — write novels...

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building