Search - 2003

 
 
COMMENTARY
Jun 3, 2010

NASA keeping a closer eye on space weather

The images from cameras and sensors on the latest satellite watching the sun are a dramatic reminder of the awesome power of the star that warms our planet. They show clouds of magnetized gas big enough to engulf the Earth breaking away from the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere. These coronal...
Japan Times
LIFE
May 30, 2010

How can it get too late to learn?

Professor Ryusuke Yoneyama was in the middle of explaining to the members of his music-production class why Baroque-era violin bows, which resembled loosely strung archery bows, produced a weaker sound than their contemporary counterparts when he paused to ask a question.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
May 29, 2010

Swallows hope replacement manager Ogawa can turn things around

Shigeru Takada's departure from the Tokyo Yakult Swallows on Wednesday leaves the struggling Central League team under the stewardship of head coach Junji Ogawa.
EDITORIALS
May 27, 2010

Akatsuki heads for Venus

An H-2A rocket successfully blasted Japan's new planetary probe Akatsuki (daybreak) into orbit early May 21. Also sent into orbit were four small satellites developed by university students and the "space yacht" Ikaros, which will be propelled by sunlight.
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2010

Liberating NASA from the risks to people

NEW YORK — People first landed on the Moon while I was a teenager. Decades later, space travel was still reserved for a small corps of astronauts and cosmonauts, and wealthy space tourists — six so far. The space business was the preserve of a few governments, plus large cost-plus contractors who...
EDITORIALS
May 19, 2010

Free speech and public servants

The Tokyo High Court on May 13 upheld a lower court ruling that fined Mr. Shinichi Ujibashi, a former deputy division chief of the health, labor and welfare ministry, ¥100,000 for distributing copies of the Japanese Communist Party newspaper the day before the September 2005 Lower House election. He...
BASKETBALL
May 19, 2010

Pavlicevic hired to coach Shimane

Croatian Zeljko Pavlicevic, a former Japan national team bench boss, has accepted an offer to become the Shimane Susanoo Magic's first head coach, the bj-league announced on Tuesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 16, 2010

One of a kind

A young Japanese woman in colorful African clothes appeared on the stage at a small club in Tokyo's central Roppongi district on April 25. She sat down on a low chair in front of an eight-stringed wooden instrument.
JAPAN
May 15, 2010

Housing glut opens door to foreign tenants

As the country's foreign population keeps growing and the declining birthrate and oversupply of housing result in more and more vacancies, it is time for real estate agents to create a more welcoming environment for foreign customers, according to people who work in the business.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 14, 2010

'Zatoichi: The Last'

The "Zatoichi" series has long been an entry point for non-Japanese into Japanese films. Guys from Bonn to Buenos Aires who nod off after 10 minutes of Yasujiro Ozu's "Tokyo Monogatari" ("Tokyo Story") devour the 25 episodes of the original series of films (1962-1973), as well as the 1989 revival directed...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 13, 2010

Eight teams set for playoff party

The Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix made a habit of winning this season — 41 times in 52 games to be precise.
BUSINESS
May 12, 2010

U.S. transport chief takes ride on maglev

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood took a ride Tuesday on the fastest passenger train in the world, a maglev, as part of Japan's sales pitch for billions of dollars in high-speed train contracts.
JAPAN
May 7, 2010

U.S. resolution condemns Japan

OSAKA — U.S. lawmakers introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives Wednesday that condemns Japan for being an international haven for child abductors.
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2010

War epics on screen skip mass slaughter of civilians

SAN FRANCISCO — Does the history diet fed to Americans by Hollywood promote an unhealthy national memory? The latest screen epic about American heroism in World War II — the HBO miniseries "The Pacific" — is clouded by an unintended irony.
EDITORIALS
May 4, 2010

Hopes for NPT review meeting

The 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, which lasts about four weeks from May 3 at the United Nations headquarters in New York, offers a chance for the world to move forward toward nuclear disarmament and to strengthen efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, although optimism...
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2010

China's summer showcase

Expo 2010 — a six-month event starting May 1 in Shanghai, the largest city in China — will showcase the recent economic development and internationalization of the world's most populous country, once a revolutionary nation that directly challenged the Western political and economic order. The event's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 30, 2010

'Zebraman 2: Zebra City no Gyakushu'

Who wouldn't want to be a superhero? The hero of Takashi Miike's 2004 action comedy "Zebraman" certainly would. Ichikawa (Sho Aikawa) is a nerdy teacher whose life is one big zero — until he dresses up like a 1970s superhero and takes to the streets of Yokohama at night, looking for citizens in distress....
COMMENTARY
Apr 30, 2010

America's star is rising in world opinion

Despite widespread talk of a rising China and an America in decline, the latest BBC World Service poll shows not just strong residual American soft power but actually an increase. At the same time, the data depict a China whose influence is viewed as more negative than positive in an increasing number...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 30, 2010

Hikari Mitsushima: from pop idol to screen diva?

Up until last year, 24-year-old Hikari Mitsushima was best known as a former member of the Okinawan idol group Folder 5.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2010

Craft shops cash in on recession

Tomoyo Shibuya's coat is more than six years old, but she has no plans to ditch it. Instead of buying a new coat, she went to a handicraft shop, bought new navy-blue buttons, the same color as the coat, to replace the old silver buttons.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2010

Japan needs green tech investment

The government should focus more on promoting innovations and utilizing energy-efficient technologies of Japanese companies in the nation's efforts to combat global warming, officials of industry groups said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan