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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 8, 2010

Tough-job robots to be success stories

Of all the robots that end up supporting humans, those that carry out the dirty, dull and dangerous tasks will be the most commercially successful, the president of an American robot maker said Thursday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 8, 2010

'Redline'

I was into car chase movies for about two minutes in the 1970s — "Bullit," "The French Connection," "Duel" — but they quickly became cliches, then jokes. "Smokey and the Bandit," "Cannonball Run" and — need I say more?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 8, 2010

Loud Park

Now in its fifth year, Loud Park has carved out a reputation as Summer Sonic's noisy younger sister. Arguably more "loud" than "park," the festival amasses the heavyweights of metal over two days at Saitama Super Arena. This year the event also boasts a one-day leg at Kobe World Kinen Hall, giving metalheads...
EDITORIALS
Oct 6, 2010

Mr. Ozawa on the ropes

The Tokyo No. 5 Prosecution Inquest Committee, an independent judicial panel composed of 11 citizens, on Monday said former Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa should be indicted for having his Rikuzankai political funds management body make allegedly false reports in 2004 and 2005....
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Oct 5, 2010

Event raises ¥3.4 million for Pakistan flood victims

About 350 people gathered for a charity event last week in Tokyo to raise funds to support victims of Pakistan's devastating floods this summer.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2010

Grooming a new approach to North Korea

SEOUL — The long-delayed meeting of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party came at a time of severe tension between North Korea and the international community. As widely expected, Kim Jong Il's third son, Kim Jong Un, was appointed to a high position to justify his becoming his father's successor. A...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Oct 2, 2010

Takushi signs on with Albirex

Naoto Takushi, considered one of the top Japanese point guards since the bj-league was established, will play for his third team in as many seasons in 2010-11.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 1, 2010

Will Murton get fair shot at hits record?

The single-season home-run record in Japanese baseball has been somewhat of a touchy subject for quite some time. Many associate the record of 55 with legendary Yomiuri Giants slugger Sadaharu Oh.
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2010

Epaulets to rule North Korea

Mr. Kim Jong Un, the third and youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, has joined the leadership of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea. Party delegates on Tuesday elected him as a member of the party's Central Committee and as a vice chairman of the party's Central Military Commission, a position...
BUSINESS
Oct 1, 2010

Yen's impact may spur more BOJ support

Evidence in the Bank of Japan's "tankan" survey that companies are growing more pessimistic may prompt the central bank to expand support as soon as next week for businesses grappling with the yen's advance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 1, 2010

Exploring the stylistic diversity of nihonga

"The Avant-Garde of Nihonga 1938-1949" at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto takes issue with nihonga (Japanese-style painting) of the period as a reaction to what has been passed down to the present as the traditional aesthetics and thematics of the genre. These include the conventional materials...
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2010

Hospitals need 24,000 doctors to ease manpower shortage, study shows

Hospitals need 24,033 more doctors nationwide to reduce the excessive workload being thrust on the 167,063 physicians already in practice, according to a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry study.
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 30, 2010

Katayama: Empowering local governments is key

From the time he started his career as an official at the old Home Affairs Ministry, and then as governor of Tottori Prefecture, Yoshihiro Katayama has been pushing for decentralization of government power.
EDITORIALS
Sep 30, 2010

Improving law school education

Under Japan's judicial reform to nurture legal professionals who can meet the increasing needs of citizens in law-related matters, 74 new law schools have been set up since 2004. The government hoped that 2,900 to 3,000 of their graduates would annually pass the bar exam. But the results of this year's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Sep 28, 2010

Building a world without barriers, borders

One afternoon in the mid-1980s, Hiroko Kimura was taking a rest from sightseeing on a park bench in Adelaide, southern Australia. As she was enjoying the warm sunshine, she spotted the words "Japs go home" carved into the wood. This was the height of the bubble years and Kimura was aware that some people...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2010

Ending the secret life of the death penalty

Japan's former Justice Minister Keiko Chiba surprised many people when she ordered the hanging of two convicted killers at the end of July.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2010

The Icarus of currencies?

HONG KONG — My old friend Yoh Kurosawa just threw his head back and laughed: "How can you say that the rising yen is a danger. It proves we are strong, the world regards us as best."
EDITORIALS
Sep 25, 2010

Student loan blues

A business report for fiscal 2009 of the Japan Students Services Organization (JASSO), a student loan provider under the wing of the education ministry, shows that many borrowers are having difficulty repaying their debts, apparently because of the economic downturn, which makes it difficult for graduates...
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Sep 25, 2010

Ichiro's achievement testament to his drive

Baseball is the ultimate numbers game. Always has been, always will be.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 24, 2010

No need to feel sorry for the Incubator babies

Will the fail of the Incubator Bank have a chilling effect on 'high risk-high return' investments? Care to make a wager?
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 24, 2010

Burns makes sequel

When Ken Burns decided to update his epic documentary "Baseball" to chronicle the tumultuous developments since it first aired in 1994, he knew that he didn't want to make a movie of the Mitchell Report.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 24, 2010

Hard-knock life leads to magic music

In 2004, Renaud Barret and Florent de la Tullaye ditched their respectable jobs in France and headed to Kinshasa. In the ruined capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country just emerging from one of postcolonial Africa's worst conflicts, they felt strangely at home. "We were like mad dogs in...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Sep 24, 2010

Sakamoto impressing with show of power

For pitchers facing shortstops, usually the main worry is letting them get on base, where their speed can create problems.
JAPAN / Q&A
Sep 23, 2010

Japan-China island tensions rise

Tensions are growing daily over Japan's arrest of a Chinese fishing boat captain following his ship's collision with Japan Coast Guard vessels in the East China Sea.

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