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Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 20, 2011

Paradoxes pervade gender issues' public face in Japan

Transgender people are popping up everywhere in the current Japanese media landscape. Whether it's appearing on variety shows or hawking soft drinks or makeup in TV ads, the current crop of "new-half" celebrities have established themselves in the mainstream in a way that has surprised many onlookers....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 18, 2011

'Koi no Tsumi (Guilty of Romance)'

How can a film shock today's jaded audiences, for whom blood spurts and flying body parts prompt laughter instead of gasps? How can a filmmaker transgress when nearly everything is allowed? Taken far enough, this line of inquiry can lead to the attention of the police. It can also be the starting point...
Reader Mail
Nov 17, 2011

Why the need for billions more?

I am responding to Jennifer Kim's Nov. 10 letter, "Myth of an overpopulated world," which claims that world overpopulation, now or in the near future, is a myth. Part of her argument involves living space, and I agree that physical living space, per se, is not currently limiting. It is simply untrue,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 17, 2011

Saori Yuki wants a kayōkyoku wave

Defining kayōkyoku is like trying to nail down konnyaku.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2011

Low-level radiation questions spur anxiety

For residents of Fukushima Prefecture, anxiety over their exposure to low levels of radiation has been palpable since the March 11 twin disasters crippled the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Nov 16, 2011

Social-gaming and traditional media no longer deadly foes

Japan's two social-game-networking giants, Gree and Mobage, have been spending enormous amounts on producing TV advertising recently, and as a result they have each attracted approximately 20 percent of the population to their services, selling vast number of virtual items. In the West it is unusual...
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2011

Goodbye, Mr. Berlusconi

It was an ignominious end to Mr. Silvio Berlusconi's term as Italy's prime minister. The besieged leader slipped out a back door of his office to jeers and cries of "buffoon," as Handel's Hallelujah chorus was sung and thousands of others popped sparkling wine, dancing in a conga line shouting "we're...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 15, 2011

Tatemae as truth, culture clashes and Arudou's dangerous myth

Some responses to Debito Arudou's Nov. 1 Just Be Cause column, headlined "The costly fallout of tatemae and Japan's culture of deceit":
COMMENTARY
Nov 15, 2011

Scientific mind meltdown

In a survey conducted more than 10 years ago, Chikio Hayashi, former director of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, polled people's opinions toward the statements of two hypothetical airlines with regard to airplane accidents.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 15, 2011

The upper hand on post-U.S. Afghan stability

All regional players are struggling to come to terms with the withdrawal of NATO-led Western forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Early this month, Istanbul became the latest venue where 12 regional states and the Afghan government came together to try again to agree on ways of bringing some semblance...
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2011

Fukushima No. 1 stable: plant chief

Making his first public appearance since the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant in March, the facility's general manager, Masao Yoshida, apologized for failing to prevent the triple meltdowns but emphasized that conditions at the plant have "definitely been stabilized."
Reader Mail
Nov 13, 2011

Why not do the write thing?

I feel that not a week goes by when I don't see a letter to the editor from Grant Piper. I don't agree with half the stuff the guy says, but I think it's about time The Japan Times gave him an official monthly column and paid him for his efforts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 11, 2011

'Contagion' / 'Moneyball'

Cinema imagines the apocalypse on a regular basis, touching on everything from Mayan calendar-related polar shifts to the ever-popular walking dead. Few films, however, dare to deal with scenarios that could actually happen; that's what makes Steven Soderbergh's "Contagion," which looks at a deadly global...
COMMENTARY
Nov 11, 2011

Two days that shook the CIS

On Oct. 18-19, eight of 11 members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) — gathering in St. Petersburg for its annual session — accepted a proposal from Russian Prime Minister and returning President Vladimir Putin to establish a free trade zone, thus taking a decisive step toward a Eurasian...
Reader Mail
Nov 10, 2011

Obfuscation by power industry

Olaf Kathaus' Nov. 3 letter, "Nonsense from a poison pen," is right and wrong on certain points. I agree that claiming that populations worldwide will be vastly affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster is far-fetched. I once read at a semi-reliable Internet site that "hundreds of millions" will die...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2011

Wrong timing by the Euro-skeptics

For Britain's Euro-skeptics, the current eurozone crisis has an air of inevitability and opportunity. The crisis validates their view of the single currency as a straitjacket forcing disparate economies into an unworkable union.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Nov 7, 2011

A U.S. of Euro Land may be what's needed but unity is in short supply

Japan launched major yen-selling intervention on Oct. 31 in response to massive speculative yen-buying — the first such action since August. The ever-rising yen is threatening Japan's export industry and can easily derail the eagerly awaited economic recovery from the March 11 shock. However, it remains...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 4, 2011

'Free Wheels East'

If you were a strapping, handsome, able-bodied youth just out of university, what would be your next step? Back in the late 20th century, young men chose professions such as investment banking or financial consultation, and diligently went about getting their MBAs. Remember those days of multiple degrees...
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2011

Hashimoto bows out amid controversy

Toru Hashimoto finished his term Monday as Osaka governor, resigning three months early to run for mayor of the city of Osaka on Nov. 27.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 1, 2011

Matchmakers in wings as singles rise

How can you meet the spouse of your dreams? To find that special someone to spend the rest of your life with, to have children and grow old together? Who can fit the bill?
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2011

Japan needs a 'fresh start' to resolve lingering issues

Post-March 11 Japan faces the challenge of not just rebuilding from the damage of the massive earthquake and tsunami, but also tackling the nation's structural economic and political problems that have largely been left unresolved over the past two decades.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2011

Wall Street mans the barricades

In spite of the current economic turmoil, some Americans do not have any problems with jobs, money or housing. Indeed, Houston oil executive John Schiller built a new Cape Cod house for just $50,000 a couple of years ago. A bargain, you might think, except that this was a play-house for his four-year-old...
EDITORIALS
Oct 31, 2011

A breakthrough in Brussels

European leaders agreed last week — at last — on a comprehensive plan to tackle the euro-zone debt crisis. The plan consists of three pillars — a real "haircut" by Greek debt holders, an infusion of capital into the European bailout fund and recapitalizes European banks. The program could break...
Reader Mail
Oct 23, 2011

Real radiation threat is to young

While Gerry Thomas admits that radiation can be very dangerous, the Oct. 9 article "Like Astro Boy, humans may be able to live with radiation" fails to elaborate on what these dangers might be in the context of the Fukushima accident.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 23, 2011

One woman's Hyakumeizan

As I thumb through the tattered pages of my decade-old hiking guidebook, a sense of satisfaction coupled with disbelief takes over.

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