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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 30, 2008

Half century on, Tokyo Tower still dazzles as landmark

Tokyo Tower, a long-standing landmark of the capital, celebrated its 50th birthday on Dec. 23. It still attracts about 3 million visitors a year and has provided the metropolis with good TV reception for decades.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 29, 2008

Ritsumeikan prepared to go through former hero to win national title

Quarterback Tetsuo Takata is talked about as if he's a historical figure for Ritsumeikan University's football program.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 28, 2008

Place your wager on Macau

A charitable take on Tokyo's landfill projects would have them simply extending the city's alluvial plains into Tokyo Bay. Given another millennium or two, natural siltation might end up doing the same thing.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 28, 2008

Ekiden pulls them in from around the world

Foreign athletes have been conspicuous in numerous ekiden long-distance relays since the 1980s.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2008

China and India diverging

LONDON — This year is ending with some troubling signs of future instability in Asia, as two of the most powerful states are increasingly at odds with each other.
EDITORIALS
Dec 26, 2008

Replacing nuclear reactors

Chubu Electric Power Co. has announced a plan to decommission two aging reactors at its Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station in Shizuoka Prefecture and build a new reactor as a replacement. The decision to decommission the No. 1 and No. 2 boiling water reactors with a combined output of 1.38 million kW is reasonable....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 26, 2008

A turbulent 12 months

Like pretty much everything these days, the fortunes of the music business in 2008 were mainly tied to the global economy. CD sales have long been dropping steadily, mostly due to the steady increase in illegal downloading, but until this year, top artists could still count on fairly decent sales, and...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Dec 25, 2008

People Tree products pioneering fair trade in Japan

The hand-knit sweaters and scarves and hand-woven bags with an ethnic look are nothing like the products sold to the masses of consumers in most big shopping malls.
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2008

What did the ASDF do there?

A unit of the Air-Self Defense Force has withdrawn from Iraq after completing its five-year-long transportation mission. Fortunately the ASDF unit suffered no casualties despite constant danger. Still, the Diet should examine whether the ASDF's activities in Iraq were proper from the viewpoint of the...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 19, 2008

Moving into recovery, awareness in 'Fubin!'

The Fujiyama Annette dance/theater company was started by 28-year-old Nay Hasegawa and 27-year-old Kazumi Yamashita in 2003, though only Hasegawa continues to choreograph the company's shows. Named after an imaginary French-Japanese iconic model, the company puts on unique dance performances that mix...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 16, 2008

A highway system that ever exacts toll

Expressways have been a prominent feature of postwar Japan's infrastructure-building efforts.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 14, 2008

Japan's prime minister isn't choosy about who his gaffes target

Way back in 1977 there was a famous war film called "A Bridge Too Far." Now, perhaps somebody should make a movie starring Prime Minister Taro Aso titled "Osugita Shitsugen (A Gaffe Too Many)."
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2008

Japan must spend way out of recession: Tanigaki

Japan should increase government spending to prevent the nation's first recession in seven years from deepening, said Sadakazu Tanigaki, an advocate of fiscal restraint when he was finance minister from 2003 to 2005.
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2008

Beef imports from U.S. plant halted

Japan, the third-largest buyer of U.S. beef, has halted imports of the meat from a Wisconsin plant owned by JBS SA after finding noncertified beef products in a shipment, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
COMMENTARY
Dec 12, 2008

Obama and the vets: caring for a generation

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — When Eric K. Shinseki, the first four-star U.S. Army general of Japanese- American ethnicity, was still his service branch's chief of staff, he became a symbol of doubt about official competence in pursuit of the Iraq war.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 12, 2008

'Shine a Light'

So Martin Scorsese has made two concert films now — 1978's "The Last Waltz" and 2008's "Shine a Light," — and it's interesting to compare the two.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2008

Keanu Reeves boldly goes for box-office biggie

Keanu Reeves is a creature from outer space. More precisely, he is playing Klaatu, a superior being from beyond the stars who takes the form of a human male visiting a planet that, despite millions of years of evolution, remains too fond of violence for its own good.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2008

Hong Kong exports boost farmers

Japan's agriculture has long had a global reputation for protectionism and weak price competition for rice grown in its rural areas.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’