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Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Dec 23, 2012

Yokohama's Burns thrives as leader

The Japan Times features periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. Draelon Burns of the Yokohama B-Corsairs is the subject of this week's profile.
EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 2012

Facedown over privacy

In and around Tokyo, face-recognition cameras have started to take photos of passersby at various locations. Supermarket chains, shopping malls and vending machines inside JR East stations all have been using face-recognition software to identify the sex and age of individuals who come within line of...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 23, 2012

"Family History"; Top athletes in unimaginable contests; CM of the week: Sato Shokuhi

The portion of resident Korean nationals in the sports and show business worlds is higher than it is in the general population. Athletics and entertainment were and still are two traditional ways for non-Japanese to escape poverty.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 22, 2012

Aichi opticians help out elderly Thais

Opticians in Aichi Prefecture are cooperating to gather and donate used reading glasses to people in Thailand, where many seniors have to put up with poor eyesight because they can't afford to buy spectacles.
MULTIMEDIA
Dec 21, 2012

Manga convention hopes to get a crowd of fans jumping with joy

'Friendship," "endeavor," and "victory" are three main concepts underpinning a slew of popular manga stories that constitute the long-running weekly magazine Shukan Shonen Jump. As the titular word shonen (boys) suggests, these themes are precisely designed to intrigue fantasy-prone, thrill-seeking young...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 20, 2012

Harnessing the spirit of Kuniyoshi

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861) belongs to a category of ukiyo-e print artists that have long polarized art historians and connoisseurs for their jarring colors and compositions, cynical depictions of sex and violence, and use of Western pictorial techniques. These so-called "Decadents" were seen to represent...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 20, 2012

"Tadasu Takamine's Cool Japan"

The term "Cool Japan" was recently used by the Japanese government to help boost global interest in some of the nation's most admirable achievements, such as its altruism and pursuit of cutting-edge technology.
JAPAN / EMBASSY AVENUE
Dec 20, 2012

Grand Cordon given to Algerian diplomat

The Japanese government awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun to Abdelmalek Benhabyles, 91, the first Algerian ambassador to Japan, for his contributions in developing closer and deeper ties between the two countries.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 20, 2012

Civil war fears surge over Exxon's deal with Iraqi Kurds

With their opposing armies massed on either side of the contested border dividing southern and northern Iraq, leaders in Baghdad and the semiautonomous Kurdistan region are warning they are close to civil war — one that could be triggered by Exxon Mobil.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EMBASSY AVENUE
Dec 19, 2012

'Secrets of India' seen in manga

The inaugural publication ceremony of a manga comic book titled "Secrets of India" was held at the auditorium of the Indian Embassy in Tokyo on Dec. 14.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 15, 2012

'Face of election' Kawamura of Nagoya now the odd man out

After deciding not to run in this weekend's Lower House poll, Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura's status as the "face of the election" has faded and his frustration is clearly growing.
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Dec 15, 2012

Yearend temple cleanups open to the public

Yearend cleaning of Buddhist temples and statues will take place in various locations in Kyoto and Nara toward the end of this month.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 14, 2012

View waves from a new vantage

American photographer Clark Little gives nonsurfers a chance to see what they're missing in a series of pictures he is showing at the "Clark Little Photo Exhibition" in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Dec 13, 2012

2012: The year in social media in Japan

The year in social media in Japan. Hint: Line.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 13, 2012

Tadanori Yokoo unearths a future from personal past

The establishment of a museum in the name of an individual is always, to a degree, a memorializing issue in preparation for the inevitable. The inauguration of the Yokoo Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art in many ways heralds such, and Yokoo's oeuvre has often been a dialogue with death.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 13, 2012

"Somewhere Between me and This World: Japanese Contemporary Photography"

Japan's economy has been in decline since the early 1990s, but Michiko Kasahara, a curator at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, refuses to accept that the last two decades have been "lost." A recent government poll shows that 70 percent of young Japanese are satisfied with their lives, Kasahara...
COMMENTARY
Dec 13, 2012

The art of war, Chinese style

The recent 50th anniversary of China's invasion of India attracted much discussion, especially within India. Yet the debate shied away from drawing the broader, long-term lessons for Asian security.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2012

Nuclear risks not bound by borders

One of the key issues in Sunday's Lower House election is the future of Japan's 50 commercial nuclear reactors, all but two of which remain off line in light of the Fukushima disaster.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Dec 11, 2012

Fashion's Night Out hits Japan's second-largest city, with another all-star cast of names

The popular Fashion's Night Out festival — helmed by Vogue magazine and held in the top fashion cities of the world every September — is about to be replicated in Osaka, Japan's second-largest city.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 9, 2012

There are 'snow monsters' who can help save Tohoku

Yes, it's true. Spending some money on skiing among snow monsters and soaking in hot-spring baths is a good way to help the Tohoku region of northeastern Honshu recover from the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, the terrible tsunami it triggered and the ongoing nuclear crisis that followed....
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 8, 2012

JR Tokai enlists chicken in second 'ekiben' foray

Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) is once again taking on the challenge of breaking into the formidable Nagoya-meshi sector, where dishes popular in or unique to the city command a loyal following in the coveted "ekiben" (train station boxed lunch).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 7, 2012

'MIS: Human Secret Weapon' / 'Santa Kurosu wo Tsukamaete (Chasing Santa Claus)'

Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, thousands of Japanese-Americans, including those born and raised in the United States, were shipped to internment camps, while others joined the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which fought with great bravery in the European theater.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 6, 2012

Matthewdavid and Anenon

Two up-and-coming electronic musicians, Matthewdavid and Anenon, are in Japan to support the local branch of Los Angeles-based, nonprofit Internet radio station Dublab and they'll tour five cities with some of this country's next big dance acts.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2012

Apple after Steve Jobs: separating fact and fiction

This fall, Apple chief executive Tim Cook formally apologized for the company's mistake-filled mobile map application, which became a national joke for its screwy geography. The misstep focused new attention on the legendary company and how it has fared since the death of Steve Jobs in October 2011....
EDITORIALS
Dec 5, 2012

Disaster raises safety concerns

The Sunday collapse of a portion of the ceiling of the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway in Yamanashi Prefecture, crushing three vehicles and killing at least nine people, has raised serious and widespread concern about the safety of road tunnels throughout Japan. This accident clearly was caused...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 1, 2012

Transit firms offering themselves up as movie, TV locations

Public transit firms in the Chubu region are getting stars in their eyes as they turn to a new strategy to attract customers.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 30, 2012

For teachers, the business of education has become even more of a business

Private high schools are relying more and more on part-time teachers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2012

'Karasu no Oyayubi (Crow's Thumb)'

Genres come with expectations, often advertised right on the poster. The one for Tadafumi Ito's "Karasu no Oyayubi (Crow's Thumb)" shows star Hiroshi Abe and his supporting cast looking well dressed and mostly wised-up, which makes good genre sense since they are playing con artists plotting to cheat...

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