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COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 3, 2013

War with China is not inevitable, so tread carefully

America's path plus China's immature ambitions threaten Japan's future. Japanese constitutional change would just add to uncertainty in the region.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FORUM ON AFRICA-JAPAN RELATIONS
Mar 30, 2013

Regional challenges: what Japan can do to help

The second session dealt with Africa's regional challenges and development in the overall African economy. Ambassadors Ito, Comberbach and Arrour were joined by Ambassador Wasswa Biriggwa of Uganda, chairman of the ADC TICAD Committee; Ambassador Godwin N. Agbo of Nigeria, vice chairman of the ADC Trade...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 29, 2013

2013 Pacific League Preview

Final installment of a two-part 2013 NPB Preview.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 28, 2013

Unearthing the Seto Inland Sea's social landscapes

Whenever traveling directly from one island in the Seto Inland Sea to another, I sense threads holding each one to the other. Perhaps this is a vestige of the trade routes that traversed the 700-plus islands in this scenic region between Hiroshima and Osaka. As sea trade waned in postwar Japan, these...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 28, 2013

Francis Bacon: The restlessness of human existence

In the 1989 Tim Burton film "Batman," there is a famous scene where the Joker and his gang break into an art museum and vandalize masterpieces by the likes of Rembrandt, Degas, and Vermeer. But, just as one of his henchmen is about to slash a Francis Bacon canvas, the Joker steps in to stop him, saying,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 24, 2013

In a nation shaken to its core, Japan's leaders offer more of the same

Roger Pulvers leaves Counterpoint at the end of this month after writing the column weekly since April 3, 2005. In his last three Counterpoints he has set out to consider in turn Japan in the past, present and future. This is his penultimate contribution.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 21, 2013

Somali pirates' trials highlight role of interpreters

In the quiet courtroom, the Somali defendant sat unhandcuffed and with an earphone in place, flanked by guards.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 17, 2013

Playing to the beat of the gods

TAIKO BOOM: Japanese Drumming in Place and Motion, by Shawn Bender. University of California Press, 2012, 259?pp., $29.95 (paperback)
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 17, 2013

Japan's rollercoaster modern history has kept coming off the rails

At the end of this month, Roger Pulvers will be leaving Counterpoint. In his last three columns since his inaugural weekly Counterpoint on April 3, 2005, he will consider in turn Japan in the past, present and future.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 16, 2013

Striker Davi looking to continue Brazilian success at Kashima

New Kashima Antlers striker Davi has wasted little time in making an impact at the seven-time J. League champions, but the Brazilian will not be satisfied until he has stamped his name on club history forever.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2013

With Hugo Chavez gone, will Chavismo die as well?

Venezuela is better off with Hugo Chavez gone, but the country will prosper only if the opposition offers a vision that makes 'Chavismo' disappear.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 15, 2013

Wana: Pay like a pauper, eat like a lord

"It's still gibier season," proclaims the sign on the street corner outside Wana. And who could argue with that? There's no reason why game meats and wildfowl should only be eaten in winter. If they're readily available, why shouldn't we enjoy them all year round?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 9, 2013

Power of poetry penned by survivors of 3/11 is showcased by ASIJ project

Kathy Krauth, a social studies teacher at the American School in Japan, admits she was never a huge fan of tanka, traditional Japanese poetry. "Tanka never really spoke to me. I dismissed it as early Japanese history with cherry blossoms." That all changed when Krauth sat in a classroom at the University...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2013

Austerity poses perils when productivity lags

If a Mediterranean diet lengthens life spans as reported, inhabitants of southern Europe can look forward to long lives — of anxiety and privation.
SOCCER / J. League / 2013 J. LEAGUE PREVIEW
Mar 2, 2013

Hiroshima, Sendai won't contend for title

Highlighting the top nine finishers from the J. League last season in the second part of this two-day preview.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 1, 2013

Gunma's Keller alleges pattern of malfeasance by Miyazaki

The Miyazaki Shining Suns, who have a league-worst 5-31 record, and the Eastern Conference-leading Yokohama B-Corsairs (25-9) are on shaky financial ground, multiple sources claim in recent comments to The Japan Times.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 1, 2013

Inequity of slavery reaps vengeance in 'Django'

Quentin Tarantino, whose film plots are often fueled by a mania for vengeance, has struck again with the Oscar-winning “Django Unchained.”
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 1, 2013

'Su-chan Mai-chan Sawako-san'

Yonkoma manga, or four-cell gag comics, are popular here with both sexes and all ages, but they account for relatively few of the many hit live-action films made from manga. For one thing, it's not so easy to string all those gags together into a three-act story. Doable, yes. Done well? Not so often....
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Feb 27, 2013

Glass may look geeky, but you have to applaud Google's vision

A few weeks ago, the chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, spent four days in Cambridge as the Humanitas visiting professor in the university's Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, where I work. Afterward, one of the questions I was most frequently asked by people who hadn't been...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2013

Pay attention to the resiliency of public assets

As a long-term priority, developed countries must build public assets to have the resilience and flexibility to respond to structural change over time.
LIFE
Feb 24, 2013

An inclined view: The life and work of Donald Richie

It was with a heavy heart that I heard from Donald Richie's longtime friend and editor Leza Lowitz that he had passed away on the morning of Tuesday, this week. He was 88.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 22, 2013

Senkaku showdown taxing forces

The past few months have put the Japan Coast Guard and Air Self-Defense Force to the test, as they defend the nation's territorial waters and airspace around the Senkaku islets in the East China Sea, a flash point for potential military clashes with China.
Japan Times
LIFE / LABOR PAINS
Feb 19, 2013

Teachers are workers, not martyrs: the severance scandal that isn't

'Teachers quitting before graduation?!' the headlines screamed as we headed into the new year.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 18, 2013

Can-can dancers, tea-time snacks and katakana confusion

In last month's column, I looked at the origins of several famous Japanese product brands. Thinking back, perhaps the very first brand I noticed here was a confectioner named 文明堂 (Bunmeido). The company, a 老舗 (shinise, well-established shop), was founded in Nagasaki in 1900, taking its name...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami