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EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2011

Again, justice for Cambodia

The wheels of justice turn slowly in Cambodia, but they grind nevertheless. Last month, a United Nations-backed tribunal began the second war crimes trials that attempt to hold accountable the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge. This trial is proving more contentious than its predecessor — in which...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 19, 2011

Japan's Nigerians pay price for prosperity

The Nigerian Union in Japan is the central civic organization for immigrants from Africa's most populous nation. It has foundered twice in 21 years and its current incarnation is less than a year old. Its mixed history is a reflection of the social and economic turmoil Japan's Nigerian community has...
COMMENTARY
Jul 18, 2011

Sudan: leftover from a good deed

The flags have been waved, the anthem has been sung, and the new currency will be in circulation this week: the Republic of South Sudan has been launched, and is off to who knows where?
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2011

Mumbai attack a new cause to take offense

Three serial blasts in 12 minutes tore through India's commercial capital Mumbai last Wednesday evening, leaving 21 dead and over 140 injured.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2011

India trying to woo Myanmar from China

Even as a senior Burmese diplomat in Washington has defected, Burmese prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has suggested that some people, both at home and abroad, have deceived themselves into thinking a new government has brought change to her country.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jul 17, 2011

Green is good for you — and the Earth

My work often takes me away from my home in Hokkaido, and with every absence I am irked to be missing out on some part of the inexorable seasonal advance. So, each time I return I make a beeline for my local forest to reacquaint myself with the resident and migrant birds, to trace the tracks and signs...
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2011

A media empire crumbles

Scandals have often dominated the British media, but few have been as remarkable as the revelations which have been appearing almost every day about the misdeeds of journalists on the British populist mass circulation Sunday paper The News of the World. This was owned by News International which is run...
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jul 15, 2011

Will heartthrob Mukai shine as the shogun?

This year's NHK Sunday evening drama has already entered the history books for one, perhaps inauspicious, reason. On March 12, a day after the Great East Japan Earthquake, NHK announced that the following day's broadcast of "Go," as the show is titled, would be canceled to make way for news coverage....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 14, 2011

The future of Japanese theater lies in individuality

In April 2010, Junnosuke Tada became Japan's youngest-ever artistic director of a public theater when, at age 33, he was appointed by the Kirari Fujimi Theater in Fujimi, Saitama Prefecture.
COMMENTARY
Jul 13, 2011

Rupert Murdoch's troika

The troika hurtles across the frozen plain. The wolves are close behind, and from time to time a peasant is hurled from the sleigh in the hope of letting the more important people escape.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2011

Thai results challenge established regime

The thunderous results of Thailand's general election July 3 will seem familiar to anyone attuned to the political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa.
EDITORIALS
Jul 10, 2011

Snapshot of current thought

Shinsho (new writing or paperback originals) nonfiction books, written for a general audience by experts on topics of current interest, offer a window on what's on the minds of the Japanese. Judging from recent shinsho best-sellers, that's primarily the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster and the proper...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 10, 2011

Banana's fabulous fables

THE LAKE, by Banana Yoshimoto. Melville House, 2011, 192 pp., $23.95 (hardcover) It's hard to believe it's been six years since Banana Yoshimoto had a new novel published in English. Her early novel "Kitchen" was hugely popular with foreign audiences, but since the release of "Hardboiled and Hard Luck"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 8, 2011

"Pottery from Hyogo's Five Provinces"

The Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo — founded in 2005 in Tachikui, home to Tamba Tachikui ware pottery — has an important role as a research facility for those interested in Hyogo-based ceramics, such as Tamba, Sanda and Minpei wares.
Reader Mail
Jul 7, 2011

Sensible transfer goes begging

I was glad to see the June 28 article "Daylight savings is it finally time to convert?" I have been a summer resident and law teacher in Kyoto for six of the past eight summers and have found many things about Japanese life that are more sensible than in America, my home country.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 7, 2011

Ming Wong re-casts classics to reveal our roles in modern society

Brightly colored billboards, draped curtains and theater seats have transformed the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, into a cinematic space. But there are no feature films being screened here — this is Singaporean artist Ming Wong's first solo show in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2011

Rethinking Japan's Myanmar policy

An historic meeting June 29 between parliamentary Vice Foreign Minister Makiko Kikuta and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon highlights Japan's increasing willingness to look beyond its self-interest and promote democracy in the region.
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2011

Crisis will slow nuclear growth: CH2M Hill

The Fukushima nuclear disaster will slow the growth of global nuclear energy supply, and its share of total electricity production will shrink in coming years, CH2M Hill said.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2011

Brace for a surge in Southeast Asian piracy

China's aggressive claims to parts of the South China Sea contested by the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Brunei is damaging regional cooperation against piracy, allowing more attacks — 41 so far this year after 30 last year. Naval exercises with the United States this week do include anti-piracy...
BASKETBALL
Jul 6, 2011

Suzuki retires to coach HeatDevils

The Oita HeatDevils announced on Tuesday that Yukinori Suzuki has retired as a player and will take over as the bj-league team's new head coach.
EDITORIALS
Jul 6, 2011

Mr. Thaksin wins again

Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra and her Pheu Thai party have won Thailand's parliamentary elections, claiming a commanding majority in the legislature. The results are a vindication of sorts for Ms. Shinawatra's brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, deposed in 2006 by a military coup.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jul 6, 2011

Video games now have the same U.S. protection as books and films

Video games feature violence. Not all of them, of course, but violence is prevalent — just as it is in movies and on television. Now, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 27, violent video games are protected under the same freedom of speech that Hollywood enjoys.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 6, 2011

Marines' Castillo makes eyecatching return to Japan

Wearing a wide grin and bright yellow-trimmed sunglasses, Jose Castillo said he was happy to be back in Japan before his first game with the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jul 2, 2011

Hamaguchi takes reins in Kyoto after six seasons in Sendai

With conflicting emotions, Honoo Hamaguchi decided to move forward and take on a new challenge.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight