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COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2010

Living life by the numbers

NEW YORK — Recently I learned that I don't have cancer. My doctor called and said, "I have some good news!" Fortunately, we were in the middle of a fire drill in my office at the time, so no one noticed as I blinked back tears of relief.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jul 27, 2010

How can you beat that summer heat?

Brian GillilandTeacher, 27(American)It's all about the G-string. When you feel like your bottom is naked, that makes you feel cool.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 25, 2010

Computer addiction dulls wits at work

Differences in familiarity with computers are creating ever-wider gaps within the ranks of Japan's salarymen. Evening tabloid Nikkan Gendai (July 17) reports on the emergence of a new type of person at companies who never stops typing on his PC, even while being spoken to by a colleague.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Jul 22, 2010

iPhones become ice-breakers at gokon dating parties

iPhones are helping to lubricate the interaction at Japanese gokon dating parties.
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Jul 20, 2010

Pair get more than fluency from language swap lessons

Guillermo Larese roia, 42, from Argentina, and Keiko Iwasaki, 31, met a decade ago in Japan after one of them put a message about swapping Japanese and Spanish lessons in a free publication.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 19, 2010

DPJ, finances victims of own conspiracy, cock-up, complacency?

Conspiracy or cock-up? That is the question that invariably comes to mind when something goes very badly wrong in business or politics. As it has done in both of these two worlds in Japan lately.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 18, 2010

From grubs to kimono

Bryan Whitehead redefines what it means to "make something from scratch."
CULTURE / Books
Jul 18, 2010

Outer limits of kinky sex and violence

Bored with life and bullied by an overbearing mother, 17-year-old Mari finds a painful solace in the company of a translator of Russian, 50 years her senior. Yoko Ogawa's "Hotel Iris," beautifully translated by Stephen Snyder, deals with obsession, fetishism, loneliness and the multifaceted nature of...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 14, 2010

World Cup rekindles lost pride in being Japanese

Soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata, a former member of Japan's national team, told the media in the weeks leading up to the World Cup: "Wārudo Kappu no koto wo kangaeru to Nihonjin de aru koto wo saininshi ki suru (ワールド・カップのことを考えると日本人であることを再認識する,...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 11, 2010

Liberated gentleman out of time and place

This meandering tale of an interesting man's life spanning the Meiji, Taisho and Showa eras helps readers understand the ferment of the times while serving up some gems of social history.
JAPAN / DECISION 2010
Jul 10, 2010

DPJ shoots itself in foot in Shizuoka

SHIZUOKA — It was supposed to be Ichiro Ozawa's master plan, a strategy that would drive the final nail in the coffin of the Liberal Democratic Party and oust it from Shizuoka Prefecture for good.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 10, 2010

Architect wants to end nail-hammer cycle

Miwa Mori, president of Key Architects, thinks a lot about nails, both as part of her profession and as her philosophy about life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 9, 2010

Bradley Cooper: hot and hung over

HOLLYWOOD — They say nothing is as hot as a slow-burning fire, and Bradley Cooper's career had been warming up for a number of years before it turned white-hot last year thanks to his starring role in "The Hangover."
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Jul 8, 2010

A party for Tsumori Chisato, big bling, premium denim and good old gents

MISHA JANETTE and PAUL McINNES Staying young at heart
JAPAN / DECISION 2010
Jul 6, 2010

Campaigning in Tokyo heats up

With beads of sweat pouring down his forehead, veteran Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Toshio Ogawa addressed a small crowd in Tokyo late last month, begging for their support in the Upper House election.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 3, 2010

Witnessing over a century of history

When alone, Hedwig Koh's eyes gaze perpetually into the past. Even as a child, she looked off into the distance: "I spent most of my childhood upstairs at the attic window, looking out at the view, imagining far away places."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 2, 2010

The Brilliant Green are back in bloom

"The wonderful thing about being solo is that you can do whatever you like, without asking anyone's opinion — that's fun. But as a band there's camaraderie and you share a common goal. I never get fed up because I can do both."
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 27, 2010

Asahiyama's natural touch

Ivan the polar bear has been having relationship problems recently.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 24, 2010

Record-breaker Keppel puts faith in teammates

In his first year in Japan, pitcher Bobby Keppel has been serving as a messiah for the ailing Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 20, 2010

Grammar and sums have gone — all that's left is a je ne sais quoi

Hi Bris again tho this is the first time Im facing U my msg that Im prepared to rocket to Alaska so that Alaska can rejoin the USA and we can be 5×10 states again like in Barack's time So seriously Your Mal
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 18, 2010

Lack of funds fail to stop Tokyo's young theater brigade

As a promising playwright, director and actor, 31-year-old Junichi Hirota highlights a cruel fact running through Japan's theater world — namely that once technicians such as lighting engineers, sound people and set-builders are paid from box-office profits, there's often little or nothing left for...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 18, 2010

'Outrage'

Takeshi Kitano went to the Cannes Film Festival this year hoping to snag the big prize that had so far eluded him: the Palme d'Or. He left with little more than a stack of negative reviews from the international media for his competition entry, "Outrage." One panel of critics, for the trade magazine...
JAPAN / PROMOTING TOURISM FROM CHINA
Jun 17, 2010

Tapping a golden market

The Chinese tourists had just one hour to shop — not a lot of time when you consider they were at the glitzy VenusFort mall in Tokyo's fashionable Odaiba waterfront district.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 16, 2010

The value of seemingly empty Japanese phrases

Japanese is often considered an indirect and ambiguous language, and that's because it is. The national character, too, often appears passive and indirect to non-Japanese. As a result, it can be tempting for newcomers to take a lead from Frank Sinatra and do things "My Way," and generally this works...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Jun 15, 2010

Intrepid Ruiz enjoying start to Eagles career

Randy Ruiz's career had already taken him to a myriad of places by the time he signed with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles earlier this month.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 15, 2010

A light of hope for abused children

In the dock, Katsuyuki Okuno cut a strange figure as he listened baby-faced, chubby, graying, frightened and seemingly unable to understand what he had done.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jun 14, 2010

Tap water gains for economic not environmental reasons

Tokyo has gone to great lengths to make its tap water more drinkable ... so why do most people still buy bottled water?
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 14, 2010

Can 'Citizen Kan' take Japan's voters to the promised land?

The Bible tells us that "those who sow in tears sing as they reap" (Psalm 126).

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb