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COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2010

Asia warily watches China

Asia's festering Cold War-era territorial and maritime disputes highlight the fact that securing long-term regionwide peace depends on respect for existing borders. Attempts to disturb Asia's territorial status quo are an invitation to endemic conflict — a concern that led Asian states to welcome the...
COMMENTARY
Nov 2, 2010

U.S. hurts itself sitting on South Korea FTA

WASHINGTON — How have the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress responded to the twin challenges of continued high unemployment and China's displacing America as the No. 1 trading partner with leading East Asian states? By retreating economically from Asia.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Oct 31, 2010

Why does distance ameliorate a war crime?

NEW YORK — One aspect of the modern sense of war, be it delusional, duplicitous or both, was palpable in two articles paired at the top of the front page of The New York Times toward the end of September. The headline of one said "Drug Use Cited In Killings of 3 Civilians"; the headline of the other,...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 31, 2010

A rice farmer's crusade; Japanese-American drama by `Oshin' scriptwriter; CM of the week: Yahoo!/Kirin Fire

The subject of this week's "The Professional" (NHK-G, Mon., 10 p.m.) is rice farmer Minoru Ishii, who is leading the crusade for a more open-minded approach to Japanese agriculture.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 29, 2010

Not all white rice tastes the same

In Japan, the freshness and seasonality of ingredients used in cooking is of paramount importance. Even in this age of mass production and imported foods, people still care about the appearance of fresh bamboo shoots in spring, or the first matsutake mushrooms in fall.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 24, 2010

Nomo's legacy should land him in Hall of Fame

Fourth in a four-part series
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2010

Werewolves prowl in a dystopian future

The vampire novel seems to have taken over the imaginations of young adults. Inspired by the success of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its spinoff series "Angel," and, in turn, inspiring shows like "True Blood," Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series is a big seller across the globe.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 24, 2010

Can we fix Japan's moral morass?

As a gauge of where this country is heading and what kind of mood it's in, consider this fact: Last week, almost every mainstream weekly news magazine ran at least one story on old age and/or death.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 24, 2010

Saving biological diversity: a challenge for survival

Eight years ago in Johannesburg, government delegates from around the world gathered for the World Summit on Sustainable Development — and made a promise "to substantially reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity."
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2010

Mysteries through the eons

While traveling alone on horseback through a gloomy forest near Lake Biwa, northeast of Kyoto, Justice Ministry official Sugawara Akitada suddenly comes upon a filthy, shivering urchin who appears to be deaf and mute.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2010

Entrepreneurs' best friend growing long in the tooth

HONG KONG — Standard Chartered Bank has an advertisement currently running on television that is eye-catching and thought-provoking. Its central message is that "not everything that counts in life can be counted" and that the bank wants to be "here for people; here for progress; here for the long run;...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2010

First-time director takes on Murakami

Many filmmakers say the difficulties of adapting a best-selling novel to the screen can be daunting. How about the challenge of adapting a story by a foreign best-selling author ("All God's Children Can Dance" by Haruki Murakami) from a country one had never visited (Japan) and to choose the project...
COMMENTARY
Oct 22, 2010

Are China and Japan on a collision course?

LOS ANGELES — The people of China and Japan deserve better leadership at the top than they have been getting. But better leadership is not immediately in prospect for either ancient nation. That means relations between the two giant economies will probably get worse, when improvement is urgently needed...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2010

A frugal superpower's rules

WASHINGTON — American foreign policy stands on the brink of substantial belt-tightening. The mounting expenses of servicing the growing national debt, combined with the skyrocketing costs of Social Security and Medicare as the 78-million-strong baby-boom generation retires, will leave less money for...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Oct 19, 2010

Re: Richard Cory's story

A selection of readers' views on "Battling a broken system" (Zeit Gist, Sept. 21) and "Behind the facade of family law" (Zeit Gist, Sept. 28), both by Richard Cory:
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 17, 2010

European middle-class entitlements: R.I.P.

PARIS — It is usually easier to see the beginning of something than the end of it. Born in 1945 in postwar Britain, the welfare state met its end in Britain last week when British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne repudiated the concept of the "universal benefit," the idea that everyone, not...
COMMENTARY
Oct 17, 2010

Time to let the neighbors deal with the North Korean problem

PARIS — North Korea has officially unveiled the youngest son and heir apparent of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il. Yet again the impoverished dictatorship has captured the world's attention. But the United States should leave the problem of dealing with Pyongyang to the North's neighbors. The so-called Democratic...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 17, 2010

Balloon bombs, poisons all in a day's work at Noborito

"Balloon bombs aimed at North America were released by the thousands," says Meiji University professor Akira Yamada, running his hand in an up-and-down motion across a diagram of the Pacific Ocean. He first points to the spots on the coast of Honshu from where these explosive devices were launched, and...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 17, 2010

The wonders and virtues of green tea

This diminutive book is packed as tightly as an obento box with an array of mini-essays.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 17, 2010

Singing the praise of the silent majority

It is a peaceful autumn day here in Hokkaido; a Black-eared Kite banking, wheeling and gliding effortlessly on outspread wings just outside my workroom window tempts me out for a walk in Nopporo Forest near where I live. There, I stroll among trees that now seem somewhat threadbare; the extreme density...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 15, 2010

Rebalancing global growth

WASHINGTON — Finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington at the IMF/World Bank annual meetings ended their discussions last weekend with a whimper of a final communique. There was much talk of currency war and trade war in the hallways and hotels, but in the end the leaders postponed...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2010

Kan must rediscover Japan

HONG KONG — The looming indictment of Ichiro Ozawa for false reporting of political funds leaves Prime Minister Naoto Kan in a tricky spot about what to do about the still powerful shadow shogun of Japanese politics.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Oct 12, 2010

Don't blame JET for Japan's poor English: responses

A selection of readers' views on "Don't blame JET for Japan's poor English" (Just Be Cause, Sept. 7) by Debito Arudou:
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 11, 2010

Internet companies roll over, play dead in defense of liberty

PARIS — All over the world, Internet users entertain romantic delusions about cyberspace. To most of us Web surfers, the Internet provides a false sense of complete freedom, power and anonymity.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 11, 2010

Marines pull together for postseason push

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. — Japanese baseball historian and author Robert Whiting titled his most famous work "You Gotta Have Wa."
COMMENTARY
Oct 10, 2010

Gingrich's military-industrial-terror complex

SEATTLE — Within a space of a few hours on Sept. 30, an accused man confessed to terrorism charges in Germany, the terrorism threat level was raised in Sweden, and former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich lengthily discussed "suicidal jihadists" in a speech given in Denver.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 10, 2010

Of villains and poets

Divided into five sections, the American poet and translator Taylor Mignon's first solo collection of poetry begins with his "Juvenilia."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 8, 2010

Fantastic plastic: Last vinyl presser hosts exam on the record

There are still those for whom the world spins at exactly 33 revolutions per minute. Digital MP3 downloads and YouTube videos may now be the formats of choice in the home and clubs, but the sound of a cartridge needle riding over the groove of a vinyl slab — scratches, skips and all — is quite literally...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 8, 2010

'Le Petit Nicolas'

For the defeated nations of World War II, the 1950s were a time of chaotic struggle, but for the victors, it was a time of stability, growing affluence and general cheerfulness (at least on the surface). Suited dads went to work and returned home for dinner, while moms stayed at home and could be relied...

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