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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 16, 2012

Living the botanical high life

Japan, though it has a very different image, is on the same latitude as southern Europe and North Africa, while my nearest city, Sapporo, is oddly enough on the same east-west parallel as France's boisterously cosmopolitan second city of Marseille on the Mediterranean.
EDITORIALS
Sep 16, 2012

Educating educators

A recent survey found that more than half of Japan's graduate schools in education are short of students for the 2012 academic year. More than 40 percent of schools had failed to meet their quotas for the past five years.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2012

The Neil Armstrong I knew — and flew with

Before manned space flights began, officials pondered what background they should seek in the crew for this bizarre new venture: Danger lover? Bullfighter? Mountain climber? Should they search for people who were self-aware and calm in extreme conditions? A deep-sea diver, perhaps? Finally, they settled...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 14, 2012

'This is Not a Film'

I met Iranian director Jafar Panahi back in 1996, shortly before his debut feature film "The White Balloon" picked up the Gold Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival — one of many prizes that film garnered. My interview has been lost to the sands of time (hard to believe, but there was a...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Sep 14, 2012

Sake brewers turn their hand to beer

Taro Ishikawa, president of Ishikawa Shuzo in Fussa City, Tokyo, knows a thing or two about brewing beer. This comes as no surprise: In addition to producing Tamajiman sake, his company has been making Japanese jibīru (craft beer) for 14 years. The Ishikawa family's history of beer brewing, however,...
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Sep 14, 2012

Tsukuda having fun in German League

Up until a year ago, Germany wasn't even an option to for running back Soichiro Tsukuda.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 14, 2012

'Like Someone in Love'

The definition of "sublime" goes through a subtle overhaul in Abbas Kiarostami's latest "Like Someone in Love," filmed in Tokyo and featuring an all-Japanese cast. To witness the movie is to experience a massive who-would-have-thought-moment. This is Kiarostami we're talking about: one of the world's...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2012

Sharp's losses may approach ¥300 billion, frighten lenders

Sharp Corp. may lose more money than it forecast this year, analysts predict, increasing pressure on the struggling electronics maker to raise funds and complete a stake sale to Foxconn Technology Group.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 13, 2012

Kansai Music Conference to bring new sounds to Osaka

Music fans in Osaka can catch a variety of overseas acts this weekend at the Kansai Music Conference (KMC).
Reader Mail
Sep 13, 2012

Yamanashi school song rankles

Regarding the Korea Times editorial titled "Japan slips into retrograde," which was reprinted in The Japan Times on Aug. 31: As a Japanese who is a member of the Society for the Annulment of Imperial Rescripts, I want the Japanese people to be courageous enough to confront the past and not be influenced...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 13, 2012

MLB scouts keeping their eyes on quartet of potential Japanese free agents

This season there are a few NPB players who have fulfilled the requirements for international free agency (meaning they are free to negotiate with any team, domestic or abroad) and may attempt to follow in the successful footsteps of Yu Darvish and Norichika Aoki and make a move to the major leagues...
Reader Mail
Sep 13, 2012

Better way than the 'baby post'

We read the Sept. 6 editorial "Up from the 'baby post'" with great dismay. Please understand that these babies and their mothers suffer a profound loss from which they will never recover.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2012

Nintendo recovery may hinge on Wii U sales

Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata is convinced the future of gaming still centers on handheld and TV-based machines. He'll get his answer by Christmas, in the number of new Wii U consoles that get bought.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2012

Syria war reporting risky, and a hard story to sell in Japan

When photojournalist Shin Yahiro heard compatriot video reporter Mika Yamamoto was killed in late August in Aleppo, he was not surprised, because he too has come under fire while covering the civil war raging in Syria.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Sep 11, 2012

Darvish, others have decisions to make ahead of next WBC

The big news last week was that the Japanese Professional Baseball Players Association decided to compete in next year's World Baseball Classic.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Sep 11, 2012

Louis Vuitton still going dotty

Fans of French luxury brand Louis Vuitton are still seeing spots before their eyes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 11, 2012

Fukushima city: Are you happy with the post-3/11 reconstruction efforts in Tohoku so far?

Mieko Sasaki Housewife, 72 From the start nothing was managed properly. I'm upset that nothing has been resolved, even though I am 50-60 km away from (radiation) hot spots. I'm worried for the next generation but I want to say thank you to people from around the world for looking out for us in our hour...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Sep 11, 2012

Hotelier sees disaster bring out best in Japanese

As a veteran of the tourism and hotel industries in Japan for more than two decades, Tony Virili says he will "never forget" what took place at one of his firm's franchise hotels in Sendai on March 11, 2011.
BUSINESS
Sep 11, 2012

Growth in last quarter halved to 0.7% pace

The economy expanded in the second quarter at half the pace the government initially estimated, underscoring the risk of contraction in Japan as Europe's debt crisis caps exports.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Japan Pulse
Sep 10, 2012

Today's J-blip: Gari Gari Kun corn soup ice pop sold out in three days

Japan reeeally has a soft spot for corn soup.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 9, 2012

"Give it a try!"; A winning family drama; CM of the week: Japan Tobacco Consulting

Long-running variety show "Otameshi Ka!" ("Give it a Try!"; TV Asahi, Monday, 7 p.m.) usually tests its guests' knowledge about products offered by famous manufacturers or retail and restaurant chains. This week's two-hour special tries something different.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 9, 2012

Joy among the clouds and shadows

Yoko Sakata was an ordinary "office lady," not earning much and not aspiring to much, when she began suspecting her boyfriend of having an affair. She hired a private detective, who confirmed her fears and then paid her a compliment: "You have good intuition." He offered her a job. She grabbed it. That...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Sep 9, 2012

Yamadera, the man with 1,000 voices

Prior to interviewing Koichi Yamadera, a top voice actor, mimic and TV celebrity, I thought it would be tacky to ask him for samples of his many voices, from the characters on the popular "Anpanman" kiddy cartoon show to the hero of Hitoshi Takekiyo's new animated horror-comedy "Hokago Middonaitazu (After...
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 9, 2012

Sea changes set in motion

Between 20 and 30 percent of Japan's marine fisheries production was lost in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake that struck the Tohoku region of northeastern Honshu on March 11, 2011, followed by huge tsunamis and explosions and reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. In...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Sep 9, 2012

Aki Basho 2012: Time for ozeki Harumafuji to step up his game

When the Aki-basho starts today, all eyes will be on one man, and this time it is not yokozuna grand champion Hakuho. Rather the focus of sumo fans throughout Japan and around the world will be on ozeki Harumafuji. Looking to secure a second consecutive championship victory and thereby guarantee his...
Reader Mail
Sep 9, 2012

Stop panicking over birthrates

Regarding the Sept. 4 front-page article "Population of Tokyo to drop to half by 2100": So much fuss has been made in the news media about the declining birthrate that it would be easy to mistake it for an impending disaster.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear