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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 7, 2012

'Frankenweenie'

Director Tim Burton started out as an animator at Disney, and after working on such milquetoast projects as "The Fox and The Hound" and "The Black Cauldron" he was greenlighted to develop some of his own stuff. After a few animated shorts, he made his first live-action film at age 25 in 1984, "Frankenweenie."...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 7, 2012

Ishibashi steering Brave Warriors in the right direction

Takatoshi "Big Bashi" Ishibashi served as the Shinshu Brave Warriors' capable assistant coach during the team's inaugural season under Motofumi Aoki, the 2006-07 bj-league Coach of the Year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 7, 2012

Holiday gift ideas for the film buff you love best

As the end of the year approaches and the air is filled with the kerching of winter bonuses and brazen consumerist excess, thoughts turn to our loved ones, and the trinkets that will best pacify them at gift-swapping time. For the cinephile in your life, the JT's film critics suggest the following fine...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 7, 2012

'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen'

What with the recent misery in Gaza and Israel, it's hard to wrap your mind around a feel-good story coming out of the Middle East, but here it is, "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen," opening at Japanese theaters over a year after its premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.
SOCCER / J. League / J. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 6, 2012

Rudderless Gamba pay heavy toll for strategic mistakes

Gamba Osaka's relegation to the second division feels no less shocking now that the dust has settled, but after spending only five weeks of the season outside the bottom three, perhaps the writing was on the wall all along.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 6, 2012

Patriots bound for Turkey could aid future NATO action in Syria

NATO agreed Tuesday to send new American-made air defenses to Turkey's volatile southern border with Syria, a boost to an alliance member on the front lines of the civil war and a potential backstop for wider U.S. or NATO air operations if Syria deteriorates further.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 6, 2012

Townshend: Japan, U.K. took same postwar path

Who guitarist and composer Pete Townshend originally wanted to call his memoir, "Pete Townshend: Who He?" His publisher, HarperCollins, settled on the less cheeky, more digestible, "Who I Am" — though a better title might be: "Who I Was."
BASKETBALL
Dec 5, 2012

Ex-MVP White blasts bj-league, plans to sue Oita

Former Oita HeatDevils star Wendell White met with team officials on Tuesday and repeated his demands that the team honor his expired contract 14 days after his salary was due.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Dec 5, 2012

Despite downloadable versions, packaged games in high demand

Late last month, Nintendo issued a press release, regarding its smash hit "Animal Crossing: New Leaf." The game, a simulator in which cute characters do things like collect items and decorate their houses, hit No. 1 on the game charts thanks to its dedicated following with young and seasoned players...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2012

How to fight in Afghanistan with fewer U.S. troops

Kimberly and Frederick W. Kagan's recent commentary in The Washington Post, arguing for a force of 30,000 or more Americans in Afghanistan after 2014, is fundamentally wrong. Although their goals are sound — preventing terrorist attacks from the region on the United States — the writers' logic and...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2012

Apple after Steve Jobs: separating fact and fiction

This fall, Apple chief executive Tim Cook formally apologized for the company's mistake-filled mobile map application, which became a national joke for its screwy geography. The misstep focused new attention on the legendary company and how it has fared since the death of Steve Jobs in October 2011....
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2012

Sharp to sell ¥4.9 billion in shares to Qualcomm

Sharp Corp., the TV maker that warned last month about its ability to survive, said Tuesday it has agreed to sell a stake valued at about ¥4.9 billion to Qualcomm Inc. and team up to jointly develop displays.
EDITORIALS
Dec 4, 2012

Stock exchange merger

Following approval by shareholders on Nov. 20, Tokyo Stock Exchanges Group and Osaka Securities Exchange will merge on Jan. 1 and the Japan Exchange Group will become the holding company for the two exchanges. The newly created entity will rank fourth in the world in size, following the London Stock...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Dec 4, 2012

NPB players should speak out about posting system

The Japan Professional Baseball Players Association showed rare backbone two years ago when, in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the players banded together and succeeded in getting the start of the season pushed back as the nation dealt with the disaster.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 4, 2012

Original gifts for your unique friends

The design lover
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 3, 2012

Ishihara nuke flip-flop puts party in crisis

With the kickoff of the Dec. 16 Lower House election campaign just one day away, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) is in chaos after party leader Shintaro Ishihara declared Friday that he would revise a promise to abolish nuclear power by the 2030s.
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2012

Separatist dreams that are mostly just hot air

In other parts of the world, separatist movements are usually violent (such as Kashmir, Sri Lanka, the various Kurdish revolts) and they sometimes succeed (South Sudan, Eritrea, East Timor).
Reader Mail
Dec 2, 2012

Suspicious cancer-risk report

Regarding the Nov. 27 Kyodo news brief "Fukushima cancer risk said low": I smell a big fat rat. First, why would anyone say this? Either it is true, in which case there's no problem, or it is false, and hey, there is always a reason people say things.
Reader Mail
Dec 2, 2012

Gaining respect, not losing face

The Japan Times is to be commended for the courage to publish the Nov. 27 article from former South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung Soo, titled "Heed history in East Asian territorial disputes."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 2, 2012

Motobu: A stopover in paradise on the way back home

An enjoyable experience is worth repeating. So when I finished teaching a two-week Summer Intensive at a university in Tokyo and was ready to return home to Okinawa, I decided to again take the ferry from Kagoshima as I had done the year before.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Dec 2, 2012

Horse power helps bring light to a national forest's gloom

If you drive, ride or fly over Japan, you might note that a very large part of the country is covered with trees. If you're traveling in autumn or early winter, you might also note that much of the forested land is in uniform patches and swaths of dense, dark green, or perhaps a faint pale-yellowish-brown....
BASKETBALL
Dec 2, 2012

HeatDevils suffer embarrassing loss to Golden Kings

The Ryukyu Golden Kings routed the host Oita HeatDevils in the second half on Saturday, turning a close contest into a 100-68 annihilation in Beppu, Oita Prefecture.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years