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BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Mar 7, 2012

Odom's presence crucial for Mavs

Time to check your Odom-eter:
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2012

An Israeli strike on Iran would backfire

On June 7, 1981, eight Israeli F-16 fighter jets, protected by six F-15 escorts, dropped 16 907-kg bombs on the nearly completed Osirak nuclear reactor at the Tuwaitha complex in Iraq. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Defense Minister Ariel Sharon saw the reactor as central to Iraqi President...
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 7, 2012

Popovic thinking big in his first season with FC Tokyo

Kashiwa Reysol pulled off the unprecedented feat of winning the J. League only a year after claiming the second-division title last season, but FC Tokyo manager Ranko Popovic is hoping history will repeat itself with his newly promoted team.
COMMENTARY
Mar 6, 2012

Hamas' perilous maneuvers

Despite all of Hamas' assurances to the contrary, a defining struggle is taking place within the Palestinian Islamic movement. The outcome of this struggle — which is still confined to polite political disagreements and occasional intellectual tussle — is likely to change Hamas' outlook, if not fundamentally...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Mar 6, 2012

Don't judge a house by its exterior

The house stood out among its neighbors: not because of its box shape or the tall ham-radio tower planted in the parking space, but because of its bold two-tone exterior of wine red interrupted by sections of gray. The company that built it keeps costs down by not erecting model homes, so the salesman...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 6, 2012

Caveat emptor: Not all 'word of mouth' blogs unpaid

Is word-of-mouth information on the Internet trustworthy — or to be taken with a grain of salt?
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Mar 6, 2012

Japan's revolving-door immigration policy hard-wired to fail

Last December, the Japanese government announced that a new visa regime with a "points system" would be introduced this spring.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 6, 2012

Berlitz court ruling unequivocal on basic right to strike

After hearing more than three years of testimony, the judge took only a minute to read the court's verdict rejecting Berlitz Japan's ¥110 million lawsuit against striking teachers and their union and reaffirming organized labor's right to take industrial action.
Japan Times
JAPAN / SPELLING BEE
Mar 5, 2012

A look back at the spellers who triumphed last year

Yuichi Yoshioka was crowned the winner of the second Japan Times Spelling Bee, held at The Japan Times headquarters in Tokyo in May last year, after he correctly spelled the word "presentient," landing a spot in the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee contest the following month in the U.S.
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2012

Will American values outlast the social storm?

In 1924, the sociologist couple Robert and Helen Lynd arrived in a small Midwestern city they called Middletown (it was Muncie, Ind.) to study and survey the place.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Mar 5, 2012

Todai plan to shift school year could be catalyst for wider Japanese reforms

The University of Tokyo, locally known as Todai, has announced a draft plan to shift the start of its academic year from spring to autumn and called on 11 other major universities to join it. Public discussion of the proposal has been immense since the announcement in mid-January, and for good reason....
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2012

Noda makes international pitch for tax hike plan

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Saturday that his government "cannot sidestep" a controversial tax hike that has turned into the leader's highest priority and largest potential stumbling block.
Reader Mail
Mar 4, 2012

Blind presumption of atrocities

Regarding Shai Greenberg's Feb. 23 letter, "Unbearable cost of Iranian oil": How does Japan's purchase of Iranian oil lead to the government in Tehran continuing "its atrocities against the Iranian people"? Is it not a case of blind ignorance to write this — as if atrocities do indeed take place in...
Reader Mail
Mar 4, 2012

Meet the atomic bomb survivors

As a Japanese national, I would like to ask U.S. President Barack Obama a big favor. Mr. President, please visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to meet atomic bomb survivors while they are still alive. As you may fear that this could adversely affect the presidential campaign, please make the visit after the...
Reader Mail
Mar 4, 2012

Don't impose gold medal targets

Regarding the Feb. 29 Kyodo article "Draft program targets buckets of Olympic gold medals": If I am not mistaken, the only countries that had or have such government-set numerical targets for Olympic gold medals are dictatorships.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 4, 2012

Anti-yakuza laws are taking their toll

Five months after tough new ordinances cracking down on the activities of organized crime syndicates went into effect, it's not yet clear what impact, if any, they've had on gang activities.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 4, 2012

Winter kept us warm in Kamikochi's silence

Emerging from the 1.3-km darkness of the Kama Tunnel, our footsteps echoing eerily, we step into the white silence of Kamikochi's upland basin at the heart of the Chubusangaku National Park, which itself marks the center of the Hida Mountains, long ago dubbed the "Japan Alps."
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2012

Small step in the right direction

The United States and North Korea have found common ground. Washington and Pyongyang announced on Wednesday that the North would stop nuclear and missile provocations as the U.S. would proceed with the provision of food aid. This seeming consensus should open the door to the resumption of the stalled...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 4, 2012

Myanmar and the search for democracy

Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's Struggle for Democracy, by Bertil Lintner. Silkworm Books: Chiang Mai, 2011, 196 pp. The Lady and the Peacock: The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi, by Peter Popham. Rider: London, 2011, 446 pp. The abrupt shift in Burmese politics over the past few months has been extraordinary,...
Reader Mail
Mar 4, 2012

Farmer shines a light on Japan

Regarding the Feb. 29 Kyodo article "Fukushima farmer presses Tepco to look after abandoned animals": This person (Naoto Matsumura, 52) is amazing. We lived many years in Japan but have been back in Europe since August.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 4, 2012

Too much snow for a snowman

The winter of 1946-47 saw record snowfalls in Britain. As a 7-year-old boy in hilly Wales, it was sheer joy — and never mind the transport shutdown and electricity crisis as power stations ran out of coal.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 3, 2012

Nelsinho, Popovic guide clubs into new season

Kashiwa Reysol manager Nelsinho is determined to carry last season's J. League title-winning form into Saturday's Xerox Super Cup match against FC Tokyo, but the Brazilian has warned not to expect too much from his ring-rusty side.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 3, 2012

Redknapp may make England wait

When Fabio Capello said he wanted to resign as England manager, David Bernstein, the chairman of the Football Association, said it was "best for the F.A." so the Italian's offer was one he could not refuse.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan