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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 26, 2012

Seiho launches Day Tripper label with 'Mercury'

Seiho Hayakawa started making music the way a lot of curious kids growing up in the digital age did — by fiddling with his cell-phone ringer. But he eventually plunged headfirst into the world of jazz as a high school student, with a trumpet at his side.
Reader Mail
Jan 26, 2012

Can't defend a broken system

I nearly performed a spit-take reading Dipak Basu's Jan. 19 letter, "Unfair criticisms of education," in which he stated that "The Japanese education system creates the most disciplined and most civilized teenagers in the world."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Jan 26, 2012

Shibuya style with an Akihabara twist?

Shibuya-kei was one of the defining features of the music and fashion scenes of the 1990s, and it helped spawn the idea of "Cool Japan."
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2012

Elpida may gain life support as chips slump

Elpida Memory Inc., facing a deadline to repay ¥93.5 billion in debt by April, may gain financial support for the second time in three years as the government seeks to keep the company alive amid a slump in the chip market.
Japan Times
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 25, 2012

Darvish could be in for rude awakening with Rangers

The worst way to start a new relationship of any kind is with a lie.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2012

Does austerity promote economic growth?

In his classic "Fable of the Bees: or, Private Vices," Publick Benefits (1724), Bernard Mandeville, the Dutch-born British philosopher and satirist, described — in verse — a prosperous society (of bees) that suddenly chose to make a virtue of austerity, dropping all excess expenditure and extravagant...
COMMENTARY
Jan 25, 2012

A snapshot of freedom of expression in America

Shawn Nee, 35, works in television but hopes to publish a book of photographs. Shane Quentin, 31, repairs bicycles but enjoys photographing industrial scenes at night. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department probably wishes both would find other hobbies. Herewith a story of today's inevitable friction...
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2012

Genba wants China in loop with U.S., firm on Takeshima

Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba said Tuesday he strongly hopes to establish a Japan-U.S.-China framework to deal with Asia-Pacific issues.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 24, 2012

American claims Tokyo cop assaulted son, 8

Elementary school student Jian Macdonald had always thought policemen were cool — especially ones that rode fast motorcycles.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Jan 24, 2012

Japanese must tap their 'inner Israeli': readers' responses

Some readers' thoughts on the Jan. 3 Zeit Gist column by Glenn Newman, headlined "Japanese must tap their 'inner Israeli' ":
COMMENTARY
Jan 23, 2012

Europe's potion is now its poison with China inheriting the benefits

Today's lecture is on the sorry state of that dismal science called economics.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2012

Spring erosion of Seoul's ruling party forecast

The ascension to power of the pudgy 29-year-old Kim Jong Un in North Korea has grabbed headlines around the world, but the most important story involving Korean young people and politics is taking place in the South.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 22, 2012

Can showbiz really sever yakuza ties?

Last August, comedian and TV emcee Shinsuke Shimada retired from show business following allegations that he'd been palling around with an underworld figure. His withdrawal came on the eve of the implementation of a well-publicized police crackdown on organizations that work with antisocial elements,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 22, 2012

Turning to Okinawa and its rituals in search of a happier new year

Without a shred of a doubt, 2011 stands out to me — in a way that hopefully will never be surpassed — as the most catastrophic I have ever known.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 22, 2012

Changing self and systems for a leaner and greener Japan

Year in, year out, it never ceases to amaze me what a difference a day makes.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2012

Japan urged to both engage with, hedge on China

Japan will have to carry out a delicate balancing act to develop healthy relations with China, and this will involve both collaborating with the emerging superpower and maintaining strong bilateral ties the United States, a group of professors and former diplomats said Friday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 20, 2012

'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark'

What a bummer. Last week it was Katie Holmes in "Jack and Jill" — this week it's Mrs. Cruise again, in "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark." The former is a comedy and the latter a remake of a horror film (actually a TV movie) from 1973. But whatever the emotional situation or physical location, Holmes remains...
Reader Mail
Jan 19, 2012

Unfair criticisms of education

Some recent comments criticizing Japan's education system are devoid of reality. It's true that more Japanese students used to go abroad when the country's university system was not developed, just as China sends thousands of students abroad today because its university system is not yet fully developed....
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jan 19, 2012

Strikers looking to blaze new goal trail in European leagues

Ryoichi Maeda will be disappointed that his proposed move to West Ham United broke down last weekend, but the growing overseas interest in Japanese strikers is nevertheless an encouraging sign for the national team.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2012

Understanding Tehran's behavior

The perennial conflict between Iran and the West has entered a dangerous new phase, with tensions rising in the Persian Gulf since Iran has threatened retaliation for last week's assassination of a chemical engineer linked to the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. What accounts for Iran's behavior?...

Longform

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