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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 29, 2011

Euro crisis significantly worse: top French banker

Bank of France Gov. Christian Noyer said the European crisis has worsened "significantly," as deepening investor concern over the region worsens market volatility.
COMMENTARY
Nov 28, 2011

How to ramrod an American congressman

A widespread perception that members of the U.S. Congress respond increasingly to special interests has received additional support from a person who knows something about it.
EDITORIALS
Nov 28, 2011

More CEOs find Japan important

More CEOs are finding Japan a place for revenue growth, according to a recent New York Stock Exchange report. Of the 371 CEOs polled for the report, 27 percent said Japan was crucial or important for their companies' future growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2011

Australia's change of tack on uranium exports will help to refashion Asia-Pacific strategy

The decision by the Australian government to revoke its ban on uranium exports to India has underlined the rapidly changing strategic reality in the Asian strategic landscape.
BUSINESS
Nov 28, 2011

Toyota puts pedal to metal with 86 coupe

Toyota Motor Corp. introduced its new 86 coupe Saturday, betting that the 200-horsepower sports car will widen the automaker's appeal beyond its best- selling Camry sedan and Prius hybrid.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 27, 2011

Publishers' ties to distribution a barrier for e-books

On Nov. 13, publisher Takarajima took out newspaper advertisements for its magazine-like book "Denshi Shoseki no Shotai" ("The Real Shape of e-Books"), describing it as a polemic "against electronic books." It includes input from Naoki Award winning novelist Miyuki Miyabe, who explains why she isn't...
LIFE
Nov 27, 2011

For the class of 2011, humor's a tonic they're eager to share

The Japan Times quizzed three current NSC tudents about their motivations and dreams — and about their thoughts on how the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11 will influence the future of the Class of 2011.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 27, 2011

Blazing trails in Chiyoda's gardens

With November drawing to a close, I head to the East Garden of the Imperial Palace and the adjacent Kitanomaru Koen park, hoping for fall colors and a mental breather before the season goes nutcrackers with parties and shopping.
Reader Mail
Nov 27, 2011

Sustainability is more than math

Feedback is always welcome to most writers, even the constructively critical type, but Jennifer Kim's Nov. 10 response, "Myth of an overpopulated world", to my Nov. 6 letter ("The challenge of population growth") leaves much to be desired.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 27, 2011

Jewishness infuses the works of Ben Shahn — even his Japanese ones

What does it mean to be a Jewish artist or writer? Is one obliged to assert one's Jewishness — ethnically, religiously, culturally — in order to be seen as such? Or are all Jewish creators by definition "Jewish" creators, even those who create little with what can be considered "Jewish content"?...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 26, 2011

Yairi using tsunami pine for guitars

Yairi Guitar, the famed guitar maker in Kani, Gifu Prefecture, is using pine trees knocked down by the March 11 tsunami to fashion instruments in hopes of engraving the disaster on people's memory through music.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 26, 2011

Keeping abreast of the bra trends in Japan

Oh fun, time for an annual breast examination. Not that there is any pain involved with the examination. It's finding time to go to the hospital that's tough.
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2011

Japan eyes wheat binge as glut undercuts corn price

Japan, the world's largest corn buyer, may buy less of the grain as feed-wheat imports almost quadruple this year to the highest level since 2001, as livestock producers seek to cut costs.
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2011

Consumer prices fall for first time since June

Consumer prices fell for the first time since June, casting doubt on the central bank's forecasts for the world's third-biggest economy to emerge from more than a decade of deflation.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 25, 2011

Self-Defense Forces to put on air show in Gifu

Japan's Air Self-Defence Forces are inviting crowds to Gifu for a Sunday stroll to peek inside jet engines and admire their aircraft as they take to the skies for formation flybys and acrobatic displays — earplugs are not included.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 25, 2011

Friendly Fires to indulge pop pleasures on tour

Friendly Fires are happy to finally be back on home turf. It's no wonder, the year has been predominantly spent living out the tale of their song "Hawaiian Air," the highlight of second album "Pala" that typifies the trio's dance-pop vision while bemoaning the monotony of tour travel. Consequently, drummer...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 25, 2011

Balloons over Biwa make for beautiful pics

Sleep in and you'll miss it. Pilots are briefed at 6 a.m., and 30 minutes later, propane burners will blast and fabric will unfurl as hot-air-balloon teams soar above Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture this weekend.
Reader Mail
Nov 24, 2011

The myth of an aesthetic sense

Jevon Allen's Nov. 17 letter "Cleaning up after the natives" exposes at least two things about Japanese culture. First, the in-group/out-group thing, which might explain a lax attitude toward littering the beaches, the countryside, woods and mountains — places for which people feel responsibility in...
Reader Mail
Nov 24, 2011

Reports are walloping tourism

The Nov. 18 front-page article "Cesium fallout widespread" states that there has been continued testing of soil throughout Hokkaido since before and after the March 11 nuclear accidents at Fukushima, the results of which can be found at: http://monitoring-hokkaido.info/index.php?lang=en
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Nov 24, 2011

Dressed to impress Tokyo's art crowd

A life-size bucking brown horse, pieced together from old leather jackets. A loom operated by a Noah's Ark collection of polar bears, birds and other beasts. A fashion boutique till that scans barcodes to create a cacophony of musical sounds.
EDITORIALS
Nov 24, 2011

Aum crimes remain misted

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Tokyo High Court's death sentence to former Aum Shinrikyo member Seiichi Endo for his involvement in two indiscriminate sarin gas attacks carried out by the Aum cult — one in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, on June 27, 1994, and the other in five trains on three...
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Nov 24, 2011

The rivaling schools of classic Japanese art

From its original base in Kyoto to its later establishment in Edo, present-day Tokyo, the Kano school held a firm grip on the Japanese art world from the middle of the Muromachi Period (1392-1573) to the Meiji Era (1868-1912) — a grip aided by its close ties with powerful patrons such as the samurai...

Longform

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