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Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2012

Energizing the new 'wasteland'

Regarding the March 6 article "Tsuruga nuke plant sits atop major fault": Japan has a chance to really shine again. Give up nuclear power and show the world that it is possible to generate power to run a country from alternative sources such as solar and wind.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 11, 2012

Japan's disasters must prompt a radical rethink of citizens' quality of life

It's a long time now since my first visit to Uluru, the stupendous sandstone formation in Australia's Red Center that European settlers called Ayers Rock, but which has now officially reverted to the name by which it was always known to the Pitjantjatjara Aboriginal people. I had never before seen any...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 11, 2012

Public wary of official optimism

Ambition can sometimes be measured by the amount of deference paid to the established order, so the recently published book "Genpatsu Kiki to Todai Waho," which irreverently analyzes the "parlance of the University of Tokyo" as it was utilized during the early days of the nuclear crisis in Fukushima,...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 11, 2012

Magic special; traveling chefs; CM of the week: Suntory Premium Malt's

The inter-season TV season is getting longer and longer, with more two- and three-hour specials to tide viewers over until the next batch of hastily assembled drama series start. Presenting something that gets people's attention becomes a challenge.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 11, 2012

Disaster had major impact on NPB

Here we are, exactly one year after the Great East Japan Earthquake struck at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011. Japanese baseball has been greatly affected by the quake, the tsunami triggered by it and the subsequent radiation threats from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 11, 2012

Fear of conforming effects a perspective on sex

TOWARD DUSK AND OTHER STORIES, by Yoshiyuki Junnosuke, translated by Andrew Clare, introduction by James Dorsey. Kurodahan Press, 2011, 219 pp., ¥1600 (paperback). When the house in which Junnosuke Yoshiyuki grew up burned down, Lawrence Rogers tells us, "he fled the flames with only his Debussy records...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 11, 2012

Obesity on the rise as Japanese eat more Western-style food

When Japanese people are ordering food, how many times do you hear them asking for "oomori" (large size)? It's the equivalent of asking for "supersize" in a U.S. fast-food joint.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2012

U.S. jury tells MHI to pay $170 million to GE in wind-turbine patent dispute

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. must pay about $170 million to General Electric Co. after a jury in the U.S. found the company infringed a wind-turbine patent.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2012

Currency reserve gains to repay debt

The government plans to use money earned from investing the nation's currency reserves to repay short-term debt tied to foreign exchange operations, according to a bill OK'd Friday by the Cabinet.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2012

Cuts to wasteful public works now said blocking rebound

After years of criticism for public works spending that rewarded political constituents at the cost of adding debt, the government succeeded in cutting the largesse in half. Now, that legacy of success is hampering an economic rebound.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 9, 2012

Ridley Scott wants your home movies for crowd-sourced 3/11 tribute doc

Where will you be on March 11?
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2012

AIJ client to pursue compensation

Human Holdings Co., the school and health care company that has plunged 10 percent since disclosing it was a client of suspended AIJ Investment Advisors Co., pledged to seek compensation for losses from the asset manager.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 9, 2012

'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows'

If Arthur Conan Doyle were around today, would he have a blog? I'm willing to bet yes, and that it would boast record-breaking numbers of visits, especially from the gay community. The world of Sherlock Holmes feeds on repressed sexuality and elegant homosexual aesthetics — imagine what a good Web...
Reader Mail
Mar 8, 2012

Farcical decontamination efforts

Alex Trouchet's March 1 letter "Send debris to forbidden zone," makes an excellent point. Of course, they should! For anyone reading this, the radioactive contamination of eastern Fukushima is essentially forever.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 8, 2012

Are we pointing at the right guy?

Last August, much consternation was caused when an apparent rogue worker at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant appeared on a live-to-air webcam and pointed an accusatory finger directly at the camera. After about 20 minutes, the man, who was clad in a full-body radiation suit that masked his identity,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 8, 2012

Are we pointing at the right guy?

Last August, much consternation was caused when an apparent rogue worker at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant appeared on a live-to-air webcam and pointed an accusatory finger directly at the camera. After about 20 minutes, the man, who was clad in a full-body radiation suit that masked his identity,...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2012

Revenge of the Japanese mandarins

Ever since the huge earthquake that hit Japan's Tohoku-Pacific coast on March 11, 2011, the country's mass media have obsessively focused on the magnitude of the physical damage and the loss of life. Repeated broadcasts of traumatic video images of the great tsunami and the damaged reactors at the Fukushima...
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 8, 2012

Jorginho returns to ease Antlers toward new beginning

Kashima Antlers head into the new J. League campaign at something of a crossroads after a disappointing sixth-place finish last season, but incoming manager Jorginho sees no need to start a revolution.
COMMENTARY
Mar 8, 2012

Resources fuel tensions in South China Sea

For much of 2010 and 2011, tensions over conflicting claims to disputed islands, maritime territory and energy resources rippled through the South China Sea, embroiling several Southeast Asian states and China in disputes that also involved the interests of outside powers, including Japan and the United...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 8, 2012

"The Growth and Behavior of Dinosaurs"

Highlighting the academic achievement of Dr. John R. Horner, the prestigious paleontologist who served as a technical adviser for the "Jurassic Park" films, dinosaur fans will be mesmerized by the exclusive fossils on show at the Osaka Museum of National History. These include the world's largest Tyrannosaurus...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 8, 2012

"The Growth and Behavior of Dinosaurs"

Highlighting the academic achievement of Dr. John R. Horner, the prestigious paleontologist who served as a technical adviser for the "Jurassic Park" films, dinosaur fans will be mesmerized by the exclusive fossils on show at the Osaka Museum of National History. These include the world's largest Tyrannosaurus...
COMMENTARY
Mar 8, 2012

Rethinking the welfare state

A Japanese father, mother and grownup son were recently reported in the British press to have starved to death rather than face the shame of applying for public relief. Self-reliance and the work ethic are important for economic prosperity and social cohesion, but it should not be shameful to seek outside...
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.

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