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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.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 3, 2012

Is Japan's enrollment season really a problem?

The University of Tokyo -or Todai as it is locally called — is considering changing its enrollment from spring to autumn to be more in sync with universities around the world, 70 percent of which are said to have enrollments in the fall.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2012

Sure winner fails to inspire

Before the scandalous presidential election of 1996, the situation was clear-cut and critical. A victory by Gennady Zyuganov over Boris Yeltsin would have meant an old-style Communists' revenge for their defeat in the August 1991 putsch as well as a strong drive toward renationalization of the economy...
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2012

January Iran oil imports fall 23%

Japan's crude imports from Iran in January fell 23 percent from a year ago to 1.67 million kiloliters, or 338,900 barrels a day, according to data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 2, 2012

Iri: Hidden pan-European eatery is one of a kind

Neighborhood restaurants are different from those where the lights are brighter and overheads (and expectations) higher. Almost by definition they're more casual and down-home, rougher around the edges, simpler and less stylish. Iri doesn't fit that pattern at all.
Reader Mail
Mar 1, 2012

Scale of deception beyond belief

My personal mantra is "expect the worst," but not even that bleak perspective could have prepared me for the dark facts revealed in the Feb. 27 article "Tsunami alert softened days before 3/11." The scale of virtual deception portrayed in the story is beyond anything I ever would have expected.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 1, 2012

Toquiwa gets a great gift from The Wedding Present

There's no doubt that the best way for an independent band to tour in another country is by opening for one that people have actually heard of. So when spunky all-girl Tokyo four-piece Toquiwa befriended 1990s indie-rock heroes The Wedding Present, its members jumped at the chance to support the British...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2012

Instinct and appetite will guide Putin's next term

Few people, least of all Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — who plans to return to Russia's presidency on March 4 — could have imagined last December that Russians would, for the first time in 20 years, wake up and rally in their tens of thousands against the government. Unlike the Arab Spring rebellions,...
COMMENTARY
Mar 1, 2012

Labor showdown in Canberra

It was a battle of the opposites. On one side we had ex-Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, 54, a former diplomat with baby-face looks, devoted wife and family, carefully cultivated religious persona and impeccable CV. Opposed was current Prime Minister Julia Gillard, 51, ex-lawyer, atheist with a...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 1, 2012

"Taira no Kiyomori"

This exhibition celebrates the 50th year since the start of NHK's "Taiga Dorama," a popular historical drama series. This year's program centers on Taira no Kiyomori, the first samurai warrior to become Daisho Daijin — head of the era's Daisho Kan (Department of State) — and gain governmental power...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 1, 2012

"Taira no Kiyomori"

This exhibition celebrates the 50th year since the start of NHK's "Taiga Dorama," a popular historical drama series. This year's program centers on Taira no Kiyomori, the first samurai warrior to become Daisho Daijin — head of the era's Daisho Kan (Department of State) — and gain governmental power...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Feb 28, 2012

Educator, writer, farmer Gregory Clark

Gregory Clark, 75, is the Honorary President of Tama University and Trustee of Akita International University in Japan. A prolific writer, with a background in economics and international politics, his opinionated investigative pieces often spark intensive debates. His 1978 book "The Japanese Tribe:...

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