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Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Reality of scarcity problem

What do the article by Rowan Hooper ("Like Astro Boy, humans may be able to live with radiation") and the letter by Rohan Donald ("Thorium reactors for the future") in the Oct. 9 issue have in common? The answer is that they both look to a purely technical solution to Japan's current predicament of how...
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Free flights a travel turnoff?

In regard to the Oct. 11 article "Tourism blitz: 10,000 to get free flights to Japan," what an incredible offer. And yet I think that it is the wrong approach. If anything, world travelers might assume that things are so bad in Japan that the government is giving away free airline tickets. This isn't...
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Time to rebuild from Tepco failure

"If somebody tells us to stop using the cost-plus pricing formula, we would say, 'We are not in a philanthropic business,'" said a power-industry person in the Oct. 10 article "Tepco guarding its ground."
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Nuclear debate clouded by quake

The triple tragedy of last March in Tohoku is no small matter. However, I have become increasingly vexed by statements found in the pages of The Japan Times and other leading newspapers that casually conclude the tragedy demonstrates the "danger" of nuclear power.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 16, 2011

Average Joe could be collateral damage in war against yakuza

The war against the yakuza was raised a notch higher at the start of the month, but not everyone is happy about it.
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Eulogies for Jobs misplaced

I was a big fan of Steve Jobs. He inspired many people, including me, and all the effusive praise is well justified. But aren't we going a bit too far in describing him, as an Oct. 8 article does, as "The man who dented the universe"?
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 16, 2011

Unseen fight to save Tokyo from floods

At 2 a.m. on Sept. 21, Typhoon Roke, the 15th and biggest tropical storm yet to assault Japan this year, was over the Pacific 200 km south of Shikoku making its way slowly and ominously westward toward the main island of Honshu.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 16, 2011

In search of the Holy Grail of mushrooms

The ancients were none too complimentary about their fungi. "Few of them are good, and most produce a choking sensation," wrote Marcus Athenaeus of Naucratis 1,800 years ago in "Deipnosophistae" ("Philosophers at Dinner").
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Setting Futenma's record straight

Yoshio Shimoji makes a patently false claim in his Oct. 6 letter "Close the air station ... tomorrow" that "Futenma was constructed while area residents were herded into concentration camps during and after the Battle of Okinawa."
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 16, 2011

No celebration for Chunichi

Chunichi Dragons fans turned out in droves for a chance to see their team clinch a league title.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 16, 2011

Being amateurish is what makes SMAP such pros

NHK's "The Professional" profiles, through interviews and situational coverage, people who are notable for their dedication to some craft or business vision. The series grew out of "Project X," the very popular documentary series about Japan's industrial breakthroughs of the past, and is meant to spotlight...
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Oct 16, 2011

Men marrying later, the new Diet building opens, grenade causes plane scare

100 YEARS AGOThursday, Oct. 26, 1911
CULTURE / Books
Oct 16, 2011

Laid-back celebration of the empty and ordinary

PLAINSONG, by Kazushi Hosaka, translated by Paul Warham, Dalkey Archive Press, 2011, 176 pp., $18 (paper) After being dumped by his girlfriend and moving to a new apartment, the anonymous anti-hero of this plaintive novel finds himself drawn to the life of a recluse, shunning drinking friends, and spending...
SOCCER / J. League
Oct 16, 2011

Struggling Urawa falls into relegation zone

J. League heavyweights Urawa Reds slipped into the relegation places with five matches remaining after a 1-0 derby-day defeat to Omiya Ardija on Saturday.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 16, 2011

The rich are getting out while the getting is good

Japan's wealthy folks are taking their money, and their bodies, to safer havens.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 15, 2011

Liverpool-Man United always a big one

It is the bitterest rivalry in the Premier League on and off the pitch. Liverpool vs. Manchester United is not just about football, it is a battle between two cities 50 km apart who, historically, have competed for the bragging rights in northwest England.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 15, 2011

The joy of taiko and cultural exchange

The booming noise coming up from the basement of the British School in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, is a more visceral version of the magic flute: It's just impossible to resist its charm. You follow the deep, thumping beat down a flight of stairs and find a shouting, whooping little devil leading a group of...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 15, 2011

When favors throw you into a vicious circle

The Japanese countryside is a place where the people are so nice, it's well, ridiculous. Actions that wouldn't even register in my mind as "thankable" are commonly thanked for here.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 14, 2011

Where have all the gyaru gone?

When model Nozomi Sasaki stepped out onto the catwalk at last month's Tokyo Girls Collection (TGC) fashion event, a wave of sighs rippled through the 30,000 mostly young girls in attendance. Sasaki is one of the most popular models in Japan right now, and her presence was essential at this year's fest,...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 14, 2011

Print show profits to help quake victims

Art fans have the chance to enjoy one of Japan's longest running exhibitions and help out the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake at the same time this weekend, when the College Women's Association of Japan hosts its annual print show at the Tokyo American Club.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 14, 2011

Escape game comes straight off the screen and into reality

Imagine yourself trapped up in a room trying to find a way out. It's a situation that surely would thrill you when you watch it on the big screen, but what if you could have the experience in real life?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 14, 2011

Sony recalls 1.6 million Bravia TVs worldwide

Sony Corp. says it will recall 1.6 million Bravia flat-panel TVs sold worldwide since 2007 because a faulty component may cause them to melt or catch fire.
EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2011

Sun Yat-sen's lasting legacy

A military uprising on Oct. 10, 1911, in Wuchang, China, marked the start of the Xinhai Revolution. On Monday, both the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing and the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) in Taipei celebrated the 100th anniversary of the revolution, regarding themselves as the legitimate inheritor...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 13, 2011

The Human League know you still want them

Emerging out of the late-1970s new-wave scene in the English industrial town of Sheffield alongside fellow electronic and synthpop luminaries such as ABC, Cabaret Voltaire and Heaven 17, The Human League was one of the bands that defined the sound of the '80s, with their distinctive plastic-glamour fashion...
BUSINESS
Oct 13, 2011

Kirin wins right to take over Brazil brewer

Kirin Holdings Co. won a Brazilian court ruling allowing it to proceed with its takeover of Schincariol Participacoes & Representacoes.
BUSINESS
Oct 13, 2011

Rise in machinery orders bodes well for recovery

Machinery orders rebounded in August on demand for electrical products, signaling that companies are willing to invest even as global economic growth slows and the yen stays near post-World War II highs.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 12, 2011

Politicians hope you don't notice when their pay goes back to normal

The special pay cut for national lawmakers expires this month.

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