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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 1, 2011

Kusama: Quite dotty, but very avant-garde

Yayoi Kusama's art fully emerged in a big way when she moved from Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, to New York in 1959. Despite the obstacles — she suffered from mental problems and was an unknown Japanese female artist in a milieu dominated by white male artists and critics — by the second half of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 1, 2011

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes cover Japan tunes

Punk cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are touring Japan to promote their new EP "Sing in Japanese" this month. Comprised of players from famed punk and rock acts NOFX, Lagwagon, Swingin' Utters, and Foo Fighters, they will play Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka before performing at Yokohama's sold-out...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 1, 2011

Sachiko Hara makes her mark in Germany

Tokyo-born Sachiko Hara, 46, was the apple of her ordinary, working-parents' eye. She was encouraged to get a degree in German studies from the prestigious Sophia University, and after that it seemed some sort of high-flying career was hers for the taking.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 31, 2011

Discount strategies: Every dog, and man, has his day

The service industry is finally targeting guys.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2011

Destroying five myths about earthquakes

Earthquakes rattle our psyches as well as our structures. We Californians can crack jokes about jumpy East Coast types, but the truth is, our blood pressure also rises precipitously when the Earth suddenly springs to life, without so much as a warning.
EDITORIALS
Aug 30, 2011

Mr. Biden goes to Asia

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden concluded a brief three-country tour of Asia that took him to China, Mongolia and Japan. While there is always some trepidation when Mr. Biden travels — while he is a genuine foreign policy expert, he has a tendency to make off-the-cuff remarks that get him in trouble...
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2011

Noda victorious in race for prime minister

Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda won the Democratic Party of Japan presidency Monday and will replace Naoto Kan as prime minister, becoming the ruling party's third leader since it swept to power in the historic 2009 general election.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2011

Mitsubishi unit to raise ¥15 billion for property loan fund

Diamond Realty Management Inc., a unit of Japan's biggest trading house, aims to raise as much as ¥15 billion for a fund that provides loans for property acquisitions and refinancing in the country.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Aug 30, 2011

Views from Kobe: Who is your favorite Japanese mascot?

David Mystify
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2011

Contracts for rare earths shifting to quarterly basis

Japanese rare earth buyers are switching to quarterly sales contracts and looking for alternative sources after China curbed shipments, increasing prices for the materials used in hybrid cars and missiles.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Aug 29, 2011

Global fiscal reactor meltdown contains a warning for Japan

Public finances are melting down in Europe, in America and of course Japan. The situation is going nuclear, left, right and center. It's not so much China Syndrome as it is Global Syndrome.
BUSINESS
Aug 29, 2011

ANA to receive first 787 Dreamliner in September

Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner will be delivered to All Nippon Airways on Sept. 25, three years behind schedule, after Friday's regulatory approvals of the world's first plastic-composite jet.
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2011

Don't export what you won't use

I don't understand the Japanese government's policy on nuclear power plants. On one hand, it has come out with a denuclearization policy domestically; on the other, it is planning to sell nuclear power plants to Turkey, Jordan, Vietnam, Lithuania, and Kazakhstan by 2020. This is a double standard.
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2011

China-baiting goes over the top

Regarding Michael Richardson's Aug. 24 article, "Taiwan arms deal serves as litmus test of U.S. resolve": Richardson's biased assumptions and pandering to paranoid anti-China elements borders on yellow journalism. He uses the straw man of a Chinese "red line" regarding U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan to...
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2011

Tragic adult behavior on river

Regarding the Aug. 19 Kyodo article "Trio still missing in boat sinking": I know this will probably conflict with the knee-jerk reaction that most people have to this tragedy (on the Tenryu River in Shizuoka Prefecture), but I do not lay blame on the tour company or the boat skippers. I believe it falls...
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2011

Where did Agent Orange stop?

Regarding Jon Mitchell's Aug. 24 article "Okinawa vet blames cancer on defoliant": The Japan Times journalists working on this very controversial story should be considered eligible for a Pulitzer Prize. I don't know of any newspaper in the United States that is reporting on this story. There are probably...
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2011

Japan trip looks good in Scotland

Regarding Takahiro Fukada's Aug. 23 article, "Restoring foreign tourism tall order": I am very sorry to hear that foreign tourism is so badly affected by recent events in Japan. From this side of the world, I only hear words of support for your country and an earnest desire to see Japan recover as quickly...
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2011

U.S. response will cause chaos

Regarding Barry Eichengreen's opinion article, "What can take the dollar's place?": The naivete of the American consumer and the greed of international corporations allowed the accumulation of dollars in Japan and China, which were used to further the economic needs of those outside the United States...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Aug 28, 2011

Building excitement in Shirokanedai

Exiting the Nanboku Line at Shirokanedai Station in west-central Tokyo, my sandaled feet immediately start to sizzle. So instead of walking to Meguro's Institute of Nature Study as planned, I bolt down the first shaded slope I find.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 28, 2011

Speculation swirling as MLB scouts swoop in to watch Darvish

Because of the late start of the 2011 Japan pro baseball season following the events of March 11, we still have almost two months remaining in the schedule. Final regular season games will be played as late as Oct. 16, and there will no doubt be make-up games added in the Central and Pacific Leagues...
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2011

Kan bows out, says he did best he could

Prime Minister Naoto Kan officially announced Friday he will resign after 15 turbulent months in office during which the nation experienced its greatest postwar disaster and one of the world's worst nuclear crises.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 27, 2011

Mask maker keeping Shimane tradition alive

Hanging on the walls of Jake Davies' home are around 20 artifacts that seem at odds with the idyllic village in Sakurae, Shimane Prefecture where his rustic abode is set.

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