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CULTURE / Books
Aug 22, 2010

Indonesia intrigue, Tokyo high-tech high jinx

While such enduring bad guys as Nazis, KGB agents, Cosa Nostra gangsters, sinister Asiatics and the occasional vampire still receive top billing in U.S. popular fiction and cinema, the events of 9/11 have not surprisingly inspired a stream of works featuring villains of Middle Eastern and/or jihadist...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 22, 2010

Rakuten's English- only policy endures close media scrutiny

Learn to speak English, or else!
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 21, 2010

Man United's Scholes aging like a fine wine

LONDON — Sir Alex Ferguson has always placed his faith in youth during his 24 years as Manchester United manager.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 21, 2010

Voice of the times bridges cultures for seven decades

Most of us would probably be happy to have a handful of memories to reminisce over in our later years, episodes from our youth we could run past our friends while hoping their eyes don't glaze over. Ichiro Urushibara, a British citizen who has spent 69 years in Japan, has enough memories and amusing...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 21, 2010

It takes a lot of guts in Katakana Land

One struggle in learning Japanese is getting a grip on all the various loan words that have slipped into the vernacular from abroad.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 20, 2010

McDonald's sticks its Big Mac where it's not wanted

Taking a tip from the gyudon wars earlier this year, McDonald's drops its Big Mac price to a low u00a5200.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2010

Rwanda envoy pledges to work on improved business relations

Rwandan Ambassador Antoine Munyakazi-Juru, who took his post last October, says his main mission is improving business relations between his country and Japan.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 20, 2010

Drinking a brew or two for a charitable cause

As if the heat wasn't enough. Now there's another reason to chug down a beer on the beach this summer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 20, 2010

Pearl-diving sirens return

The castaway on a deserted tropical isle has inspired everything from "Robinson Crusoe" to innumerable New Yorker cartoons — but it was no joke to Kazuko Higa, the young wife of an assistant plantation overseer living on the small Pacific island of Anatahan in the closing days of World War II.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 20, 2010

Philip Selway

Over the years, rock-star side projects have not fared particularly well. More often than not they are a self-indulgent mess or an ill-advised ego-trip, having little worth to anyone other than devoted disciples. So what to make of the news that Philip Selway, the unassuming Radiohead drummer, is to...
EDITORIALS
Aug 19, 2010

Corporate social responsibility

On Aug. 4, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the second and third richest men in the world, announced that 40 American billionaires had followed their lead in pledging to give half of their fortunes to charity. They plan to turn their efforts next to China and India.
COMMENTARY
Aug 19, 2010

Another 'pearl' in Beijing's string of ports

A newly constructed harbor at Hambantota, near Sri Lanka's southern tip, began filling with water recently in readiness for the first ships in November. The port — which will have a water depth of 17 meters, making it one of the deepest in South Asia — has been carved out of coastal land in a joint...
COMMENTARY
Aug 18, 2010

Sometimes TV dramas can be good for you

TIRANA, Albania — A friend of mine, a prestigious physician who works the longest hours of anybody I know, makes only one exception from her demanding schedule in New York. Once a week, she returns home early to watch a new episode of her favorite television drama. I cannot think of a more unlikely...
EDITORIALS
Aug 18, 2010

High hopes for new sumo chief

The Japan Sumo Association, which has been rocked by gambling and other scandals suggesting the existence of ties with organized crime, elected stablemaster Hanaregoma, the former ozeki Kaiketsu, as its new chairman in an emergency board meeting late Aug. 12. It is hoped that under his leadership, the...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2010

Peace process vs. real peace

RAMALLAH — Direct talks between Palestinian and Israeli leaders are the most obvious way to achieve peace in the Middle East conflict. But history has shown time and again that a high-profile peace process alone is no recipe for success.
COMMENTARY
Aug 17, 2010

Saving Japan's universities

The consensus says Japanese university students are lazy and apathetic. Unfavorable comparisons are made with Chinese studying here. Yet those same students at their annual autumn festivals can show an enthusiasm, professionalism and attention to detail superior to anything at a Western university, or...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 17, 2010

Appeals to culture, tradition ignore the historical facts

In the upcoming Australian general election, there is one issue that the major parties unanimously agree on: opposition to Japanese whaling. Voters are overwhelmingly antagonistic to whaling and Australian politicians have demonstrated an increasing willingness to listen to public opinion.
COMMENTARY
Aug 16, 2010

Anti-global warming push also best for the economy

Until just recently the view prevailed that there was a tradeoff relationship between achieving respectable economic growth and reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, most of which consist of carbon dioxide. This led to a wide debate on how to achieve both goals.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2010

Cabinet skips visit to Yasukuni

In a rare move, Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his entire Cabinet opted not to visit Yasukuni Shrine on Sunday, the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II, avoiding a ritual that has become a constant source of friction with South Korea and China.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2010

Hibakusha filmed before time runs out

An American filmmaker recorded the images and voices of aging atomic-bomb survivors so they could pass down their memories to younger generations and make them think more about nuclear weapons.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 15, 2010

Enatsu's feats resonate years later

Nippon Professional Baseball recently released the results of an interesting survey of the greatest games and moments — regular season and postseason — in its history. Indeed, opinions will vary on which games should be on the list and how to rank those games in order of greatness.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’