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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 31, 2009

Going to the country for a bit of Fuji Rock

Whether or not you believe Kiyoshiro Imawano, who died in May, was Japan's King of Rock, he was the Mayor of Fuji Rock, having appeared almost every year until he was diagnosed with cancer in 2006.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2009

The new face of home caregivers

Kazuo Yamazaki was in the prime of his career as an engineer at a Japanese music company doing business across borders. His decades-long profession came to an abrupt end six years ago, however, when at age 55 he became his mother's primary caregiver.
Reader Mail
Jul 30, 2009

Good, bad, ugly of Japan's war

Regarding Edan Corkill's July 26 article, "China vets shock activist with 'horrible things they did' ": Born in 1950 in Osaka, I did not get any education in high school or at university about what happened exactly during World War II. I have read a lot since my graduation, but I would like to learn...
Reader Mail
Jul 30, 2009

Historic nonproliferation blunder

Harsh V. Pant's July 25 article, "Obama jeopardizing nuclear deal with India," is another example of the utter hypocrisy of the proponents of Indian exceptionalism in nuclear matters.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2009

Uighur activist calls on Japan to probe riot

Japan must not turn a blind eye to China's suppression of ethnic minorities and should take the on responsibility of assisting them, the president of the World Uighur Congress said Wednesday.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jul 30, 2009

Homegrown hit-men giving Okada plenty of ammunition

Japan's eternal weakness in producing strikers has long been reflected in the J. League top-scorer charts, but a strong homegrown challenge this season is proving to be a timely exception with the countdown to the World Cup under way.
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2009

Retail sales down for 10th month

Retail sales fell for the 10th consecutive month in June as the deteriorating job market led consumers to cut spending.
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2009

Wal-Mart prices U.S. samurai bonds

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. priced the first samurai bonds from a U.S. borrower since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. defaulted on its yen debt in September, roiling Japanese investors.
JAPAN / PARTY POWERS
Jul 29, 2009

New Komeito chief slams DPJ policies, rules out alliance

Citing the Democratic Party of Japan's "unreliable" policies, New Komeito chief Akihiro Ota says joining hands with the DPJ is unlikely even if the largest opposition force wins the Aug. 30 election.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2009
Jul 29, 2009

Politicians tap Twitter to tweak profiles

At 6:44 p.m. on July 15, Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Seiji Osaka posed a question on his Twitter profile: "I think bringing the voting age down to 18 years old is OK. What do you think about it?"
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2009

Foreign reserves to stay in dollars: DPJ's Okada

The Democratic Party of Japan has no plans to diversify the country's foreign reserves away from the dollar if it wins next month's election, DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada said.
COMMENTARY
Jul 28, 2009

Challenge of a straight question

LONDON — Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, recently was asked twice by the Defense Committee of the House of Commons whether the army chief of staff had requested that reinforcements of 2,000 men be sent to Afghanistan, where British forces have recently suffered a string of casualties. Brown...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 28, 2009

Japan's funerals deep-rooted mix of ritual, form

Funerals in Japan incorporate a unique mixture of religion, tradition, culture, ritual and geography that to the outsider may appear perplexing.
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2009

Nippon Yusen, K-Line foresee losses

Nippon Yusen K.K. and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd., Japan's largest and third-largest shipping lines, forecast full-year losses Monday as the recession slashes U.S. and European demand for container freight.
EDITORIALS
Jul 27, 2009

F-22 gives up ground

The U.S. Senate voted July 21 to hold the line on procurement of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet. The vote was a victory for U.S. President Barack Obama, his secretary of Defense, Mr. Robert Gates, and defense budgeting sanity. The move effectively forecloses the prospect of Japan's purchasing the troublesome...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 27, 2009

Dollar beauty may be fading but it still tops currency pageant list

The Group of Eight countries and the outreach participants in the July 8-10 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, discussed promotion of an international currency system that is stable and functions well. But it remains an elusive goal to find concrete ways of reforming the system.
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2009

Threats against Iran feed off modern myths

NEW YORK — Several myths regarding Iran stand in the way of the United States and other nations reaching a peaceful relationship with that country. Much of the concern that Iran may attack Israel, if Iran successfully develops nuclear weapons, rests on the statement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...
Reader Mail
Jul 26, 2009

Education hurdles will cost Japan

In his July 19 letter, "Costly drag on education," Nagasaki University professor Dipak Basu's observation that Japan can "afford to follow the European countries and abolish tuition fees altogether in higher education" is a fine suggestion.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jul 26, 2009

Blunderbuss followup to the invasion of Iraq

NEW YORK — The New York Times editorial on June 30, "The First Deadline," showed America's egocentrism at its worst. Dealing entirely with a single subject — the withdrawal of American combat troops from Iraqi cities, with 130,000 soldiers still remaining in the country — the lengthy commentary...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 26, 2009

Words of War

In among the familiar roll call of memorial services, television specials, peace ceremonies and other events in Japan planned to coincide with next month's 64th anniversary of the end of World War II, one stands out for its unlikely involvement of youth.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 26, 2009

China vets shock archivist with 'horrible things they did'

In 1999, Sinitirou Kumagai dropped out of university, got on his motorbike and set out to begin what he now calls his "life work" — traveling from one end of Japan to the other to record the testimonies of former soldiers stationed in China between the 1930s and the end of World War II in 1945.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 26, 2009

Bridge of sorrows

When Naoko Jin tells former Japanese soldiers that the Filipinos they fought against during World War II are ready to forgive them, they simply don't believe her.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 25, 2009

Welcome to the caldron

"Atsui desu, ne?" (It's hot, isn't it?) This is the universal summer greeting in Japan. You can be in a crowd of complete strangers when someone will sidle up to you and, as an "ice-breaker," say, "It's hot today, isn't it?" And you agree with, "So desu ne." (Yes, it is).

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes