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Reader Mail
Oct 21, 2012

Open up U.S. political system

Regarding Jennifer Rubin's Oct. 11 Washington Post opinion article, "The curtain falls on the U.S. left's forced exuberance," Rubin takes U.S. President Barack Obama's lackluster performance in the first presidential debate and runs with it; taking a mile where she was given an inch. The biggest problem...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 21, 2012

Watching the wealthy, a popular spectator sport

Twenty-five years ago, in what was to became known as the bubble economy, many Japanese suddenly found themselves awash in money.
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2012

New North korea approach needed

A decade has passed since five Japanese abducted by North Korean agents were returned to Japan on Oct. 15, 2002. That event took place a month after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il held a summit that culminated in the signing of the Pyongyang Declaration in which...
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2012

Misuse of reconstruction funds

It has surfaced that a special account budget to fund the reconstruction of communities devastated by the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters has been used to pay for unrelated projects. As to be expected, the shortage of funds due to budget mismanagement has angered affected residents. The...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 19, 2012

'The Conspirator'

When it comes to American presidents, Abraham Lincoln stands atop a lofty pedestal all by himself — beyond reproach and certainly beyond scandal. It's hard to conjure a mental picture other than that of the marble Lincoln Memorial statue, seated in Washington, D.C., as the words of the Gettysburg Address...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 19, 2012

Understand Japanese cinema

The Tokyo International Film Festival, which runs Oct. 20-28 at Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills and other venues around the capital and the Tohoku region, is a great opportunity to see new Japanese films — with a couple caveats.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 19, 2012

Ginza Okuda: Kaiseki master invites you to his second home

Autumn is the golden season. Fruit and hearty root vegetables; mushrooms, nuts and new-season rice; plentiful fish and seafood, too: This abundance is the palette from which Japan's top kaiseki chefs draw in creating their intricate, elegant multicourse meals. Few are as accomplished at the art as Toru...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 18, 2012

From the low key comes high art

The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum is deceptive in more ways than one. Not only is it a lot younger than it looks — it was built in 2009 as a recreation of a Meiji Era building — but the interior doesn't quite match the exterior. The latter looks somewhat grand and even slightly palatial, but once inside...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 17, 2012

Clarifying the economic damage of the Senkakus row

Japan's overseas tourist industry can just write off all of 2012 thanks to the two territorial disputes.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 16, 2012

Shale oil vein raises energy, tech hopes

For the first time ever this month, shale oil was extracted from a Japanese oil field.
Reader Mail
Oct 14, 2012

Remembrance is 'compensation'

This week, seven former American POWs of the Japanese will travel to Japan and revisit former campsites where they were held during World War II. Some of them will also visit the companies for whom they were forced to work. Although their memories of Japan from 68 years ago are still painful, they know...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 14, 2012

Korean film on school bullying rings true in Japan

Last month, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released statistics for 2009 in which Japan ranked 31 out of 31 developed countries in terms of the portion of GDP spent by the public sector on education. It was the third straight year that Japan placed last.
EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2012

Japanese car sales down in China

Since the dispute over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea (which are known as the Diaoyu Islands in China), Japanese car sales have plummeted in China. Earlier this month, Toyota announced its Chinese sales have dropped by nearly half from the same month a year ago. Honda, Nissan and Mazda all...
Reader Mail
Oct 14, 2012

Some dementia causes reversible

Regarding the Oct. 6 editorial, "Future of senile dementia," Japan's health authorities need to raise public understanding that dementia, a clinical syndrome of acquired intellectual impairment, could be caused by both reversible and irreversible conditions. Attention to the presence of completely curable...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 14, 2012

Intern baptism by fire; "Doctor X: Surgeon"; CM of the week: Aeon Topvalu

Hospital dramas never seem to go out of style. Two new series centered on female physicians premiere this week — and in fact, they premiere on the same night, at the same time.
BUSINESS
Oct 13, 2012

Lagarde warns of 'wartime level' debt

Cutting public debt while encouraging economic growth will be vital in stabilizing the global economy, which is showing a slower than expected recovery, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / IMF-WORLD BANK IN TOKYO
Oct 12, 2012

Exploring, rediscovering fine arts

While much has changed since Japan last hosted the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group in 1964 — a year that symbolized the nation's achievement of reconstruction after World War II through the hosting of the meeting and the Summer Olympics — art has always reflected,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / IMF-WORLD BANK IN TOKYO
Oct 12, 2012

A pair in dire need of a reality check

Japan is hosting an annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for the first time since 1964. A lot has happened in the intervening very nearly half a century — to both Japan and the IMF. Yet both Japan and the IMF do not quite seem to realize just how much has happened to...
JAPAN / IMF-WORLD BANK IN TOKYO
Oct 12, 2012

Sovereign debt, strong yen among tough topics at meetings

When Japan last hosted the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in September 1964, Tokyo was in the midst of preparing for the Summer Olympic Games which were to kick off a month later.
JAPAN / IMF-WORLD BANK IN TOKYO
Oct 12, 2012

National budgets must take climate into account

It's the extreme weather season in Asia again. Deadly cyclones, blinding rains, ensuing floods and mudslides are becoming the norm from Nepal to Fiji. During this same time, the world's finance ministers are preparing for their IMF-World Bank meetings in Tokyo. While their discussions are unlikely to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2012

'Tyrannosaur'

In a working-class part of the city of Leeds in northern England, a man in the grip of an alcoholic rage beats a dog to death. This is just one of many harrowing moments in "Tyrannosaur."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2012

Ahead of TIFF appearance, Corman critical of films 'made for festivals'

The high-minded fare of the film festival circuit and the cheap thrills of B-movie pulp couldn't seem farther apart, but the circuit will be closed when king of the B-movies Roger Corman heads the competition jury at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2012

'The Expendables 2'

The "Expendables" franchise certainly deserves some credit for truth in advertising, although I suppose "The Disposables" or "The Predictables" might have been even more on the mark: This is the sort of generic action movie you're already forgetting as the lights come up.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Oct 12, 2012

Sake-making mission, part two: the harvest

The instrument I was given to harvest sake rice was a small sickle, about 20 cm in length, with a thin, curved blade and a serrated edge. It was, essentially, the agricultural equivalent of a pair of children's scissors: If used improperly, you could nick yourself badly but were unlikely to do great...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 12, 2012

Hunting for Tokyo's real bagel heads

By now, everyone has likely heard of — and been baffled by — the recent "bagel head" phenomenon. Last month, a video clip that showed three people in Tokyo undergoing a beauty treatment that involved saline injections into their foreheads went viral on the Internet. The clip, taken from the program...
EDITORIALS
Oct 12, 2012

Mr. Chavez wins again

It was supposed to be a close vote; some even believed that an upset was in the works. But when the dust settled, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had won another election. This time, however, his margin of victory was considerably reduced, from 25 percentage points six years ago to about 10 percentage...
BUSINESS
Oct 12, 2012

IPhone continues to rock Japanese cellphone market

Since arriving in Japan in 2008, Apple Inc.'s iPhone series has won the love of many Japanese cellphone users long accustomed to phones heavily customized for the domestic market.
Reader Mail
Oct 11, 2012

Getting to know a copywriter

Regarding the Oct. 7 Timeout feature, "Shigesato Itoi shares lots of 'delicious life' ": What a great interview with this acclaimed copywriter! Itoi is very well known in the United States as the creator of the Nintendo game "Mother 2," better known as "Earthbound." It was interesting to read about all...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji