Search - people

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Mar 29, 2012

A tale of two paths to indie success

Tokyo postpunk quartet Otori is an archetypal product of the city's underground live-music scene. The band's sets feature a machine-gun rattle of drums, slashes of guitar that explode in fierce climaxes, and bursts of scattershot vocals that teeter on the brink of hysteria — the kind of music that...
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2012

Cultist who hid Aum fugitive gets 14 months

The Tokyo District Court sentenced former Aum Shinrikyo member Akemi Saito to 14 months in prison Tuesday for harboring fugitive cultist Makoto Hirata for more than 14 years.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2012

Kansai politicians want new safety regime before Oi reactor restart

Politicians in the Kansai region are increasingly coming out against approving any early restart of two nuclear reactors in Fukui Prefecture unless the central government first issues new safety guidelines that would hopefully prevent another crisis like Fukushima No. 1.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2012

Tanaka ratchets up SDF missile shield standby

Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka on Tuesday ordered the Self-Defense Forces to prepare missile shield elements to intercept a rocket North Korea plans to launch next month.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2012

Cabinet firm: Friday OK for tax hike bill

The Cabinet will stick to its plan and approve a bill Friday to double the consumption tax to 10 percent despite fierce opposition from within the Democratic Party of Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Tuesday.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Mar 27, 2012

Old guard see despot in Hashimoto

Toru Hashimoto's push to fundamentally reform Japan picked up steam Saturday with the opening of Ishin Seiji Juku (Restoration Political Institute), as criticism grows in Tokyo that the outspoken Osaka mayor is leading not only a national revolt against established parties but also a mass movement reminiscent...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 27, 2012

Shonan: What do you think about the government's plan to create citizen ID numbers for tax and other purposes?

Yoshihara, 45
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2012

Visa overstayers rally to maintain privileges after immigration revision

Foreigners overstaying their visas took to the streets of Tokyo on Monday, calling for the Justice Ministry to grant them special residency permits before the new immigration law takes effect July 9.
COMMENTARY
Mar 26, 2012

Last stand of a 'salesman' readies France for old-fashioned Socialist

Faced with renewed allegations that Moammar Gadhafi had poured up to €50 million into his presidential campaign in 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy finally lost it.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / 2012 BASEBALL PREVIEW
Mar 26, 2012

Players still split about ball's effect on offense

It would be an understatement just to say there was a decline in offense in Japanese baseball last season.
COMMENTARY
Mar 26, 2012

Cyberspace: new face of war in the 21st century

For the past few years, there has been an explosion of ways in which countries can engage in destructive behavior. The use of cyberspace as a venue of battle has changed the nature of conventional warfare. This poses problems in terms of response to those threats as well as how to develop international...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 26, 2012

Costs of a policy of profligacy with foreign lives

In the early hours of March 11, Sunday, a U.S. soldier went on a rampage in a village in Panjway, southwest of Kandahar, Afghanistan. He went from one mud house to another, shot, stabbed, and burned 16 villagers. Or so it has been reported.
Reader Mail
Mar 25, 2012

Fallback on scaremongering

Regarding the March 20 Kyodo article "Diet told of interceptor response to N.K. launch": [Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka's statement that he may order the Self-Defense Forces to shoot down the North Korean rocket purportedly carrying a satellite next month if it passes over Japan] is completely irresponsible....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2012

Ginza stages denim fashion show

Denim-clad models strutted along Tokyo's glitzy Ginza district Saturday as its main street was turned into a catwalk to showcase Japan's fashion industry.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 25, 2012

Surprise trip to Sicily; Miracle Hospice; CM of the week: Boss coffee

Until his death last May, Kiyoshi Kodama was the host of the NHK travel show "Sekai Bikkuri Ryokosha" ("World Surprise Travel Agency"; NHK, Tues., 7:30 p.m.). Kodama was the "owner" of the titular travel firm who recommended "unique" overseas sightseeing plans from his studio perch.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 25, 2012

Mariners, A's begin preparations for opening series

The first day of the major league season is only a few days away, and the Seattle Mariners and Oakland A's arrived in Japan ready to get things started.
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 25, 2012

Tracing the trees in a long national love affair

When five shell-pink buds open together on a particular tree in the precincts of Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo, the city explodes with the joy of spring. The cherry-blossom season has officially begun!
Reader Mail
Mar 25, 2012

High road to a proper lunch

Regarding the March 20 Kyodo article "Cafeterias at government offices serve up buffet of corporate culture": When the Tokyo Metropolitan Government moved to Shinjuku from Marunouchi in 1991, a lot of public servants became "lunchtime refugees", meaning that there were not enough places in the Shinjuku...
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2012

Oi reactors pass stress test, safety panel says

The Nuclear Safety Commission approved on Friday the results of the first-stage stress test for two reactors at the Oi power plant in Fukui Prefecture, clearing another key condition for bringing them back online.

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