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Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2012

Explaining things to Okinawans

I write in response to a Japanese newspaper's editorial view that the outcome of last Sunday's Ginowan mayoral election in Okinawa Prefecture should serve as a springboard to ensure that U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is relocated to the Henoko district of Nago in the same prefecture.
EDITORIALS
Feb 19, 2012

Costly price of expensive education

A recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has found a few positives in Japan's educational situation. Japan has generally improved its educational conditions relative to other OECD countries, but the costs of education remain extremely high with little financial...
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Feb 18, 2012

Fiscal ills not DPJ's doing but it's holding the bag

The tax and social security reform outline adopted by the Cabinet on Friday indicate the government has run out of options and must finally address welfare costs and public finances that have been spiralling out of control for years.
BASKETBALL
Feb 18, 2012

Search on for new coach after JBA drops Wisman

After less than two years in charge, Thomas Wisman's ouster on Wednesday by the Japan Basketball Association was expected by those who pay attention.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2012

America's pivot to Asia is not just about countering China

"All right China, come out with your hands up; we've got you surrounded!"
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Feb 17, 2012

Wake refreshed at the Pan Pacific

The cold, dry winter can be utterly exhausting, so the Pan Pacific Yokohama Bay Hotel Tokyu is offering special accommodation packages for women to have a relaxing time, through March 15.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2012

The photographic cartographer

Tomoki Imai remembers well the turning point in his life when he decided to become a professional photographer. Already an aspiring film director at the Tokyo University of the Arts, the Hiroshima-native was turned onto the raw and trigger-happy cityscape and portrait snapshots of self-styled photo "genius"...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2012

The photographic cartographer

Tomoki Imai remembers well the turning point in his life when he decided to become a professional photographer. Already an aspiring film director at the Tokyo University of the Arts, the Hiroshima-native was turned onto the raw and trigger-happy cityscape and portrait snapshots of self-styled photo "genius"...
Reader Mail
Feb 16, 2012

A worrisome Facebook future

Regarding Kevin Rafferty's Feb. 11 article, "Facebook moves from the virtual world to the real one": Good article. While Facebook has done some good, such as participating in the Arab Spring and the like, for others it is an addiction whose social value is questionable.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2012

Snow Revolution's orange shadow

Vladimir Putin's regime is warning Russians that their budding "Snow Revolution" will be as big a mistake as Ukraine's Orange Revolution of 2004. But, while the similarities between these two popular movements are palpable, their differences are essential, so comparing them might help the Russian opposition...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2012

In the garden of Shigemori's mind

The Zen gardens of Kyoto have attracted countless admirers and served as inspiration to many artists, designers and other creative people. Steve Jobs, for whom Zen Buddhism was an inspiration, praised Kyoto's gardens, and the minimalism of Zen aesthetics became a strong inspiration behind the design...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2012

In the garden of Shigemori's mind

The Zen gardens of Kyoto have attracted countless admirers and served as inspiration to many artists, designers and other creative people. Steve Jobs, for whom Zen Buddhism was an inspiration, praised Kyoto's gardens, and the minimalism of Zen aesthetics became a strong inspiration behind the design...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 15, 2012

Nets squandered chance to draft Kobe

Kobe Bryant's annual Garden variety visit last Friday triggered me to re-examine the draft of 1996. Many people have gone straight from high school to Hollywood and become overnight sensations . . . after countless years of dejection and rejection. Kobe actually morphed into a Lakers' legend almost on...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2012

Fukushima farming hard row to hoe

When Takahiro Nagakura set off for distant Okayama two years ago, his plan was to complete his degree at the prefecture's agricultural university and then return to Fukushima and work his family's peach orchard.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Feb 15, 2012

Cosmetics review website goes public with IPO

Tokyo-based Internet company Istyle Inc. announced on Feb. 3 its intention to list itself on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Market (Tosho Mothers). The planned date of the IPO is March 8, 2012.
COMMENTARY
Feb 15, 2012

Disability program reveals U.S. budget quagmire

Social Security's disability program is a political quagmire — and a metaphor for why federal spending and budget deficits are so difficult to control. The numbers are too big; the details, too complicated; and the choices, when faced, too wrenching. President Barack Obama's new budget, estimated at...
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2012

Governor: Why no arrests over crisis?

Saitama Gov. Kiyoshi Ueda wants to see Tokyo Electric Power Co. held criminally responsible for the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Feb 14, 2012

Making new connections over lunch

Sites and apps take the difficulty of saying 'let's do lunch sometime.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Feb 14, 2012

Returns, regroups and debuts: Versace, Tokyo Runway, Julius, K-fashion, Alexander Wang

The Medusa is back
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2012

Readiness of U.S. military will not come cheap

Here's something for critics of the country's defense budget to ponder: After I was confirmed as secretary of the navy in May 2001, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asked me and the other service secretaries to work with Congress to gain approval for a pending supplemental appropriation to the defense...
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2012

Hashimoto group hopes to upset political applecart big time

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's local political group is preparing a platform for the next Lower House poll that will likely include promises to shrink or even abolish the Upper House, create a system for voters to directly elect the prime minister, and to drastically limit the state's role to diplomacy,...
Reader Mail
Feb 12, 2012

Mixed messages about manners

For many years, reading manners posters has been one of my commuting pastimes. Others include reading books, sleeping, people watching and, when possible, scenery watching. Sometimes I even try to hold my breath from one station to the next as a kind of fitness check.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell