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JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 13, 2011

Creating a future for Japan's aging society

Japan is an elderly country. Twenty-three percent of its population is 65 or over. By 2050, nearly 40 percent will be. Nothing like these demographics has ever been seen before, here or anywhere. This is well-known and much discussed, usually in terms of the grim implications for an enfeebled economy...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 13, 2011

Erotica to celebrate and educate

The word shunga ("spring picture"), used to identify woodblock prints that portray erotic subjects, is not simply a euphemism for the awakening of natural urges. Rather, as both these books inform us, it is an abbreviation of a longer Chinese name, shunkyu higa ("secret pictures from the Spring Palace"),...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2011

Calm at J. Village belies the danger

Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Friday for the first time let reporters into the base camp for thousands of workers striving every day to fix the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, showing off new dining facilities, a dormitory for single workers and the latest radioactivity monitors to check vehicles...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2011

China solar cell leader sees heated market via '12 feed-in tariff debut

The Japanese unit of Chinese solar panel maker Suntech Power Holdings Co., backed by its competitive edge in Japan's highly potential solar panel market, is looking to more than double its sales next year after suffering unexpected supply disruptions this year.
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2011

Vowing to revive Sony, Stringer stands firm, says he's 'up for the fight'

Sony Corp. Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer said he'll remain in his post and is determined to turn around the consumer-electronics giant that has predicted a fourth straight annual loss.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 11, 2011

Back to business as usual for condominium developers?

High-rise condominiums are set to make a comeback.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2011

Noda postpones decision on TPP

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Thursday postponed his widely expected announcement that Japan will join the U.S. and other countries in negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, saying he wanted to sleep on the issue for a day before making his final decision.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Nov 11, 2011

Local brewery brings sake to Toronto

Toronto's Distillery District, located on the site of the now defunct Gooderham & Worts Distillery (which was once the largest whisky producer in the world), is a charming enclave of restored brick buildings housing upscale boutiques, cafes and galleries. When Ontario Spring Water Sake Co. opened in...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 11, 2011

Flamenco dancer Kagita tells a kabuki tale

The idea that flamenco and kabuki share the same sense of expression was the motivation for a pair of prominent Japanese dancers to base a flamenco performance on the kabuki play "Onna Goroshi Abura no Jigoku"("The Lady-Killer and an Oil Hell"). That play was written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725)....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 11, 2011

"Ways of Worldmaking"

This exhibition takes its title from American philosopher Nelson Goodman's book, "Ways of Worldmaking." Goodman argued that there is no "actual world" and that instead people make different versions of the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 11, 2011

An audience with Kyoko Kagawa

Kyoko Kagawa is among the fast dwindling number of living witnesses to Japanese cinema's Golden Age of the 1950s and '60s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / Japan Pulse
Nov 10, 2011

Tokyo Designers Week 2011

A selection of blipped on our radar at Tokyo Designers Week 2011.
Reader Mail
Nov 10, 2011

Foolish habits of Earthlings

We hear TV reports that the population of the world just hit 7 billion. Space and resources on Planet Earth are limited, so why does the population of the world keep increasing limitlessly? We see television images of women in some countries holding malnourished children whose skinny faces are swarming...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Nov 10, 2011

The next big thing, and one that never quite made it

Leading up to the 2011 Kyushu tourney down in Fukuoka, the world of sumo is looking to round off another annus horribilis.
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 2011

New era for Libya

It was a far longer and far bloodier struggle than many anticipated, but Libya has been declared liberated. The 42-year rule of Moammar Gadhafi has ended, and the north African nation can begin to rebuild itself. Libya is well positioned to move forward: With extensive oil reserves and proximity to Europe,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 10, 2011

Sun shines on Kenji Yanobe's children

In 1971, when artist Kenji Yanobe was a child, he often played in the abandoned site of Expo '70, not far from his family home in Osaka. A year before, under the theme of "Progress and Harmony for Mankind," Japan's World Exposition had showcased a vision of the future that included an array of advanced...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 10, 2011

Looking information technology in the eye

In an era in which we have seen communication and human interaction revolutionized by new technology, it may well seem that the "medium really is the message." But just how far can this alliteratively attractive slogan really be stretched?
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2011

Olympus urged to extend executive purge

Olympus Corp.'s admission that three of its top executives colluded to hide losses from investors fails to address the roles played by other officials, the firm's biggest overseas shareholder said.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2011

Russia's Eurasian integration

With Russia's 2012 presidential elections effectively over since Vladimir Putin's decision to reclaim his old Kremlin office, it is time to turn from personalities to policies. Putin plans to stay in the Kremlin for two more presidential terms, another 12 years, as he is enabled to do by the recently-amended...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 9, 2011

Olympus admits hiding losses since 1990s

Olympus Corp. President Shuichi Takayama said Tuesday the company concealed huge losses on securities investments since the 1990s and used recent acquisitions of Gyrus Group PLC and three Japanese companies to cover the off-the-book losses.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2011

The Commonwealth's missed opportunity

On Oct. 28-30, representatives of 54 countries, mostly heads of government, attended the bi-annual Commonwealth Meeting. High on the agenda was a report by the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), established to reinvigorate the Commonwealth, strengthen its Secretariat, and transform its approach to human rights....
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / ICE TIME
Nov 9, 2011

Mao needs victory at NHK Trophy to regain confidence

Just over one year ago, Mao Asada entered the NHK Trophy coming off her second world title and a silver medal at the Vancouver Olympics. The stage was set for a triumphant return at the Grand Prix event in her hometown of Nagoya.
BUSINESS
Nov 9, 2011

Divided DPJ is Noda's biggest obstacle to backing TPP talks

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda risks sparking the deepest split in his party since taking office two months ago as he determines whether to join trade talks led by the U.S., Japan's No. 2 export destination, on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement.

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