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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 21, 2010

Voice of the times bridges cultures for seven decades

Most of us would probably be happy to have a handful of memories to reminisce over in our later years, episodes from our youth we could run past our friends while hoping their eyes don't glaze over. Ichiro Urushibara, a British citizen who has spent 69 years in Japan, has enough memories and amusing...
EDITORIALS
Aug 18, 2010

Fear of another recession

Japan's economy appears to be at turning point. Real gross domestic product for the April-June quarter grew an annualized 0.4 percent from the previous quarter — much lower than the 4.4 percent for January-March and the 4.1 percent for the October-December quarter. The value of the yen to the U.S....
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 17, 2010

Best answer to heatstroke is prevention

When it comes to heatstroke, the scorching summer of 2010 takes the cake.
EDITORIALS
Aug 13, 2010

WikiLeaks makes a splash

Mr. Julian Assange is a child of the Internet age. A former hacker and software programmer, he helped found WikiLeaks in 2006, a Web site that publishes otherwise unavailable documents provided by anonymous sources. It calls itself "an uncensorable system for untraceable mass document leaking." WikiLeaks...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 13, 2010

'Caterpillar'

Once an enfant terrible, who as a young filmmaker challenged censors and outraged conservative critics with everything from surreal S&M sex to sympathetic portrayals of Palestinian radicals, Koji Wakamatsu has not mellowed so much as ripened.
Reader Mail
Aug 12, 2010

America can atone for its mistake

I am dumbfounded by what Gene Tibbets (the son of the pilot of the B-29 aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945) says about the Hiroshima memorial ceremony in the Aug. 7 Kyodo article "Fox News: Tibbets' son likens U.S. presence to apology." He is quoted as saying: "I don't know what...
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2010

Kan apologizes for colonial rule of Korea

Prime Minister Naoto Kan issued a statement Tuesday apologizing to South Korea for Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Aug 3, 2010

The victim complex and Kim's killer con

It's fascinating whenever someone cons people out of pots of money — doubly so when someone cons a whole government. Take, for example, Japan's biggest news story two weeks ago: Kim Hyon Hui's four-day visit to Japan.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2010

Kan proposes to slash Diet ranks

Prime Minister Naoto Kan vowed Friday to prop up the economy by slashing wasteful spending, including reducing the ranks of lawmakers, while budgeting for projects that stimulate the job market and "bring back vigor."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 30, 2010

Charismatic Chan makes 'Karate Kid' role his own

HOLLYWOOD — He's featured in more than 100 movies spanning six decades, holds the Guinness World Record for most stunts by a living actor, and has enjoyed a career as one of China's truly global superstars. And despite all this, Jackie Chan continues to dazzle audiences and critics alike — well,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 30, 2010

LCD Soundsystem bring some edge to Fuji Rock Fest

Share your experience at Fuji Rock with The Japan Times Be sure to check out our live online coverage of the 2010 Fuji Rock Festival at tokyo.japantimes.co.jp. We'll feature interviews with some of the acts, reviews of all the major performances and lots of visuals.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2010

Tsujimoto quits SDP, says party has lost its way

OSAKA — Lower House member Kiyomi Tsujimoto resigned Tuesday from the Social Democratic Party over the SDP's exit from the ruling bloc amid the Futenma base row and after its poor showing in the July 11 Upper House election.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jul 21, 2010

Ustream goes mainstream

From high atop the summit of Mount Fuji last summer, despite miserable weather and poor visibility, 32-year-old tech enthusiast Joseph Tame sent video coverage of a spectacular solar eclipse live to the Internet from an impromptu mobile-broadcasting studio. With little more than a laptop and a Web connection,...
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2010

Honda preps plug-in hybrid, EV for 2012

WAKO, Saitama Pref. — Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday it will debut in 2012 a hybrid car that can be charged at home and an electric vehicle in Japan and the United States, a move expected to further fuel competition for environmentally friendly vehicles.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 20, 2010

Expat clubs boast bygone cachet

OSAKA — In the years following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when Japan ended nearly 2 1/2 centuries of isolation, Tokyo, Yokohama and Kobe in particular saw a large influx of Western men in uniform, merchants, teachers and clerics.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 18, 2010

Japan's media laps up poll parade

One of the funniest images to emerge from last week's Upper House election was the row of Liberal Democratic Party bigwigs pointing their forefingers to the sky in unison and flashing big stupid grins. The big stupid grins were a reaction to the party's supposed comeback, since they had just won more...
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2010

Kan, Edano blamed for DPJ defeat

As the ruling Democratic Party of Japan scrambled to get back on its feet Monday a day after voters took away the coalition's Upper House majority, the blame game was quick to commence and the two key targets were Prime Minister Naoto Kan and DPJ Secretary General Yukio Edano.
JAPAN / DECISION 2010
Jul 8, 2010

Miyazaki race hinges on beef crisis

MIYAZAKI — When So Watanabe, a 32-year-old former Mainichi Shimbun reporter, indicated late last year he would represent the Democratic Party of Japan and take on Liberal Democratic Party incumbent Shinpei Matsushita, 43, for the Miyazaki Prefecture seat in Sunday's Upper House election, the issues...
Reader Mail
Jul 8, 2010

Incomplete wire service coverage

The Japan Times is a necessity if one wants to keep up with the treatment of minorities that most media ignore, thanks to the original research of the paper's fine correspondents.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb