Search - people

 
 
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2009

Ruling bloc extends Diet session to Friday

The coalition government on Monday extended the extraordinary Diet session by four days to accommodate pending legislation.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2009

Hepatitis redress legislation clears Diet

A comprehensive bill to support people with hepatitis B and C, along with an attached statement recognizing the government's liability in spreading infections via tainted blood products, cleared the Diet on Monday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 1, 2009

Scuba, shipping and 'Tachi' base memories

Scuba source In reply to the inquiry about scuba diving (Lifelines, Oct. 6), Matt writes on behalf of Mar Scuba, the oldest foreigner-run dive operation in Tokyo ( www.marscuba.com ).
Japan Times
JAPAN / ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
Dec 1, 2009

Electric vehicle market charges up

FOURTH IN A SERIES Keio University engineering professor Hiroshi Shimizu believes the era of the electric vehicle is near.
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2009

Hatoyama vows to take ax to budget

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Monday he will follow as much as possible the recommendations in his waste-cutting panel's review of 449 public works projects in the budgetary requests for fiscal 2010, which came in at a record ¥95 trillion.
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2009

Japan Tourism Agency Web site seeks foreigner buzz

The Japan Tourism Agency is kicking off a Web site Tuesday to give foreigners a forum to pitch this country in their native tongues to promote more tourism.
EDITORIALS
Nov 30, 2009

Help hospitals recover

To help stop the closure of hospital departments as well as entire hospitals, the waste-cutting panel of the Government Revitalization Unit, in examining the health ministry's budgetary requests, has called for a review of how hospitals and clinics are remunerated for the medical services they provide....
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 29, 2009

Benitez under gun as Mourinho speculation swirls

LONDON — Sunday sees the most significant day of the season so far. It is a time for football lovers to encourage the wife to go shopping, ensure the fridge has sufficient supplies and then sit back to enjoy a feast on the box.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 29, 2009

Documenting blind pianist Tsujii, an industry whistle-blower and professional matchmakers

Since winning the Grand Prix at the last Van Cliburn Piano Competition, 20-year-old Nobuyuki Tsujii has become world famous, though he was already a star in his native Japan. Blind since birth, Tsujii automatically drew attention as a piano prodigy, which is why his life has been well-documented up until...
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 29, 2009

Fighting to return forests to nature

Just about everyone agrees that the postwar expansion of plantation forestry and the fragmentation of natural old-growth forests by roads, dams and tourist facilities play a central role in Japan's current bear problem. The Japan Bear and Forest Association (JBFA) is one national organization directly...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 28, 2009

Publican practices the art of beer

Love beer? Look to Bryan Baird, 42, an Ohio native living in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture. Imbibe a foamy one at his original brewery, The Fishmarket Taproom, but just don't call him a bartender. Baird prefers the term "pub."
EDITORIALS
Nov 27, 2009

9/11 trials a victory for justice

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has announced that it will prosecute the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States, and four accused conspirators, in a New York City courtroom. That decision has triggered a firestorm in the United States, with critics...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Nov 27, 2009

Society's whiskies hit the high notes

I've found a new whisky to love. It's a 26-year-old single malt from Hokkaido's Yoichi distillery. It's got oak and a gentle, sweet smokiness, a touch of leather, cherries, toasted almonds and I'm just making this up now, because after "oaky" and "a bit smoky," I ran out of vocabulary.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 27, 2009

'Black Gaisha ni Tsutometerundaga mo Ore wa Genkai Kamo Shirenai'

Films about Japanese organization men, from bureaucrats to salarymen, have long broadly divided into two categories — the serious ones, that portray work life as a sort of holy war, fought by loyal, self-sacrificing blue-suited soldiers, and the comic, whose characters range from pompous idiots to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 27, 2009

'The Informant!'

Steven Soderbergh's latest, "The Informant!," comes off like the smartest, funniest kid in the class — a wiz at everything he does from physics to basketball, but somehow friendless.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 27, 2009

'8 Days' that shook Japan's art world

In the chronologies you find appended to Japanese art books, it looks something like this: Title: "Joseph Beuys Exhibition"; Dates: June 2 — July 2, 1984; Venue: Seibu Art Museum, Tokyo
BUSINESS
Nov 27, 2009

Yen hits 14-year high amid inaction

The yen rallied to a 14-year high against the dollar on Thursday amid speculation Japan's monetary authorities will tolerate further appreciation of the currency.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Nov 27, 2009

School uniforms remain a cultural conundrum

If Japan-watchers want to get to the bottom of what defines 'kawaii,' maybe they should talk to the girls who define it in the first place.
Reader Mail
Nov 26, 2009

Cancer is not a separate thing

Regarding the Nov. 22 article "Exploring cancer research, the classic 'Sakura' and filial piety": Takashi Tachibana's views about cancer do not make sense to me. This may be a fault of the translation. Cancer is not always associated with death. Many people with cancer will die of some other illness....
Reader Mail
Nov 26, 2009

Mountains of tectonic evidence

Regarding Jeff Ogrisseg's Nov. 22 article "Our growing Earth?" and related articles: I am extremely disappointed in The Japan Times' decision to run a nearly two-page spread on the scientifically bereft growing Earth hypothesis. Ogrisseg's credulous account of this hypothesis uses the same old tired...

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes