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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jun 26, 2011

Morishita: treats in place of the trees

Sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees. According to Akinori Saito, a historian in Tokyo's Koto Ward Office, the area known as Morishita (lit. "forest below") was most likely named for woods that surrounded the yashiki (residence) of a feudal lord named Saemon Sakai (1564-1619), a retainer...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 26, 2011

Readers offer 3/11 insights, valuable resources

As Japan has struggled with the physical and emotional challenges of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 11, and the ongoing nuclear crisis that resulted, I have written three Our Planet Earth columns related to those events: one on Japan's response (March 27); one on alternative...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jun 24, 2011

Joyful Honda and the rise of the car-centric 'home center'

Are American-styled home centers Japan's retail model for the future?
EDITORIALS
Jun 23, 2011

Employment in Tohoku

The nation's employment situation has worsened since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged its supply chains, thus affecting economic activities nationwide. The unemployment rate for April was 4.7 percent, 0.1 percentage point higher than in March.
COMMENTARY
Jun 21, 2011

Poverty highlights gaps in India's economy

In many ways, India can be highly deceptive and contradictory. There are millions of mobile phones floating around. Dozens of swank hotels. Just about every major car manufacturer has set up shop in the country. Several designers are showcasing and selling clothes that are seen on the fashion streets...
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jun 21, 2011

Is Facebook's 'Check-in Coupon' a good deal in Japan?

Facebook makes a foray into Japan's mobile coupon market with location-based discounts, but will social shopping catch on?
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 19, 2011

Summer's joys in snow country

If you'd only ever experienced Niseko under a four-meter blanket of snow, you'd barely recognize Hokkaido's most cosmopolitan winter-sports resort in summer — in the best way possible.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2011

Kansai mulls own nuke nightmare vulnerability

The crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has heightened concern in the Kansai region, where 15 atomic reactors are located less than 55 km from Japan's largest freshwater lake, a source of water for millions of people in Kyoto and Osaka.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2011

Evacuation urged for radioactive hot spots

The government said Thursday it will recommend the evacuation of residents living in radioactive hot spots outside the no-entry zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 17, 2011

Two more tempting Kagurazaka finds

JAPAN
Jun 16, 2011

DPJ to seek 'substantial' Diet extension

The Democratic Party of Japan will seek to "substantially extend" the Diet session and pass key legislation dealing with the aftermath of the March 11 calamity, DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2011

Economy hits political faults

Naoto Kan's departure as Japan's prime minister looks to be as messy and wretched as his uncomfortable time in the job.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 14, 2011

Tokai Big One still tops in speculation

Seismologists have warned of the likelihood of a Tokai region earthquake for years.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 13, 2011

Former world champion Ito places 2nd in senior event

Former world champion Midori Ito placed second in a senior event in Oberstdorf, Germany on Saturday.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 12, 2011

Heights of survival

When the March 11 tsunami hit the village of Yoshihama in Iwate Prefecture, the water overran a seawall, smashed through a coastal pine forest, poured over a large embankment and then surged up a long, low-lying valley. It was a scenario almost identical to that being played out at dozens of settlements...
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2011

Kesennuma Filipinos closer-knit than ever

Like many residents of this port city known for its rich bonito, saury and shark fin catches, Marivel Gunji had worked in the fisheries industry, in her case for more than a decade. When the earthquake hit March 11, she was at her factory slicing up fish that seemed to suddenly come back to life.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jun 10, 2011

Toyama dumps coach again; Ishizaki eyes Europe

The Toyama Grouses' predictable blueprint — one that's failed repeatedly — contained the following decision on Wednesday:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 10, 2011

'X-Men: First Class'

After watching a movie such as "X-Men: First Class," you really don't want to sit down at some steel gray desk and write about it. Turning aerial somersaults while telepathically transmitting brilliant sentences into your laptop sounds more the thing to do.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2011

Tsunami-struck museum starts recovering collection

A pile of small display cases lies in the dirt outside the Rikuzentakata City Museum. With their glass tops smashed into a thousand shards that reflect the sunlight through a layer of dried mud, it's difficult to make out the crushed wings of the small butterflies still pinned inside.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 5, 2011

Horyuji: Buddhism's cradle in Japan

When UNESCO cast its beady, critical eye on Japan 18 years ago to assess the country's cultural and natural merits with a view — in the agency's ponderous prose — to "inscription on the World Heritage List," it settled on four places that became the nation's first entries to those ranks so adored...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 4, 2011

Navigating your way around Japan

Ever since I moved to Japan I've heard the Japanese say, "Nihon wa chiisai kuni desu" (Japan is a small country), with the underlying meaning that this fact is responsible for many of Japan's weaknesses. Foreigners are quick to point out that England is also a small country, yet has historically been...
CULTURE / Film
Jun 3, 2011

Herzog movie marathon in Tokyo screens classics old and new

Werner Herzog is an acclaimed German director who is thought to be one of the best in his generation, in part due to his breathtaking filmmaking ability, but also because of what many consider his masterly visionary qualities. Tokyo readers will have a chance to see for themselves during a two-week retrospective,...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jun 3, 2011

Abdul-Rauf opines on Aono's dismissal

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf has been in this business long enough to know that coaches face an unenviable task every time they step onto the court. In other words, they can't please everyone.
Reader Mail
Jun 2, 2011

20% renewable target too timid?

Regarding the May 27 article "Kan sets 20% target for renewable energy": I can't help thinking that the 20 percent target is a little under-ambitious. I built my house six years ago, and if the local government at the time had offered incentives for me to add solar power to my house, I would have jumped...
JAPAN
May 31, 2011

Raise sales tax in stages, advisers tell Kan reform council

The consumption tax should be raised in stages to prevent adverse fluctuations in the economy, a report compiled by government advisers said Monday.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 31, 2011

Quake coverage mitigates losses from March 11

Since the devastating earthquake and tsunami destroyed or swept away thousands of homes on March 11, earthquake insurance has become a hot topic.
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2011

Changing Japan's system to handle the 'unexpected'

Faced with an unprecedented crisis that was triggered by the combined disasters of the recent earthquake and tsunami, Japan is continuing to struggle with the radiation leak and sealing of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan