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JAPAN
May 18, 2009

Japan slow to realize it wasn't immune to swine flu

OSAKA — In Kobe and Osaka, as well as in Tokyo, shocked officials dealing with the outbreak of swine flu had more or less the same reaction Sunday as Kansai Okura High School principal Takaharu Miyanomae.
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2009

Pope discovers his voice in a pilgrimage of learning

HONG KONG — Pope Benedict XVI's leaving the home comforts of the Vatican for the political and religious mine field called the Holy Land proved to be his own difficult pilgrimage in which a learned, but aloof, theologian discovered in Palestinian pain and suffering his own authentic cry for peace in...
CULTURE / Books
May 17, 2009

Casting from which 'Audition'?

Ten years after the release of Takashi Miike's film of the novel, Ryu Murakami's "Audition (Odishon)" has finally been translated into English. Aoyama, a fortysomething documentary maker, decides it is about time he remarried. His beautiful, talented and understanding wife Ryoko has been dead for seven...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 17, 2009

Hatoyama elected head of DPJ

Democratic Party of Japan chose Yukio Hatoyama as its new president Saturday by a relatively large margin over Katsuya Okada, who was the more popular candidate among the public in opinion polls.
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2009

California dream-makers in the driver's seat

LOS ANGELES — Sometimes it's not that easy living in Los Angeles. Despite splendid weather, sprawling beaches and gorgeous mountain ranges — not to mention the well-tanned Hollywood stars — you face the unrelenting, withering scorn of smug colleagues long established in New York and Washington....
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 17, 2009

Japan's cocktail king leaves the world reeling from his alco-antics

Pretty soon there is going to be a backlash against the Japanese for their habit of heading overseas and outshining the locals in some of their proudest vocations.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
May 16, 2009

Diplomacy in love, life and work

Aiko Tanaka, 27, met Olegs Orlovs, 27, for the first time when she visited his home country, Latvia, as a tourist with her family in 2002. Olegs was her tour guide.
JAPAN
May 16, 2009

Lack of fireworks as DPJ rivals' debate ends in a tie

Yukio Hatoyama and Katsuya Okada, the two candidates in the Democratic Party of Japan's presidential election Saturday, both stuck to the party line in a public debate in which the only way they seemed to differentiate themselves from each other was in their choice of ties.
JAPAN
May 16, 2009

Bill would allow organ harvesting from children with parental OK

As pressure mounts to revise the controversial organ transplant law, lawmakers across party lines submitted a fresh bill Friday to the Diet on top of the three bills that are already being deliberated.
EDITORIALS
May 15, 2009

Truths about malpractice

Doctors have been acquitted in one malpractice trial after another. In August 2008 an obstetrician in Fukushima Prefecture was found innocent in the death of a woman from blood loss during a Caesarean operation. In November that year a Kyorin University doctor who did not realize a cotton-candy stick...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 15, 2009

Deerhunter

Bradford Cox, frontman for Atlanta, Georgia's, self-styled "ambient punks" Deerhunter, tends to attract attention.
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
May 15, 2009

Toshimitsu Baba Exhibition

Base Gallery, Tokoyo
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 15, 2009

'State of Play'

There's a scene in "State of Play" where an unkempt, hard-nosed veteran reporter (Russell Crowe) — you know, the type who drink their whiskey straight, out of a paper cup — meets his new colleague, a younger, perkier journalist (Rachel McAdams) who bangs out gossipy blogs for their newspaper's digital...
JAPAN
May 15, 2009

Ozawa to still play key role, rivals vow

Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama and deputy chief Katsuya Okada, the two candidates running in Saturday's DPJ presidential race, said Thursday resigning President Ichiro Ozawa will still serve in a key post.
Reader Mail
May 14, 2009

Fulfillment despite eccentricity

Regarding Michael Hoffman's April 26 article, "Nagai Kafu: a literary loner": Kafu at the time was basically eccentric. Many people frown on this trait, yet each one of us has our share of eccentricities. They are what make each of us unique. I truly admire men and women whom many may view as self-absorbed,...
COMMENTARY
May 14, 2009

Military insiders threaten Pakistan's nuclear assets

DELHI — Without naming the United States as his source, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said recently: "We have been assured that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are in safe hands as of now. And I have no reason to disbelieve the assurance."
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2009

Obama's question for Netanyahu

RAMALLAH, West Bank — As the summit between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approaches, most of the discussion has focused on whether the newly elected Israeli leader will finally say that he backs a two-state solution.
Reader Mail
May 14, 2009

Business of keeping us safe

Professor Yoshi Tsurumi's criticism of President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Taro Aso for not prosecuting or apologizing for "war crimes" (May 3 article, "U.S. imitating Japan's denial of responsibility") strikes me as one of the the more convoluted and, frankly, ludicrous opinion pieces I have encountered. ...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 14, 2009

Female execs take up challenge

In a country where business executive ranks still find few women, some 360 female corporate presidents gathered Tuesday night in Tokyo, vowing to become the driving force lifting the country out of its worst downturn in decades.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
May 14, 2009

Actor/talent agent Eido Sumiyoshi

Eighty-four-year-old Eido Sumiyoshi — aka Eddie Mohandas Sabnani, Eddie Arab, and Eddie Staire — is an actor and the founder of E-promotion, one of Japan's first talent agencies specializing in foreign models and actors. The son of an Indian businessman and a Japanese interpreter, Eddie was raised...
BUSINESS
May 13, 2009

JAL posts ¥63.2 billion annual loss in spite of deep cost cuts

Japan Airlines Corp. careened deep into the red last business year and forecast another annual loss even as it slashes costs this year by half a billion dollars.
EDITORIALS
May 12, 2009

Booster shot for big companies

As the special measures law for corporate revitalization was revised, the government has started a scheme to inject capital into large companies suffering from the current economic downturn. The Development Bank of Japan will provide funds if companies meet certain conditions.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 12, 2009

Between a rock and a hard place

The islands of Okinawa offer subtropical resorts, original delicacies and a distinct culture.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 11, 2009

Ozawa weighs next move

The attention of many political observers appears to be focused on when and how, rather than if, Ichiro Ozawa will step down as the leader of the No. 1 opposition Democratic Party of Japan before the next general election due to take place no later than September.
EDITORIALS
May 11, 2009

New health-pension card

A panel of the health and welfare ministry has written a basic plan to introduce a social security card, an IC card that will integrate the functions of the pension booklet, health insurance card and nursing care insurance card. The ministry hopes to introduce the card in fiscal 2011, with demonstration...

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