Search - news

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2009

Moving from financial crisis to debt crisis?

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Everyone from the queen of England to laid-off Detroit autoworkers wants to know why more experts did not see the financial crisis coming. It is an awkward question.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Aug 28, 2009

Cheeky for charity

It is no surprise that an adult entertainment broadcaster would be concerned about the spread of the HIV virus and AIDS. But for one satellite channel in Japan known for silly parodies and wacky porn programming, that concern goes beyond immediate commercial interests — to trying to reverse wilting...
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2009
Aug 26, 2009

Hokkaido figures to be key showdown for LDP vets

SAPPORO — The winds of change are blowing nationwide as the Lower House election nears.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Aug 20, 2009

Starting up Net portal for women turns into lifetime career choice

Kikuko Yano was searching for a job she could do her entire life, and found it in the Internet firm she started on her own.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 18, 2009

In anonymous packed train lurk gropers

A perverse reality that periodically surfaces on the country's crowded urban trains is the groper.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 16, 2009

Shoplifting detectives; TOKIO vs. Takako Matsu; Doraemon in love

When evening news shows have time to fill they often run short reports by freelance news teams about pressing social problems. A common theme right now is the rise of shoplifting among senior citizens, a development that has in turn given rise to specialty security guards who patrol department stores...
Reader Mail
Aug 13, 2009

Just more celebrity make-believe

Correct me if I am wrong, but it is possession of narcotic drugs, stimulants and proscribed substances that is illegal in Japan, not the use of them. Reading the news carefully, we learn that the sumo wrestlers who recently fell afoul of Japanese drug laws, plus singer Noriko Sakai and her surfer husband...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 9, 2009

Swim legend Furuhashi inspired Japan at tough time

There are historical icons in every nation. But only a few individuals can be considered symbols of a nation's collective psyche during a particular era.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2009
Aug 6, 2009

DPJ poll win would set up battle with bloated bureaucracy

First in a series
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2009

Historic first: Lay judge quizzes witness

Day two of the first lay judge trial saw another historic first when one of the six citizens on the bench posed questions to a murder victim's son as he took the stand at the Tokyo District Court.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Aug 5, 2009

Time for Apache to do right thing with Joe Bryant

It's been 2 1/2 months since the Ryukyu Golden Kings defeated the Tokyo Apache in the bj-league championship game.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Aug 4, 2009

Unlike humans, swine flu is indiscriminate

The biggest news a few months ago, now affecting every prefecture in Japan, has blipped off our radar screens. For the time being.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 26, 2009

Return of a baseball pro, Beat Takeshi on the state of TV, a man's feminine side

It's no longer a novelty for Japanese baseball stars to play in the major leagues, but few who return to Japan to play have proved as successful as Tadahito Iguchi, who is profiled on "Sports Tairiku" (Sports Continent; NHK-G, Mon., 10:45 p.m.).
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2009

Pope's dream of heaven on Earth

HONG KONG — Of all the criticisms and critiques of the state of the world since the financial crisis that triggered global recession, the most devastating and yet the most profound and constructive came this month from such an unusual and unlikely source that many media ignored them. Yet the comments...
BASKETBALL
Jul 25, 2009

Lowly Grouses hire Johnson as head coach

As the summer heats up, bj-league teams continue to make preparations for the 2009-10 season.

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