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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 22, 2011

Nuclear policy was once sold by Japan's media

Prime Minister Naoto Kan's decision to ask Chubu Electric Power Co. to shut the Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture met with mixed reactions. The residents of nearby Omaezaki are concerned since the facility employs about 2,800 people, but Chubu's subsequent announcement that it would...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 22, 2011

Extreme nationalism may emerge from the rubble of the quake

Destruction, when massive but not total, engenders rebirth, or reinvention, or both. Japan after World War II is a prime example, a model from which Japan in the wake of March's earthquake-tsunami-meltdown is sure to draw inspiration.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 20, 2011

Depp adds more gold to his treasure chest

Johnny Depp is wrestling with a monster. No, it's not one of the numerous sea monsters from "Pirates of the Caribbean" — it's the franchise itself.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 20, 2011

Tohoku play finds friends in ghostly places

With the eastern Tohoku region currently undergoing much hardship due to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, it might be a good time to revisit the culture of the region in the hopes of motivating people's drive to recover.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 19, 2011

Online Maltine learns old-school tricks

Tomohiro Konuta didn't have lofty ambitions when he and his friend Syem started the online music label Maltine Records in 2005. They were just two teenagers looking for a little attention.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2011

When prevention is more effective than relief

When the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in March, Brian Tucker was in Padang, Indonesia. Tucker was working with a colleague to design a refuge that could save thousands of lives if — or rather, when — a tsunami like the one in 1797 that came out of the Indian Ocean, some 1,000 km southeast of...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 15, 2011

Japan's renegade hero gives Saipan new hope

Graciano Lisua doesn't look like someone who would get too worked up about ghosts. Yet superstition, says the broad-shouldered, barrel-chested Chomorron as he leans on his machete, is of great import for the inhabitants of the Mariana Islands.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 15, 2011

Strawberries and shoguns in Shizuoka

It's a clear spring morning and the view over Suruga Bay just outside of Shizuoka City is captivating. At least, that's what my travel companions say.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 14, 2011

Life as an ambassador

"An American yacht has come into the port. They don't speak any Japanese. Come help."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 14, 2011

Finding fulfillment the hard way through NGOs, activism

The tiny Amnesty International Japan headquarters is hidden on the fourth floor of a nondescript building in a dull business district not far from Ochanomizu, in central Tokyo.
JAPAN
May 13, 2011

Fukushima village on way to becoming ghost town

Sleepy, idyllic and dangerously irradiated, the village of Iitate is preparing to evacuate.
EDITORIALS
May 12, 2011

Exigencies of medical care

Two months since the March 11 earthquake-tsunami hit Tohoku, the nearly 120,000 evacuees still living in temporary shelters are more likely to suffer a deterioration in health. Therefore, help from the medical professionals on the scene has become more important than ever, as the tsunami swept away numerous...
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2011

Will Islamists rule post-revolution Egypt?

For the first time in Egypt's modern history, Islamists, the most organized political group on the ground with a recognizable outreach to every corner of the country, seem close to governing Egypt, after decades of social influence.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 8, 2011

Hearty bunch enjoyed Japan tour

Earthquake, tsunami, radiation threat; despite it all, five dedicated fans from overseas followed through on a planned trip to Japan to watch Japanese professional baseball games in mid-April, just a few weeks after the devastating events that occurred in the Tohoku region of the country beginning...
Japan Times
LIFE
May 8, 2011

A volunteer's journal of hope for Tohoku

When the magnitude 9 megaquake hit northeastern Japan in the early afternoon of Friday, March 11, I was at work in The Japan Times office some 250 km to the south in Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 8, 2011

Kashima's ancient rock of faith

Long before the theory of plate tectonics emerged in the 20th century to explain the mechanism behind earthquakes, Japanese folklore had attributed the terrifying phenomenon to the thrashings of the o-namazu — a giant catfish that inhabited the bowels of the Earth.
EDITORIALS
May 7, 2011

Softening the housing shock

More than 124,000 people are still housed in some 2,000 temporary shelters in 18 prefectures in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Providing them with temporary housing is an urgent task for the central and local governments.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 3, 2011

It's innovate or die in today's mad mag world

In few countries are the most vital political, economic and cultural activities as geographically concentrated as in Japan. All the main institutions can be found in Tokyo — one can only shudder to think what will happen not only to this city, but to the whole country if and when a massive earthquake...
EDITORIALS
May 3, 2011

What to do with the debris

The March 11 earthquake and tsunami caused a big loss of lives and property. It also left a large amount of debris, creating a headache for local governments in the devastated region. An estimated 24.9 million tons of debris exist in the three most affected prefectures — 16 million tons in Miyagi,...
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2011

Way to institutionalize a system of integrity

When a career bureaucrat with a corruption charge pending against him was chosen to be the chief vigilance commissioner, the Supreme Court nullified the appointment to protect the "institutional integrity" of the CVC.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 1, 2011

Explore Seoul's hidden heart

Just two weeks after the March 11 triple-catastrophe in Tohoku, and a mere 90 minutes after leaving Haneda Airport in Tokyo, it was almost unreal to be standing in Kimpo International Airport just outside Seoul and listening to excited Japanese tourists chatting about what and when they will eat and...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2011

No time for political games as Japan tries to rise again

Japanese people who have been hit by the triple disasters of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident have been — rightly — praised worldwide for their courage and resilience. In many other places, even one such disaster would have triggered widespread looting if not rioting.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2011

Evacuee mayor's community torn

Katsutaka Idogawa, the 64-year-old mayor of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, is standing at a crossroads.
EDITORIALS
Apr 29, 2011

Living with risk

Just about a year ago, the oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, triggering one of the largest oil spills in history. A year later, the full impact — economic, social, psychological and environmental — remains unknown. But the BP disaster, like the unfolding catastrophe at the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Apr 28, 2011

The well-organized rites of spring

Time to head out into the sunshine Though the sakura (cherry blossom) festivities have just passed, spring is still in the air, and as the weather warms up we can expect brighter skies. With that comes lots of sunshine, which means for those of us with sensitive skin it's that time to search out the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 26, 2011

English mags approach milestone, crossroads

Those members of the expat community in Japan who are addicted to their weekly or monthly fix of English-language magazines will have surely noticed all the changes going on lately. These are troubled and exciting times and, just as it has in the past, the local media world is trying to rise to the challenge...

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years