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Mar 7, 2014

Abuse of Dolphins trainer Inoue revealed in NFL report regrettable

The alleged harassment in the Miami Dolphins locker room became one of the biggest off-gridiron topics in contemporary NFL history.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 6, 2014

All-genre focus is the key to Art Fair Tokyo's success

It is difficult to criticize Art Fair Tokyo, the commercial art fair that celebrates its ninth edition at Tokyo International Forum in Yurakucho this weekend. Truth be told, it's a wonder that the event has reached nine editions at all, what with the inherent fickleness of the art market and Japan's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2014

Live-action Ghibli remake delivers a new Kiki

When is a remake not a remake? Arguably, Takashi Shimizu's "Majo no Takkyubin (Kiki's Delivery Service)" is less a reworking of the Hayao Miyazaki animation classic (which this reviewer praised on this page in 1989) than his own interpretation of the 1985 Eiko Kadono fantasy novel on which the Miyazaki...
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2014

University of Tokyo still Asia's top-ranked institution of learning: survey

The University of Tokyo remained the most prestigious Asian institution of higher education in an annual university reputation survey released Wednesday.
Reader Mail
Mar 5, 2014

Dissenting review was welcome

In his March 2 letter, "Unfair grading of social insight," Jeff Kingston takes umbrage at a critical review of a book he edited ("Critical Issues in Contemporay Japan"), saying the reviewer "unfairly impugns [his] colleagues professional insights."
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2014

Tips for electing a leader with common sense

One way voters perhaps can eliminate a presidential candidate from consideration is to look at his or her watch. If it costs more than $500, they should find someone else to vote for, someone whose interests extend beyond personal enrichment.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Mar 2, 2014

Ryukyu books spot in playoffs for sixth straight season

The Ryukyu Golden Kings clinched their sixth consecutive playoff berth on Saturday, beating the host Shimane Susanoo Magic 79-64.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 1, 2014

Masako Shirasu: woman of the world

"If you use beautiful things every day, you will naturally cultivate an eye for beautiful things without giving it a second thought. In the end, you will be repelled when you encounter the ugly and the fake. If only all Japan would come to see this, how much more joyous our lives would be and how genial...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Mar 1, 2014

Fat men frolic, Jews to be treated equally, U.S. ambassador stabbed, new sales tax a headache

Twenty-five fat members of the House of Representatives with two Government delegates and two journalists, each of whom weighs more than 165 pounds (75 kg), sat at a dinner at the Fukuiro, Yanokura, Ryogoku, on Monday evening.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 1, 2014

J. League seeks to widen scope in Asia

As two decades have now elapsed since its inception, the J. League is entering a new era.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2014

Warming or not, this is the best climate for liberals

Bleak judgments about stimulus spending in the U.S. miss the main point of it, which was to funnel a substantial share of the money to unionized, dues-paying, Democratic-voting government employees. In this way, the stimulus succeeded.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 27, 2014

'Walking Dead' explores a world of gore and order

When it comes to crack TV, AMC's massively addictive series "The Walking Dead" reigns supreme. The shorthand description would be "zombie-apocalypse survival thriller," and that's true enough, but it goes deeper too. If you take away law, religion and society — what's left? Can such things as compassion...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 26, 2014

Get into 'Gear' at an immersive Kyoto theater show

Art Complex 1928, a contemporary performing-arts venue in central Kyoto, used to be a regional office of the Mainichi Shimbun national newspaper.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 26, 2014

Reed finding niche in Yokohama

Shooting guard Omar Reed is one of the top newcomers in the bj-league season.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 23, 2014

Plans don't make the grade

Don't count on the education ministry's plan to hire more foreign teachers and students to have much effect on its goal of getting at least 10 Japanese universities to place among the world's top 100.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2014

U.S. media losing credibility

The U.S. media's reduction of the recent diplomatic row between New Delhi and Washington to India wrong, America right, is an indictment of their professional integrity.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2014

Abe adviser says WSJ article on military buildup is false

Etsuro Honda, a key economic adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, denies stressing that one of the main goals of 'Abenomics' is for Japan to build up a more powerful military and stand up to China, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
COMMENTARY
Feb 20, 2014

Legacy of carnage and ruin

This is probably, but not certainly, the year that sees the end to the United States' three-decades-long effort to establish permanent American strategic bases in the Muslim Middle East and in Muslim Asia.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2014

McConaughey, Leto transform for roles in 'Dallas Buyers Club'

Acadamy Award nominee Jared Leto, who plays a transgender person with AIDS in the film "Dallas Buyers Club," says he was recently called a shape-shifter.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2014

Disaster prep to be 2020 focus: Masuzoe

To help ensure that foreign visitors can enjoy the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics without concern, Tokyo Gov. Yoichi Masuzoe says he will focus on making the city safer from disasters, improve access to public transportation and even encourage residents to brush up on their English conversation skills....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 17, 2014

Abe put Japan on back foot in global PR war with China

Japan is losing its global PR war with China because it can't muzzle its nationalist leaders, hide their revisionist agendas or stop them from visiting Yasukuni Shrine.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 16, 2014

Playing the Japanese name game

Once, when telephoning the international PR office of a major electronics manufacturer, I got lucky. Without my even asking, the young woman who picked up the phone volunteered her name, saying 私は青木と申します (Watashi wa Aoki to mōshimasu, My name is Aoki). Actually it sounded more like...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 15, 2014

'The Fed' closing an end of an era

Of the many Western-style hotels that mushroomed across Bangkok in the 1960s, principally to accommodate large numbers of U.S. servicemen on leave from the Vietnam War (which was raging about 1,000 km to the east), the Federal Hotel was considered the granddaddy of them all.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2014

A butler who brought color to the White House

"The Butler" director Lee Daniels didn't start out as a filmmaker but as an owner of a nursing agency in Los Angeles. "So I know how to gather funds, get the people, and treat filmmaking like a business," he tells The Japan Times. "At the same time, once the filming starts, I can't be just a businessman...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2014

'Iya Monogatari: Oku no Hito (The Tale of Iya)'

Cycling in the mountains near Tokyo, I often have two thoughts: First, I feel sorry for big-city denizens missing all the natural beauty so near. Second, I wonder how the locals can wrest a living from their tiny fields and orchards, perched precariously on the slopes.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2014

President Obama’s magic words and numbers

President Barack Obama's critics should reconsider their assumption that he is cynical. It is his belief in magic words and numbers that is scary.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 8, 2014

Drawing on the past reveals the Showa Era

The rest of the world knew him as Hirohito, but to his subjects he was always just "the Emperor." Known posthumously as Showa, Japan's 124th monarch reigned for over 60 years, during which he would be witness to both the best and worst of times.
Reader Mail
Feb 8, 2014

Saddest word in the language

For a while my least favorite Japanese word was gareki (debris), because for ages after the 3/11 tsunami, the talk was about cleaning up all the irradiated debris. The instant mental associations were pretty sad. Then, for a short time, my least favorite word was omotenashi (a term that expresses the...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’