Search - media

 
 
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Feb 18, 2009

A bigger, better netbook — and not quite an iPod killer

Touched up: Korean innovator iriver is firing off both barrels with its latest personal media player, the P20, a model it hopes will take some market share away from Apple's iPod touch. The P20 is a chunky device with impressive hardware credentials. Released in Japan as an 80-gigabyte model, the PMP...
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2009

Waffling Aso roasted on public griddle

If there is one thing contributing to Prime Minister Taro Aso's sagging approval rate, it's his flip-flopping on the issues.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2009

'Changeling'

Clint Eastwood, at 79 (yes, you read that right), continues to create films that garner plaudits such as "gutsy and virile," "seething with power," and "frighteningly potent."
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 12, 2009

Japan as the catalyst for improving global public health

What place should Japan occupy in the world? This existential question has troubled Japan's leaders for the past two decades. Military leadership is restricted by the Constitution. Economic might has lost its glimmer. Cultural influence, epitomized by "cool Japan," has yet to take center stage.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 31, 2009

Iso's incredible journey takes her back to Super Bowl

The NFL powerhouse Pittsburgh Steelers have been there and done that.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2009

Tamogami out of ASDF, not out of range

Based on his controversial essay that blamed Franklin D. Roosevelt for Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, one would expect retired Gen. Toshio Tamogami to be a hardcore rightist unwilling to allow a counterargument in edgewise.
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2009

Nomura logs record loss of ¥342 billion for quarter

Nomura Holdings Inc. said it may sell businesses to raise capital and will cut executive pay after posting a fourth straight quarterly deficit on trading losses and the costs of acquiring parts of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jan 27, 2009

Amazing comeback for Asashoryu at Hatsu Basho 2009

While the so-called Asashoryu era of complete dominance is a thing of the past, the Hatsu Basho saw the 28-year-old prove there is life in the not-so-old dog yet.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 21, 2009

The key words that kept Japan abuzz in 2008

Last October, publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha released the 61st edition of its "Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki (Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words)" — a massive 1,614-page tome that retails for just ¥2,980. I have a facsimile copy of the book's first edition, launched on Oct. 10, 1948. In the introduction,...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 21, 2009

The key words that kept Japan abuzz in 2008

Last October, publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha released the 61st edition of its "Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki (Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words)" — a massive 1,614-page tome that retails for just ¥2,980. I have a facsimile copy of the book's first edition, launched on Oct. 10, 1948. In the introduction,...
COMMENTARY
Jan 16, 2009

Right place for a command of composure

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Dennis Blair, the man who is to become the new U.S. director of national intelligence, distinguished himself as chief of the U.S. military's Pacific Command, an important fact behind his appointment by President-elect Barack Obama. He will oversee all U.S. intelligence organizations....
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jan 13, 2009

Digital 'big switch' is big con

Visit any electronics shop and you cannot escape reminders that in July 2011, Japan will end analog TV broadcasts and switch over to digital. After that time, existing analog TV sets will require adapters, but over the next 2 1/2 years most people are expected to discard their set for a digital model....
Reader Mail
Jan 11, 2009

Digital won't make it better

In the Dec. 28 Media Mix article, "Critics switched off over digital-TV plans," media critic Yukichi Amano made a very good point — namely, that switching to digital TV will be a waste of time if there is nothing new on offer in terms of programming. I would like to add that I think Japanese TV is...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 9, 2009

Collagen — skin-deep in myth?

The craze over skin-smoothing collagen has spread to "nabe" hotchpotch, with restaurants serving up the protein-rich fare — usually in the form of pig's knuckles — getting prominent play on TV and in magazines.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 6, 2009

Japan makes progress in 2009

As we start 2009, let's recharge the batteries by reviewing last year's good news. Here is my list of top human rights advancements for Japan in 2009, in ascending order:
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 6, 2009

Glasses retailer has price-cutting edge

Teruhiro Ueno has seen both his business and reputation grow by upholding a key retail strategy: undercutting the competition.
COMMENTARY
Jan 6, 2009

Prophet of world-culture clashes is dead

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — A giant died early last week. His name was Samuel Huntington, a Harvard professor whose gigantism was intellectual. His ideas left huge footprints on our intellectual landscape, the way giant storms impact the Earth. Minds were shaken, sometimes stirred, and never left untouched....
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 4, 2009

A nation adrift cries out for new visions fired by anger and sorrow

Every era in the life of a country begs for creators to define it and give it momentum for its society to progress. Politicians, economists and bureaucrats seem to believe that culture rides on the wave of the economy — but the opposite is true. It is on progressive waves of culture that economic achievement...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 28, 2008

Longtime baseball writer will miss these people, places, things in '09

As we see the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, I have compiled a list of five people, places and things I will miss when the new Japanese baseball season rolls around in the spring. Here they are:
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 27, 2008

Villa's emergence shakes up Big Four's hegemony

LONDON — THE MOST fascinating Premier League title chase ever reached the half-way stage on Boxing Day.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 26, 2008

Steady Webb gives Toyama big boost

The Toyama Grouses' 6-12 record is deceiving.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2008

China and India diverging

LONDON — This year is ending with some troubling signs of future instability in Asia, as two of the most powerful states are increasingly at odds with each other.
COMMENTARY
Dec 12, 2008

Obama and the vets: caring for a generation

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — When Eric K. Shinseki, the first four-star U.S. Army general of Japanese- American ethnicity, was still his service branch's chief of staff, he became a symbol of doubt about official competence in pursuit of the Iraq war.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 9, 2008

'Tokyo Two' fight to clear names

Six months ago Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki were ordinary men looking after young families. But in June they were arrested by a large group of uniformed police, taken to a detention center in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan, and held for 26 days.
COMMENTARY
Dec 7, 2008

The message from the carnage in Mumbai

CHENNAI, India — Terror and Mumbai have become as inseparable as Siamese twins, at least since 1993, when 250 people died in bomb attacks carried out as a revenge for the demolition of the ancient Babri Mosque by Hindu fanatics.
Reader Mail
Dec 7, 2008

'Civilian control' misinterpreted

Regarding the Nov. 28 article "SDF's rise in '90s behind Tamogami's challenge": I'd like to point out that "civilian control" has been wrongly interpreted — by the media, government bureaucrats, politicians and the like in Japan — ever since the end of World War II to curtail the freedom of speech...
Reader Mail
Dec 4, 2008

Court impartiality threatened

In preparation for the start of a new criminal court system next May, 295,000 Japanese have been notified that they are listed as prospective lay judges. Given the media coverage of the recent fatal stabbing attacks at the homes of former health ministry officials, both lay judges and professionals already...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 3, 2008

Knicks, Marbury need resolution

NEW YORK — When Pacers' president Larry Bird decided prior to training camp to support coach Jim O'Brien's fervent desire to exile Jamaal Tinsley, I thought it was a lousy idea.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Nov 19, 2008

Be a walking drive-in with mini projector

Marketing 101: Make use of a brand, even if it is not your own. Electronics pioneer Texas Instruments does so with its DLP Pico projector, the PK-101. Sold under the Optoma brand, the PK-101 is said to be the world's smallest and lightest projector. It goes on sale from Dec. 1 at the Apple Store in Japan...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear