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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 14, 2012

Sharp unveils high-resolution '4K' TV

Struggling Sharp Corp. on Thursday unveiled a new line of 60-inch high-end TVs it plans to launch in February at an eye-popping price of ¥2.5 million each.
COMMENTARY
Dec 13, 2012

New gas resources raise regional energy stakes

North American natural gas companies, in the midst of tapping vast new reserves from underground shale rock, are looking to energy-hungry Asia as the main future market for the cleanest burning fossil fuel.
Reader Mail
Dec 13, 2012

Equal vs. special rights for gays

A more accurate headline for the Dec. 7 Kyodo article "LDP: Gays don't need special rights" would be "LDP: Gays don't need equal rights." Based on The Japan Times' headline, I expected to read about the Liberal Democratic Party advocating against bestowing some unique and "special" rights to gay people,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / Japan Pulse
Dec 12, 2012

Christmas gift ideas 2012

Presents for your friends or a little something for yourself? Japan Pulse and The JT have you covered.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 8, 2012

Mapping Japan — what on earth could be cooler than that?

According to a recent article in The Japan Times, more and more women are taking to map-reading these days. One reason cited in the article is the influence of the new autumn TV drama called "Sosa Chizu no Onna" ("Woman of Investigative Maps"). The starring role is played by Miki Maya, herself a map...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 8, 2012

Mapping Japan — what on earth could be cooler than that?

According to a recent article in The Japan Times, more and more women are taking to map-reading these days. One reason cited in the article is the influence of the new autumn TV drama called "Sosa Chizu no Onna" ("Woman of Investigative Maps"). The starring role is played by Miki Maya, herself a map...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 8, 2012

Quality of play this season really weak

The most popular league in the world?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2012

Ex-envoy to U.S. heartened by eventful stint

Ichiro Fujisaki's four-year stint as Japan's ambassador to the U.S. saw turbulent events — the Great East Japan Earthquake, shifting political power in Nagata-cho and President Barack Obama's re-election — to name but a few.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE MONTH
Dec 7, 2012

Woodbury, Davis excelled in November

The unbeaten Ryukyu Golden Kings added steady scorer Terrance Woodbury in the offseason, and the move paid off.
Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2012

Immoral accumulation of wealth

In his Dec. 2 letter, "What's wrong with avoidance?" (which was a reply to Hugh Cortazzi's Nov. 28 article, "Failures in market economies"), Joseph Jaworski misses the point.
MORE SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Dec 5, 2012

Irish bring fresh air to BCS title game

Notre Dame's "luck of the Irish" this football season has in turn brought good fortune to all non-partisan college grid fans.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Dec 3, 2012

Golden Kings hand HeatDevils a 73-point beating

Sunday's Oita HeatDevils-Ryukyu Golden Kings game was a farce from the get-go. And the 1,286 spectators in attendance weren't treated to anything resembling a professional basketball contest.
Reader Mail
Dec 2, 2012

Gaining respect, not losing face

The Japan Times is to be commended for the courage to publish the Nov. 27 article from former South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung Soo, titled "Heed history in East Asian territorial disputes."
Reader Mail
Dec 2, 2012

Beetle population out of balance

I have traveled through western Canada several times by car and by train, and I have seen firsthand the devastating effects on forests there wrought by the beetles reported in the Nov. 27 AFP-JIJI article "Pine beetles swarm to west Canada."
Dec 1, 2012

Hamas out to undermine Israel with media blitz

What makes better headlines? Is it numbing figures such as the 8,000 Palestinian rockets fired at Israel since it unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the 42.5 percent of Israeli children living near the Gaza border who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder? Or is it high-resolution images...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Dec 1, 2012

Shame game in Oita: Players rip team, allege fraud

The on-the-verge-of-bankruptcy Oita HeatDevils will field an undermanned team this weekend at home, a squad that's a cheap imitation of the 12-man unit that had the potential to reach the Final Four this season.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Nov 30, 2012

New Komeito not necessarily on same policy page as old, hawkish ally LDP

Revising the war-renouncing Constitution is not an urgent matter and neither the majority of the public nor the international community is supporting Japan's recent rightward tilt led by the Liberal Democratic Party, said Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of LDP ally New Komeito.
COMMENTARY
Nov 30, 2012

China's military crossroads

At a time when China's economy and society are under considerable strain and the country is embroiled in increasingly tense border disputes with its neighbors, the relatively peaceful once-in-a-decade political transition in Beijing has helped deflect attention from the underlying turbulence in the Chinese...
Reader Mail
Nov 29, 2012

Great story deserves translation

Michael Hoffman's short story, "The Fish Tree" — which ran Nov. 25 in the Timeout section of The Japan Times — is a wonderful piece. It's so exquisitely crafted and believable! His years in Japan show a formidable grasp of the culture and its intricacies. Bravo!
BUSINESS
Nov 29, 2012

Teen drivers text far more than parents believe, study finds

Teenagers are 26 times more likely to send text messages while driving than their parents expect, based on preliminary results of a safety study by Toyota Motor Corp. and the University of Michigan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 26, 2012

Notable negatives, funny titles and other linguistic oddities

When I was a wee lad of 4 or 5, I would sneak up on a chair and explore my grandfather's desk, atop of which was situated a curious object: a paperweight featuring the famous three wise monkeys of Nikko. At its base was inscribed the warning: Don't monkey with anything on this desk.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2012

You may need less sleep than you think, or not

If holiday shopping leaves you exhausted, a long weekend should offer an opportunity for some serious shut-eye. We spend between a quarter and a third of our lives asleep, but that doesn't make us experts on how much is too much, how little is too little, or how many hours of rest the kids need to be...
Reader Mail
Nov 25, 2012

Have we had enough war yet?

Regarding The Washington Post article by Condoleezza Rice that ran in The Japan Times on Nov. 21 ("America must act as conflict builds in Mideast"): It has been said that the political choice in the United States is between the "Evil Party" and the "Stupid Party."
Reader Mail
Nov 25, 2012

Secrecy feeds nuclear skepticism

E. Watters' Nov. 11 letter, "Scientific fact vs. unfounded fear," downplays the dangers of the Fukushima nuclear accident. While I agree that inaccurate reporting should not be the basis of decision making, interpretation of data is crucial for understanding truth.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 25, 2012

Canadian scientist uses math to green Japanese baseball

Richard Hoshino is a tall, slim mathematician, as tightly wound as a precision timepiece, and irrepressibly polite and cheerful. He also has a hard time taking "no" for an answer.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 24, 2012

Netanyahu refocuses on Iran

The domestic criticism started pouring in almost as soon as Israel's ceasefire with Hamas was inked Wednesday night. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had waved a white flag and left the job unfinished, the opposition howled. A snap poll on TV found a large majority of the public did not support the...
Reader Mail
Nov 18, 2012

Government's strange refusal

The Nov. 16 Kyodo article "Yokota visit to Pyongyang in works?" blandly states that DNA tests on the allegedly cremated remains of Megumi Yokota that were supplied by North Korea in 2004 showed that they were not hers.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Nov 18, 2012

Story behind drug scandal that rocked bj-league to core

Nearly six months after being released from Osaka Prefectural Police custody, Dana Washington, wife of bj-league legend and former Osaka Evessa star Lynn Washington, decided it was time to tell her side of the story.

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’