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Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Dec 30, 2012

The wonderful worlds of 100 waka

The scene: England, Boxing Day 2012. The archetypical Carters are relaxing after a cold turkey lunch (with bread sauce) and are watching the Royal Family's latest sonnets being read on the goggle-box. Time for a game!
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 30, 2012

Japanese story anthology shows fiction truly a transnational affair

SPECULATIVE JAPAN 3: "Silver Bullet" and Other Tales of Japanese Science Fiction and Fantasy. Kurodahan Press, 2012, 292 pp., $16 (paperback) One pleasing quality of the third volume of Kurodahan Press's "Speculative Japan" series of anthologies is that it exists at all.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2012

Post-3/11 output drop tops forecast

The nation's industrial output tumbled more than forecast to the lowest level since the aftermath of the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, bolstering the case for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to unleash large-scale stimulus.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2012

Shift to right risks mistrust in foreign capitals

Liberal Democratic Party leader Shinzo Abe returned to the prime minister's office facing a host of diplomatic challenges. But perhaps none is greater than the wariness, and fear, abroad that his rightwing, nationalistic views will strain Tokyo's relations with Washington and create further tensions...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2012

The rise of the attention economy

I was recently posed the following question: "The most important way in which the Internet and online social media are changing our world is [fill in the blank]."
CULTURE / Books / THE YEAR IN BOOKS
Dec 23, 2012

Seasonality, internal awareness

"Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons: Nature, Literature and the Arts" (Columbia University Press) by Haruo Shirane. The whole seasonal consciousness of Japan, so meticulously considered and observed, is an intangible cultural tradition, though it has a certain physical embodiment in saijiki, the...
LIFE / Travel
Dec 23, 2012

Award-winning Hakuba inn offers a warm and bespoke welcome to all

A report published this year by a national association of ryōkan (traditional inn) owners notes that one of the most common problems facing its several thousand members is a dearth of suitable successors — meaning there will be no one in line to run them when the current operators retire.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE YEAR IN BOOKS
Dec 23, 2012

Alternative histories about JFK

The 50th anniversary of the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy next November is expected to see a flood of new works on that topic. Two alternative history novels have already appeared on this theme. In Stephen King's "11/22/63: A Novel" (Scribner), Maine high school teacher Jake Epping...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / A TASTE OF HOME
Dec 21, 2012

Recipes for a new life in Japan

Nwe Nwe Kyaw arrived in Japan 12 years ago, the wife of a political refugee from Myanmar granted asylum in Japan. In Yangon, she had been a teacher; here she had to figure out something else to do.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 21, 2012

Stately pleasure dome rises in China's Chengdu

by Sebastien Blanc CHENGDU CHN AFP
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 2012

Putin turns back the clock in Russia

Habits instilled by fear are slow to fade but can be rapidly relearned. That is one lesson Vladimir Putin is teaching us.
COMMENTARY
Dec 19, 2012

Will the second time be a charm for the Fed?

It was big news last week when the Federal Reserve announced that it wants to maintain its current low-interest rate policy until unemployment, now 7.7 percent, drops to at least 6.5 percent. The Fed was correctly portrayed as favoring job creation over fighting inflation, though it also set an inflation...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 18, 2012

Nova's restructuring laid the foundations for Geos' revival

This year marked the fifth anniversary of the collapse of English language school giant Nova, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 26, 2007.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2012

IMF economists see perils in China's investment binge

China's investment binge has been the envy of many other countries, not least India where inadequate roads mean that 40 percent of crops are spoiled on the way to market, and Japan, where 30-year-old tunnels are passing their sell-by dates and maintenance is not keeping up with demand.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 18, 2012

Jubilant Corinthians on cloud nine after CWC victory

Corinthians defender Paulo Andre paid tribute to his team's formidable supporters after beating Chelsea to win the Club World Cup on Sunday night, framing it as a victory for the Brazilian people over the aristocrats of European soccer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / WEEK 3
Dec 16, 2012

Pyongyang offers a rare 'real' photo opportunity

Most images of North Korea appearing in the media express just a few aspects of that country — namely, repression, militarism, poverty, backwardness, gloom.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 16, 2012

Frailty rising as a medical condition

As a medical resident 30 years ago, Ava Kaufman remembers puzzling over some of the elderly patients who came to the primary-care practice at George Washington University Hospital. They weren't really ill, at least not with any identifiable diseases. But they weren't well, either.
BUSINESS
Dec 14, 2012

ANA eyes United perk

All Nippon Airways Co., the nation's largest carrier, expects to more than double the sales boost it expects from a tieup with United Continental Holdings Inc. this fiscal year as new services and improved connections lure business fliers.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 12, 2012

Is macho man Putin eyeing a gentler public image?

Hold the Botox! The latest rumors swirling around the Kremlin suggest Vladimir Putin needs a makeover, dropping his macho, macho man refrain in favor of some crinkly-eyed gravitas.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 9, 2012

Granderson sharing passion for baseball on tour of Asia

Curtis Granderson doesn't have to be here. He's got money; he's got fame; he's been an MLB All-Star three times; and, well, he's a New York Yankee.
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...
Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2012

What hostility toward Japanese?

I would like to comment on Dipak Basu's Dec. 2 letter, "Good reasons to stay at home."
BASKETBALL
Dec 5, 2012

Ex-MVP White blasts bj-league, plans to sue Oita

Former Oita HeatDevils star Wendell White met with team officials on Tuesday and repeated his demands that the team honor his expired contract 14 days after his salary was due.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 4, 2012

Original gifts for your unique friends

The design lover
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Dec 3, 2012

Japan's top 10 buzzwords for 2012

Here they are: the top 10 phrases and words that made waves in 2012.
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 1, 2012

Leandro hopes Reysol can still claim Asian Champions League berth

Outgoing J. League title-holders Kashiwa Reysol may have seen their crown handed to a new champion last weekend, but midfielder Leandro Domingues is determined to salvage something from the season as it reaches its conclusion on Saturday.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami