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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 18, 2011

Japan's musicians show their hearts

A mid a flurry of cancellations of festivals and other concerts around the nation since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster, there has been a growing number of domestic artists, labels and event organizers — both big and small — who are making use of their music to do what they can to aid...
JAPAN / Q&A
Mar 16, 2011

Take proper steps to avoid exposure to fallout

More residents near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture were ordered to evacuate Tuesday, raising concerns about radiation exposure.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 15, 2011

Kicking up a stink over ink in Kobe

You might want to avoid Suma Beach this summer if you are inked or have even a temporary sticker tattoo. The powers that be in Kobe City are considering ways to ban the display of tattoos on the beach.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 13, 2011

Has rice farming passed its expiry date in Japan?

Atsuo Aoki doesn't appear to be an irrational man. At 52, he works in the banking division of the Japan Agricultural Cooperative (JA) in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, an old castle city at the foot of the Japan Alps about three hours by rail north of Tokyo. He lives there with his wife and three children...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 12, 2011

Vindication for Toyota man who built up U.S. sales

Toyota's U.S. business has been a lifetime passion for Toshiaki Taguchi from humble beginnings 50 years ago, when barely 100 Toyota cars were being sold a month, to the world's No. 1 automaker today.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 11, 2011

Tyler raising his game as season progresses

Jeremy Tyler, still a few months shy of his 20th birthday, is no stranger to NBA talent evaluators. Though he's playing halfway around the world, the Tokyo Apache's highly touted 210-cm prospect is being closely watched.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2011

Maehara donation trap easy to fall into, and rectifiable

The Democratic Party of Japan-led administration finds itself again on the brink, following Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara's resignation Sunday for taking illegal donations from a foreign resident who has a Japanese name.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2011

Take away West's monetary punch bowl

TILBURG, Netherlands — There are times to think outside the box, and there are times to return to normality. The West's major central banks — the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and the U.S. Federal Reserve — should take this to heart.
COMMENTARY
Mar 7, 2011

U.S. foreign aid hinders more than it helps

SEATTLE — The United States will run up a record $1.65 trillion deficit in 2011. Yet Washington keeps subsidizing foreign governments. House Republicans have targeted foreign aid. This year the State Department would lose 16 percent of its budget; humanitarian aid would drop by 41 percent.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 6, 2011

Winter's end and the coming spring

I've just finished packing my bag for a visit to the Ogasawara Islands, a boat trip down, a boat trip back, and I seriously doubt if there will be any snow. It will be my first time to those rather remote islands 1,000 km due south of Tokyo (though administratively part of the capital), and I am looking...
Reader Mail
Mar 6, 2011

Television listings offer little help

I feel confident that I speak for many readers when I say that the quality of Japanese television programming is, to put it mildly, abominable. I cannot find words to describe the tawdriness and vulgarity of the commercial channels, and NHK is increasingly aping them.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Mar 6, 2011

Annual awards aim to support photojournalists

Floods in Pakistan, an earthquake in Haiti, an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and violent suppression of human rights the world over: The prize-giving ceremony at this year's Days Japan International Photojournalism Award, which was held in Tokyo on Thursday evening, was a graphic reminder of the catalog...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Mar 6, 2011

Japanese players grow in bj-league, stagnate in JBL

The simplistic, elitist viewpoint that JBL squads would dominate against bj-league foes is a flawed argument because of the differences in the way the two leagues operate. The JBL's one-foreigner quota and the bj-league's three-imports-on-the-court rule present stark contrasts in their styles of play....
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Mar 5, 2011

Refugee hopefuls hold Nagoya feast to reach out to community

Hoping to give the public an opportunity to learn more about people seeking political asylum in Japan, refugee applicants being processed by the Nagoya Regional Immigration Bureau held a community outreach party last weekend.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2011

Kodansha International to close doors

Kodansha International Ltd., a leading English-language publisher of translated books on Japan, is closing down by the end of April, sources said Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 4, 2011

Kuriyama trades her blades for a song

She's died on screen almost as many times as she's killed. Western movie fans will know her as Gogo Yubari, the spiked-ball-and-chain-wielding schoolgirl who disembowels men for fun before crying tears of blood in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill: Vol. 1." In Japan, she's been an actress since the age...
COMMENTARY
Mar 1, 2011

'Horizontal mobility' staves off revolt in India

CHENNAI, India — Now that President Hosni Mubarak has finally relinquished power in Egypt and the military has taken control, the question in India is whether such a people's revolt can possibly happen there.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Feb 27, 2011

The actor, the Prince and the fan mail

British actor Ben Barnes shot to fame in 2008 with his portrayal of the then-Prince Caspian in "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," the second installment of the film adaption of author C.S. Lewis' classic seven-book series, "The Chronicles of Narnia."
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 27, 2011

Minding the gaps

During the Senkaku/Diaoyu imbroglio following the Sept. 7, 2010 collision between a Chinese trawler and a Japan Coast Guard patrol vessel off disputed islands of those names in the East China Sea, some NHK and Asahi reporters emphasized that the anti-Japanese demonstrations in China were not only or...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2011

Conscripted prisoners of the Russian Army

MOSCOW — Some of the most interesting artifacts of the Soviet Union in Russia are the holidays that continue to be celebrated, almost two decades after the fall of communism. On Feb. 23, Russians celebrated the "Day of the Defender of the Fatherland," a rough equivalent of Father's Day but with a militaristic...
Reader Mail
Feb 24, 2011

Dogs have a rich emotional life

I must beg to differ with Grant Piper's views expressed in his Feb. 20 letter. From my own observations and those of a number of respected authors, it is safe to say that many animals have a very rich emotional life and are capable of higher emotions such as empathy, sadness and joy. I dare say some...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 22, 2011

Latvian diplomat runs for closer ties

Latvian Ambassador Peteris Vaivars, 48, has been an avid marathon runner since he was posted to Japan five years ago. He has participated in the Tokyo Marathon for four consecutive years since the inaugural event in 2007 and is preparing for the fifth marathon to be held Sunday.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 20, 2011

Remember Takuboku: A model to rouse today's thwarted youth

Social change is a volcanic phenomenon. The first rumblings may not be widely seen or heard; then there is an eruption that takes society unawares. All of a sudden — or so it seems — a new generation with new needs and demands is born. Until that happens, society often outwardly appears placid, calm...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 19, 2011

Arsenal's win impressive, but work remains

LONDON — One of the beauties of football is that at times you simply cannot explain how something happens.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2011

ICRC operating between the lines

In July 2007, the Taliban took 23 South Korean missionaries hostage in Afghanistan and killed two of them.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 15, 2011

Secret funds shadowed by abuse

Paying ransom to win the release of kidnapped Japanese, buying off foreign dignitaries to reach backdoor deals and giving cash in exchange for secrets.
Reader Mail
Feb 13, 2011

Folly of widespread gun ownership

Regarding the Feb. 6 letters "Gun-control logic not so obvious" (by Jennifer Kim) and "What really affects crime rates?" (by Joseph Marriott), which were responses to my remarks on gun ownership and the recent Tucson massacre: Kim goes to great lengths to state the obvious — humans murder each other...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 12, 2011

A serving paints a thousand words

In Japan, food is not just food. It's art.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2011

Sumo-rigging born of necessity?

The sumo bout-fixing unearthed in seized cell phone texts points to a practice that, according to at least one expert, was born out of a need by young wrestlers to survive a short-lived career where the spoils at the top are elusive and the threat of demotion and loss of pay is ever-present.

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