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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 14, 2010

Pandas coming to Ueno part of bigger pattern

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government signed a deal with China in July to lease two giant pandas for 10 years for Ueno Zoo, which has been without a panda since the famous Ling Ling died in 2008.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Sep 14, 2010

Is racism coloring debate on Japanese whaling?

Following is a selection of readers' responses to the Aug. 17 Zeit Gist columns headlined "Racist undercurrents taint whaling rhetoric" by Dougal McNeill and "Appeals to culture, tradition ignore the historical facts" by Chris Burgess:
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Sep 10, 2010

Cost-cutting on refs big mistake by league

In its haste to expand at an alarming rate, the bj-league is proving that it is incapable of meeting the most basic standards of professionalism.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Sep 7, 2010

Readers offer their thoughts on jettisoning JET

Following are a selection of readers' responses to the July 27 Zeit Gist column headlined "Ex-students don't want JET grounded" by Eric Johnston and Kanako Nakamura:
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 5, 2010

What Japan must do now to survive the coming U.S. conflagration

It is no secret that the tectonic plates of the American empire are slipping dramatically, though the vast majority of Americans are blissfully unaware or in denial of what may soon occur.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 4, 2010

Breakfast problem with foreigners

When I started booking foreigners into the Japanese inns on our island, the minshuku owners all had the same fear: "We don't know how to make a Western breakfast!"
JAPAN / THE TROUBLE AT TOYOTA
Sep 3, 2010

Reportage seems source-biased

U.S. and Japanese media gave widespread but contrasting coverage of the sudden-acceleration accidents involving Toyota Motor Co. vehicles, mainly in North America, with accounts by victims and allegations of safety flaws getting greater play on the other side of the Pacific compared with a muted approach...
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE TROUBLE AT TOYOTA
Sep 3, 2010

Driver error findings valid: expert

The U.S. auto safety regulator's recent interim report that found driver error to be the probable cause of most of the sudden acceleration accidents it probed involving Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles confirms the warnings of an American psychologist and ergonomist that motorists failed to use the brakes....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 3, 2010

Lord of the 'Ring'

On Sept. 25, 2006, hundreds gathered in New York's Times Square to watch the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" on a jumbo screen. The Met, one of the world's most famous opera companies, was showing its opening night gala live to the general public for free....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 3, 2010

From 'Dawn of the Dead' to the live-and-kicking golden 'oldies'

Shu Matsui's innocent smile is familiar. He's always beaming on TV ads, whether he's plugging a washing softener, playing a gentle new father or promoting mobile phones in the guise of a young doctor. But if you were to see any production by Sample, the theater company Matsui founded in 2007, you'd be...
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2010

'Rakugo' pro crosses borders with humor

Humor, it is said, rarely crosses borders. Culture-specific references and ingrained social norms often mean jokes that leave audiences rolling in the aisles in the country of origin are greeted with puzzlement, incomprehension and even hostility when translated for foreign audiences.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 29, 2010

Saved by a few — and a fierce typhoon

In 1993, when large tracts of wilderness on the Kagoshima Prefecture island of Yakushima were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, environmentally minded observers the world over celebrated. But the real battle to save the island's forests had been fought — and won — a decade earlier. One of the...
JAPAN / Q&A
Aug 28, 2010

Shedding light on death penalty

Justice Minister Keiko Chiba, who will probably be replaced next month because she lost her Diet seat in the July 11 Upper House election, allowed journalists for the first time Friday to enter the Tokyo Detention House's execution chamber.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2010

Prada countersues plaintiff claiming harassment

A countersuit by the Japan unit of Italian fashion house Prada got under way in the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday against a former senior retail manager, demanding she pay ¥33 million for harming the firm's image by falsely claiming to the media that the firm engaged in sexual harassment.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2010

Business-Japanese proficiency test doomed by profit fall

A major business-Japanese language proficiency test for foreigners will be discontinued at the end of this fiscal year because the endeavor has remained unprofitable, the organizing body of the exam told The Japan Times on Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ASIA SEMINARS
Aug 19, 2010

Strikes at Japanese affiliates show lack of understanding the Chinese

Japanese companies need to have a better understanding of the rapidly changing popular sentiments in China and improve communication with workers at their affiliated plants in the country, veteran journalists from local Chinese newspapers said at a recent seminar in Tokyo.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ASIA SEMINARS
Aug 19, 2010

Growing Asia should still engage U.S.

The post-crisis geoeconomic trend threatens to create a division between Asia and the United States as Asian economies led by China continue to grow strong while the U.S. becomes more domestically focused, said Simon Tay, chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2010

When does transparency start eating its tail?

PRINCETON, N.J. — Transparency seems to be the word of the day in a wide array of policy domains. But is greater transparency always good?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 17, 2010

Appeals to culture, tradition ignore the historical facts

In the upcoming Australian general election, there is one issue that the major parties unanimously agree on: opposition to Japanese whaling. Voters are overwhelmingly antagonistic to whaling and Australian politicians have demonstrated an increasing willingness to listen to public opinion.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 17, 2010

Racist undercurrents taint whaling rhetoric

Sea Shepherd's Web site describes him as "the first New Zealander to be taken as a prisoner of war from the Southern Ocean to Japan," and there is no doubting Peter Bethune's popularity in this country. His trial in Tokyo earlier this year for interfering with Japan's annual whale hunt dominated New...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2010

Ginza Mitsukoshi renovations near completion

Ginza Mitsukoshi department store's longtime renovation project is nearing completion just as the department store industry faces tough times.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 13, 2010

Finding fun in Summer Sonic's odd lineup

In May, Japanese Web site Netallica reported that advance tickets for two of the big rock festivals, Fuji and Summer Sonic, were not moving. Both feature foreign artists, and Netallica implied that the latter added the grand old man of Japanese rock, Eikichi Yazawa, and best-selling J-pop hip-hop group...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2010

Aussie election going from bizarre to farcical

SYDNEY — The most bizarre election in Australia's history staggers into farce as voters go to the ballot boxes in what promises to be a knife-edge decision between a divided government party and an angry opposition.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2010

Screeners question if benefits outweigh the costs

Concerns are growing over the future of a public program to dispatch foreign teachers to Japanese public schools as a key administrative reform panel has urged the government-linked body that runs the program to drastically cut its overall budget.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 10, 2010

Makeup Japan-style: Dark to light

Makeup for many women is a vital component of their appearance and one they take great pains to apply, even to the point of dolling themselves up during the crowded morning commute, working through the routine starting with a foundation, then eyebrows, mascara and finally lip gloss.
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 8, 2010

Crumbling relics tell of life and death — and of rebirth, too

There's an area in Miyagi Prefecture called Kejonuma that's home to an arresting legend.
EDITORIALS
Aug 7, 2010

A needless tragedy

After receiving a complaint about a foul smell emanating from an apartment in Nishi Ward, Osaka, on July 30, the police went into the apartment and found the bodies of a 3-year-old girl and a 1-year-old boy. The 23-year-old mother of both children has been arrested. It is suspected that she left the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 1, 2010

Lee Ufan: Korean at the forefront of Japan's modern art

For the last several years, Benesse Art Site on the island of Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea has featured prominently in rankings of Japan's best tourist destinations.
BASKETBALL
Jul 31, 2010

Abdul-Rauf to return to Hannaryz

Former NBA guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf has agreed to terms of a contract for the 2010-11 season and will return to the Kyoto Hannaryz for a second season, the bj-league team announced on Friday.

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’