Search - 2013

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 13, 2014

The long, bone-chilling gaze of new director Ayumi Sakamoto

Directors have various ways of communicating in interviews — beyond the usual talking points, that is. Koji Fukada drew me geometrical diagrams to explain the intertwining relationships in his coming-of-age drama "Hotori no Sakuko (Au Revoir l'Ete)." Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki sketched me...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 13, 2014

Female anxiety shot from every angle

The Japanese film industry used to be like much of the rest of Japanese society: male-centered and male-run. It made plenty of movies about women and for women, but their directors were all men. That began to change when Naomi Kawase won a Cannes Camera d'Or prize in 1997 for her first feature, "Moe...
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2014

Japan paid ¥380 million in compensation for accidents by U.S. military personnel

Over the past decade, Japan has ponied up a hefty sum to help compensate victims of accidents caused by U.S. military personnel or civilian employees.
EDITORIALS
Aug 13, 2014

Convictions, not justice, in Cambodia

A show trial of former Khmer Rouge members may offer some fleeting relief in Cambodia, but the crimes committed there some four decades ago demand more.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Aug 13, 2014

Past victimhood blinds Japan to present-day racial discrimination

Until Japan gets over itself and accepts that racialization processes are intrinsic to every society, it will never resolve its constant and unwarranted exceptionalism.
BUSINESS
Aug 13, 2014

Sumitomo joins Goldman in expecting the aluminum market to swing into a deficit

The global aluminum market will swing into a deficit this year for the first time since 2006 as cuts in output deepen and demand from automakers grows, according to trading house Sumitomo Corp.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 13, 2014

Obama adviser Axelrod fires back at Clinton over 'stupid stuff' remarks

President Barack Obama's longtime political adviser fired back at Hillary Clinton over her recent criticism of the commander-in-chief's foreign policy doctrine of avoiding messy entanglements.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2014

How vodka limits hastened the USSR's demise

When the Soviet Union finally disintegrated at the end of 1991, Boris Yeltsin, the new Russian leader, decided not to repeat Mikhail Gorbachev's error of restricting access to vodka. Some say it was Gorbachev's sober way of life — and his attempt to impose it on his countrymen — that makes Russians dislike him in retrospect.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 12, 2014

Chi-na aims to win fans over one step at a time

For many musicians, dreams of success take the form of a big break: perhaps a major label record contract, a lucrative tour deal or a barnstorming festival set. However, a quick fix isn't the style of Tokyo indie quintet Chi-na, who is gradually growing in stature through a steady process of connecting...
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 12, 2014

EU officials seek to limit impact of Russia's food import ban

European Union regulators on Monday began analyzing, product by product, the impact of a Russian ban on EU food imports and agreed on emergency measures to support peach and nectarine growers in what they described as a "signal of intent."
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2014

Only 7.4 percent of Japanese companies have female leader

Fewer than one in 14 Japanese companies has a female president, a survey has shown, and more than half of the women inherited the role from a relative.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2014

Impact of a vodka glass on history

Toward the start of the 1970s, the Soviet government realized there was nothing it could do about the supposedly enthusiastic 'builders of communism' imbibing huge quantities of vodka. Hence, the Soviet government figured it might as well make more money off the habit.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 11, 2014

Hillary Clinton criticizes Obama's foreign policy

Distancing herself from President Barack Obama's foreign policy, potential 2016 U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said in an interview Sunday that the U.S. decision not to intervene early in the Syrian civil war was a "failure."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech / ADVANCES IN PROGRESS
Aug 11, 2014

Future appears bright for indoor veggie farms

A 1,260-sq.-meter factory in Kashiwanoha, Chiba Prefecture, is kept extremely clean, shutting out external air because it affects product quality, and workers wear clean-room suits and take a warm shower before entering the facility.
BASKETBALL
Aug 10, 2014

Japan falls to 0-2 in William Jones Cup

The Japan men's national basketball team dropped its first two games at the 36th annual William Jones Cup tournament in Taipei over the weekend.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Aug 10, 2014

Mickelson climbs into contention for PGA Championship title

Phil Mickelson birdied four of his last five holes Saturday to put himself in contention for his sixth major title, shooting a 4-under 67 that left him three shots behind leader Rory McIlroy at the PGA Championship.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Aug 9, 2014

In Japan's social-gaming space, one monster hit can be all it takes

Social-game apps on smartphones have become a massive market, and every year another new mega-hit game emerges with players in the multimillions. The games themselves are usually free to play, but staggering profits generated by optional in-game purchases have made the makers of these apps extremely...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 9, 2014

Ishikawa perseveres with Swallows

On a somewhat muggy Friday night in Yokohama, Masanori Ishikawa strode to the center of the diamond at Yokohama Stadium, bent down and bounced the rosin bag around in his hand a few times — seemingly every pitch later that night was accompanied by a puff of white — and proceeded to make his 20th...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND
Aug 8, 2014

Once state support ends, life is difficult to navigate

The main reason youths are placed in children's institutions is abuse and neglect, but experts say society knows little about the situations these children face.
EDITORIALS
Aug 8, 2014

Food safety without borders

Recent revelations that a food maker in Shanghai supplied fast-food and retail chains, including some in Japan, with expired and moldy meat came as another reminder that the issue of food safety does not stop at national borders.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 8, 2014

Snowden receives three-year Russian residence permit

Former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, wanted by the United States for leaking extensive secrets of its electronic surveillance programs, has been given a three-year residence permit by Russia, his Russian lawyer said on Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND
Aug 7, 2014

Foster parent shortage takes growing toll on children

Veteran foster parent Mika Hobbs was surprisingly frank when she confessed how nerve-racking her job can be.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 7, 2014

The robots return in 'Transformers: Age of Extinction'

Filmmaker Michael Bay thinks there's something interesting about Japanese samurai that sets them apart from English knights.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 7, 2014

Daigoji Temple celebrates its collection

World Heritage Site, Daigoji Temple, was founded on the summit of Mount Kasatori in southeastern Kyoto when the monk Rigen Daishi Shobo (832-909) is said to have discovered a spring from which flowed the "ultimate taste, representing the highest state of Buddhist wisdom." From 876, he had produced statues...

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