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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Apr 26, 2014

Spring greening in Koganei

It’s time to bask in sunshine, birdsong, and blossom-filled breezes. Koganei Park, situated at the center of the Tokyo metropolis, looks like the ideal spot for such a “spring-gasm.” The JR Chuo express train whisks me from Yotsuya to Musashi-Koganei in less than 30 minutes, and I alight with glee....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 26, 2014

'Granta' opens a window into Japanese literature

With such a piddling amount of Japanese fiction finding its way into English translation each year, you learn to make the most of what you can get. So when this year's Tokyo International Literary Festival marked the launch of not one, but two compendia of Japan-related writing, it felt like an embarrassment of riches. In addition to the latest issue of 'Monkey Business,' the annual journal edited by veteran translators Motoyuki Shibata and Ted Goossen, the festival welcomed the arrival of a Japan-themed issue of the British quarterly, 'Granta,' released simultaneously in English and Japanese.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 26, 2014

The Sacred Science of Ancient Japan: Lost Chronicles of the Age of the Gods

Every religion or collection of national myths requires a great deal of editing. Some texts are selected as 'official,' others are discarded. A by-product of this is the world of apocrypha, mysterious manuscripts that, it is claimed, contain esoteric insights or divine revelations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 26, 2014

xxxHolic Omnibus 1

This 554 page monster combines the first three volumes of the seinen (young men's) manga 'xxxHolic' by the all-female artist collective known as Clamp, who apparently created this series to tie in with their other works, such as 'Tsubasa' and 'Cardcaptor Sakura' — both of which have characters and plot lines that cross over here.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Apr 26, 2014

Palmer helping NBL players push for progress

Returning to the city where his pro basketball career was launched in 1990, Walter Palmer maintains deep convictions that a players union is a vital element for any league craving for legitimacy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Apr 25, 2014

My little pork industry can't be this cute: 'Pig Farm' and 'Slaughterhouse' smartphone games

Vegetarians may take offense, but the creators of the pig butchering game encourage eaters to give proper thanks for their pork.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 25, 2014

Bill Granger's reciprocal love affair with Tokyo eating

Over the past few years, several American-style pancake joints — Eggs n' Things and Cafe Kaila, for example — have washed up on Tokyo's shores. Now, the tide is going the other direction.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 24, 2014

'Soko Nomi Nite Hikari Kagayaku (The Light Shines Only There)'

Japan's image overseas might have a funhouse aspect, but even many outlanders who live here only get a selective view of the place, since their Japanese colleagues and friends mostly come from the educated, middle-class stratum of society and live more or less stable, law-abiding lives.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Apr 24, 2014

College students' savings habits indicate anxiety about the future

In the last 10 years student savings has increased by 80 percent.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 23, 2014

China won't swallow 'bitter pill' of ceding sovereign rights: military official

China will not "swallow the bitter pill" of ceding its sovereign rights to others, a senior military official told foreign naval leaders Wednesday, as the country takes an increasingly assertive approach to guarding its maritime territory.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 23, 2014

In a world of pretense, are Japanese just more honest about lying?

The net sum of lying may be similar in Japan and America, but in their acceptance of life exigencies, the Japanese may be more realistic, more charitable and forgiving about the role that deception plays in our social relations.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 23, 2014

Satellite images show North Korea nuke test unlikely

North Korea is unlikely to be ready to stage a nuclear test timed to coincide with U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Asia, a respected think tank said on Wednesday, based on its assessment of satellite imagery.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 23, 2014

PUK's children's puppet shows suspend disbelief for all ages

Parents around the capital seeking entertainment options for young children over the next several weeks could do a lot worse than check out Puppet Theater PUK, where old and new stories will come to life in the hands of seasoned puppeteers.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 23, 2014

Best to approach Gursky's photos with a painterly eye

The invention of photography was supposed to bring about the death of painting.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 23, 2014

Ukraine president calls for new offensive in east as crisis deal falters

Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, called Tuesday for government forces to relaunch an offensive against pro-Russian rebels after a local politician from his own party was found dead with signs of torture.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 21, 2014

China steps up purge of online porn amid wider censorship push

China has shut down more than 100 websites carrying pornography and closed thousands of accounts on social media sites in an renewed effort to clean up the Internet, state media reported.
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Apr 20, 2014

'STAPgate' shows Japan must get back to basics in science

On Jan. 30, as NHK kicked off its evening news program with upbeat music, footage aired of a young woman with immaculately coiffed brown hair wearing pearl earrings and her trademark "kappogi," a Japanese-style white apron.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2014

Military risks China's wrath with first step west in 40 years

Japan on Saturday began its first military expansion at the western end of its island chain in more than 40 years, breaking ground on a radar station on a tropical island off Taiwan.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 20, 2014

Damascus refugees face starvation

The desperate residents of a besieged district of Damascus were expected to run out of food on Sunday, leaving 18,000 people facing starvation and leading relief agencies to declare the crisis "unprecedented in living memory."
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 20, 2014

Cancer's 'miracle patients' studied for disease clues

The history of oncology is rife with reports of patients with advanced cancer who staged miraculous recoveries. Now scientists are starting to use sophisticated DNA sequencing technology to determine if these "exceptional responders" carry gene variations that can lead to new treatment approaches, better...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Apr 20, 2014

To teach to test or for communication — or both?

Which is more important: to communicate in a second language or to test well?
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 2014

Why not teach students what's going on now?

Who do textbook publishers think it's smart to start a fourth-grade history textbook with prehistoric humans who lived 10,000 years ago? Why not begin by teaching students what's going on now?
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 19, 2014

Dresden cashes in on German unification

American novelist Kurt Vonnegut, a prisoner of war in Dresden during World War II, has a scene in "Slaughterhouse Five" where time-traveling hero Billy Pilgrim sees the city's firebombing in reverse, with phosphorous bombs sucked back into warplanes.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 19, 2014

Can a solo career help a mascot stand out?

Several weeks ago Fuji TV's morning news show sent a reporter to the Gunma Prefecture "antenna shop" located across the street from the Kabukiza theater in Tokyo's Ginza district. The store, which sells products made in Gunma, pays ¥64 million a year in rent for the small two-floor space, and an independent...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 19, 2014

Carp roster built to contend for title in 2014

There is excitement in Hiroshima where the Carp are off to a nice start in the Central League pennant race.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 18, 2014

GSDF to militarize remote Yonaguni

The government is sending 100 Ground Self-Defense Force members and radar to its western-most outpost, a tropical island off Taiwan, in a deployment that risks angering China with ties between Asia's biggest economies already hurt by a dispute over nearby islets they both claim.
LIFE / Digital
Apr 18, 2014

Who's to blame for the Web's Heartbleed?

Were you a thriller writer seeking a name for an apocalyptic software security flaw that threatened the future of civilization as we know it, then "Heartbleed" would be hard to beat. Last week saw the discovery of such a flaw, and Heartbleed was the name assigned to it.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 17, 2014

China subverts Hong Kong bid for Tiananmen Square museum

A planned museum dedicated to China's brutal crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests has run into a legal challenge in Hong Kong that some say is motivated by Communist Party interests ahead of the event's 25th anniversary.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear