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Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 2, 2012

After 15 years, Mainali is a free man

Freed June 7 from 15 years' imprisonment for a murder he apparently never committed, Govinda Prasad Mainali declared himself full of gratitude. Speaking through his lawyer, he said, "Mujitsu, shinjitsu wo shinjite kureta saibankan ni deaete yokatta. Kansha no kimochi de ippai desu," (「無実、真実を信じてくれた裁判官に出会ってよかった。感謝の気持ちでいっぱいです"」"It's...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 1, 2012

Often-ignored immigration issue raised in new film

Several weeks ago, U.S. President Barack Obama said that he wants to allow younger undocumented immigrants who came to America as children to stay, and last week the Supreme Court struck down some provisions of Arizona's controversial law requiring police to check individuals they suspect of being in...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 1, 2012

Ryuichi Sakamoto reminds Japanese what's the score on nuclear blame

"Keeping silent after Fukushima is barbaric," is how composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto recently made clear his proactive stance toward Japan's ongoing nuclear disaster.
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2012

Mexicans ready for a change

There's no point in talking about who's going to win the Mexican presidential election on July 1. Enrique Pena Nieto is going to win it. What's more interesting is why he's going to win it.
COMMENTARY
Jun 26, 2012

Demographic threat shadows a world power

For the last two decades, demographics and its effect on Russian society and future development prospects have been at the center of discussions on that country.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jun 26, 2012

Social-media manager Lin Qing Xiang

Lin Qing Xiang, 33, is the social-media manager of the "The Ruby Alan Show" (also known as "The RA Show"), a video blog that explores both Singaporean and Japanese culture. Lin creates travelogues of his journeys around Japan and also films Japanese-culture events in Singapore. A die-hard fan, he loves...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 26, 2012

Japanese business isn't working: What would Shima do?

A Ponzi scheme. Alleged yakuza ties. Accounting scandals. Executive misuse of company funds for gambling. A record-breaking bankruptcy. Callous disregard of public health and safety.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jun 25, 2012

Irony of being in the company of '12-year-olds'

In going over my manuscript of the Yukio Mishima biography, my copy editor protested at one point, citing her "liberal Berkeley-influenced sensibilities." That was where I described Japan as a "backward nation." Let me explain.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jun 24, 2012

Over the top ambitions in Mukogaoka

The neighborhood of Mukogaoka — literally, "Yonder Hill" — huddles under clouds clustered like violet hydrangea blossoms the morning I arrive to explore.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 21, 2012

Japan also has stake in universal rights, says ex-Congo child soldier

Michel Chikwanine, a university student in Canada who was once a child soldier in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has suffered things no ordinary Japanese child will ever have to.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Jun 19, 2012

Greek outcome only step in right direction

The yen fell against the euro and Asian stocks rose after proausterity New Democracy won the national elections in Greece on Sunday, but pundits warned that it is too early for Japan to breathe a sigh of relief.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 17, 2012

Long journey home for a soldier-journalist

MARCH FORTH, by Trevor and Debbie Greene. Harper and Collins, 2012, 272 pp., $29.00 (hardcover) On March 4, 2006, a Canadian patrol led by Capt. Kevin Schamuhn was on security operations in the Gumbad Valley, in the Shah Wali Koi District, an area known to be a hotbed of Taliban activity. The patrol...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 17, 2012

Easy does it on Taketomi

Consulting a map of Okinawa, you might be forgiven for thinking that the Yaeyama Islands group comprises fragments of Japan and China that have become loosened and detached. It's an impression confirmed at every turn once you set foot on these remote littorals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 15, 2012

'Snow White & the Huntsman'

A classic Grimm Brothers fairy tale undergoes an intriguing overhaul in "Snow White & the Huntsman," a femme-centric, Gothic action thriller strewn with ravens' feathers and dripping with blood. Disney never put that sweet princess through such muck, but director Rupert Sanders has no qualms about...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 14, 2012

"Marc Chagall 2012: The Love Story"

Marc Chagall lived through the hardships of both world wars. Because of this life and his Belarusian-Russian-French roots, he moved many times — from Vitebsk in Belarus, where he grew up, to traveling between St. Petersburg, Berlin and Paris — until he was forced to flee German-occupied France for...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 14, 2012

An artistic way with words

"Shoichi Ida, Prints (1941-2006)" focuses on works bequeathed to The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, by the artist's studio and family. Though mostly forgotten today, Ida could count among his acquaintances such renowned artists as modernist painter Robert Rauschenberg and minimalist sculptor Carl...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 14, 2012

Rampant use and abuse of religious freedom

What are the proper limits of religious freedom? Marianne Thieme, leader of the Party for the Animals in the Netherlands, offers this answer: "Religious freedom stops where human or animal suffering begins."
BASKETBALL
Jun 13, 2012

Phoenix coach Kawai given one-year deal for 2012-13

Ryuji Kawai will return to the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix for a second season as head coach, the bj-league team announced on Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 13, 2012

Unraveling Aum's crimes

On June 3, the Metropolitan Police Department arrested former Aum Shinrikyo cult member Ms. Naoko Kikuchi, who was on the wanted list for her suspected involvement in the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system. She was living in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Jun 10, 2012

The Marshall Islands: Tropical idylls scarred like Tohoku

With all its American, European and Asian cultural influences, it's easy to forget that Japan is also an island nation in the Pacific.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jun 9, 2012

Chance for Hodgson to silence critics

When Roy Hodgson was unveiled as the new England manager a month ago, he admitted he would have to grow a thicker skin.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 9, 2012

Longtime Africa hand Kanbe fights to help preserve continent's wildlife

With his perfectly suntanned bald head and carefully trimmed white mustache, Shunpei Kanbe may remind some people of a lion tamer, or maybe an explorer from the Belle Epoque.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 8, 2012

'My House' takes Tsutsumi home

"Auteur" is not the first word that leaps to mind to describe Yukihiko Tsutsumi. In a directing career that began with a segment of the 1988 comedy anthology "Bakayaro! I'm Plenty Mad," the prolific Tsutsumi has made films in a variety of genres — mystery/thriller ("Spec: The Movie"), dystopian fantasy...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 7, 2012

Nagasawa quiets down for 'Seven'

Some musicians simply ooze self-confidence. They walk into the room like they own it, flashing a smile that instantly melts a thousand hearts. But Tomoyuki Nagasawa is not one of those musicians.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 5, 2012

Much ado, but micro-important

A few weeks ago, as a panelist at a symposium on Japan's accession to the Hague Convention on international child abduction, I found it hard to disguise my ire. One of the speakers was a lawyer opposed to Japan joining the convention, and who refused to even use "abduction" to discuss what she called...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jun 5, 2012

Guestists, Haters, the Vested: Apologists take many forms

Last month's column on "microaggressions" was my most debated yet. Thanks for reading and commenting.
EDITORIALS
Jun 4, 2012

Married women want to work

Married women want to work, according to a government survey that will form the basis for a 2012 white paper on children, child rearing and mothers. The survey results, released early, show an astounding 86 percent of women want to continue working after having children, though most find it almost impossible...

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic