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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 Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2011

'Chatroom'

Speaking strictly from a J-cinema fan/patriot point of view, "Chatroom" is a cause for celebration. It's set in London, stars some of the brightest young talent in the United Kingdom, centers around the timely topic of social networking — and the whole thing is directed by Japanese horror meister Hideo...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 18, 2011

Plan for 36-team league rejected by JBA board

It's back to the drawing board for the Japan Basketball Association.
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2011

Beijing's likely lesson? Ratchet up repression

HONG KONG — China, which has been obsessed with political stability ever since it called out its army to crush a massive albeit peaceful protest in Beijing 22 years ago, is likely to step up repressive tactics against its population in the wake of the toppling of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak after...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 11, 2011

Golden Kings are first team with radio deal

Kudos to the Ryukyu Golden Kings for taking a big step forward, partnering with Radio Okinawa (864 AM) to offer live broadcasts of the team's 12 remaining home games this season.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 21, 2011

Hill, Blackwell poised for All-Star Game clash

Coaches with contrasting careers will lead their respective conferences during the bj-league's 2010-11 All-Star Game on Sunday in Osaka.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2011

'Gantz'

Films about murder games of various sorts have become a popular Japanese-movie subgenre, beginning with the ultra-violent Kinji Fukasaku hit "Battle Royale" (2000) and continuing with the even more successful "Death Note" trio of films (2006-2008) — though the "game" in the latter was more of a battle...
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2011

Rise of fiscal reformist Yosano good sign for debt

Prime Minister Naoto Kan's decision to bring former Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano into his Cabinet signals a return to fiscal reforms that helped send benchmark bond yields to a seven-year low last August.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 9, 2011

Adoor: India's master storyteller of the silver screen

ADOOR GOPALAKRISHNAN: A Life in Cinema. The Authorized Biography, by Gautaman Bhaskaran. Penguin, 2010, 281 pp. (hardcover) Celebrating the centenary of Akira Kurosawa last year, Donald Richie, the noted writer on Japanese films, observed that Kurosawa believed that he existed only through his films....
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 9, 2011

Remembering when 'Larry King Live' came to Tokyo

It is sad and somewhat lonely not seeing the "Larry King Live" program on CNN. The 77-year-old suspendered one retired at the end of 2010 after 25 years and thousands of interviews on what was arguably the most well known talk show on TV; a program that enjoyed immense popularity in the U.S. and around...
Reader Mail
Jan 6, 2011

Thin-skinned 'Christophobia' reeks

In the Dec. 30 letter, "Overbearing demand on Christmas," Usman Makhdoom bemoans The Japan Times' decision to run Kevin Rafferty's Dec. 24 op-ed article, "A thought for the holy day" (about the religious meaning of Christmas). Why does Makhdoom label it "overbearing" and a "rant"?
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 12, 2010

Era of American managers in NPB finished for now

Flash back to 2007. One-third of the teams in Japanese pro baseball (including half the Pacific League clubs) had American managers. There was Marty Brown with the Hiroshima Carp, Terry Collins leading the Orix Buffaloes, Trey Hillman guiding the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and Bobby Valentine at the...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 28, 2010

Trans-Pacific Partnership for a cheaper bowl of beef and rice

The APEC summit in Yokohama earlier this month was a key event by any standard. Leaders of 21 countries came to discuss how to integrate the world's most dynamic region in terms of trade.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 26, 2010

Marshall the catalyst for Shiga's quick start

Under first-year coach Takatoshi Ishibashi the Shiga Lakestars have emerged as a dangerous, difficult-to-beat team.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 19, 2010

Defense helping Oita in Hepp's first season

First-year coach L.J. Hepp has steered the Oita HeatDevils into a solid position through 10 games.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2010

Jack Seward, leading expert on Japan, dies

Jack Seward, a U.S. Army veteran and Japan expert who served under Gen. Douglas MacArthur's staff command during the Allied Occupation, died Nov. 10 in Houston. He was 86.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 14, 2010

The swashbuckling Scotsman who helped build modern Japan

A character in J. M. Coetzee's "Summertime" states, "Of course we are all fictioneers. I do not deny that. But which would you rather have: a set of independent reports from a range of independent perspectives, from which you can then try to synthesize a whole; or the massive, unitary self-projection...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 12, 2010

Parity keeps things interesting early in the season

A few trends have emerged in the season's opening month.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 5, 2010

'Genpin'/'Umareru (To Be Born)'

The pain of childbirth, Genesis says, is God's punishment for the original sin of womankind — if only Eve hadn't given Adam that apple! But in Japan, traditionalists contend, it's to be embraced, not lamented, since the deeper the agony, the deeper the motherly love. So hold the epidurals, please,...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Oct 22, 2010

Pavlicevic pleased with Susanoo Magic's start

The expansion Shimane Susanoo Magic can place a check mark next to the first item on their to-do list.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 10, 2010

Of villains and poets

Divided into five sections, the American poet and translator Taylor Mignon's first solo collection of poetry begins with his "Juvenilia."
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2010

China debates economy, while U.S. tempts disaster

HONG KONG — The world's financial leaders are gathering in Washington this weekend for crucial annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Never has the world so needed leadership, imagination and creative thinking, yet never has it been so lacking, with leaders sticking their...
Reader Mail
Oct 3, 2010

Silly proposal for Okinawa's future

Regarding Peter Sidell's Sept. 23 letter, "Let Okinawa become independent": I often wonder when reading commentary like this whether the people writing them have actually been to Okinawa, or whether they're just using a chance to take the moral high ground and take an ideological swipe at American "imperialism."...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Oct 2, 2010

Takushi signs on with Albirex

Naoto Takushi, considered one of the top Japanese point guards since the bj-league was established, will play for his third team in as many seasons in 2010-11.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Sep 28, 2010

Building a world without barriers, borders

One afternoon in the mid-1980s, Hiroko Kimura was taking a rest from sightseeing on a park bench in Adelaide, southern Australia. As she was enjoying the warm sunshine, she spotted the words "Japs go home" carved into the wood. This was the height of the bubble years and Kimura was aware that some people...
Reader Mail
Sep 26, 2010

Export tack has run long enough

Regarding the Sept. 19 editorial "Long battle in currency markets": For at least 20 years we have heard the argument from Japan's government and media that Japan must be allowed to intervene in currency markets to cheapen the yen vis-a-vis other major currencies, such as the dollar and euro. The Japanese...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Sep 17, 2010

Teams start preseason after flurry of moves

After four months of nonstop offseason activity, bj-league teams have started playing preseason exhibition games.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami