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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Oct 4, 2009

Mamoru Mohri: A spaceman speaks

When future historians document the story of Japanese space exploration, 2009 will likely figure as the year when the nation put two high-profile rocket launch failures, in 1999 and 2003, firmly behind it and, quite literally, took off.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 25, 2009

Observing the pieces of a fragmented self

From an overwhelming slew of art, literature, music, cinema and theater references, there seems to emerge a provisional feel for order in William Kentridge's filmic worlds: worlds created between the artist and spectators' activity in constructing narratives from discrete fragments. How this materializes...
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2009

Mercury danger in dolphin meat

SAPPORO — The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, as documented in the film "The Cove" has sparked an emotional international debate, with animal rights activists decrying the capture and slaughter as unnecessary and cruel, and those in Japan who defend the slaughter as both legally...
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2009

Ozawa set to be DPJ secretary general

Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan and prime minister in waiting, told reporters Thursday he will appoint DPJ acting President Ichiro Ozawa as secretary general, the No. 2 post of the party that now holds an overwhelming majority in the Lower House.
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2009

Yamaha failed to fix 'dangerous' ATV, U.S. jury told

Yamaha Motor Co. knew its Rhino all-terrain vehicle was "unreasonably dangerous" and failed to fix its design, an attorney for the family of a dead Texas teenager told jurors at the start of a trial this week. The company put profits before safety when it sold the machine as a cross between a golf cart...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Aug 20, 2009

Starting up Net portal for women turns into lifetime career choice

Kikuko Yano was searching for a job she could do her entire life, and found it in the Internet firm she started on her own.
BUSINESS
Jul 16, 2009

Kansai airport has worst June since '03

Kansai International Airport, Japan's second-busiest international gateway, had its biggest monthly drop in passengers since 2003 in June.
COMMENTARY
Jul 1, 2009

Tough to thwart North Korean arms exports

The cargo ship Kang Nam 1 has long been on a watch-list of North Korean vessels suspected of illicit trading. But it recently emerged from the shadows at the center of a cat-and-mouse game in Asian waters, tracked by U.S. warships, maritime reconnaissance planes and satellites under a United Nations...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2009

Farm consultant cultivates seeds of opportunity

The ranks of farmers, crop acreage and yields are all shrinking and Japan's food self-sufficiency rate remains one of the lowest among major developed nations.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 14, 2009

Brewers' Macha making most of second shot managing in majors

Take a look at the standings in the various divisions in Major League Baseball, and you will find the usual high-profile, big-market teams at or near the top.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2009

Samurai get put through paces

Anyone who knows anything about musicals knows they require endless rehearsals in order to be staged successfully. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers didn't just jump up and glide around a sound stage as the cameras rolled; they had to practice each step of those seemingly effortless dance routines over...
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2009

Tokyo office vacancies climbing

Tokyo's office vacancy rate rose to a four-year high in May as companies in the capital slashed spending and jobs.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 5, 2009

Striving for a more simple life

The paintings in "The Naxi Lifeworld: Native Painters in Northwestern Yunnan" by Zhang Yunling (b. 1955) and Zhang Chunting (b. 1958) proffer a simple and honest way of life, steeped in the seasons, nostalgia, and the pictographic Dongba script of the Naxi people of China's Yunnan and Sichuan provinces....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 29, 2009

Forget Michelin, it's a Pellegrino

This year's string of accolades hasn't affected the modesty of chef Yoshihiro Narisawa. After earning a star in the 2009 Michelin Guide, Les Creations de Narisawa debuted at no. 20 on San Pellegrino's list of best restaurants in the world. Selected by fellow chefs as well as food critics and other experts,...
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 8, 2009

Sweet wines starting to trickle out of Romania

Since ancient times, wave upon wave of foreign conquests have washed over Romania, changing — sometimes obliterating — parts of the region's cultural identity.
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2009

Russia applies a politically correct legality

MOSCOW — Colonel Yuri Budanov is a convicted rapist and murderer. After serving half his prison sentence for the rape and murder of an 18-year-old Chechen, Elsa Kungayeva, he was released last December.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 5, 2009

Mean streets feared under Tokyo's new safety law

Last month a group of activists called Dystopia Tokyo called a protest against what they described as a "Draconian" new city ordinance by conservative Gov. Shintaro Ishihara.
EDITORIALS
Apr 24, 2009

Tokyo by-law threatens freedoms

Street performances are fun for many people and give character to streets and communities such as Tokyo's Shibuya, Harajuku, Akihabara and Kichijoji areas. But now such activities may be restricted or banned due to a revision of the Tokyo metropolitan by-law for "the building of safe and secure communities,"...
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2009

JAL may seek DBJ funding as bond redemptions loom

Japan Airlines Corp., Asia's most indebted carrier, said Thursday it may seek funds from state-run Development Bank of Japan to repay debt as widening losses make it harder for the carrier to borrow from bond markets.
LIFE / CLOSE-UP
Apr 5, 2009

Hiroshi Mikitani: Retail revolutionary

On a bitterly cold mid-February day, in the midst of an even harsher economic climate, Hiroshi Mikitani — founder, president and CEO of one of Japan's largest online retailers, Rakuten Inc. — shook off a slight cold to announce at a concise news conference that in fiscal 2008 his company had achieved...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2009

JR bans smoking at Tokyo-area stations

April marks the beginning of the business year, and for Tokyo-area train stations, a breath of fresher air.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji