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Japan Times
JAPAN
May 22, 2013

Osaka takes plunge with canal pool

If an Osaka company has its way, getting roaring drunk and jumping, or falling, into Dotonbori Canal after either a Hanshin Tigers victory or a wild night out in neighboring Shinsaibashi will be less risky, healthwise, but it will no longer be free.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
May 22, 2013

Cracked cellphone screens become the latest youth status symbol

Brittany Lofton spots them all the time: teens and college students clutching their beat-up cellphones, with screens so cracked that spider-web-like patterns creep across the glass.
EDITORIALS
May 22, 2013

Recovery only benefiting a few

The Cabinet Office on May 16 announced that Japan's real gross domestic product (GDP) in the January-March period increased 0.9 percent, or an annualized 3.5 percent, from the previous quarter.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
May 21, 2013

Postal symbol

Dear Alice,
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 20, 2013

Product names show language creativity at work

Recently I was asked to write a blurb for a new liquid plant-nutrient. As soon as I saw the name of the product, u65e9u6839u65e9u8d77 uff08Hayane Hayaoki), I smiled at this example of linguistic creativity.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 19, 2013

Surviving dangerous encounters

In "The Lion's Game" (2000) and "The Lion" (2010), Nelson DeMille's character NYPD Detective John Corey battles and defeats Asad Khalil, a brilliant Libyan terrorist who infiltrates the U.S. to extract revenge for the deaths of family members killed in a U.S. air raid on Tripoli.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 19, 2013

Family drama is reimagined for today's Japan

"Kazoku Game (The Family Game)," directed by the late Yoshimitsu Morita and released in 1983, remains a movie milestone. A cynical black comedy, it presented to the world a distillation of the less edifying social outcomes of Japan's postwar economic miracle. The Numata family are invaded by a private...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 18, 2013

Minds traumatized by disaster heal themselves

One of the largest earthquakes ever recorded hit on Boxing Day 2004. The resulting tsunami devastated huge swaths of the Indian Ocean coastline and left an estimated quarter of a million people dead across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. Aid agencies quickly arrived to help battered and traumatised...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 17, 2013

Flamenco queen shares 'Utopia'

Sitting in an interview room at the Bunkamura cultural complex in Tokyo's Shibuya district, Maru00eda Pagu00e9s leans forward, smiles and tells me: 'Flamenco is my language.'
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 17, 2013

Enhancing Japan's strengths, remedying its weaknesses

Japanese society is beset with some regrettable weak points. It must find ways to remedy those, bolster its strengths and enhance global 'Japanability.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 16, 2013

Thaemlitz's mix tackles antidancing law

It's fitting that I should be meeting Terre Thaemlitz on May 1, International Workers' Day — she wryly refers to herself as a "feminist Marxist" before we begin our interview in proper.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 16, 2013

'The Shibakawa Collection: Tribute to a Patron of Aoki Shigeru, Kishida Ryusei and Others'

During the late1800s, westernization in Japan brought about a new art style — yōga, for which Japanese artists emulated western conventions and techniques, inspired in particular by European painters.
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
May 14, 2013

Interleague schedule will pit PL hurlers against Blanco

On a bright day earlier this season, Tony Blanco wrapped up batting practice and headed back to the Yokohama BayStars clubhouse after sending a litany of balls all over — and a few out of — Yokohama Stadium.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 13, 2013

Is missile defense useful?

As Japan pours huge sums of taxpayer money into its missile defense system, the SDF is functioning more like a subcontractor for the U.S. armed forces.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2013

New digital divide threatens economic growth

The struggle by several developing countries to upgrade digital connectivity means they are losing out on the social-economic rewards of IT infrastructure.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2013

Problems with figuring poor countries' GDP cloud judgments about which policies work

Since we can't be sure whether one poor country's GDP is higher than another's, we should not use GDP alone to determine which policies lead to growth.
WORLD
May 11, 2013

GOP boycott blocks EPA nominee

For the second time in as many days, Republicans in the Senate blocked committee action to confirm a nominee to President Barack Obama's Cabinet, this time by boycotting a Thursday vote on his pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
May 11, 2013

Head of international short film festival finds fertile ground up north

Toshiya Kubo consistently gravitates to the peripheral. As a teenager, while his friends rushed to buy Beatles records, Kubo searched for lesser-known musicians; the mainstream in media flocked to Tokyo while Kubo preferred Hokkaido, the prefecture of his birth; producers look toward feature films as...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
May 10, 2013

You don't need to be a pro to enjoy tasting and pairing sake

For those new to sake, learning to distinguish the subtle nuances in the flavor of various brews can feel like a daunting task. When evaluating sake, professionals consider the balance of sweetness and acidity, the body and the finish, in addition to the drink's specific aromas and flavors. Having judged...
CULTURE / Music / JAZZ NOTES
May 9, 2013

Female jazz acts are the real Cool Japan

One of the highlights of my Golden Week this year was a concert by the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Jazz Orchestra at Blue Note in Tokyo. Reuniting her big band for the first time in a decade, Akiyoshi rolled back the clock with a superb set and some witty banter. The high point of the Sunday night...
Japan Times
WORLD / EU SPECIAL 2013
May 9, 2013

EU Film Days returns for 11th edition, including a work from Croatia

EU Film Days, which has been one of the most popular events during the annual EU-Japan Friendship Week, introduces selected works of cinema from EU nations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 9, 2013

'World Architecture School Harvard GSD Platform 5'

Though largely revered for its law school, Harvard University offers students of many fields an Ivy League education that has attracted top students from all over the world. In architecture, the Harvard Graduate School of Design provides unparalleled teaching, which has resulted in an impressive alumni...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 9, 2013

'Yokote Sadami Exhibition'

This is part five of the Nagasaki Prefecture Museum's "Art of Nagasaki" series of exhibitions, and it introduces the work of Western-style painter Sadami Yokote (1899-1931).
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 8, 2013

Anshu Jain brings Deutsche Bank to world as client's man

Twelve days into his job as co-CEO of Deutsche Bank AG, Anshu Jain stood beside Germany's finance minister and in front of video images of lush forests and rolling rivers as hundreds of businessmen sang the national anthem.
JAPAN
May 8, 2013

Kyoto's cultural treasures at mercy of Fukui reactors

Each spring, thousands of tourists visit the ancient capital of Kyoto to enjoy what, for many, is the quintessential Japanese experience of viewing cherry blossoms in the cradle of the nation's traditional culture.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 8, 2013

USAF general's promotion blocked over her dismissal of sex-assault verdict

An air force general has run afoul of Congress for granting clemency to a convicted sex offender without any public explanation, the latest case to raise fundamental questions about how the military justice system handles sex crimes.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb