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Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 3, 2011

Chelsea's season in jeopardy

Roman Abramovich is unlikely to have been particularly bothered by Chelsea's exit from the Carling Cup at the hands of Liverpool. The competition remains fourth on the list of Stamford Bridge priorities, but elimination next week from the Champions League, the Russian's Holy Grail, could see the twitchiest...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 2, 2011

'50/50' / '30 Minutes or Less'

Hey, did you hear the one about my metastatic tumor? Comedy and cancer may mix about as well as champagne and toilet cleaner, but along comes the film "50/50" to attempt just that.
Reader Mail
Dec 1, 2011

Just deserts of the Ichihashi flick

Regarding the Nov. 25 article "(Tatsuya) Ichihashi book on life on lam to be made into flick": An honorable thing to do would be to have the proceeds from the film contributed toward a memorial to the young woman whose life he took.
Reader Mail
Dec 1, 2011

Olympus scandal is no surprise

I recently read an editorial in The Japan Times contemplating the damage that the Olympus scandal could have not only on the company itself but on the reputation of Japan Inc.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 29, 2011

Readers' tales: Beginnings, terrifying journeys and terrible ends

We asked readers to share their scariest experience or top spooky tale for a chance to win a Haunted Tokyo Tour or book of short stories. Here are the winning entries:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 25, 2011

'Les Amants du Flore'

Boy meets girl. They fall in love and decide to hook up — for the rest of their lives. But how can they make sure that the flame never dies? Twentieth-century philosopher couple Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir dug into the problem and came up with a few codes of behavior. 1.) Never get married....
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 22, 2011

Last trial brings dark Aum era to end

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by condemned killer Seiichi Endo, lowering the curtain on the trials over the cult's heinous crimes, which began in the 1980s and culminated in the 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 20, 2011

'1Q84': What I write about when I write about writing

1Q84: Books One and Two, by Haruki Murakami. Translated by Jay Rubin. Harvill Secker, 2011, 624 pp., £20.00 (hardcover). 1Q84: Book Three, by Haruki Murakami. Translated by Philip Gabriel, Harvill Secker, 2011, 368 pp., £14.99 (hardcover) Haruki Murakami's new novel may triangulate three pieces of...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 19, 2011

Fallen soldiers' kin visit Saipan to meet U.S. vet

Relatives of Japanese victims of World War II in Aichi Prefecture visited Saipan to meet a U.S. veteran in October.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 19, 2011

Blatter's remark on racism utterly unacceptable

It was not a slip of the tongue. He was not, as he claimed, misunderstood. Sepp Blatter, who sadly is still the president of FIFA, does not make such mistakes. Despite coming out with the ramblings of an idiot, Blatter is intelligent, a former lawyer who re-invented football politics.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2011

Cesium fallout widespread

Radioactive cesium from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant probably reached as far as Hokkaido, Shikoku and the Chugoku region in the west, according to a recent simulation by an international research team based on data after March 20, a week after the hydrogen explosions.
Reader Mail
Nov 17, 2011

Blithe rhetoric toward disaster

I must condemn the Nov. 10 Washington Post article by Nicholas Eberstadt, "Five myths about global population," in the strongest language possible for its irresponsible position on the problem of the burgeoning human population. Such bland denial of the wolf that is at everyone's door borders upon insanity....
COMMENTARY
Nov 16, 2011

Methane time bomb is ticking

Scientific research shows that the need for resolute action to curb global warming from fossil fuel burning is become increasingly urgent. Yet policymakers in Japan and many other countries find it more difficult to take the necessary measures because they are costly and unpopular with many voters.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 13, 2011

Will trickle-down class discrimination rob Britain of what's so great?

Britain may be broken, but London is hot. A recent trip to the city exhilarated me.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 13, 2011

Creating a future for Japan's aging society

Japan is an elderly country. Twenty-three percent of its population is 65 or over. By 2050, nearly 40 percent will be. Nothing like these demographics has ever been seen before, here or anywhere. This is well-known and much discussed, usually in terms of the grim implications for an enfeebled economy...
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 13, 2011

In the wake of the Vikings

At both its western and eastern extremes some 10,700 km apart in France and the Russian Far East respectively, the great, fused supercontinent of Eurasia breaks into fragments, into not quite matching fringes of islands.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 8, 2011

'My children are my everything — the reason I'm alive'

On Bruce Gherbetti's right forearm, the names of his three lost children are permanently inscribed in a swirling script of dark blue tattoo ink.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 5, 2011

Refusal, disposal, separation . . . exasperation

Japan is fond of buzzwords and perhaps one of the buzziest of the last two years has been the term "danshari."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 4, 2011

'Suteki na Kanashibari (Once In a Blue Moon/A Ghost of a Chance)'

Koki Mitani is Japan's most successful comedy writer and director, with a long string of hit plays, TV dramas and films to his credit, most recently "The Uchoten Hoteru (Suite Dreams)" and "The Magic Hour."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 4, 2011

'Free Wheels East'

If you were a strapping, handsome, able-bodied youth just out of university, what would be your next step? Back in the late 20th century, young men chose professions such as investment banking or financial consultation, and diligently went about getting their MBAs. Remember those days of multiple degrees...
CULTURE / Film
Nov 4, 2011

Tokyo film fest shuns controversy

The 24th edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival ended on Sunday, after nine days and 128 films, without any major mishaps or controversies. This was a disappointment to one journalist friend: "A good film festival invites controversy," she told me at the closing party. "TIFF hates it."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 1, 2011

Schizophrenic Constitution leaves foreigners' rights mired in confusion

Pop quiz: Who live in palatial homes in fashionable Tokyo neighborhoods but are subject to various forms of discrimination, have no family registry, can't vote and have limited constitutional rights?
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 30, 2011

PS: 'I love Japan.' And Japan loves Paul Smith, it seems

"Hold on," says the British designer who launched a thousand stripes, reaching awkwardly into the back of the crisp white shirt he is wearing.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Oct 25, 2011

Hiroshima-area family roots inspire Canadian film director

When Linda Ohama, a third-generation Japanese-Canadian, heard the news about the earthquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region on March 11, she says she was "very shocked" and felt a strong urge to do something for the people there — especially the children.
Reader Mail
Oct 23, 2011

Save now, pay later

In response to the Oct. 19 article "Our children's future no longer looks so bright," surely, the young people whom the burden should be placed on are those very people who become the elderly. At least, that's how I've been structuring my life for the last 30 years.
JAPAN / Media
Oct 23, 2011

Pele's message of solidarity in Tohoku

In world sports, there are few names more iconic than that of Brazilian soccer legend Pele.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 21, 2011

'Heartbreaker'

You can take a French boy out of France, but you can't take France out of the French boy. Usually — but this time, the formula doesn't apply, because nifty French romance "Heartbreaker" has all the trappings à la Française but ends up being a glossily plasticized Hollywood-style product.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Oct 18, 2011

Greenthumb plants 'kolonihave' seed

Jens Jensen makes almost anything he needs for his weekend life from scratch, from a doorknob to a window frame to a small wooden hut.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 16, 2011

Irabu's impact on MLB-NPB relations profound

Hideki Irabu, once considered to be one of the best pitchers in the world, is dead, in what has been adjudged to be a suicide in late July.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 16, 2011

Break on through (to the puppet side)

It is often said that truly gifted teachers make their subject matter come to life. Jesse Glass has taken that concept to a new level by asking his students to take literary characters off the page and dance them about the room.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo