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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 26, 2013

The dark side of Japanese fashion made in Bangladesh

While it's not clear if any Japanese firm had interests in factories operating in the building that collapsed in Dhaka last month, it is natural to infer that there are Japanese companies in Bangladesh taking advantage of lower wages and less stringent safety regulations.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 26, 2013

Corporal punishment has long history in Japanese sports

Getting slapped by a a coach has always been, as far as I could see, simply another aspect of sports training in Japan.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 26, 2013

Mr. Abe: Bag the nukes and heed the Keeling Curve

Dear Prime Minister Abe,
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
May 26, 2013

History shows one man's rape is another's wooing

"The evolution of political thought in this relatively isolated island nation during the period in question is unique to the point of being somewhat freakish."
EDITORIALS
May 26, 2013

Super global English schools

One recent proposal likely to have a good effect on English education in Japan is allowing certain high schools to teach subjects such as science or math in English.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 25, 2013

DoCoMo counting on R&D to stay ahead

NTT DoCoMo Inc., despite being Japan's biggest mobile phone carrier, has been struggling against tough smartphone competition from KDDI Corp. and Softbank Corp., which is leading in that area.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 24, 2013

Discovery points way to universal flu vaccine

A new type of flu vaccine developed at the U.S. National Institutes of Health outperformed existing products in animal tests, possibly paving the way for a new generation of vaccines.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 24, 2013

Shizuoka theater festival courts the avant-garde

Claude Regy says the team at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC) threw him the "best birthday party ever" when he arrived in Japan just days after the actual May 1 occasion.
COMMENTARY / World
May 24, 2013

Global call to women standing on the sidelines

Hardly a day goes by without a news story on some violation of women's rights. In recent months, appalling incidents of violence against women and girls — from Delhi to Johannesburg to Cleveland — have sparked public outrage and demands to tackle these horrific abuses.
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2013

Mr. Murakami's tale of redemption

Mr. Haruki Murakami's latest novel, "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage," his first since the publication of "1Q84" about three years ago, sold a million copies in seven days after it hit the stands.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2013

The humor of candid camera

With the advent of the digital camera, mobile phones and social networking, the world is now drowning in photographic imagery. This raises the question: Can photography survive as an art form in a world where it is ubiquitous?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2013

'Dreams as Seen in Modern Western Paintings'

Yasuo Kono, a businessman with an interest in art and music, had an eye for acquiring Western-style art. His collection is renowned throughout Japan and has been praised by many for its impressive number of musically inspired modern works. This exhibition showcases 200 paintings from Kono's collection....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2013

'Kosometsuke and Shonzui: The Blue and White Tea Ceramics of Japanese Admiration'

Tea ceramics have long been a symbol of traditional Asian art. The ko-sometsuke and shonzui styles, or Chinese blue-and-white tea ceramics popular at the end of the Ming period were often used in Japan for a tea ceremony known as wabi-cha.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2013

'The Secret Lake'

Yozo Hamaguchi (1909-2000) is internationally known for reviving the art of mezzotint printmaking, a technique invented in the 17th century. This type of engraving, also once known as "black manner," involves scraping images onto copper or steel plates with a pre-roughened surface. Artists could control...
BASKETBALL
May 23, 2013

Japanese women face Griner during preparation for upcoming tourney

A 23-point loss to the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury in a Sunday exhibition game in Phoenix was the first big test for the Japan women's national basketball team as it prepares for the 25th FIBA Asia Championship for Women.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2013

'The Yabuuchi Satoshi Exhibition: Yamatojikara'

While working for the Graduate School of Conservation of the Tokyo University of Arts, Satoshi Yabuuchi, a sculptor from Sakai in Osaka, designed Nara Prefecture's regional mascot Sentokun. He is also the director of Heisei Gikakudan dance troupe, and an active promoter of the preservation of Japanese...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 22, 2013

Stranger than fiction: Ryukyu fires Toyama after setting wins record

The Ryukyu Golden Kings failed to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2007-08, their inaugural season in the bj-league. That result proved to be unacceptable to team management.
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.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear