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Reader Mail
Jan 31, 2013

Failure could be the answer

Since coming to Japan some years ago, the most surprising fact I learned about the education system was that it is impossible for elementary and middle school students to fail and repeat a grade.
EDITORIALS
Jan 30, 2013

Mr. Abe's strategy

A s the 150-day ordinary Diet session kicked off Monday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered his first policy speech since becoming prime minister following the Liberal Democratic Party's victory in the Dec. 16 Lower House election. He said Japan is facing crises with regard to the economy, damage from...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 30, 2013

Local 3-D printing pioneers make it easy for all to join in

Whether it's hobbyists making toys, designers prototyping products or a doctor creating artificial organs, the 3-D printing boom has clearly hit Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jan 28, 2013

Living with birds, communicating with flowers and OnDesign favorites

Traditional chochin (Japanese paper lanterns) are beautiful, but that doesn't mean they can't also be modern and playful.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 28, 2013

Blame it on the hara: harassment vocabulary makes us all victims

Japan has a new hara. No, the nice couple down the hall didn't just have a baby; according to recent news, yet another form of harassment is supposedly becoming a social problem.
COMMENTARY / World / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 28, 2013

West never tires of the 'burden' of baiting Iran

Is The New York Times inciting a U.S. war against Iran? As it did the war against Iraq?
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Jan 27, 2013

You read about them here first

Ever since 1897 The Japan Times has reported daily in English on people, places and goings-on in and beyond this country. During those 116 years, our articles have often included information that never made it into the Japanese-language press — as in 1934, when the Society Page carried an interview...
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 26, 2013

Cuttlefish could be key to revolutionary camouflage technology

Cuttlefish are ugly-cute. With their big eyes, stubby tentacles and bulbous head, they look like creatures from an H.P. Lovecraft horror story. When they move forward, rippling their fins underneath their body, they resemble prehistoric flying saucers. And they hunt at night and are masters of disguise....
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jan 25, 2013

Cartwright confident he can turn lowly Osaka around

Former NBA center Bill Cartwright looks forward to his first weekend as the Osaka Evessa head coach, leading the team in action against the visiting Miyazaki Shining Suns.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Jan 24, 2013

Trading four-time All-Star Itoi doesn't make sense for Fighters

So why did the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters trade away arguably the best player on their team, if not in the entire Pacific League?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Jan 24, 2013

'Fasting guys' not interested in women — at all

Remember the herbivore men? Japan's 'fasting men' make them look ambitious.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 24, 2013

'Pi' among 'unfilmable' books conquered at last on the screen

There are certain novels they say just can't be filmed, but guess what? Most of them have been. "Dune"? "Naked Lunch"? "The Virgin Suicides"? "The 120 Days of Sodom"? "Ulysses"? All done — "Ulysses" twice, even.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jan 24, 2013

A monk's teenage angst can be monstrous

Monsters and runaways aren't usually the kinds of problems teenagers face, but a Tokyo-based theater troupe thinks these are the kinds of conundrums that await teenage monks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 24, 2013

With 'Desh,' Khan proves you can go home again

If art's purpose is to ask the relevant questions, then British-Bangladeshi dancer Akram Khan successfully interrogates humanity — and himself — with his latest production, 'Desh.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 23, 2013

Shortcake Collage Tape "Spirited Summer"

Creating music meant to purposely evoke the past can be tricky. Recreate the sounds of a specific decade too closely and the music becomes too nostalgic, pining for a time the artist never even knew existed. On the other hand, approach bygone times too cynically — as the Internet-born microgenre "vaporwave"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 23, 2013

"What We See"

Today, advances in technology and globalization have left few artistic boundaries uncrossed, including that between reality and the imagination. Digital-imaging software and computer-generated graphics, for example, now allow artists to realize their visions for others to see.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2013

BOJ agrees to uphold Abe's 2% inflation target

The Bank of Japan on Tuesday adopted a 2 percent inflation target, caving in to pressure from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, while calling for closer coordination and implementation of bold measures to fight deflation in a joint statement released with the government.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 23, 2013

Garnett an enigma despite unquestioned greatness

So why are so many people applauding a guy who makes fun of cancer patients, calls other men's wives sluts and punches opponents in the groin?
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jan 23, 2013

New Osaka coach Cartwright brings major credibility

"I remember when I was in college, people told me I couldn't play in the NBA. There's always somebody saying you can't do it, and those people have to be ignored."
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 22, 2013

The blunt, blue-blooded Aso is back

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may be the face of the new government led by Liberal Democratic Party, but Finance Minister Taro Aso is also a force in the LDP to be reckoned with.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 22, 2013

Tokyo: What do you think of AKB48's no-love-life clause?

I can understand their handlers want to keep the girls potentially available, just as I'm sure they want their stable to concentrate on their performances, not boys. It works to prevent any scandals too, while maintaining a pure image in a very Japanese way, where the puppet masters keep a very tight rein.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 22, 2013

Sharing assets with same-sex partner: a tax, legal minefield

A reader writes: "I'm a foreigner in a long-term same-sex relationship with a Japanese national. The deed to our house is registered in the name of the Japanese national. Is it possible to have my name put on the deed so that I am not rendered homeless should my partner not survive me? A rather cold...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2013

Obama officially sworn in at quiet White House ceremony

Barack Hussein Obama officially began his second term as the 44th president Sunday, setting the stage for him to lay out his vision in an inaugural address on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr., Day.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 21, 2013

German gun owners quiet as national firearms registry starts

Imagine a vast registry that details every legal gun owner in the country, along with information about all of their firearms.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 21, 2013

A nagging Japanese riddle: Who's 'left' and who's 'right'?

In the Dec. 16 Lower House election, the Liberal Democratic Party won a resounding victory while the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a crushing defeat, bringing about a change of government after three years and three months of DPJ rule.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 21, 2013

Japan's leaders must see the need for sustaining a fiscal Big Bang

With Japan's stock market surging even before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveiled his plans for economic stimulus, we would have expected the usual anti-stimulus critics to be silent, at least for a while. But no. Already we hear the usual complaints — more printing of money, more public debt, more...
Reader Mail
Jan 19, 2013

Concern for Fukushima people

I want to express my appreciation for The Japan Times' coverage of Dr. Masaharu Tsubokura's work monitoring internal radioactive contamination of people living in Fukushima, as reported in the Jan. 10 article "As radiation fears dwindle, so do checkups."

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