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May 04, 2025
 

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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 30, 2009

Japan a low-key player in space race

Japan has launched Earth observation, communications and weather satellites as well as other space vehicles since it began its space program in the late 1960s.
Reader Mail
Jun 4, 2009

Inaccurate commentary on Iran

Regarding Bijan Khajehpour's May 30 article, "Key role for young Iranians in June's presidential poll": I'm not sure why The Japan Times published this article, since it is very out of date and no longer relevant.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 31, 2009

A slight unmasking of Japan's flu 'pandemic'

While traveling through Scandinavia two weeks ago, I had scant opportunity to monitor Japan's anxiety over the sudden increase in confirmed cases of H1N1 flu that led to closings of schools in the Kansai region. Europe seemed barely concerned about the new flu and when I caught BBC World in hotel rooms...
JAPAN / YOKOHAMA AT 150
May 27, 2009

Newspapers opened eyes in Yokohama

Second in a series
CULTURE / Books
May 24, 2009

The enduring tradition of tanka

WHITE PETALS by Harue Aoki. Shichigatsudo, 2008, 126 pp., ¥1,500 (paper)
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2009

Misguided standards of global governance

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In the wake of last year's global financial meltdown, there is now widespread recognition that inadequate investor protection can significantly affect how stock markets and economies develop, as well as how individual firms perform.
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2009

Pope discovers his voice in a pilgrimage of learning

HONG KONG — Pope Benedict XVI's leaving the home comforts of the Vatican for the political and religious mine field called the Holy Land proved to be his own difficult pilgrimage in which a learned, but aloof, theologian discovered in Palestinian pain and suffering his own authentic cry for peace in...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2009

The war on women rages on in Afghanistan

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — As the presidential election season arrived in Afghanistan, the incumbent Hamid Karzai sprang a nasty surprise on the country's Hazara Shiite women by signing on to a "rape law" that legitimizes non-consensual sex in wedlock. Designed to placate arch conservative Shiite clerics, the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 14, 2009

'A battle for Japan's future'

Despite being Japan's most densely populated area, Warabi rarely causes a blip on the national media radar.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 12, 2009

Veteran announcer Bickard calling NPB games on TV in English

Did you know there is English-language coverage (though very limited) of some Pacific League games in Japan?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 20, 2009

'Frost/Nixon'

Almost completely gripping. That would be an apt way to describe "Frost/Nixon," the sleeper hit that almost brought Academy Awards to director Ron Howard and actor Frank Langella.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 6, 2009

Juliette Binoche takes to the stage — this time to dance

The Oscars are still in the air, and not just in Hollywood, as Tokyo is set to host Juliette Binoche — winner of Best Supporting Actress in 1996 for her role in "The English Patient" — in a weeklong run of "in-i," a dance work she created and is performing with Akram Khan, one of England's hottest...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / GRAND OLD HOTELS
Mar 1, 2009

Following the footsteps of the famed in Nikko

Behind the front desk of the Nikko Kanaya Hotel hang photos of an unlikely trio: James Curtis Hepburn, Isabella Bird and Zenichiro Kanaya. Hotel President Takayasu Akiyama connected the dots over a cup of java in the Maple Leaf Lounge.
LIFE / Travel / GRAND OLD HOTELS
Mar 1, 2009

Following the footsteps of the famed in Nikko

Behind the front desk of the Nikko Kanaya Hotel hang photos of an unlikely trio: James Curtis Hepburn, Isabella Bird and Zenichiro Kanaya. Hotel President Takayasu Akiyama connected the dots over a cup of java in the Maple Leaf Lounge.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 10, 2009

A young life in legal limbo

For years, Arlan and Sarah Calderon fretted over when to tell their daughter, Noriko, that she was different.
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Feb 10, 2009

Talking around and about art

Trying to understand contemporary art is difficult in the best of times. It is sometimes abstract, obscure or just plain odd. The question of how to enjoy an exhibit is made all the harder to answer if you're in Tokyo and your artistic attachments aren't matched by your Japanese language skills. Japan...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 8, 2009

Definitive 'Record of Linji' well worth a wait of 40 years

The Linji-lu is one of the most influential of all Zen texts. Presumably a collection of the lectures and sermons of Linji Yixuan (died 866), founder of the Linji school of Chan Buddhism, it helped form the Rinzai sect of Zen in Japan.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 1, 2009

JT's Ikezawa to call Super Bowl

Veteran Japan Times sports writer Hiroshi Ikezawa has been tapped to provide color analysis on NHK television's satellite channel for Sunday's Super Bowl XLIII between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 25, 2009

Poking fun at the ¥12,000 handout

The opposition parties' objections to the extra fiscal 2008 budget, which was put together to deal with the unexpected seriousness of the economic downturn, center on the ¥2 trillion in cash handouts originally conceived by the LDP's coalition partner, New Komeito, last summer during the final days...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2009

'In the Shadow of the Moon'/'Searchers 2.0'

In the late 1970s, there was a cheesy sci-fi adventure show on T.V. called "Space: 1999." The best thing about this series was its title — the idea that some 20 years in the future we'd be colonizing space. It seemed almost plausible at the time, and for that we can thank NASA and their Apollo missions...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CLOSE-UP
Jan 4, 2009

Japan's 'Mr. Television'

Picture the world's busiest television presenter, and imagine yourself squinting through the glare of high-wattage celebrity, struggling to breathe in air perfumed with pampered showbiz egos.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 4, 2009

Monta Mino: Japan's 'Mr. Television'

Picture the world's busiest television presenter, and imagine yourself squinting through the glare of high-wattage celebrity, struggling to breathe in air perfumed with pampered showbiz egos.
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2008

Persistence of superstition

I read with great interest David Klinghoffer's Dec. 17 commentary (originally printed in the Los Angeles Times) "Appeal of the otherworldly remains strong." While I agree that a great interest in the otherworldly is pervasive in America and the world, I find that this hardly indicates the reality of...
EDITORIALS
Dec 5, 2008

Political theater of the absurd

It is tempting to call Thai politics a comedy, but to be more accurate, it has descended into farce — if not tragedy. The machinations that have paralyzed the country has undermined a once thriving and vibrant democracy. The Bangkok elites' determination to disregard the will of the Thai majority shows...
Reader Mail
Nov 20, 2008

Sumo rules in parts of Nebraska

Please encourage NHK to continue English broadcasts of sumo. My friends and I drink beer, eat chips and enjoy all 15 days of watching our favorites fight. I'm not a football, baseball or basketball fan, but love sumo for its quick one-on-one action.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 6, 2008

'Tenmyouya Hisashi: Fighting Spirit'

VICENTE GUTIERREZ Mizuma Gallery
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 1, 2008

Inside the Japanese pub

Mark Robinson, author of "Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook" (Kodansha International, May 2008) is recently back in Tokyo from New York, where he spent three weeks "signing books at stores like Barnes & Noble, meeting people and seeking inspiration."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 19, 2008

Beat Takeshi helps turn news into farce

For the past week or so commercial networks have been launching their new fall shows, and the ones attracting the most attention are on TBS, which seems to be cornering the market on what it calls "nonfiction" programming. There are at least four new shows that have been promoted using this English term,...
Britain responds after Expo 2025 afternoon tea brews outrage
The café space at the Osaka Expo's British pavilion
Woman says archbishop of Tokyo ignored her pleas after priest allegedly raped her
In a news conference in Tokyo on Friday, Tokie Tanaka, 64, details her allegations of sexual abuse against a Catholic priest.
Israel protests after Kyoto inn seeks war crime declaration from tourist
A street in Kyoto in March 2023. An Israeli tourist was asked to sign a document stating that he had not committed war crimes when he checked in at a Kyoto guesthouse in April, prompting a response from Israel's ambassador.
Second round of U.S.-Japan tariff talks ends inconclusively in Washington
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (far left), U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator. The second round of tariff negotiations between Japan and the United States were held on Thursday in Washington.
Inflation and high hotel prices curtail Golden Week travels
Travelers in front of a flight information panel in a departure hall at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on April 26
'Ukiyo-e in Play' showcases traditional art carved anew
The Adachi Institute has been working on creating brand new ukiyo-e prints in collaboration with contemporary artists such as Yayoi Kusama, whose “Mt. Fuji in Seven Colours: When life boundlessly flares up to the universe” (2014) can be seen on display at “Ukiyo-e in Play.”
Want to see the future at Expo Osaka? Get in line.
“‘Future of life,’ by Ishiguro,” the World Expo pavilion by roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, displays humanlike androids.
Ishiba hears advice from across the aisle on how Japan should handle Trump
Prime Minister Shigaru Ishiba and CDP head Yoshihiko Noda at a parliamentary session in Tokyo on April 23.
Don't send in the clones: AI event nixed as Alt accounts get reality check
A screenshot from the website for Alt's AI conference, which was canceled after the company disclosed an investigation into its sales figures.
CDP submits bill proposal on separate surnames, but challenges remain
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers speak to reporters in parliament on Wednesday after submitting a bill in the Lower House to allow married couples to retain different surnames.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
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