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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / WEEK 3
Jun 21, 2009

Drawn to the land

Considering that Japan is only 40 percent self-sufficient in terms of its food supply, few would dispute that the country's agriculture is in a deepening crisis.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 21, 2009

Comedy with a sting in its tales

As a reporter, I don't particularly enjoy being swamped with breaking news to cover. That's when the pressure really becomes intense to get all the quotes and check all the facts in as short a time as possible.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 19, 2009

'The Reader'

Between Kate Winslet and the (as yet) little known David Kross, who shovel coal into the veritable steamship that is "The Reader" and keep it running, full speed ahead.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 18, 2009

The safety nets for would-be suicides

Every time the National Police Agency comes out with new suicide statistics, media reports tend to focus on the fact that the annual suicide count has reached a new high or has topped the psychologically significant 30,000 threshold for yet another year. (The latest figure available was 32,249 in 2008.)...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / GLOBAL ECONOMY SYMPOSIUM
Jun 17, 2009

Japan Inc. must adapt to survive post-crisis global competition

In the post-financial crisis world economic landscape, people are increasingly turning to emerging markets as the new engine of global growth. But are Japanese companies ready to compete in the changing environment?
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Jun 16, 2009

Re: 'The good, the bad and the meaningful'

Following are some readers' responses to Paul de Vries' May 26 Zeit Gist article "Expat life in Japan: the good, the bad and the meaningful":
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 14, 2009

To make an Israeli omelet is it necessary to break so many eggs?

"Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg. . . . Bombers and tanks and rockets and white phosphorus shells are that high, solid wall. The eggs are the unarmed civilians who are crushed and burned and shot by them. . . . Think of it this...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 14, 2009

Finding hope in the meaning of numbers

The beauty of figures plucked from an infinite numerical pool forms part of the theme of Yoko Ogawa's novel, which is also a celebration of an improbable friendship.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 14, 2009

A trifle late, but the media master murder-case coverage

After the Supreme Court upheld Masumi Hayashi's death sentence in April, the Wakayama Curry Murder Case became history. As far as the media is concerned, there is nothing left to talk about until her sentence is carried out, even though serious doubts remain about the prosecution's evidence, which was...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jun 13, 2009

Words mean very little these days in soccer world

LONDON — "Do you think I'd get into a contract with that mob? Absolutely no chance. I wouldn't sell them a virus.'' — Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson when asked about selling Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid in December 2008.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 13, 2009

Morning exercises going to the birds

Have you ever wondered why Japanese people live so long? What is it that makes them keep on keepin' on? Some people think it's the healthy Japanese diet, but I know differently. I've lived among the old people on this island long enough to know their secret. The secret to longevity is rajio taiso.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 13, 2009

A passion for food, cars and aikido

You probably don't know where Ushigome is. Like many areas within Tokyo's Yamanote Line, it is somewhat anonymous — the kind of place where you expect to find nothing of interest and where the local people, as if oblivious to the size of the metropolis around them, shop in tiny old stores. It's the...
Reader Mail
Jun 11, 2009

Background of a couple's tragedy

Regarding the June 4 "Couple leap to death in Britain with dead kid": This terrible story was given wide coverage by the British tabloids, and I don't think the (Kyodo) article that appeared in The Japan Times did it justice. Kazumi Puttick met her British husband, Neil, when they were undergraduates...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jun 10, 2009

Sony sorts out the PSP; netbooks get a dose of speed

Small game: Technology companies have an easy way of dealing with mistakes — don't admit them, just quietly stop using the failed innovation. Sony sticks to this dogma with the latest version of its PlayStation Portable gaming devices. Previously, Sony has used universal media discs, a kind of miniature...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Jun 10, 2009

Just Hungry, Just Bento

The kitchen has long been used as a portal to distant places and times, and Just Hungry and Just Bento are two blogs by Makiko Itoh that put all the wonders of Japanese cuisine within a cutting-board's reach. For Makiko, cooking has been a way to re-create comfort foods from Japan while living abroad...
EDITORIALS
Jun 9, 2009

Fresh DNA test to the rescue

On June 4 the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office freed a 62-year-old man who had served 17 years of a life sentence for the 1990 kidnapping and murder of a 4-year-old girl after a new DNA test suggested that he was innocent. Acknowledging that the DNA test result serves as new evidence that would likely...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Jun 9, 2009

Going beyond furniture to lure in all and sundry

Focusing on something few others do can lead to business success, as Fumio Takashima has shown.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 7, 2009

All aboard for Saitama's splendors

"Get ready!" comes the call from Kato, our river guide who is standing at his post in the stern of our wooden longboat. My gaze snaps forward, scanning the waterway.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 5, 2009

Fermenting dregs of rock 'n' roll for the masses

"I just had a connection with the sound of the words," says singer and bass player Natsuko Miyamoto when she answers my question about the name of her band, Mass of the Fermenting Dregs. Before I can pursue the question further: about the words, about where and when she first put them together, about...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 5, 2009

'I Come With the Rain'

Vietnamese filmmaker Tran Anh Hung has a distinctive, high-contrast track record.
Reader Mail
Jun 4, 2009

No rationale for promiscuity

I would like to commend Jennifer Kim for speaking out against the glorification of promiscuity (in the film "Milk") in her May 14 letter, "Promiscuous lifestyle led nowhere." Other recent output from Hollywood, including "Brokeback Mountain," seems to be an attempt to legitimize a lifestyle that includes...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2009

The impossible idealist of Seoul

HONOLULU — The death of Roh Moo Hyun, the 16th president of the Republic of Korea (2003-2008), is a huge shock to South Korea's political world. A human rights lawyer with no college degree, Roh campaigned to revolutionize Korean politics and society by promoting clean politics, fighting corruption...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2009

Masks with ostrich antibodies aid swine flu fight

Researcher Yasuhiro Tsukamoto's flock of 500 ostriches is being enlisted into the global fight against swine flu by exploiting Japan's practice of wearing masks in public to ward off allergies and colds.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 30, 2009

A look at the outside and the in

"Honne and tatemae" are terms that many feel are linchpinned to the Japanese psyche.

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