Search - 2012

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 4, 2013

'Freelancers'

To everything there is a season, even for Hollywood superstars such as Robert De Niro. Having starred in some of the best and most memorable American films of the 20th century, De Niro has remained enthroned in the Hollywood kingdom — but the time when he can walk into any scene and take immediate...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 4, 2013

NHK spotlights gunslinging daughter of the north in yearlong Sunday drama

How to rebuild when you've lost everything? In the immediate aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, as many thousands of people in northeastern Japan sought to answer that question for themselves, public broadcaster NHK began looking for a historical figure whose story might...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 3, 2013

January: Spirit of punk alive as Patti Smith, Death Grips come to Japan

The new year is starting out with a slew of potentially great gigs throughout the country.
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2013

Abe hoopla aside, key economic challenges loom

Stocks are up, the yen is easing and there is a new prime minister pledging to splash trillions of yen to breathe life into the country's moribund economy: Last year ended on a high note for Japan Inc., and 2013 looks even more promising for some.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2013

LNG gains political value as Japan's needs soar

With Japan's nuclear power future clouded by discoveries of active faults near atomic plants in Fukui and Aomori prefectures, liquefied natural gas has become a critical resource and an area of great potential for strengthening relations with the United States.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 3, 2013

Old art building faces a new 'Junction' in life

In Yanaka, a 10-minute walk from Nippori Station in Tokyo, a new art center is being constructed in the shell of a 50-year-old house that had been the atelier and residence of students from Tokyo Art University since 2004. Like many buildings of its age, it suffered considerable damage during the Great...
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 1, 2013

Summer poll to keep Abe in check

While nearly 300 Liberal Democratic Party candidates nationwide rejoiced over their resounding success in the Dec. 16 Lower House election, the mood of some at party headquarters was more sober.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jan 1, 2013

The reasons behind India's alarming culture of sexual violence

Violence against Indian women is widespread and has deep roots. Here are some of the reasons behind the issue:
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2012

The fight to limit agricultural use of antibiotics can be won with the right political alliances

Ask a dozen food activists what political change they want to see in 2013 and you'll get a dozen different answers, maybe two dozen: Restrict sodium in packaged foods. Label genetically modified ingredients. End subsidies to big farms.
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Dec 31, 2012

Onodera to review defense plans, up spending

Amid China's military rise and the continued threat from North Korea, new Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera has vowed to bolster Japan's defensive capabilities by reviewing its strategies, increasing the defense budget and revising the guidelines in place with the United States.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 30, 2012

Landscaping the doors of perception in Japan

ZEN GARDENS: The Complete Works of Shunmyo Masuno, Japan's Leading Garden Designer, by Mira Locher. Tuttle Publishing, 2012, 224 pp., $39.95 (hardcover) Although the term zen-tei (Zen garden) exists in Japanese, its usage is a largely Western one, first coined by the American garden scholar Lorraine...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Dec 30, 2012

The wonderful worlds of 100 waka

The scene: England, Boxing Day 2012. The archetypical Carters are relaxing after a cold turkey lunch (with bread sauce) and are watching the Royal Family's latest sonnets being read on the goggle-box. Time for a game!
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Dec 30, 2012

Kyu Asakura's garden of wealth and privilege

BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Dec 30, 2012

Matsui should be remembered as one of Japan's best

In 2001 Ichiro Suzuki shattered expectations about what Japanese players could and could not do in Major League Baseball.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 30, 2012

This year's highlights and lowlights

Media figures of the year:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 30, 2012

Japanese story anthology shows fiction truly a transnational affair

SPECULATIVE JAPAN 3: "Silver Bullet" and Other Tales of Japanese Science Fiction and Fantasy. Kurodahan Press, 2012, 292 pp., $16 (paperback) One pleasing quality of the third volume of Kurodahan Press's "Speculative Japan" series of anthologies is that it exists at all.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2012

High cost of disengagement from Afghanistan

The United States has spent nearly $600 billion over the past 10 years putting combat forces into Afghanistan. Now it's going to cost an additional $5.7 billion over the next year or two just to transfer or return most of the troops and equipment we shipped into that country, according to a new report...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 30, 2012

Is juggernaut Japan being driven to destruction (and no one's to blame)?

Ryotaro Shiba, the great author of historical novels, was a student of Mongolian at Osaka University of Foreign Languages when, at the end of 1943, he was drafted into the army. Then aged 20, he received a "provisional graduation qualification" (the actual certificate was issued the following year) and...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2012

Wakeup call for Japan's politicians

The massive shock that Japan received from the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, was not enough to shake the country's politicians out of their comatose state. This was already evident before the recent national elections.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 29, 2012

Matsui praised for impact on baseball

Kyodo, AFP-Jiji Fans in Japan were saddened Friday by the news of power-hitter Hideki Matsui's retirement from baseball at the age of 38, many wishing he would resume his career in the country.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 29, 2012

F.A.'s weakness gives Ferguson free rein to run mouth

Alex Ferguson doesn't do embarrassment or apologies, so the Manchester United manager will not be bothered that he did himself, his club and football a public disservice with some ridiculous comments over the past week. He has an agenda and keeps to it.
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2012

Mitsubishi UFJ to tie up with, advise key Myanmar lender

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. said Friday it will ally with Myanmar's Co-operative Bank Ltd. to tap growing demand for financial services in the Southeast Asian nation as it shifts to democracy.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’