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EDITORIALS
Oct 19, 2011

Preparing for future disasters

Following discussions in the wake of the March 11 quake and tsunami, an experts' panel of the Central Disaster Management Council submitted its final report to post-disaster reconstruction minister Tatsuo Hirano in late September. The report called on the central and local governments to drastically...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Oct 18, 2011

Fuji Five Lakes: What are your thoughts on hiking prices on everything from food to utility bills in the wake of the 3/11 disasters?

Robin Lawrentz, 34Yamanashi local government (American)It will be a greater burden in rural Japan where the economy is already struggling. There it will just take more out of money out of people's hands. But people will get used to it unless the change becomes drastic.
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2011

Utilities will barely meet power demand this winter: expert

Japan's factories, department stores and households are bracing for a colder-than-normal winter and may have to cut electricity use as more nuclear plants go offline for maintenance amid the Fukushima disaster.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2011

Samsung sues Apple to halt iPhone 4S sales

Samsung Electronics Co. filed suits against Apple Inc. in Japan and Australia to stop sales of iPhone 4S, adding to similar complaints in France and Italy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Oct 18, 2011

Fashion Week action happening on more than just runways

Tokyo's MBFW festivities It's mid-Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Tokyo (MBFW Tokyo) and there's still an array of snazzy events to carry you through to the end while keeping you fashionable. So roll up your best, pressed sleeves and read on.
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Why U.S. won't apologize

Given President Barack Obama's past remarks, it's clear he feels strong guilt for Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Oct. 8 article "Hiroshima mayor not pressing for Obama apology"). Unfortunately, it might be a little bit different from the opinion of ordinary American people.
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Reality of scarcity problem

What do the article by Rowan Hooper ("Like Astro Boy, humans may be able to live with radiation") and the letter by Rohan Donald ("Thorium reactors for the future") in the Oct. 9 issue have in common? The answer is that they both look to a purely technical solution to Japan's current predicament of how...
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Free flights a travel turnoff?

In regard to the Oct. 11 article "Tourism blitz: 10,000 to get free flights to Japan," what an incredible offer. And yet I think that it is the wrong approach. If anything, world travelers might assume that things are so bad in Japan that the government is giving away free airline tickets. This isn't...
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Nuclear debate clouded by quake

The triple tragedy of last March in Tohoku is no small matter. However, I have become increasingly vexed by statements found in the pages of The Japan Times and other leading newspapers that casually conclude the tragedy demonstrates the "danger" of nuclear power.
BASKETBALL
Oct 16, 2011

Osaka's Washington reaches 5,000-point milestone; Jets win first game in team history

Star forward Lynn Washington scored his 5,000th point in an Osaka Evessa uniform on Saturday, leading the hosts to a 79-60 season-opening victory over the Takamatsu Five Arrows at Sumiyoshi Sports Center. The Chiba Jets, meanwhile, collected a win in their first game in the bj-league.
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Setting Futenma's record straight

Yoshio Shimoji makes a patently false claim in his Oct. 6 letter "Close the air station ... tomorrow" that "Futenma was constructed while area residents were herded into concentration camps during and after the Battle of Okinawa."
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 16, 2011

No celebration for Chunichi

Chunichi Dragons fans turned out in droves for a chance to see their team clinch a league title.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 16, 2011

In the pink down on the Rio Negro

Agreat splash, sounding as if a sumo wrestler had just belly-flopped into a swimming pool, echoed up through the wooden floor of my cabin. Yes, the floor.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 16, 2011

Twentysomethings looking for love; modern day home drama; CM of the week: JRA

The girls get the coveted getsu-kyu (Monday, 9 p.m.) time slot on Fuji TV this season with "Watashi ga Renai Dekinai Riyu" ("The Reason I Can't Find Love"), featuring three of Japan's biggest under-30 female stars: actress Yuriko Yoshitaka, fashion model Karina and Yuko Oshima of the idol collective...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 15, 2011

The joy of taiko and cultural exchange

The booming noise coming up from the basement of the British School in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, is a more visceral version of the magic flute: It's just impossible to resist its charm. You follow the deep, thumping beat down a flight of stairs and find a shouting, whooping little devil leading a group of...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 14, 2011

Where have all the gyaru gone?

When model Nozomi Sasaki stepped out onto the catwalk at last month's Tokyo Girls Collection (TGC) fashion event, a wave of sighs rippled through the 30,000 mostly young girls in attendance. Sasaki is one of the most popular models in Japan right now, and her presence was essential at this year's fest,...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 14, 2011

Print show profits to help quake victims

Art fans have the chance to enjoy one of Japan's longest running exhibitions and help out the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake at the same time this weekend, when the College Women's Association of Japan hosts its annual print show at the Tokyo American Club.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Oct 14, 2011

Rihga Tokyo holds seasonal food fair

Through Oct. 31, the Rihga Royal Hotel Tokyo is holding its Autumn Harvest Festival, with the hotel's restaurants, cafe, bar, lounge and gourmet boutique offering special items for the fall season.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 14, 2011

Sony recalls 1.6 million Bravia TVs worldwide

Sony Corp. says it will recall 1.6 million Bravia flat-panel TVs sold worldwide since 2007 because a faulty component may cause them to melt or catch fire.
EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2011

Sun Yat-sen's lasting legacy

A military uprising on Oct. 10, 1911, in Wuchang, China, marked the start of the Xinhai Revolution. On Monday, both the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing and the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) in Taipei celebrated the 100th anniversary of the revolution, regarding themselves as the legitimate inheritor...
Reader Mail
Oct 13, 2011

Why tobacco taxes must rise

Joseph Jaworski, in his Oct. 2 letter "Downside of higher tobacco tax", states that, "In a free society, is being unhealthy a legitimate life choice? For a country with socialized health care, critics would say 'no.' Yet, where is the limit? Virtually anything can be consumed in an unhealthy way. Why...
Reader Mail
Oct 13, 2011

Careless treatment of a survivor

Amy Chavez's Oct. 1 Japan Lite column about Maruko, the dog from Iwate Prefecture ("Not just cats — will dogs also get nine lives?"), left me fuming. While it had a happy ending, the apathy and lack of common sense displayed by the hokenjo (local health centers that operate animal pounds) was unbelievable!...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 13, 2011

Shedding new light on architecture and art

The floor is made of white concrete, but it hugs the contours of the ground so closely that it could be satin cloth. And the roof, apparently anchored to the ground only by a curtain of glass at its perimeter, appears to float in mid-air like a giant magic carpet.
BUSINESS
Oct 13, 2011

Rise in machinery orders bodes well for recovery

Machinery orders rebounded in August on demand for electrical products, signaling that companies are willing to invest even as global economic growth slows and the yen stays near post-World War II highs.
BUSINESS
Oct 12, 2011

Noda puts TPP back on radar

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Cabinet attempted Tuesday to speed up discussions on whether Japan should join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks, hoping to have a decision by early next month at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in Hawaii.
BUSINESS
Oct 12, 2011

Toyota may boost carmaking overseas as yen causes 'difficult time'

Toyota Motor Corp. may expand production outside Japan as the yen's gains on currency markets reduce earnings.
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Oct 10, 2011

Darvish's recent struggles to win byproduct of Fighters' real issues

Yu Darvish's struggle to get into the wins column recently, could be indicative of problems that could doom the Hokkaido Nippon Fighters' latest bid to reach the Japan Series.
Reader Mail
Oct 9, 2011

Beware the nuclear apologists

Regarding the Oct. 4 article "U.K. expert says limits on radiation 'unreasonable": It is disconcerting to read physics professor Wade Allison claim that radiation levels at Fukushima and in foodstuffs are no cause for concern. Medical experts dispute this, among them Tokyo University's Radioisotope Center...

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight