Search - 2012

 
 
CULTURE / Books
Nov 11, 2012

Invaluable reference work on damage from March 11 disasters

PRELIMINARY RECONNAISSANCE REPORT OF THE 2011 TOHOKU-CHIHO TAIHEIYO-OKI EARTHQUAKE, edited by the Architectural Institute of Japan. Springer, 2012, 460 pp., $179 (hardcover) The March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake was notable for the widespread damage caused by seismic activity, the tsunami devastation...
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 11, 2012

The war legacy that binds Okinawa and Vietnam

As the motorbike taxi I'm aboard zigzags through the traffic in Da Nang, Vietnam's fourth-largest city, a bus pulls out of nowhere, causing my driver to brake, swerve and slam us into a sidewalk stack of bamboo cages packed with soft plump ducklings.
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2012

Once bond bill clears, poll may soon follow

With passage of the bond-issuance bill coming into sight, speculation was spreading Friday that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda may dissolve the Lower House for an election before year's end.
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 2012

Bolstering the global economy

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 ended their Mexico City meeting Nov. 5 with a communique stressing that "We will do everything necessary to strengthen the overall health and growth of the global economy."
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2012

Mizuho China fund to bank on new leaders

Mizuho Asset Management Co. is opening a China fund, betting new leaders in the world's No. 2 economy will boost growth and quell the Senkaku territorial dispute that has prompted other banks to cancel planned funds.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2012

Diet takes up bond bill as LDP caves in

After months of hardball between the ruling and opposition blocs, Diet deliberations on the crucial bond-issuance bill kicked off Thursday, paving the way for its passage.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 9, 2012

Veteran leadership powers Fukuoka's run to relevance

The Rizing Fukuoka have been on a roll over the past few weeks, winning five straight games and bouncing back from a three-game slide to start the season.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Nov 9, 2012

Thanksgiving dinner at Four Seasons Chinzan-so; Gramercy Tavern chef at Park Hyatt; Armani/Ristorante anniversary plan

Thanksgiving dinner at Chinzan-so The Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so in Tokyo will offer a special Thanksgiving dinner at its casual restaurant Seasons Bistro, from Nov. 16 to 22.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 9, 2012

Region event proves you can go home again

Japanese PR copywriters are addicted to a new buzzword: gotōchi (homegrown). It's being used wherever possible to trumpet the peculiarities of local cultures — from gotōchi gurume (homegrown gourmet) to gotōchi aidoru (homegrown idols).
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Nov 9, 2012

Kyushu 2012 — once more, two yokozuna heading the rankings

For the first time since 2009, the Kyushu Basho, Nov. 11-25, will see two yokozuna featured on the ranking sheet. Hakuho is in the slightly more prestigious east slot, with Harumafuji over on the west side of the banzuke.
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Nov 8, 2012

Oman qualifier brings Japan back to reality after European tour

Japan may have enjoyed dining at soccer's top table in prestige friendlies against France and Brazil last month, but with World Cup-qualifying points at stake in next Wednesday's away trip to Oman, Alberto Zaccheroni's side will have to quickly readjust to the realities of Asian competition.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 8, 2012

Communion with the spirits of wood

When you first encounter the sculptures of Koji Tanada, you might get the initial impression that he's being facetious or whimsical, and assume that his sculptures are all part of an elaborate practical joke, designed to drive home some droll but not very profound point. And why not? After all, this...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 8, 2012

Kyoto painting schools pushed nihonga to the limit

Japan, as elsewhere, has never had a singular art world but a plurality of formations. This is as true of pre-modern art as it is for Modernism and contemporary art — think of Takashi Murakami, his "factory" Kaikai Kiki and Geisai the art fair he founded. Individuals could, as now, constitute worlds...
EDITORIALS
Nov 7, 2012

Cut costs before raising power rates

Five power companies that suffered deficits in the first half of business year 2012 (April-September) have started discussing the possibility of raising electricity rates. If these companies file official requests with the government for approval of rate hikes, the government should order them to first...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Nov 5, 2012

Excess supply, not lack of demand, weighing on the global economy

The demand and supply balance is adjusted through price fluctuations under a market economy. However, price changes often go too far, occasionally leading to creation of a bubble boom and its subsequent collapse. When Japan's bubble boom went bust in the early 1990s, Japanese companies were burdened...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 5, 2012

Title gives Abe perfect ending to 2012

After the season Shinnosuke Abe had, any other ending would've a felt a little empty.
EDITORIALS
Nov 5, 2012

BOJ needs bolder approach

The Bank of Japan has taken an additional monetary easing measure, including expanding its asset-purchase fund by ¥11 trillion to a total of ¥91 trillion and keeping its key short-term interest rate at around zero to 0.1 percent. It will loan funds at an annual interest rate of 0.1 percent to financial...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 4, 2012

Windmills on the poetic mind

FAREWELL TO NUCLEAR, WELCOME TO RENEWABLE ENERGY: A Collection of Poems by 218 Poets. Coal Sack Publishing, 2012, 321 pp., ¥3,150 Japan in many ways is the land of myth, of cozy self-assurances, national delusions and unfounded assertions. Incredulous claims, such as racial homogeneity and the absence...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 4, 2012

Beware the parallels between boom-time Japan and present-day China

Futaro Gamagori was born into a destitute household. His father was a no-good womanizing lush; his mother, unable to afford medical care, died of illness. The young Futaro sets out on a life of serious crime — thieving, raping, murdering. He eventually becomes the rich president of a big company, but...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Nov 4, 2012

Breaking new ground with our Tohoku school in the woods

On Oct. 6, 2012, I took part in a Ji-chin-sai (Shinto ground-breaking ceremony) in the Nobiru area of Higashi Matsushima City in Miyagi Prefecture. Standing with me before an altar constructed in a wooded part of the Omokura Valley was Takahashi Yuugo, a volunteer who had been cutting trees and making...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 4, 2012

Finding the Way in art of war

THE DAO OF THE MILITARY: Liu An's Art of War, translated by Andrew Seth Meyer. Columbia University Press, 2012, 157 pp., $19.50 (paperback) There are two ancient Chinese texts titled "The Art of War." Liu An's, the one under review, newly translated by historian Andrew Meyer, is the less famous.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 3, 2012

Free magazines zoom in on all things Japanese

While English-language magazines in Japan are fast becoming a species in danger of extinction, Europe is experiencing a renewed interest in this country thanks to a veteran French journalist who since 2010 has been publishing Zoom Japon (and its English version, Zoom Japan), a free monthly magazine about...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Nov 3, 2012

Agent rips Evessa after they pay off Cox over lawsuit threat

The once-mighty Osaka Evessa's spiraling-out-of-control reputation has taken another major hit. And FIBA, basketball's world governing body, entered the picture for this latest incident.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji