Search - 2012

 
 
EDITORIALS
Oct 23, 2012

Japan Post aims to boost business

The Japan Post group was reorganized on Oct. 1 under the revised postal privatization law that was enacted in the last Diet session. The main aim of the revision is to boost business by increasing convenience for customers. In a difficult business environment, the Japan Post group must strive to improve...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 23, 2012

Leadership development meeting draws Girl Scouts from around world

No matter what nationality you are, it's likely that several times in your life you have come across a Boy Scout or a Girl Scout dressed in that unique uniform — be it a friend or someone else from the community.
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2012

NRA must ensure transparency

More than a month has passed since the Nuclear Regulatory Authority was inaugurated on Sept. 19. The NRA started in a deplorable manner. In a political maneuver, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda used a provision of the relevant law and appointed the five commission members without Diet approval.
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2012

Pass the bond flotation bill

Due to the Diet's state of confusion, there is no predicting when a bill will be enacted to float bonds to cover some 40 percent of the fiscal 2012 budget. If this situation continues, it is inevitable that people's lives will be seriously impacted in a negative manner. The public's trust in the legislature...
Reader Mail
Oct 21, 2012

Onagawa a reason for trust

Regarding Paul Arenson's Oct. 14 letter "Quake's role in Fukushima disaster," I was an independent member of the IAEA's Mission to Onagawa, which performed a damage walkdown of the Onagawa nuclear power station in Tochigi Prefecture from July 30 to Aug. 9, 2012. In the words of the IAEA mission leader,...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 21, 2012

Using the noodle to gain insight into Japanese culinary culture

SLURP! A Social and Culinary History of Ramen — Japan's Favorite Noodle Soup, by Barak Kushner. Global Oriental, 2012, 289 pp., $90 (hardcover) Under the heading "Ramen is Japan" Barak Kushner asserts: "Ramen (regular and instant) permeates all features of contemporary Japanese life." He goes on to...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 20, 2012

UEFA's credibility hanging in balance

We shall know on Nov. 22 how seriously UEFA takes racism.
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2012

New North korea approach needed

A decade has passed since five Japanese abducted by North Korean agents were returned to Japan on Oct. 15, 2002. That event took place a month after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il held a summit that culminated in the signing of the Pyongyang Declaration in which...
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2012

Misuse of reconstruction funds

It has surfaced that a special account budget to fund the reconstruction of communities devastated by the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters has been used to pay for unrelated projects. As to be expected, the shortage of funds due to budget mismanagement has angered affected residents. The...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 19, 2012

Ginza Okuda: Kaiseki master invites you to his second home

Autumn is the golden season. Fruit and hearty root vegetables; mushrooms, nuts and new-season rice; plentiful fish and seafood, too: This abundance is the palette from which Japan's top kaiseki chefs draw in creating their intricate, elegant multicourse meals. Few are as accomplished at the art as Toru...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 19, 2012

'Argo'

OK, put down your coffee and steady yourself, because you are about to read "Ben Affleck" and "best movie of the year" in the same sentence. Yes, it's true, it wasn't so long ago — somewhere between "Pearl Harbor" and "Gigli" — that Affleck wore out his welcome as a Hollywood A-lister, and nothing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 19, 2012

Tokyo International Film Festival hits 25

This year, Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) celebrates its 25th edition and will hold commemorative programs, including a three-day screening of six Japanese films from the Showa Era (1926-89) in the very Showa-esque district of Nihonbashi.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / IN THE RECORD
Oct 18, 2012

XLII

A mainstay of the Tokyo underground electronic scene and cofounder of the Raid System label/collective,
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 18, 2012

"The record of personal experiences of silk, by Mariano Fortuny: 2012 editions"

Silk, admired for its texture and functionality, has been revered as a luxury fabric since ancient times. It has captivated artists and fashion designers worldwide, one of the most famous being Mariano Fortuny (1871-1949).
EDITORIALS
Oct 17, 2012

Asian universities catching up

Asian universities are gaining on their western counterparts, according to the recently released Times Higher Education rankings. The annual evaluations of world universities found Asian universities doing better than ever before in the annual global rankings. Japan had 16 universities in the top 400...
BUSINESS
Oct 17, 2012

Japan Inc. nears record year of overseas M&As

Softbank Corp.'s bid for control of Sprint Nextel Corp. is adding to evidence that Japan Inc.'s overseas buying spree isn't about to abate.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / NOTEBOOK
Oct 17, 2012

Kozo Keikaku Engineering talks; UN Day forum on sustainability; kabuki documentary

events
CULTURE / Books
Oct 14, 2012

Developing a natural aesthetic

JAPAN AND THE CULTURE OF THE FOUR SEASONS: Nature, Literature and the Arts, by Haruo Shirane. Columbia University Press, 2012. 311 pp., $29.50 (hardcover) The starting point for this illuminating study lay in the author's curiosity about the formation of the saijiki, or seasonal almanacs, that have been...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 14, 2012

Heterodox views enter mainstream

RETHINKING JAPANESE HISTORY, by Yoshihiko Amino, translated by Alan S. Christy. Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2012. 317 pp., $20 (paper) It is a testimony to Yoshihiko Amino's influential legacy that his once iconoclastic views regarding Japanese history have now become mainstream....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Oct 13, 2012

Some Japanese women crave a rougher cut of man

Nikushokukei danshi are here to save the day . . . and hopefully boost the sagging national birth rate.
BUSINESS
Oct 13, 2012

Lexus U.S. sales off target amid BMW challenge

Toyota Motor Corp. said its Lexus model, dethroned in 2011 as the best-selling luxury auto brand in the United States, may miss its U.S. sales target this year amid fierce competition from BMW AG.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2012

Award-winning Born a global success

Participants from around the world attending the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group in Tokyo were treated to award-winning sake during a hospitality event in the glitzy Ginza shopping district on Oct. 11.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Oct 12, 2012

Iwate likely to emerge as power in Eastern Conference

In the rapidly changing bj-league, the Eastern Conference welcomes a pair of new franchise — the Gunma Crane Thunders and Tokyo Cinq Reves — to the fold this season, while the mighty Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix, a three-time finalist and two-time champion, shift to the Western Conference....
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 12, 2012

Tea ceremony party holds more in store than just a quick drink

Whether you're a practitioner of the Japanese tea ceremony or not, the annual Tokyo Grand Tea Ceremony abounds with opportunities for cultural enlightenment.
EDITORIALS
Oct 11, 2012

Carefully weigh firefighting reforms

The government is pushing a plan to integrate local firefighting headquarters so that each headquarters will have about 300,000 or more people under its jurisdiction. The government should consider whether this plan is appropriate in enhancing the ability to fight fires and improve disaster management...
BUSINESS
Oct 11, 2012

French banker says Europe on track

The eurozone is properly addressing the cause of its financial crisis, though weaknesses persist and challenges remain, Bank of France Gov. Christian Noyer said Wednesday in Tokyo.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.