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COMMENTARY
Sep 17, 2012

Greatest lib-con showdown in America since the 1960s

The presidential election in the United States is less than two months away. The Republican Party has nominated Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, to run against the Democratic incumbent, Barack Obama.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 16, 2012

BayStars need major upgrades to roster

The Yokohama BayStars lost their 69th game of the 2012 season on Sept. 5, dropping a 3-1 decision to the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. The BayStars thus sealed their 11th consecutive losing season, and it is safe to say the team's performance this year has been nothing short of disappointing.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 16, 2012

The long tradition of sanitizing history

Ways of Forgetting, Ways of Remembering: Japan in the Modern World, by John W. Dower. New Press, 2012, 336 pp., $26.95 (hardcover) Toru Hashimoto, mayor of Osaka and leader of the Nippon Ishin-no Kai, recently tried to revise the history of comfort women, saying that there is no evidence that the Japanese...
EDITORIALS
Sep 16, 2012

Educating educators

A recent survey found that more than half of Japan's graduate schools in education are short of students for the 2012 academic year. More than 40 percent of schools had failed to meet their quotas for the past five years.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2012

Tehran's electoral strategy

Negotiations over Iran's nuclear program have again hit a wall, but the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appears unconcerned. Indeed, Khamenei seems convinced that neither the United States nor Israel will attack its nuclear facilities — at least not before the U.S. presidential election...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 14, 2012

Quake focus at short-film fest in Sendai

Miyagi Prefecture's capital, Sendai, was the largest city to suffer major damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake last year, so it makes sense that its long-running short-film festival would turn its attention to the disaster and recovery efforts.
EDITORIALS
Sep 14, 2012

Posturing over the Senkakus

The government on Tuesday moved forward to nationalize three of the five islets that compose the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. It signed a ¥2.05 billion contract with the owner of the three islets — Uotsuri, Kita Kojima and Minami Kojima — and decided to use ¥2.05 billion out of the fiscal...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Sep 14, 2012

Ex-referee says bj-league made wrong call with Yuzuki

Kunio Kurata, the bj-league's director of officials since its establishment in 2005, has quietly retired. That shouldn't come as a big surprise; after all, the Shizuoka Prefecture native will turn 61 on Nov. 27, so he reached the mandatory retirement age early in the 2011-12 season.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2012

Sharp's losses may approach ¥300 billion, frighten lenders

Sharp Corp. may lose more money than it forecast this year, analysts predict, increasing pressure on the struggling electronics maker to raise funds and complete a stake sale to Foxconn Technology Group.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / ANALYSIS
Sep 12, 2012

Island disputes could cost Tokyo 2020 Olympics

With the vote to determine the host of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games less than one year away, Tokyo's chances of landing the global extravaganza could slip away in the wake of Japan's ongoing involvement in island disputes with South Korea, China, Russia and Taiwan.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 11, 2012

Sapporo ¥200 billion biz plan stands

Sapporo Holdings Ltd., which last month cut its profit forecast, will invest as much as ¥200 billion over five years to boost growth and consider acquisitions to expand in food and soft drinks.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 9, 2012

Roadside view of a tasty, tasty world

THE WORLD'S BEST STREET FOOD: Where to Find It & How to Make it, Lonely Planet, 2012, 224 pp., $19.99 (paperback)
CULTURE / Books
Sep 9, 2012

Insights by a veteran diplomat

IN THE VALLEY BETWEEN WAR AND PEACE: Personalities I Met, by Yasushi Akashi. European Center for Peace and Development, 2012, 119 pp., (hardcover)
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Sep 9, 2012

Aki Basho 2012: Time for ozeki Harumafuji to step up his game

When the Aki-basho starts today, all eyes will be on one man, and this time it is not yokozuna grand champion Hakuho. Rather the focus of sumo fans throughout Japan and around the world will be on ozeki Harumafuji. Looking to secure a second consecutive championship victory and thereby guarantee his...
BASKETBALL
Sep 9, 2012

Jets sign ex-Georgia Tech guard Bell

Former Georgia Tech guard D'Andre Bell has joined the Chiba Jets for the 2012-13 season, the bj-league team announced on Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 8, 2012

Cloudy outlook for economy

In its latest monthly economic report released on Aug. 28, the government downgraded its assessment of the economy for the first time since October 2011 when the effects of the European sovereign debt crisis and the strong yen broadsided the economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2012

Economists in denial as conventional tools fail

In an exasperated outburst, just before he left the presidency of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet complained that, "as a policymaker during the crisis, I found the available [economic and financial] models of limited help. I would go further: In the face of the crisis, we felt abandoned...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 7, 2012

Motivation needed for Moldova match

Roy Hodgson's main concern as England begins its qualification program for the 2014 World Cup finals on Friday is that Moldova will be seen as a walkover.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Sep 7, 2012

Players take Greek offers

The Greek economy is in horrible shape. The eurozone has been on shaky ground for years. And, yes, the Greek League is barely surviving.
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2012

Rising tensions hurting China sales, Nissan exec says

Nissan Motor Co., the best-selling Japanese automaker in China, said deliveries are off as it cut back on marketing events in the wake of violent anti-Japan demonstrations last month.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 6, 2012

Feel the Roots

What do you get when you mix prehistoric Jomon Period ruins and free-spirited, improvised percussion and rhythm? Jomon Trance, that's what. A genre coined by global music group RaBiRaBi, it's a sound that "blends the ancient and the future to create a new ceremonial space."
COMMENTARY
Sep 5, 2012

Obama earns mediocre marks on economy

President Barack Obama's economic report card is at best mediocre. I'd give him a C+, while acknowledging that presidents usually don't much influence the economy. It's too big and subject to too many complex forces, from new technologies to global conditions.
EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 2012

Cinemas going digital

Japan's cinema world is now undergoing its greatest transformation since the introduction of "talkie" and color films. It has been learned recently that 10 major cinema complex firms, which cover some 70 percent of the roughly 3,300 movie screens in Japan, are expected to complete the introduction of...
ANNOUNCEMENTS / TRAVEL INSIDER
Sep 5, 2012

Is Japan Cool? asks ANA's website; BA special fares until Sept. 7; Cathay meals

ANA's Is Japan Cool? site
EDITORIALS
Sep 4, 2012

Mr. Mitt Romney, a man of faith

It is now official: Mr. Willard Mitt Romney is the Republican Party nominee to contest the presidency of the United States in 2012. Mr. Romney acquired the requisite number of delegates in the Republican primary race months ago but it took the party convention to make it official. Now, Mr. Romney and...

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.