Search - 2012

 
 
LIFE
Aug 12, 2012

Japan's Paralympians overcome adversity by leaps, bounds and innovative design

When Oscar Pistorius made his dramatic debut in the men's 400-meter race in London last Saturday — becoming the first double amputee to compete alongside able-bodied athletes in Olympics history — some people might have wondered if the South African's artificial legs gave him a competitive edge over...
JAPAN / Media
Aug 12, 2012

Fading shades of pink

At its peak of popularity roughly four decades ago, the form of soft-core pornography known as pinku eiga (pink films) utilized more than 1,000 theaters to screen short, low-budget, erotic films churned out mainly by independent studios.
Japan Times
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 11, 2012

Bolt has put himself on another level with latest run to Olympic glory

Pick a superlative, any superlative, and add two dozen or more synonyms. And still, the total wow factor created by Usain Bolt's Olympic body of work goes beyond what your list of words.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2012

Upper House passes bill to hike sales levy

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda achieved a major goal Friday when the Upper House passed his administration's social security and tax reform bills that will double the sales tax to 10 percent by 2015.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 11, 2012

Supporters helped propel Icho, Obara to gold

Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, is not known for being Party Central. But that changed in a big way when freestyle wrestlers Kaori Icho and Hitomi Obara doubled Japan's gold medal total on Wednesday, making their hometown proud and bringing immense joy to Tohoku.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2012

Egypt's new old government

Egypt's first-ever freely elected president, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, has appointed his first Cabinet, and guess what? It is crammed with officials from the old regime.
OLYMPICS / LONDON POSTCARD
Aug 10, 2012

A journalist's dilemma

There's so many events going on at the same time, that the only consistent thought swirling through my head on the topic is this: I wish I could be going to (fill in the blank), too.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2012

Utilities' CO₂ emissions jump a year after Fukushima

Tokyo Electric Power Co. and nine other utilities emitted a record amount of carbon dioxide in the business year that ended March 31 as the Fukushima No. 1 disaster caused a surge in crude and fuel oil consumption.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 9, 2012

From Comme des Garcons to Somarta, Japanese fashion excels at weaving past, present and future

In 1981, while Western designers focused on shoulder-padded power suits, bright colors, sharp stiletto heels and statement jewelry, Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garcons' Rei Kawakubo sent their models down the runway in defiant black, voluminously draped garments, accessorized with nothing but flat shoes....
OLYMPICS
Aug 9, 2012

Yoshida ready to defend wrestling title

Two-time defending gold medalist Saori Yoshida will be seeking another Olympic title when the women's 55-kg freestyle wrestling competition is staged on Thursday at Excel Arena.
COMMENTARY
Aug 8, 2012

The reasons for America's Generation Squeezed

I worry about the future — not mine but that of my three children, all in their 20s. It is an axiom of American folklore that every generation should live better than its predecessors. But this is not a constitutional right or even an entitlement, and I am skeptical that today's young will do so. Nor...
COMMENTARY
Aug 8, 2012

Autopsies shine light on NFL's deadly problem

Are you ready for some American football? First, however, are you ready for some autopsies? The opening of the NFL training camps coincided with the closing of the investigation into the April suicide by gunshot of Ray Easterling, 62, an eight-season NFL safety in the 1970s.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2012

Love and marriage in North Korea

Imagine North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a tuxedo, waiting nervously at the altar (or shrine) of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, and his father, Kim Jong Il. He beholds his future wife's face, anticipating his chance to kiss the bride. Of course, such an event can only be imagined in today's North Korea....
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 7, 2012

Olympic spirit pushes Murray to tennis glory

No one is insisting that the Olympic tennis tournament becomes an unofficial fifth Grand Slam once every four years. It is, however, the closest thing to a major tournament in 2012 away from the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and upcoming U.S. Open.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 6, 2012

Jordanian boxer Almatbouli remembers humble roots

You'll be hard-pressed to find a more inspiring Olympic athlete right now than light-heavyweight boxer Ihab Almatbouli of Jordan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2012

Foreign students of Japanese hold Tokyo summit

At a symposium in Tokyo on Sunday, 12 people between the ages of 17 and 25 from a dozen different countries exchanged views about their cultures and the things they experienced during a one-month stay in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 6, 2012

Faces of corporate leadership belie the myth that Asian Americans have avoided alienation

The Pew Center's recent report "The Rise of Asian Americans," which shows that Asians, not Latinos, comprise the largest group of immigrant arrivals in the United States, took many people by surprise. The data also show that Asian Americans have the highest education and per capita income.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 5, 2012

MLB's trade deadline frenzy has yet to take hold among Japanese teams

One of the potential game-changers in Major League Baseball is the annual late-July trade activity of quality players from teams lower in the standings with little or no chance to make the postseason. Every year, these guys are dealt to playoff-contending clubs for young prospects, supposedly stars of...
Japan Times
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 5, 2012

Japan's judoka should use London struggles as learning tool for 2016

Even though Japan invented judo and the nation's athletes have excelled at the Olympics and world championship competitions over the years, there were unrealistic expectations placed on Japanese judoka before the 2012 Summer Games.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 5, 2012

Okinawa: between a rock and a hard place

Resistant Islands: Okinawa Confronts Japan and the U.S., by Gavan McCormack and Satoko Oka Norimatsu. Rowman and Littlefield, 2012, 312 pp., $29.95 (hardcover) T his year marks the 40th anniversary of the U.S. reversion of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty, but the long-standing disputes about the U.S....
OLYMPICS
Aug 4, 2012

Phelps takes third straight 200 IM

Michael Phelps collected his unprecedented third straight Olympic 200-meter individual medley gold medal on Thursday night at the Aquatics Centre.
EDITORIALS
Aug 4, 2012

Japan's ongoing suicide problem

The basic law to cope with Japan's high suicide rate went into force in 2006. Then in 2007, the government adopted an outline of policies to deal with this serious social problem. But the government was slow in tackling the problem and even after the outline was adopted, ministries and agencies failed...
EDITORIALS
Aug 4, 2012

Police lessons from 3/11

The National Police Agency on July 24 released a fiscal 2012 white book that contained a section titled "Large-scale disasters and the police" at its outset. The section details what actions the police took when the earthquake and tsunami devastated the Tohoku coastal region on March 11, 2011, and the...
COMMENTARY
Aug 3, 2012

Bullying begins at the top of the U.S. food chain

The huge humpback whale whose friendliness precipitated a surreal seven-year — so far — federal hunt for criminality surely did not feel put upon.
COMMENTARY
Aug 3, 2012

Pushing Seoul-Tokyo forward

There is an old Russian proverb that applies to current Japan-South Korea (ROK) relations: "Forget the past and lose an eye; dwell on the past and lose both eyes!"
EDITORIALS
Aug 3, 2012

Promoting entrepreneurship

A fiscal 2012 white book on the economy and state finances endorsed by the Cabinet on July 27 stressed the importance of entrepreneurship to accelerate innovation, an important factor for economic growth as Japan faces a declining birthrate and the graying of the population.

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