Search - 2012

 
 
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 26, 2012

Stalling tactics being abused in time-limit games

Japanese pro baseball has stayed with the three-and-a-half-hour game time limit rule in 2012 and, while this may be helping to save energy and shorten the length of games, there are signs teams are abusing the rule, playing for a tie rather than a win. This is disappointing.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2012

Embassies join to give kids look at other cultures

The Children's International Festa 2012 in Tokyo gave kids hands-on experience with other cultures Saturday, from making beeswax candles New Zealand-style to learning Mayan numbers.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 26, 2012

Another strange tale from east of the river

River Road: a Novel of Six Stories, by Hillel Wright. Printed Matter Press, 2012, 146 pp., $15.00 (hardcover) Writer Hillel Wright's seedbed of ideas, fertilized in the work of American giants like Ken Kesey, Tom Wolfe and William Burroughs, also owes something to the English sci-fi writer Michael Moorcock....
CULTURE / Books
Aug 26, 2012

Japanese Buddhist thought and evil forces

The Seven Scrolls Tengu: Evil and the Rhetoric of Legitimacy in Medieval Japanese Buddhism, by Haruko Wakabayashi. University of Hawai'i Press, 2012, 203 pp., $50.00 (hardcover) Residents of Japan will be vaguely aware of the long-nose impish figures known as Tengu, thinking of them as piquant figurines...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2012

Trial of the century reveals China's fractured leadership

The trial, conviction and suspended death sentence of Gu Kailai, the wife of purged Chinese leader Bo Xilai, has called into question not only China's legal system but also the very unity of the Communist Party leadership.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2012

A middle class may be welling up in Myanmar

Just last month I made my first visit to Myanmar, a place Rudyard Kipling referred to as "quite unlike any land you know about". While decades of isolation have helped this century-old observation hold true, on arrival in July I was immediately struck by the vibrancy and a palpable sense of change in...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 24, 2012

Poorer people passing up cancer screenings

The lower your income, the less likely you'll take advantage of your local cancer screening program.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2012

CBO warns of significant recession if Congress doesn't act to avoid fiscal cliff

The U.S. would be plunged into a significant recession in the first half of next year if Congress fails to avert nearly $500 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts set to hit in January, congressional budget analysts said Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 24, 2012

Ridley Scott returns to sci-fi with 'Prometheus'

"As a cinematic genre, science-fiction has a longer shelf life than most," says director/producer Sir Ridley Scott. The mastermind behind such classics as "Alien" (1979), "Blade Runner" (1982) and this year's "Prometheus" is referring to how aspects of a sci-fi film can morph from fiction into fact with...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Aug 24, 2012

Ashby makes Rizing Fukuoka fifth team in Japan career

Another season, another team for Julius Ashby.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Aug 24, 2012

Siesta at the Park Hyatt Tokyo; buy, taste wine at Okura Tokyo fair; Shangri-La wins award

Park Hyatt Tokyo siesta spa package Sweltering temperatures nationwide can lead to heat exhaustion, so the Park Hyatt Tokyo in Shinjuku has opened its spa and fitness facility Club on the Park — usually available only to members and hotel guests — to visitors as well, offering a special relaxation...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2012

Consumer Reports reviewer hired as Nissan quality exec

Nissan Motor Co. said it is hiring the senior auto reviewer for Consumer Reports magazine to be the carmaker's new executive adviser on vehicle quality.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 23, 2012

Crying Nut and Yellow Monsters

As K-pop continues its rise in stature, South Korea's small but prolific indie scenes are beginning to gain some recognition abroad as well.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 23, 2012

Preference should go to real, rational women

In the Dominican Republic last month, a pregnant teenager suffering from leukemia had her chemotherapy delayed, because doctors feared that the treatment could terminate her pregnancy and therefore violate the nation's strict anti-abortion law. After consultations between doctors, lawyers, and the girl's...
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2012

Legacy of the 2012 Games

The British are feeling quite pleased with their performance not only in the games, where they came third after the United States and China in the medal league, but also because the arrangements worked well and much better than some had feared.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 23, 2012

A summer reading list for eurozone leaders

In August, Europeans head for the beach. The continent shuts down on the assumption that nothing of consequence will happen until everyone returns, suitably tanned, in September.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 23, 2012

Art director Hideki Nakajima throws down the gauntlet of design

In Hiroshima the sun is setting on a large retrospective exhibition by one of Japan's leading graphic designers, who for the past 20 years has been working at the edge of his discipline, carving out a unique niche for himself within a very prescribed industry.
EDITORIALS
Aug 23, 2012

Japan's growth slowing down

Japan's real gross domestic product in the April-June period increased 0.3 percent (or an annualized 1.4 percent) from the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office's preliminary report said on Aug. 13. Although the Japanese economy has grown for four consecutive quarters, clearly it is slowing down.
COMMENTARY
Aug 22, 2012

Region could drive a global economic revival

Amid concerns about sagging growth in both advanced and developing economies, Japan — which is heavily dependent on Asian demand — may take heart from the region's potential to drive a global revival.
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2012

Fewer auto parts come with 'Made in Japan' on the tag

The nation's automakers have long relied on parts from domestic sources that are part of their "keiretsu" corporate groupings, but now they are turning to imports to cut costs and survive growing global competition.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2012

Calling the banks' bluff that they cannot perish

The G-20's decision in November 2008 not to let any systemically relevant bank perish may have seemed wise at the time, given the threat of a global financial meltdown.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Aug 21, 2012

Tepco liable for contract workers' safety in Fukushima

'Usually I spend New Year's Eve eating New Year's soba and go with my whole family to listen to the watch-night bell. But this year, I will spend Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 working. I will see the first sunrise of the year looking out over the sea driving along the highway toward the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2012

Four competing Sinai powder kegs

The crisis in the Sinai Peninsula seems to have been dwarfed by the drama in Cairo. But Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's civilian coup, in which he dismissed General Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the leader of the army's supreme command, has not diminished the importance of the trouble there.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2012

Why do American junk food giants feel the urge to force-feed us tidbit sermons on social issues?

Since when does serving up junk food give someone a license to preach?
EDITORIALS
Aug 20, 2012

Reports of child abuse

Child guidance centers throughout the country recognized and took action in a record 59,862 cases of child abuse during fiscal 2011, an increase of 3,478 from fiscal 2010 (statistics for Fukushima Prefecture for fiscal 2011 were unavailable because of the 3/11 disasters), the health and welfare ministry...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 19, 2012

Lack of offensive firepower continues to hamper Hanshin

What is wrong with the Hanshin Tigers?
CULTURE / Books
Aug 19, 2012

Nursery rhymes that fly high with sound and color

JAPANESE NURSERY RHYMES: Carp Streamers, Falling Rain, and other Traditional Favorites, by Danielle Wright and illustrated by Helen Acraman. Tuttle Publishing, 2012, 32 pp., $16.95 (hardcover) With its many onomatopoeic words, the Japanese language booms and trills, echoing with musical lingo. Usually...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’