Search - japan

 
 
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Apr 24, 2007

Yuji Sato

Marine, a 5-and-a-half year-old black Labrador retriever, just might be one of the world's most unexpected heroines in the fight against cancer. Marine's nose is capable of detecting 18 different types of cancer on a person's breath and has already been mechanically replicated as a sensor the size of...
EDITORIALS
Apr 23, 2007

Progress in abduction probes

The National Police Agency, investigating the 1973 disappearances of a mother and her two children, has concluded that the two children were abducted by North Korean agents. The NPA will obtain a warrant for the arrest of a woman suspected of having masterminded the abduction and put her on an international...
Reader Mail
Apr 22, 2007

Peril in denying China's past

I hate to rain on everyone's parade, but Japan shouldn't be so readily taken in by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's recent speech in the Diet. This is because China, despite the flowery good language forwarded by Wen, is still a totalitarian regime willing to interfere in another country's domestic politics. ...
BASKETBALL
Apr 21, 2007

Hatano's 'unyielding heart' the secret weapon for champ Osaka

Kazuya Hatano called himself a "non-committal" person. But the decision he made was perfectly correct.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 21, 2007

The cherry blossom in a court of its peers

Imagine a clearing in the forest, where several species of flowers are blooming.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 20, 2007

Adventures in folk

'At a festival like this, where you're collaborating with highly talented, colorful artists during a short, intense time period, there is always a risk. But the wonderful thing about 'La Folle Journee' is that the artists are given the opportunities to work with partners who they would not have otherwise...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2007

'Profile ads' riding back of SNS boom

If in recent days you happened to visit the Mobile Game Town community, a social networking site for cell phone users, you may well have bumped into a character named Fanta.
EDITORIALS
Apr 19, 2007

A stark warning from the IPCC

The evidence of global climate change is impossible to dismiss or ignore. Growing in tandem are the consequences of continued indifference to this phenomenon. Governments and individuals must abandon their short-term thinking and start taking action now to head off the devastating effects that human...
COMMENTARY
Apr 19, 2007

Asia's latest great power joins the game

The test would hardly have made the news outside of India if the local air-traffic controllers had posted a warning in advance, but when an Indonesian airliner had to turn around in Indian airspace last Thursday and return to Jakarta to avoid flying into the missile's path, it was bound to draw attention....
Reader Mail
Apr 18, 2007

Can old issues be put to rest?

In her March 21 letter, "Is U.S. qualified to throw stones?," Noriko Yoshimoto exhibits the "we poor Japanese" attitude on display at places like Yasukuni Shrine and Chiran Peace Museum for kamikaze pilots. With regard to "comfort women," Yoshimoto asks if the United States "is qualified to poke its...
COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 2007

Preserving the countryside

LONDON -- In Britain we have not yet quite lost the battle to preserve the countryside, but it is far from won. In Japan, however, it looks to many outsiders as if preservation is a lost cause.
Reader Mail
Apr 15, 2007

Levity relieves biases

If the image of Hachiko on his way to China on a junk freighter brought a smile at the expense of any "minority group" in Japan -- as Eve Campbell alleges it might have in her April 8 letter, "A joke that can fan prejudices" -- the only group that would qualify as the butt of such humor would be an international...
Reader Mail
Apr 15, 2007

Desperation fosters learning

I applaud T. Mamoru Hanami's March 28 letter, "Can't beat immersion option," for pointing out that many of the students he meets from English-language institutes in Japan "are being robbed blind. Their English is horrendous and I think they know that, too."
Reader Mail
Apr 15, 2007

American whalers share the blame

An April 1, 2007, New York Times editorial took up Japanese whaling, faulting Japan on its obsession with the practice. Japanese tourists, however, don't have to go to Hawaii to watch "these wonderful, sociable mammals" breed and breathe in coastal waters. Whales are coming back to the Japanese coast...
EDITORIALS
Apr 14, 2007

Rocky road to integration

South Asian leaders last week concluded their summit by adopting a declaration that emphasized trade liberalization, economic integration and the fight against poverty and terrorism. But the way to real achievement does not appear to be smooth, especially because of the rivalry between India and Pakistan...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 14, 2007

When life's a drag, wear a costume

Do you think Japanese people are too serious? Do you ever speak to someone in Japanese only to have them just stare back at you in confusion? Do you find living in Japan downright depressing sometimes? You may need help. You may be a gaijin.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 14, 2007

Yura Alaiti Yusuf

This coming Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. the annual Asia-Pacific Festival and Charity Bazaar is scheduled to be held in the ANA Hotel, Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 13, 2007

The cutting edge of Chiba

When a meandering road trip along the coast in southern Chiba took me to Nokogiri-yama ("saw mountain"), I didn't think I'd come across Japan's largest Buddha, or the oldest umeboshi (salt-cured plums) and cheapest fresh fish I'd ever laid eyes on.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 13, 2007

'Koishikute'

Okinawa and the other Ryukyu islands are to the rest of Japan somewhat like what Hawaii is to the mainland United States. Both are sun 'n' surf destinations for the multitudes, with local cultures that are perceived as exotically different, but not threateningly so. The natives speak your language, use...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 12, 2007

Zimmermann ascends Beethoven's 'Mount Everest'

Effortless, elegant melodies warmed by sublime vibrato rise in volume as the phone is whisked toward Frank Peter Zimmermann, one of the greatest violinists of this age, at his home in Germany. They end abruptly, but interrupting Zimmerm- an's rehearsal causes him no irritation, and he dives enthusiastically...
Reader Mail
Apr 11, 2007

Concerns about missile defense

Regarding Brad Glosserman's March 24 article, "Baseless threats of cold war": In advocating Japan's participation in the U.S. missile defense system (MDS), Glosserman glosses over Russia and China's legitimate concerns, repeats U.S.-made myths and neglects genuine Japanese concerns.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Apr 10, 2007

Takashi Yamada

Takashi Yamada, 59, is an official at Shikoku's Kagawa Products Association, a public entity with offices in Takamatsu City's beautiful Ritsurin Park. Yamada promotes the prefecture's arts and products, including its famed bonsai, udon, olives and the artwork of more than 100 local artisans. An enthusiastic...
EDITORIALS
Apr 9, 2007

How does the ASDF help Iraq?

The government has submitted to the Diet a bill for a two-year extension of the July 2003 ad hoc law to deploy Self-Defense Forces for noncombat activities in Iraq. Since the law expires at the end of July, the government hopes the Diet will pass the bill by the end of June. The specific aim of the bill...
Reader Mail
Apr 8, 2007

A joke that can fan prejudices

Although the front-page April 1 article "Shibuya's loyal dog Hachiko vanishes" was clearly an April fool's joke, I don't think The Japan Times should do things like this at the expense of minority groups. (In this case the story suggested that soaring prices for copper and other metals, spurred by the...
EDITORIALS
Apr 8, 2007

The annual 'hanami' rethink

Though it happens every year, cherry blossom season still functions as a vibrant experience in Japan. As the blossoms open up, somehow, so do people. Time spent walking or partying under the falling petals makes most people slow down to reconsider what is essential in life. It may be just a bunch of...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 8, 2007

'Mr. Irresponsible' -- the humanitarian comedian -- passes on

The media has been filled with tributes to comedian Hitoshi Ueki since he died of respiratory failure March 27 at the age of 80, but compared to the intense public mourning that followed the deaths of other, equally influential Showa Era pop icons, the eulogies have been notably subdued. One explanation...

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past