Search - 2012

 
 
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2012

The Beach Boys get around, a half-century on

Three hours before showtime, Brian Wilson says: "There is no Rhonda."
BASKETBALL
Jun 24, 2012

Chiba to quit bj-league

The Chiba Jets, coming off a mediocre 18-34 inaugural season, are jumping ship to the JBL's re-branded top league for the 2013-14 campaign.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 24, 2012

There's none so blind as those who deny they cannot see

Buddhism teaches that all human suffering is rooted in greed, anger and ignorance. Whether true or not, it is clear that related human failings are compromising our planet: our material greed, our ignorance of natural systems, and most of all, our dogged denial.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 24, 2012

A woman's world

PASSIONATE FRIENDSHIP: The Aesthetics of Girls' Culture in Japan, by Deborah Shamoon. Univ. of Hawai'i Press, 2012, 181 pp., $27.00 (paperback) The subject of this book is one that is baffling to outsiders, but visible on the streets of Tokyo, especially the more fashionable parts, and in fiction, dress...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jun 23, 2012

England must step it up to advance

It was Jock Stein, the former Celtic manager, who said of tournament football: "You qualify in your boiler suit and then put on your tuxedo."
BASKETBALL
Jun 23, 2012

HeatDevils bolster roster for 2012-13

The Oita HeatDevils missed the playoffs in 2011-12, finishing 23-29 in the bj-league, or five less wins than the sixth-place Shimane Susanoo Magic in the Western Conference. So it was back to the drawing board for one of the bj-league's original franchises.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2012

Sony, Panasonic prepared to reveal OLED TV tieup

Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp., Japan's biggest makers of TVs, may announce an agreement next week to cooperate in making sets that use new organic light-emitting diode displays, company officials said.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jun 22, 2012

Grouses need coach after Shimoji steps down

After nearly finishing with their first winning season in franchise history, the Toyama Grouses will not have Kazuaki Shimoji at the helm in 2012-13. Serious health issues appear to be the primary factor, league insiders told The Japan Times.
EDITORIALS
Jun 22, 2012

Heed sentiment on Osprey

The government is trying to persuade local governments concerned in Okinawa and Honshu to accept a U.S. plan to station 24 MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to replace the same number of CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters stationed there....
CULTURE / Music
Jun 21, 2012

Kiwa Kiwa Festival

Emerging in March of this year promising to "challenge the limits of 'independent,' " Kiwa Kiwa — a music website and promoter (and cafe, curiously) — launched in a flurry of activity including disc and live reviews as well as columns from a quartet of local Tokyo indie musicians. It was a bold move...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 21, 2012

Discerning purpose beyond power

The rerun of the Greek parliamentary election on June 17 was only the latest symptom of the most serious crisis to plague Western democracies and open societies since the 1960s. Liberal democracies in the West today are struggling to avoid — and in doing so are exacerbating — a crisis of identity,...
EDITORIALS
Jun 21, 2012

Tepid vote for Europe in Greece

Greece and Europe have gained some breathing room — but not much — after Sunday's parliamentary elections in Greece. A victory by the conservative New Democracy (ND) party offers hope that the country will support a government that backs the existing austerity program, permitting Greece to stay in...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 20, 2012

Gardow done as Chiba coach

After an up-and-down inaugural season, the Chiba Jets will have a new coach for the 2012-13 campaign.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2012

International Baccalaureate classes to be taught in Japanese: government

Students in Japan may soon be able to qualify to apply for foreign universities by attending educational programs taught in Japanese, according to the education ministry.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 20, 2012

Gunma selects forward Sugasawa with No.1 pick in bj-league draft

A pair of bj-league franchises took the first step toward building their rosters for the 2012-13 season during Tuesday's draft day event in Tokyo.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Jun 20, 2012

Tyler learned many lessons in first NBA season

The Japan Times has published periodic interviews with bj-league players since the fall of 2006. This is the first One-on-One interview featuring a former bj-league player now in the NBA.
Jun 20, 2012

Helping Myanmar transform

Across the Mideast, and now in Myanmar, one of the great questions of contemporary global politics has resurfaced: How can countries move from a failing authoritarianism to some form of self-sustaining pluralism?
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 19, 2012

Gardow finished in Chiba; Tomiyama named new Jets coach

After an up-and-down inaugural season, the Chiba Jets will have a new coach for the 2012-13 campaign.
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2012

Reversing the population decline

Demographic statistics findings made public on June 5 by the health and welfare ministry has confirmed what is already well known: Japan's population will steadily decline unless effective measures are taken in a timely manner. The government and enterprises must waste no time in implementing policies...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 19, 2012

Net shopping means unending flow of counterfeit brand-name goods

Luxury-brand bags, watches and shoes can easily be purchased on the Internet along with their cheaper counterfeit counterparts, which are illegal but nonetheless widespread.
COMMENTARY
Jun 18, 2012

State of economic disparity in the age of dashed ideals

During the 1980s and 1990s, a number of countries were ruled by political parties upholding the credo of "market fundamentalism" as their governments vigorously pushed neoliberalism.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 17, 2012

Nakase out as Saitama coach; club brings in Williams

The Saitama Broncos have parted ways with head coach Natalie Nakase. The expected announcement was made official on Friday afternoon.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 17, 2012

Rock on down to a geopark near you

To naturalists and hikers, the renown of 810-meter Mount Apoi near the southern tip of Hokkaido towers mightily above its lowly elevation.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 17, 2012

Long journey home for a soldier-journalist

MARCH FORTH, by Trevor and Debbie Greene. Harper and Collins, 2012, 272 pp., $29.00 (hardcover) On March 4, 2006, a Canadian patrol led by Capt. Kevin Schamuhn was on security operations in the Gumbad Valley, in the Shah Wali Koi District, an area known to be a hotbed of Taliban activity. The patrol...

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’