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COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 6, 2012

If you need to bring drugs to Japan, sort out the paperwork — or else

Reader BM wants to know if morphine can be brought into Japan legally, and if having a tattoo would prevent her from visiting bathing facilities.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 6, 2012

Revisionists, the Senkakus and Debito: readers' views

Some readers' letters in response to Debito Arudou's Oct. 2 Just Be Cause column, "Revisionists marching Japan back to a dangerous place":
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 4, 2012

Ishihara resignation a gift for the media

When Shintaro Ishihara announced on Oct. 25 that he was resigning as governor of Tokyo so that he could form a new political party before the next general election, some of the dailies printed gōgai (extra editions) to report it, thus indicating it was really big news that everybody needed to know about...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 4, 2012

Beware the parallels between boom-time Japan and present-day China

Futaro Gamagori was born into a destitute household. His father was a no-good womanizing lush; his mother, unable to afford medical care, died of illness. The young Futaro sets out on a life of serious crime — thieving, raping, murdering. He eventually becomes the rich president of a big company, but...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / JAPAN-U.S. SEMINAR
Nov 3, 2012

U.S. needs Japan to remain nuclear, expert says

A "zero-nuclear" Japan will be a serious concern for the United States as its key ally both from economic and security standpoints, the chief of an influential U.S. think tank said at a recent seminar on Japan-U.S. relations.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2012

Hashimoto tries to get regional ducks in a row for poll

Members of Osaka-based Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) fanned out across the country this week, seeking to drum up support and establish regional organizations that can field candidates under the party's umbrella in the election.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2012

Abe, DPJ to discuss bond bill passage

After months of hardball with the ruling camp, Liberal Democratic Party President Shinzo Abe hinted he will cooperate with the Democratic Party of Japan in passing a critical bond-issuance bill.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2012

Madonna finds kindred spirit in Wallis Simpson

"At dinners and parties," Madonna recalls, "I found that whenever I brought up the topic of Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, it was like throwing a Molotov cocktail into the conversation." Of course, the same story could be told about the speaker herself.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2012

'Kita no Kanariatachi (A Chorus of Angels)'

Sayuri Yoshinaga has appeared in more than 100 films since winning the hearts of millions in the 1960s playing spunky, pure-spirited teens for the Nikkatsu studio. Her legions of admirers, called "Sayurists," have remained steadfast over the decades, while she herself has overcome personal and professional...
Reader Mail
Nov 1, 2012

Meaningless without figures

The Oct. 24 article "Japanese government radiation monitoring posts not showing reality: Greenpeace" states, "One monitoring post in a park showed less than one-twelfth the radiation levels seen in nearby areas in the same park."
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Nov 1, 2012

Former boxer Sugiya not interested in watching son, Fighters at ballpark

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters youngster Kenshi Sugiya and his father, Mitsuru, are a unique father-son tandem. Both of them have been professional athletes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 1, 2012

Res Artis plots a path for future art residencies

The 1990s saw a tremendous emphasis, continuing through to today, on artist residency programs, run by museums and galleries, educational establishments or independent foundations and organizations.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Oct 30, 2012

Science tells us that dolphins are something special

Dear people of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture,
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Oct 29, 2012

Evidence of the Showa Emperor's deep regret

Checking the galley of the endnotes to "Persona," my biography of Yukio Mishima with Naoki Inose, I decided to augment a note on Japan's monarchical system. The tenno institution had a singular meaning for Mishima, and I set aside substantial space in the book for the subject.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 28, 2012

'Fresh Currents' charts the way to, and from, Fukushima

This month's column is about a book that is very much more than just a book: It is a work of art, a labor of love and a realizable dream of a better future for Japan. But I'm getting ahead of myself ...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 26, 2012

Giants, Fighters inch closer to Japan Series clash

The dust has settled on the 2012 season and only the Yomiuri Giants and Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters are still standing.
Reader Mail
Oct 25, 2012

Tragic, but gun rights needed

Regarding the Oct. 22 article "Hattori's mom appeals for wider U.S. gun control effort," I have always been heart-sickened by the death of this young man. Who knows what he could have created for his nation, his people, the world? That being said, those firearms she wants removed were a fundamental reason...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 23, 2012

Against all odds, Mormons in Japan soldier on

According to the Mormon version of postbiblical events, Joseph Smith, guided by an angel in 1823, found sacred golden plates buried in Manchester, New York, outside Rochester. The plates are claimed to have been buried around the year 400, having been brought from Central America by a man named Mormon....
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Oct 22, 2012

No nation can afford to act like an island in Asia's globalized age

Japan is having trouble keeping up a cordial relationship with its next door neighbors. Long dormant territorial disputes have suddenly come to the fore. Who owns what from when and why? Who can claim legal ownership? Who is in actual control? Arcane issues have suddenly become hot topics of the moment...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 21, 2012

Enka scandal keeps star in the news

The conflict between Japan and South Korea over Takeshima/Dokdo has spilled over into the entertainment realm. Some Korean actors and K-pop stars have stated publicly that the group of islets belongs to Korea, causing Masayuki Matsumoto, the president of NHK, to express concern. Last month he hinted...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 21, 2012

Using the noodle to gain insight into Japanese culinary culture

SLURP! A Social and Culinary History of Ramen — Japan's Favorite Noodle Soup, by Barak Kushner. Global Oriental, 2012, 289 pp., $90 (hardcover) Under the heading "Ramen is Japan" Barak Kushner asserts: "Ramen (regular and instant) permeates all features of contemporary Japanese life." He goes on to...
CULTURE / Film
Oct 19, 2012

Special screenings and other spinoffs at TIFF

The Special Screenings section at Tokyo International Film Festival is largely made up of films that will soon be opening in Japan anyway, but there are still a few hot tickets this year. With "Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away," TIFF has scored the world premiere of this 3-D spectacle featuring the much-loved...
Reader Mail
Oct 18, 2012

Christianity not without violence

In Jennifer Kim's Oct. 7 letter "Tolerance for hurt feelings," she bemoans a lack of tolerance for her religion in the Muslim world, but her beloved Christianity has been demonstrably anti-Semitic since the first centuries of the common era and culminating in the Holocaust.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / U.K. JOURNALIST SYMPOSIUM
Oct 18, 2012

Japan urged to deal with debt, demographics

Japan may be "the canary in the coal mine" for other industrialized economies as many of them try to grapple with mounting debt problems and face demographic challenges ahead.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight