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COMMENTARY
Oct 17, 2012

Give nuclear power a larger role

Roughly a year and a half after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Japanese government at a Cabinet meeting on Sept. 19 adopted its basic policy on new energy and environment strategies crafted as a response to the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant accident. The government had initially intended...
Reader Mail
Oct 14, 2012

Quake's role in Fukushima disaster

Regarding the front-page Oct. 8 article "Noda gets close look at Fukushima plant," reporter Reiji Yoshida quotes one of the "Fukushima 50" workers as saying, "The (power generators) were knocked out by water from the tsunami. I thought it was all over." The reporter then adds that "the workers successfully...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 14, 2012

Kakunaka's fortunes change in a hurry

We are establishing a new "prize" here. It is the Baseball Bullet-In "Out of the Blue Award" with recognition given to the player in Japanese pro baseball who has the best season among those virtually unheard of and who came from seemingly nowhere to become a star.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 14, 2012

Food co-op sues Tepco over soiled reputation

Nanohana Seikyo — a Chiba Prefecture food distribution cooperative with about 11,500 members — made headlines last month when it took on the role of David by suing the corporate Goliath that is Tokyo Electric Power Co. for losses in sales incurred as a result of the March 2011 nuclear disaster.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2012

'Tyrannosaur'

In a working-class part of the city of Leeds in northern England, a man in the grip of an alcoholic rage beats a dog to death. This is just one of many harrowing moments in "Tyrannosaur."
EDITORIALS
Oct 12, 2012

Mr. Chavez wins again

It was supposed to be a close vote; some even believed that an upset was in the works. But when the dust settled, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had won another election. This time, however, his margin of victory was considerably reduced, from 25 percentage points six years ago to about 10 percentage...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 12, 2012

Determined Swallows renew rivalry with playoff-tested Dragons

No matter what changes or how much time passes, it seems like the Chunichi Dragons find a way to make it into the Climax Series.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Oct 9, 2012

Call to stop dolphin hunt in Taiji makes waves

Some of the many readers' letters The Japan Times received in response to the Sept. 11 Hotline to Nagatacho column, "Stop the annual Taiji dolphin massacre, make your children proud" by Deb Bowen-Saunders:
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 7, 2012

Gruff Ochiai needs to change if return is in cards

The Pacific League's Orix Buffaloes announced on Sept. 25 manager Akinobu Okada will not return to run the club next season, and speculation about his replacement indicates Japanese baseball Hall of Famer and former Chunichi Dragons skipper Hiromitsu Ochiai is one of the candidates who might be appointed...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 6, 2012

Teaching compassion for all living things

As the distinguished gaijin on the island (ie: the only foreigner here), the Shiraishi Island Elementary school asked me to come and give a speech to third- and fourth-year students. All four of them.
BUSINESS
Oct 5, 2012

Jojima mum on South Korea currency swap extension

New Finance Minister Koriki Jojima said the government must "carefully consider" whether to extend the currency swap agreement with South Korea but refused to be drawn out on whether Tokyo will propose an extension.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 4, 2012

Chairlift taps childhood memories of Japan for inspiration

Next week will mark Brooklyn, New York-based synth-pop duo Chairlift's first gig in Japan, but it won't be the first time here for Caroline Polachek.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 4, 2012

"The People by Kishin"

Kishin Shinoyama has always been at the forefront of Japan's photography industry. His perceptive insight and carefree disregard of social norms have made him both an admirable pursuer of avant-gardism and a target of conservative criticism. This exhibition is the first major retrospective of Shinoyama's...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Oct 2, 2012

Revisionists marching Japan back to a dangerous place

No doubt you've seen the news about the Takeshima and Senkaku disputes: Japan is sparring with China, South Korea and Taiwan over some specks in the ocean.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 30, 2012

Senkaku issue falls hard from the shelf

Tanaage, which means to put something on the shelf, is a term that pops up often in the coverage of the current imbroglio over the islands that Japan calls the Senkakus. There is disagreement over when China, which calls the islands Diaoyu, started insisting they were its territory, but in any case the...
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Sep 30, 2012

Panasonic helped bring foreign players to Japan

Just as the Japan Basketball League is preparing to re-brand itself as the National Basketball League (NBL) for 2013-14, it is also coping with the planned loss of one of Japan's most successful basketball clubs, the Panasonic Trians.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 30, 2012

What nightmares may come, when we shuffle onto an immortal coil

"In 20 years human beings will neither die nor age."
COMMENTARY
Sep 29, 2012

Two missed opportunities for Japan in island disputes

Since I have been requested to express my views on the territorial issues concerning the Takeshima islets and Senkaku Islands on several occasions recently, I thought it opportune to compile them into one coherent argument.
EDITORIALS
Sep 28, 2012

Mr. Abe makes his return

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a political comeback on Wednesday as the elected new head of the leading opposition Liberal Democratic Party. This is the first time that a person who has resigned as prime minister has been re-elected as the top leader of a political party. A big question about...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Sep 27, 2012

Bicqlo – Bic Camera meets Uniqlo – is here!

Uniqlo and Bic Camera cross-pollinate and make a baby.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 27, 2012

Singapore's bid to become Asia's newest art hub

Three Tokyo-based Japanese contemporary art galleries — Tomio Koyama Gallery, Mizuma Gallery and Ota Fine Arts — inaugurated new spaces at Singapore's Gillman Barracks at an opening party on Sept. 14, joining 10 other galleries from the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, Korea, China, Germany, Italy,...
COMMENTARY
Sep 26, 2012

Why shouldn't pols treat voters like grownups?

In every year divisible by four, the dominant superstition of American politics — faith in the magic of presidential words and deeds — reaches an apogee that feeds national narcissism: Everything that happens anywhere is about us, is a response to something America did or did not do, and can be controlled...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Sep 25, 2012

Cheers! Wine shop serves as a bridge for couple

Jamie Paquin and Nozomi Mihara, who jointly own an all-Canadian wine shop that opened in Tokyo last year, met by chance at a cafe six years ago.
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2012

Board members wanted all options available against Europe

Some Bank of Japan policymakers said six weeks before the central bank expanded asset purchases that it shouldn't dismiss any options in combating risks from the European debt crisis, a record of last month's meeting shows.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 24, 2012

Indecent proposals: the language of Japanese dating spam

It started with an email from a 20-year-old college student called Emi, who told me she was looking for a Showa umare no dansei (昭和生まれの男性, a man born in Showa, i.e., born before 1989). Next was Norika, a bored housewife in her early thirties asking me to spend some himajikan (ヒマ時間,...
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 23, 2012

Street dance sweeps young Japan

The cool, wild and powerful movements of rhythm-heavy hip-hop dance are gripping the body and soul of ever more Japanese children and young people.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2012

Freedom of speech, blasphemy and violence

Violent attacks on U.S. diplomatic outposts across North Africa and the Middle East have once again raised the question of how to respond when Americans and other Westerners engage in provocative expression that others consider blasphemous. Though the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2012

Game show highlights smartphone offerings

Producing more quality social games will be a key to succeeding in the growing smartphone video game market as devices become more powerful and high-speed networks spread, according to Yoshikazu Tanaka, the president of game site operator Gree Inc.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 21, 2012

Quest to save at-risk heritage homes mixes art and real estate

Every now and again news gets around of some architecturally important building that is about to be demolished. Invariably, there arises a chorus of calls for better public preservation measures and, invariably, those calls go unheeded.

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