Search - 2012

 
 
COMMENTARY
Apr 5, 2012

Is American energy 'independence' possible?

Call it President Richard Nixon's revenge.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 5, 2012

Lee Bul: Inspired by the past imperfect

She may be Asia's leading female artist, but Lee Bul has grown very tired of that title.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 5, 2012

Lee Bul: Inspired by the past imperfect

She may be Asia's leading female artist, but Lee Bul has grown very tired of that title.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Apr 4, 2012

Knicks should keep Woodson as coach

As long as the Knicks make the playoffs and, you know what, even if they don't due to injuries, Mike Woodson will be the team's biggest winner this season.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2012

The Afghan endgame mirage

On a recent visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan, I could not fail to notice the increasingly frequent international calls for an "endgame" in Afghanistan. But an endgame for that country is a dangerous illusion: The game will not end, and neither will history. The only thing that could come to an end is...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 3, 2012

TED offers everyone the chance to speak or perform

TED — the increasingly popular New York based, California-held ideas event— is coming to Tokyo. The conference, whose speakers were previously by invitation only, will hold an audition in Tokyo on May 29 as part of a worldwide talent search. Organized by the TEDxTokyo team and hosted at Roppongi...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2012

Dark days for the Jewish community in Europe

Rabbi Shneur Kesselman estimates that he has been the victim of 100 or so anti-Semitic confrontations since he arrived in the southern Swedish city of Malmö in 2004. The latest was just last week when some young immigrants in a car spotted him on his way home after the evening service at the synagogue....
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 3, 2012

Keene should engage brain before fueling 'flyjin,' foreign crime myths

Congratulations to Donald Keene, who was granted Japanese citizenship last month with great media fanfare. At 89 years young and after a lifetime contributing to world scholarship on Japan, he truly deserves it.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 2, 2012

Intelligent urban design that'll let people bloom

Two months ago, I was introduced to a startup called CityMart, a for-profit marketplace dedicated to helping vendors and city managers find one another — and to spreading municipal innovations outside of their home turf.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 1, 2012

Slideshow: Roppongi Art Night 2012

Roppongi Art Night, which was cancelled last year due to the March 11 disasters, was back with a bang this year, featuring large scale expressions of Yayoi Kusama's famous obsession with dots, Tohoku-related projects, and events through the night of March 24. For roughly 24 hours, art lovers congregated...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 1, 2012

Slideshow: Roppongi Art Night 2012

Roppongi Art Night, which was cancelled last year due to the March 11 disasters, was back with a bang this year, featuring large scale expressions of Yayoi Kusama's famous obsession with dots, Tohoku-related projects, and events through the night of March 24. For roughly 24 hours, art lovers congregated...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Apr 1, 2012

Aggressive Ishikawa impressive in opener

The 2012 NPB season opened Friday and it wasn't bereft of a little bit drama on Opening Day. The fans at Tokyo Dome nearly saw a bit of history as Tokyo Yakult Swallows pitcher Masanori Ishikawa flirted with the first no-hitter in Opening Day history.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2012

3/11 cast a spotlight on the importance of international cooperation: Sadako Ogata

The March 2011 disasters have increased Japanese awareness of international cooperation, says Sadako Ogata, and the departing president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency hopes this will lead the government to play a larger role in assisting developing nations.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Mar 31, 2012

Passage hinges on Ozawa, opposition

Despite the Cabinet's approval Friday of a sales tax hike bill that sparked months of dissent and resistance from the ruling party's ranks, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda may find that in the deadlocked Diet, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Mar 31, 2012

Sumo returns to Osaka with a bang

For the first time since March of 2010, the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium played host to a sumo tournament.
EDITORIALS
Mar 31, 2012

Too soon to restart reactors

Nuclear power once accounted for about 30 percent of Japan's power supply. On March 26, Tokyo Electric Power Co. shut down the last of its 17 reactors — the No. 6 unit at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture — for regular inspection and maintenance. Now, of Japan's 54...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2012

Forging a Syrian opposition worthy of support

Syria's crisis is now a year old, with close to 10,000 people, mostly civilians, dead — and no end in sight. The country is at a stalemate: The opposition is unable to topple President Bashar Assad's regime, and Assad's forces are unable to quash the resistance.
COMMENTARY
Mar 30, 2012

Russia's civil society is key

The future of democracy in Russia will depend on the correct relationship between "people" and "power" — the two major elements constituting any society.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2012

Oil consumption hits four-year high as LNG use peaks to cover reactors

Japan is consuming the most oil in four years as it runs out of capacity to use liquefied natural gas as a stopgap for idled nuclear power plants.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji