Search - 2012

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 16, 2012

'Take Shelter'

If there's one thing that's certain about predictions of the apocalypse, it's that none of them have been correct to date. The mother of all end-of-the-world predictions was 2012 — according to all that Mayan calendar mumbo-jumbo — and yet, here we are.
SOCCER / J. League / J. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 15, 2012

Opening day gives hint of things to come in 20th season

The future is hardly set in stone after one round of matches, but as the J. League kicked off its 20th season on Saturday, there were some tantalizing glimpses of what lies ahead.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2012

Europe's trust deficit undermines crisis resolution

There is no shortage of talk nowadays about Europe's deficits and the need to correct them. Critics point to governments' gaping budget deficits. They cite the southern European countries' chronic external deficits. They highlight the eurozone's institutional deficits — a single currency and a central...
SOCCER / World cup
Mar 15, 2012

Japan punches ticket to London Olympics

Japan Under-23 manager Takashi Sekizuka allowed himself a moment to savor qualification for the London Olympic men's soccer tournament on Wednesday night, but the 51-year-old insists the real work begins now.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 15, 2012

capsule "Stereo Worxxx"

While electronic duo capsule's hit 2011 album "World of Fantasy" was undoubtedly a development of ideas introduced in earlier songs such as "The Music," it was also a discrete (if frequently indiscreet) work in its own right: a near-concept album linked by a uniform 128 bpm tempo, a relentlessly hedonistic...
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2012

Civic has 'ammunition' to remain top compact

Honda Motor Co.'s Civic, despite being stung by critical reviews and tight supply in the U.S. in 2011, rebounded to outsell its rivals so far this year and the carmaker has enough "ammunition" to hold onto the top spot, an executive said.
COMMENTARY
Mar 14, 2012

Japan's cautionary tale for the U.S.

Since the financial crisis, a shadow has hovered over the U.S. economy: Japan. Could what happened there happen to us? The bursting of Japan's real estate and stock bubble in the early 1990s has had lasting consequences: a "lost decade" (actually, two) of meager growth and weak job markets. Though hardly...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Mar 14, 2012

USB beans and yet another 'toy' camera

A common problem with many new laptops is that they don't come with as many USB ports as we'd like. I have four ports on my computer and I still find myself fiddling with wires around the back, unplugging and replugging depending on what device I'm using. Of course, a USB hub is a good solution in...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2012

Auto sector took early charge in efforts to get Tohoku back on its feet

As the surge of water smashed through the factory wall near Sendai Airport a year ago, Takumi Tanaka held on to an air hose to stop being swept away. Four days later, he was back at the shattered auto parts plant, groping through meter-thick mud studded with uprooted trees.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2012

Public acceptance of high salaries for athletes contrasts with low regard for finance superstars

The biggest news around Cambridge in recent weeks has been Jeremy Lin, the Harvard economics graduate who has shocked the National Basketball Association by rising overnight from "nowhere" to become a genuine star, leading a losing New York Knicks team to an unlikely string of victories.
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Mar 13, 2012

Chanel's little black jacket

Since 1983, Karl Lagerfeld has steered Parisian brand Chanel as the world's reigning barometer of chic. Now he's about to bring a little bit of that haute charm to Tokyo with a series of events beginning on March 21.
EDITORIALS
Mar 13, 2012

Put the political maneuvering aside

The Lower House on Thursday passed the ¥90.333 trillion fiscal 2012 budget with the support of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and its coalition partner, the People's New Party. But Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda cannot be optimistic about upcoming Diet business and must overcome several hurdles....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2012

Mitsui Fudosan eyes expanding trust

Mitsui Fudosan Co., the nation's biggest developer by sales, said it plans to triple the size of its private real estate investment trust in three years as the company seeks to tap Japanese pension funds.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 12, 2012

Turkey moving to ensure religious rights for all

After decades of official neglect and mistrust, Turkey has taken several steps to ensure the rights of the country's non-Muslim religious minorities, and thus guarantee that the rule of law is applied equally for all Turkish citizens, regardless of individuals' religion, ethnicity or language.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 11, 2012

Disaster had major impact on NPB

Here we are, exactly one year after the Great East Japan Earthquake struck at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011. Japanese baseball has been greatly affected by the quake, the tsunami triggered by it and the subsequent radiation threats from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Mar 10, 2012

One large step back, a few small steps forward

Last month the sumo association, while supposedly seeing 2012 as the year to move forward and clear their sullied name, took a massive step backward.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 9, 2012

Promoted sides seek to make mark against J. League powers

The following is the first of a two-part preview for the upcoming J. League season. Team-by-team previews of the nine lowest-ranked teams competing in the first division are listed.
EDITORIALS
Mar 9, 2012

Selling Japan's food and tourism

Following the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, and the subsequent nuclear crisis in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan's manufacturing sector suffered greatly due to the damage caused to the nation's supply chains.
EDITORIALS
Mar 9, 2012

The pay-cut bandwagon

Wage cuts for national public servants under a special law recently enacted will have repercussions in various areas. The law, jointly written by lawmakers of the Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, was enacted by the Upper House on Feb. 29. The wages will be cut by an...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2012

Revenge of the Japanese mandarins

Ever since the huge earthquake that hit Japan's Tohoku-Pacific coast on March 11, 2011, the country's mass media have obsessively focused on the magnitude of the physical damage and the loss of life. Repeated broadcasts of traumatic video images of the great tsunami and the damaged reactors at the Fukushima...
Reader Mail
Mar 8, 2012

Keeping our heads above water

I am writing in response to Andrew Sheldon's March 1 letter concerning our strike, titled "Illegitimate case for striking?" Sheldon's comments are quite off the mark about teachers at Berlitz. The union is addressing no pay increases for the past 16 years; Sheldon talks about "the next 20 years." A base...
EDITORIALS
Mar 8, 2012

The real 'China threat'

Considerable attention has been devoted to the threat seemingly posed by the growth of China's power and influence. It seems like every week the country is marking some new "first" in its military modernization program, all of which are said to be underwritten by a desire to become the pre-eminent power...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Mar 7, 2012

For fans, 'Metal Gear' without Kojima involved is 'game over'

Gamers know it: Every time Hideo Kojima finishes one of his "Metal Gear" stealth video games, he attempts to wash his hands of the wildly successful franchise and says, "That's it. I'm done."
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2012

Will American values outlast the social storm?

In 1924, the sociologist couple Robert and Helen Lynd arrived in a small Midwestern city they called Middletown (it was Muncie, Ind.) to study and survey the place.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.