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JAPAN
Nov 26, 2011

No-go zone a wasteland frozen in time

Eight months ago, people left the town of Namie in haste. Families raced from their homes without closing the front doors. They left half-finished wine bottles on their kitchen tables and sneakers in their foyers. They jumped in their cars without taking pets and left cows hitched to milking stanchions....
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 25, 2011

Ochiai bows out after eight years in charge of Dragons

There was no secret that Hiromitsu Ochiai's days as the Chunichi Dragons manager were numbered. The team had, after all, announced in September it would not renew his contract after the season.
COMMENTARY
Nov 24, 2011

U.S. lays out its Asia-Pacific plans

The United States has set out more clearly than before how it plans to shape Asia-Pacific security and prosperity in the 21st century. The key question that countries in the region must now decide is the extent to which U.S. terms for long-term engagement with the world's fastest-growing economic zone...
EDITORIALS
Nov 24, 2011

Aum crimes remain misted

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Tokyo High Court's death sentence to former Aum Shinrikyo member Seiichi Endo for his involvement in two indiscriminate sarin gas attacks carried out by the Aum cult — one in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, on June 27, 1994, and the other in five trains on three...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 22, 2011

Last trial brings dark Aum era to end

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by condemned killer Seiichi Endo, lowering the curtain on the trials over the cult's heinous crimes, which began in the 1980s and culminated in the 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Nov 21, 2011

Primer for decontamination

The potentially lucrative business of decontaminating areas of radioactive substances released from Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station may well go to companies handpicked by a government organization that has long played a leading role in promoting the construction of nuclear...
Reader Mail
Nov 20, 2011

Same ol' drumming for profits

Regarding Gwynne Dyer's Nov. 16 article, "The West starts beating its war drums once again": When has the West ever stopped beating its war drums?
Reader Mail
Nov 20, 2011

Poor editing hurts credibility

Regarding the brief JIJI article published Nov. 12, "CO2 could relieve urbanites' stress in low doses": This is an unforgivably sloppy piece of headline writing and editing that makes me question the integrity of The Japan Times.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 20, 2011

French researchers seek raison d'etre of hikikomori

Is the hikikomori phenomenon unique to Japan — or does it exist in other societies, too?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2011

TPP commitment hinged to interests

Despite Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's recent declaration that Japan will join the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, heated debate continues over the pros and cons of participating in the free-trade initiative.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 17, 2011

"Geometry Of Light By Alyson Shotz"

Espace Louis Vuitton TokyoCloses Dec. 25
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Nov 17, 2011

Slump frustrates batting champ Uchikawa in Japanese Fall Classic

As soon as wood met rawhide, Seiichi Uchikawa sped out of the batter's box. He struck the ball well, and it had to be a relief, as he watched it sail to wall in center field, to finally have something go right at the plate.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Nov 17, 2011

Bending the rules with architecture

German-born, Tokyo-based architect Florian Busch says that witnessing a building rise from an open plot of land is like watching a plant grow.
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2011

Goodbye, Mr. Berlusconi

It was an ignominious end to Mr. Silvio Berlusconi's term as Italy's prime minister. The besieged leader slipped out a back door of his office to jeers and cries of "buffoon," as Handel's Hallelujah chorus was sung and thousands of others popped sparkling wine, dancing in a conga line shouting "we're...
Reader Mail
Nov 13, 2011

Look at who received a medal

I usually enjoy Tom Plate's relativistic ruminations and ramblings, but I have to question his judgment concerning Lee Kuan Yew and the Lincoln Medal in his Nov. 7 article, "Asian leader receives coveted American award." Ironically this letter, and perhaps even some of Plate's columns, would probably...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 13, 2011

'Calamity' awaits those unready for climate-change refugees

There is a wonderful expression in Japanese: Fūdo ni nareru, which means something like "to become acclimatized to natural conditions."
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2011

Risk-averse Noda shuns hallway interviews

Words are often the strongest weapon in a politician's armory, but the slightest slip of the tongue can turn into a huge liability, as evidenced by the number of occasions prime ministers and Cabinet members have been caught out in the last six years.
COMMENTARY
Nov 11, 2011

Two days that shook the CIS

On Oct. 18-19, eight of 11 members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) — gathering in St. Petersburg for its annual session — accepted a proposal from Russian Prime Minister and returning President Vladimir Putin to establish a free trade zone, thus taking a decisive step toward a Eurasian...
Reader Mail
Nov 10, 2011

Why are refugees complaining?

I enjoyed the Nov. 3 article "Karen refugees snub farm, try luck in Tokyo," but am a bit surprised. I know that many Japanese work Saturdays and nearly 10 hours a day. A two-hour commute on a train to go to work and another two hours to return home is not uncommon. I know people who have done this for...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Nov 10, 2011

The next big thing, and one that never quite made it

Leading up to the 2011 Kyushu tourney down in Fukuoka, the world of sumo is looking to round off another annus horribilis.
COMMENTARY
Nov 9, 2011

This time, how about a debate of substance?

The GOP presidential candidates, their sinews stiffened and their blood summoned up, may rightly dread Wednesday's version of what are inexplicably called debates. The candidates have some explaining to do, particularly regarding two subjects that deserve more searching examination than is possible in...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2011

The Commonwealth's missed opportunity

On Oct. 28-30, representatives of 54 countries, mostly heads of government, attended the bi-annual Commonwealth Meeting. High on the agenda was a report by the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), established to reinvigorate the Commonwealth, strengthen its Secretariat, and transform its approach to human rights....
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2011

Pacific trade pact could help consumers: expert

If Japan joins the U.S.-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement and tariffs on highly protected farm products are lifted, it would greatly benefit consumers by boosting imports and lowering product prices, a point often overlooked amid recent intensifying debates, experts said in a recent...

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?