Search - community

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2012

Behind Obama's Mideast policy of capitulation

No sooner did U.S. President Barack Obama welcome home American troops from Iraq and laud that country's stability and democracy than an unprecedented wave of violence — across Baghdad and elsewhere — revealed the severity of Iraq's political crisis. Is that crisis an unfortunate exception or, rather,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 17, 2012

'In Time' / 'Carnage'

Try to imagine a future where the super-rich live in gated, patrolled fortress-communities, completely isolated from the short, brutish lives of the underclass who must toil or die, just a paycheck away from having their life-force literally terminated by the powers that be. No, it's not America under...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 14, 2012

Vets win payouts over Agent Orange use on Okinawa

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded two more former service members compensation for exposure to Agent Orange while serving on Okinawa during the 1960s and '70s.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Feb 14, 2012

Solving Japan's succession conundrum

Lack of males a recent trend I very much enjoyed the comprehensive article on the Japanese Imperial family by Prof. Colin P.A. Jones of Doshisha Law School in Kyoto ("And then there was one?: Japan's right royal crisis," Zeit Gist, Jan. 17).
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 14, 2012

Nagoya: Do you think crusading Mayor Takashi Kawamura is doing a good job?

BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 12, 2012

Are supercomputers worth their super price tags?

"Why do we have to aim for the world's No. 1 — what's wrong with being the world's No. 2?"
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 12, 2012

A glint of copper hints at Fukiya's mining past

Sitting in sublime obscurity in a raised valley one hour by bus from Bitchu-Takahashi, Fukiya Furusato Mura in Okayama Prefecture must surely be one of Japan's most under-appreciated rural destinations. Mention the name even to Japanese travelers and you are likely to draw blank expressions.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 11, 2012

TOEIC for Caribou

"Here's an idea. . . . Why not plug my book?"
COMMENTARY
Feb 10, 2012

Russia should back up a bit to find road to the future

I am not going to speak about a time machine and America but about Russia and its urgent need to return to the past in search of a tool to secure a better future.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 10, 2012

NNTT hopes Generation 2.0 hears 'Silence'

The late classical composer Teizo Matsumura, American film director Martin Scorsese, and playwright/director Keiko Miyata may seem an unlikely trio, but they share a reverence for "Silence," the 1966 novel by Shusaku Endo.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2012

Egypt muddies waters of relationship with U.S.

When the government of erstwhile U.S. ally Egypt shut down 17 Western prodemocracy groups, trashed their Cairo offices and slapped travel bans on some of their staff, political relations between Washington and Cairo hit a new and unexpected low.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Feb 7, 2012

Questions raised about account of Tokyo cop assault

Some readers' responses to the Jan. 24 Zeit Gist column by Simon Scott, headlined "American claims Tokyo cop assaulted son, 8":
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 7, 2012

Bubble era's aviation legacy: Too many airports, all ailing

Japan has 98 airports, and most of them are operating in the red as a result of exaggerated demand forecasts and rampant, costly and arguably pork-barrel construction projects.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2012

Mormon Church could use a Martin Luther

There has been much talk recently about whether America is ready for a Mormon president. This tolerance question should cut both ways.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Feb 5, 2012

The artist: Shimane's Davis is master of the blocked shot

"The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 5, 2012

Yakushima free-stay takes some fearful turns

"Oh, if you want to pee you can just do it out the front door," my host Yuki says as he gives me an introductory tour of the house and points out the powder room — merely a pit with a long drop and an unconnected toilet pedestal covering the hole.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 4, 2012

Craft beer connoisseur knows his suds

Domestic and imported craft beers have found an ever-growing number of Japanese fans in recent years, and festivals in major cities and smaller towns have offered the public a chance to sample numerous ales, lagers and porters, as well as a variety of German beers and more exotic concoctions that contain...
COMMENTARY
Feb 4, 2012

The political hygienists' assault on free speech

Dina Galassini does not seem to pose a threat to Arizona's civic integrity. But the government of this desert community believes you cannot be too careful. And state law empowers local governments to be vigilant against the lurking danger that political speech might occur before the speakers notify the...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 3, 2012

Ice sculptures, snow slides at Hokkaido fest

The City of Sapporo will be hosting the 63rd annual Snow Festival this month. The event is considered a "must see" for tourists and about 2 million people visited the festival last year.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2012

Hamilton: U.K. has lost sight of the public benefits of higher education

Professor Andrew Hamilton became the first vice chancellor of Oxford never to have been educated at the university when he took the job in 2009. He is English, educated at Exeter University and Cambridge, but for the previous 28 years had lived in America, the last 13 of them at Yale University, as professor...
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Jan 31, 2012

Iwakuma may thrive in shadows with spotlight on Darvish

It's doubtful Hisashi Iwakuma's debut in the major leagues with the Seattle Mariners will make a big splash in many locales outside Seattle, unless of course it comes against the Oakland A's at Tokyo Dome in March. Though in that case, outfielder Ichiro Suzuki will be the player in the spotlight.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 31, 2012

Facing up to alcoholism in foreign land can help or hinder recovery

A reader has a query about alcoholism in Japan: "How is it generally perceived and what kind of help is available for foreign alcoholics who speak little to no Japanese?"

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past