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BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 14, 2012

Atomic exit deserves warm welcome in land of nuclear apprentices

As of May 6, Japan became a nuclear power-free zone. All of the nuclear plants throughout the country are offline, either as a result of last year's Fukushima disaster or routine maintenance. The government and electric power companies are hoping to see them back in action soon, but public sentiment...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 13, 2012

Born of disaster, modern architecture is itself now an ongoing disaster

In the French writer-director Jacques Tati's superb 1967 film "Play Time," people are like prisoners condemned to roam about in and amid the glass cages of high-rise office blocks. They are lost, both to the world and themselves. In the world of Tati, who died in 1982 aged 75, all cities look alike;...
JAPAN
May 12, 2012

Diet finally starts deliberations on tax hike bill

The Diet kicked off deliberations Friday on the contentious bill to double the 5 percent consumption tax by 2015, and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is urging the opposition camp to help ensure its passage by the end of the Diet session in June.
BUSINESS
May 12, 2012

Record dumping of foreign bonds powers up yen

Japanese investors sold the most foreign bonds on record as they sought a haven from Europe's financial crisis in the home market, leading the yen to a more than two-month high.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 11, 2012

Filmmaker says don't worry, be happy

"Wow, the weather turned bad quickly, huh?"
Reader Mail
May 10, 2012

More than a 'few' foreigners split

The May 6 editorial "'Flyjin' rather few" states that "The survey ...did not determine exactly how many of those 25 percent eventually returned to Tokyo" after the 3/11 disasters. But it should be patently obvious how many did — all of them!
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 10, 2012

Makoto Morimura literally finds hope in the news

Osaka-based artist Makoto Morimura was surely not alone last year in feeling that the newspapers were full of gloom and doom. But he probably was the only person who in response set for himself the task of searching for hope, literally.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices
May 8, 2012

The top 10 Zeit Gist articles of the past decade, chosen by the readers

1. Battling a broken system, by RICHARD CORY One day in March, just minutes after my daughter and I returned home from celebrating her graduation from elementary school that morning, her mother, from whom I had filed for divorce in January after 17 years of marriage, lured my daughter out of the house,...
COMMUNITY
May 8, 2012

A different story: the most-read Zeit Gist articles on our website

The most-viewed Zeit Gist articles on The Japan Times Online since 2007:
EDITORIALS
May 8, 2012

Ending reliance on nuclear power

The 912,000 kW No. 3 reactor at Hokkaido Electric Power Co.'s Tomari nuclear power plant came to a complete shutdown on early Sunday morning for regular inspection. No nuclear reactors are now operating in Japan — the first such situation in 42 years. Japan should use this as an opportunity to analyze...
Reader Mail
May 6, 2012

Global infrastructure crumbling

Kevin Rafferty's May 2 article, "Inviting economic suicide?," is correct on the main points: Japan is in an economic tailspin and this is of grave concern for our well-being. But so, too, is the rest of the industrialized world as the 500-year-old banking system, which is based on fraudulent accounting...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 6, 2012

Weeklies take a look at faiths, (misplaced) hopes and charities

Which religious groups were most successful in raising funds for earthquake victims in the devastated parts of Tohoku? In its Golden Week double issue, Flash (May 8-15) ran an article about the heretofore unreported nexus between last year's disaster and religion. The most generous donor by far, which...
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
May 6, 2012

Small fry spawn big dreams

The Shinano, at 374 km the country's longest river, empties into the Sea of Japan at Niigata City. Salmon still migrate back from the open ocean to this river of their birth to breed and die, but a few decades ago they would arrive to spawn not only in the main river but also in its many tributaries,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 5, 2012

English fluency and alligator pits

When I used to teach English at university, I was sure to leave an impression on my students on their first day of class. I'd tell them that as Japanese speakers, they could only speak with a mere 130 million people. But if they could learn English, they would be able to communicate with 500 million...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 4, 2012

Conservatives call for revising Constitution

The time has come for political parties to overcome their differences and join hands to revise the Constitution to suit the times, including by establishing of an "army" to protect Japan, its people and its territory, conservative lawmakers said Thursday.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 4, 2012

Playoffs could provide surprises in both conferences

And now, finally, it's time for the real season to tip off.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 4, 2012

Sintok festival brings Singapore's growing movie scene to Tokyo

How long does it take to develop a unique national culture? Perhaps the answer can be found in Singapore. The "Lion City" has been independent for just half a century and maybe, judging from the splash the country has made at international film festivals in the last couple of years, its film directors...
Reader Mail
May 3, 2012

Feeling deregulation's effects

Let me make a brief comment about the Bloomberg article by Jared Diamond, titled "Three reasons why Japan's economic pain is worsening," which ran in The Japan Times on April 28.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 3, 2012

Kyte promise new songs, special treat for fans at upcoming gig

The music of indie-pop group Kyte may be created in a bedroom in Leicester, England, but the band says its spacious and electronic sound seems to resonate best with audiences in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
May 1, 2012

Blood, beatings and the cage: the bouncer

Before The Japan Times was invited inside Nagoya's iD Cafe to speak to Thomas, the nightclub's security manager, we stopped to chat to a uniformed policeman near the club. He told us there were as many as 50 fights in a nearby park on Friday and Saturday nights. This busy area of the city, Sakae, known...
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2012

Slow but steady economic recovery

Japan's economic prospects are not very bright due to the effects of the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami and the stronger yen. But it is not that the prospects are completely gloomy. The government's monthly assessment of the economy for April released in mid-April by the Cabinet Office shows continued modest...
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2012

Changing Futenma statement

Japan and the United States on April 27 issued a joint statement — an interim report on the review of the 2006 plan to realign U.S. armed forces in Japan. The statement hints at the possibility of exploring new options concerning the plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from the...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 30, 2012

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the sakura

Until The New York Times pointed it out earlier this month, I had failed to notice, alas, that Tokyo had given cherry trees to this city as it did to Washington, D.C., 100 years ago ("Gifts From Japan, Less Celebrated in Manhattan," April 12).

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