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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 24, 2011

What a difference a friend's tales of 'hair on the heart' can still make

"Shinzo ni Ke ga Haeteiru Wake" is the intriguing title of a book published in April by Kadokawa. The book was written by my good friend, Mari Yonehara, and its title in English would be "That's Why Hair Grows on the Heart."
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 24, 2011

Setsuden and the magic number 28

Japan's summer has started off with a bang, weather-wise.
BUSINESS
Jul 22, 2011

ANA, AirAsia tie up for budget carrier

All Nippon Airways Co. and AirAsia Bhd., Southeast Asia's biggest budget carrier, announced Thursday they together will launch a new low-cost carrier in Japan, aiming to cultivate new demand and survive intensifying competition.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2011

BOJ ready to take 'decisive' action

The Bank of Japan will make "decisive" policy decisions when needed by examining movements in the yen and the economy as the nation recovers from the March disasters, Deputy Gov. Hirohide Yamaguchi said in Nagano on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 20, 2011

The imperfect science of delineating poverty

How informative is the 'relative poverty' index?
EDITORIALS
Jul 20, 2011

3/11 victims face welfare cuts

Cases have surfaced in which municipalities in Tohoku have stopped welfare payments to victims of the March 11 earthquake-tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2011

Kan meets soccer champs, perks up

It looks like the victory of the "Nadeshiko" Japan women's national soccer team not only gave hope to a nation still recovering from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami but also energized unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who vowed Tuesday to persevere.
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2011

Toyota to build engines, small hybrids in Tohoku

Toyota Motor Corp. plans to build engines and small hybrid cars in the Tohoku region as the company strengthens its production hub in the area.
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2011

Nikko Asset reportedly choosing underwriters

Nikko Asset Management Co. this week began choosing lead underwriters for an initial public offering, setting up the first debut share sale by a major Japanese asset manager in a decade, three sources said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 19, 2011

All reactors off by spring — a once unthinkable scenario

As the crisis continues at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant and thousands of people remain evacuated due to radiation fears, public sentiment has turned against allowing reactors idled for regular checks at power stations nationwide to be restarted.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 17, 2011

Erasing the bloody wounds of war

IMAG(IN)ING THE WAR IN JAPAN: Representing and Responding to Trauma in Postwar Literature and Film, edited by David Stahl and Mark Williams. Brill, 2010, 375 pp., $179 (hardcover) This anthology is as incisive and demanding of consideration as any that I have read. The central question reframed again...
EDITORIALS
Jul 17, 2011

Autumn admissions

Cherry blossoms have long accompanied the start of the school year in Japan, but that may soon change to autumn leaves. The University of Tokyo is looking into the possibility of beginning its school year in the fall rather than spring. If adopted, the change, which would likely be followed by other...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jul 17, 2011

Green is good for you — and the Earth

My work often takes me away from my home in Hokkaido, and with every absence I am irked to be missing out on some part of the inexorable seasonal advance. So, each time I return I make a beeline for my local forest to reacquaint myself with the resident and migrant birds, to trace the tracks and signs...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 17, 2011

Four former ballplayers remembered after their deaths

More than 900 foreigners have played in Japanese pro baseball since Wally Yonamine joined the Yomiuri Giants in 1951, and it is always sad to hear when any of them have died. Baseball America and various Internet outlets have reported the recent deaths of four ex-major leaguers who also played in Japan...
EDITORIALS
Jul 17, 2011

English teachers sent abroad

Positive comments about Japan's system of English teaching are rare, but hope is on the horizon. This month, 96 Japanese high school and junior high teachers of English leave for a half-year training program in the United States. They will enroll this fall in courses on English-teaching methods, stay...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 17, 2011

In charting their life's course, today's youth might better stay foolish

Why is this generation of young people in Japan so self-absorbed and seemingly unconcerned, to the point of distracted apathy, about the social and political dilemmas facing their country today?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 16, 2011

Canadian martial artist finds the way to tea of tranquility

The intricate stained glass window in the heavy wooden door provides an artistic and unusual welcome. Stoop inside the restored Kyoto machiya (town house) and step into a future melded with the past. Drinking in the Art-Deco/Taisho roman decorations, your eye moves away from the geometric stained glass...
BUSINESS
Jul 16, 2011

Pension funds look to spread risk

Japanese corporate pension funds, with about ¥60 trillion in assets, may triple their allocations to alternative assets as they seek to reduce risks and boost returns, according to Credit Suisse Group AG.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Jul 15, 2011

Rogge says Pyeongchang win will not affect Tokyo's bid for 2020 Summer Games

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge lauded Pyeongchang, South Korea's victory in the race for the 2018 Winter Olympics as a win for Asian sport.
EDITORIALS
Jul 15, 2011

A long shot at what cost?

Not a man to let last summer's costly failure to land the 2016 Summer Olympics deter him, Gov. Shintaro Ishihara announced on July 5 at a reconstruction seminar that Tokyo is ready to host the 2020 Games "at any cost." Mr. Ishihara claims that hosting the games would contribute to Japan's recovery from...
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jul 15, 2011

Will heartthrob Mukai shine as the shogun?

This year's NHK Sunday evening drama has already entered the history books for one, perhaps inauspicious, reason. On March 12, a day after the Great East Japan Earthquake, NHK announced that the following day's broadcast of "Go," as the show is titled, would be canceled to make way for news coverage....
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 14, 2011

Hummer don't hurt them: Are Japanese consumers allergic to big cars?

Does GM's plan to sell small cars in Japan make sense?
Reader Mail
Jul 14, 2011

Shameful neglect of students

Regarding the July 9 Kyodo article "Students from Taiwan denied disaster funds": When the tragic quake and tsunami struck Japan (March 11), my wife and I immediately wrote a check and donated money to the relief effort. Many foreign people donated money like this, including many people from Taiwan.
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2011

GE plan followed with inflexibility

Second of two parts
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 14, 2011

The future of Japanese theater lies in individuality

In April 2010, Junnosuke Tada became Japan's youngest-ever artistic director of a public theater when, at age 33, he was appointed by the Kirari Fujimi Theater in Fujimi, Saitama Prefecture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 14, 2011

Fighting for change the Fuji Rock way

Faced with the nation's worst disaster since World War II, Fuji Rock Festival founder Masahiro Hidaka had to make a choice back in March — whether to hold Japan's biggest summer music festival this year or not. He decided that the show must go on.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’