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CULTURE / Books
Oct 21, 2012

Using the noodle to gain insight into Japanese culinary culture

SLURP! A Social and Culinary History of Ramen — Japan's Favorite Noodle Soup, by Barak Kushner. Global Oriental, 2012, 289 pp., $90 (hardcover) Under the heading "Ramen is Japan" Barak Kushner asserts: "Ramen (regular and instant) permeates all features of contemporary Japanese life." He goes on to...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 21, 2012

Singing the praises of greenery

This year's annual hop between the hemispheres in my capacity as a globetrotting nature-tour guide took me to my namesake country, Brazil, with strange and unusual hopes.
EDITORIALS
Oct 21, 2012

More problems in Okinawa

Another allegation of rape by American servicemen in Okinawa on Tuesday has reignited anti-U.S. protests by Okinawans and resentment throughout Japan. Okinawa Gov. Kazuhiro Nakaima called for more severe measures than in the past. Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto noted the severity of the allegation....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / WEEK 3
Oct 21, 2012

Dramatists explore the essence of language in new play

In a small studio just a seagull's squawk from Tokyo Bay in the Higashi Gotanda district of Shinagawa Ward, a unique play titled "Understandable?" briefly delighted packed houses of baffled Japanese and others recently with its absurd-but-not, "abandoned- in-translation" dialogue devoid of subtitles....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 20, 2012

American artist takes personal approach to traditional painting

Finding places in Tokyo can be complicated. All too often a simple address is not enough. That's why many people here look like treasure hunters roaming the streets armed with a map or its modern equivalent, the smartphone.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Oct 19, 2012

Ex-Apache forward Baker poised for return with Broncos

Veteran forward Dameion Baker, who suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon on May 17, 2009, in the championship game at Ariake Colosseum, while playing for the Tokyo Apache and hasn't played a pro game since then, will join the Saitama Broncos in the coming days, a source familiar with the deal told The...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 18, 2012

Kentaro makes hip-hop personal

Almost the whole of Kentaro's life has been devoted to dance — in particular to hip-hop dance — ever since he first saw it on television as an elementary school boy.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 17, 2012

Clarifying the economic damage of the Senkakus row

Japan's overseas tourist industry can just write off all of 2012 thanks to the two territorial disputes.
COMMENTARY
Oct 17, 2012

Give nuclear power a larger role

Roughly a year and a half after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Japanese government at a Cabinet meeting on Sept. 19 adopted its basic policy on new energy and environment strategies crafted as a response to the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant accident. The government had initially intended...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 16, 2012

Colored contact lenses get a new 'macho' vision

Hiromu Uetake's muscular physique and distinct side-shaved haircut, not to mention the tattoos peeking from below his T-shirt, make him quite a striking sight. But when talking to him, it is his left eye I can't keep my own eyes off. Every now and then there's a flicker of something that makes me stare...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2012

Softbank shares dive as Son the 'gambler' bets on Sprint

Softbank Corp.'s Masayoshi Son has a history of picking winners. Investors say his latest choice may not be a repeat performance.
Reader Mail
Oct 14, 2012

Senkakus not a dumping ground

Regarding the Oct. 7 letter "Radioactive debris to Senkakus," I believe this opinion is unreasonable and unacceptable. First,we should not bring the radioactive debris of Fukushima to the Senkaku islands. The islands and the surrounding ocean would be contaminated with radioactive waste. This would mean...
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 14, 2012

Farmer plows own antiradiation furrow

At the end of March 2011, a few weeks after the Great East Japan Earthquake, 20 rice farmers affiliated to J-Rap, an agricultural distribution company in Sukagawa, central Fukushima Prefecture, got together to assess the situation.
EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2012

Aiding Myanmar's reforms

In an Oct. 11 meeting in Tokyo held at the initiative of Japan, 26 countries and five international organizations including the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank agreed to work together to help Myanmar with its reform efforts. The problem of Myanmar's overdue debts — the biggest obstacle to...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 14, 2012

Heterodox views enter mainstream

RETHINKING JAPANESE HISTORY, by Yoshihiko Amino, translated by Alan S. Christy. Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2012. 317 pp., $20 (paper) It is a testimony to Yoshihiko Amino's influential legacy that his once iconoclastic views regarding Japanese history have now become mainstream....
Japan Times
JAPAN / IMF-WORLD BANK IN TOKYO
Oct 12, 2012

Exploring, rediscovering fine arts

While much has changed since Japan last hosted the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group in 1964 — a year that symbolized the nation's achievement of reconstruction after World War II through the hosting of the meeting and the Summer Olympics — art has always reflected,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 12, 2012

Hunting for Tokyo's real bagel heads

By now, everyone has likely heard of — and been baffled by — the recent "bagel head" phenomenon. Last month, a video clip that showed three people in Tokyo undergoing a beauty treatment that involved saline injections into their foreheads went viral on the Internet. The clip, taken from the program...
BUSINESS
Oct 12, 2012

Noda threatens action to stem yen's surge

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said his administration will act against any disorderly gains for the yen and urged policymakers around the world to follow through on pledges to rebalance global demand.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 12, 2012

Aircraft show to offer visitors close-up tour

The Japan International Aerospace Exhibition in Nagoya this weekend offers a special opportunity for the general public to view a variety of airplanes up close.
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Oct 11, 2012

Prestige friendlies provide perfect chance to lay down marker

International friendlies are often looked upon as little more than an irritation in the crowded calender of the modern game, but as Japan prepares to take on France and Brazil over the coming week, national team manager Alberto Zaccheroni is unlikely to concur.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Oct 11, 2012

No regrets for Lang after rejecting Duke

Antonio Lang said he had a chance to become an assistant coach for his mentor Mike Krzyzewski at his alma mater Duke University, but chose instead to stay in Japan to be an assistant for the Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 8, 2012

Giants catcher Abe rises above pack

Shinnosuke Abe perked up at the news the Detroit Tigers' Miguel Cabrera had won the Triple Crown.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 6, 2012

Government will take its time deciding on reporting standards, Nakatsuka says

New financial services minister Ikko Nakatsuka on Friday said the government still hopes to make a final decision on whether to adopt the International Financial Reporting Standards in the next few months, but only after it finishes weighing their potential impact on Japanese companies.
BUSINESS
Oct 6, 2012

BOJ refrains from stimulus despite political pressure

The Bank of Japan held off from more easing after adding to stimulus last month, preserving its policy firepower despite increased political pressure and signs of an economic contraction.
BUSINESS
Oct 5, 2012

Jojima mum on South Korea currency swap extension

New Finance Minister Koriki Jojima said the government must "carefully consider" whether to extend the currency swap agreement with South Korea but refused to be drawn out on whether Tokyo will propose an extension.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes