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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 1, 2008

Arata Isozaki: Astonishing by design

If the entire Japanese architectural fraternity was one big royal family, then Arata Isozaki would be a king approaching the end of a long and glorious reign.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 1, 2008

Is aging Japan really ready for all the non-Japanese carers it needs?

One of the cliches most bandied about in the Japanese business world is yareba dekiru. An English equivalent might be the title of Jamaican reggae star Jimmy Cliff's great 1972 hit, "You Can Get It If You Really Want."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 22, 2008

Summit wicked this way comes

You've probably heard about July's G8 Summit in Toyako, in my home prefecture of Hokkaido. In case you're unfamiliar with the event, here's a primer from the Foreign Affairs Ministry:
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2008

Are Putin and Medvedev allies or rivals?

PRAGUE — Vladimir Putin's decision to serve as prime minister should Dmitri Medvedev become Russia's next president has made their electoral success in March a virtual certainty.
JAPAN / ALSO OUT THERE
Feb 1, 2008

Referee row lifts handball's appeal

Team handball, the figurative water boy of sports, is suddenly in the game and earning the roaring approval of fans in Japan.
EDITORIALS
Jan 17, 2008

Japan's Olympic prospects

The 2008 Summer Olympics are fast approaching. China will host the Games in Beijing from Aug. 8. The rising economic power will do its utmost to mobilize human and other resources to bolster its global image and prestige. In the games themselves, China will strive to grab the most gold medals. In the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 8, 2007

New MOT curator aims to do a lot with a little

Yuko Hasegawa delivers instructions to her staff in an even, polite manner that often belies the burden they impose. It's a style perhaps more suited to a corporate boardroom than an art museum. But, since she took over as chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (MOT), in April last year,...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 6, 2007

Vladimir Putin, part two

LONDON — Opinions about Vladimir Putin run the gamut. In the West, he is regarded as an "authoritarian," an "autocrat," even as a "dictator," while in Russia a huge majority regard him as the most "democratic" of leaders, on the grounds that he has done more than his predecessors to improve the lot...
EDITORIALS
Sep 2, 2007

Aging bridges of Japan

The collapse a month ago of a freeway bridge over the Mississippi River near downtown Minneapolis offers an important lesson for Japan, where a large number of bridges are expected to reach the end of their useful life in the near future. The collapse points to the danger inherent in old infrastructure...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2007

Plan to move venerable Tsukiji market draws fire

Trucks transporting ice, fish and produce traverse a maze of narrow alleys, threading their way through throngs of visitors.
BASKETBALL
Jun 29, 2007

NBA, TV networks agree to deal

LOS ANGELES TIMES — Walt Disney Co.'s ABC and ESPN and Time Warner Inc.'s TNT agreed Wednesday to pay the National Basketball Association $7.4 billion over eight years for rights to televise the games and, in one of the first deals of its kind, stream game-related action on the Internet and mobile...
EDITORIALS
Jun 15, 2007

Worst student suicide rate yet

The National Police Agency says that suicides in Japan topped 30,000 for the ninth consecutive year in 2006. While the total number, 32,155, was down 1.2 percent from 2005, the number of suicides among students, 886 — up 25 (2.9 percent) from 2005 — was the worst since 1978 when the NPA started compiling...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2007

Despite economic recovery, suicide rate remains high

The hanging death of the farm minister this week grimly underscored the country's stubbornly high suicide rate — and the government's struggle to discourage large numbers of Japanese from killing themselves.
COMMENTARY
May 29, 2007

World's 'best' health care fatally flawed

NEW YORK — One of the most contentious issues of the U.S. presidential campaign will be how to fix what many agree is a malfunctioning health-care system. Adding fuel to the fire is a recent study detailing the shortcomings of the U.S. health-care system compared with those of Australia, Canada, Germany,...
Reader Mail
Apr 22, 2007

Obstacle to Tokyo's Olympic bid

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara is sure to push ahead with his bid for Tokyo to host the 2016 Olympic Games now that he has been re-elected. What he doesn't realize is that he is the biggest obstacle to Tokyo ever being selected.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Mar 28, 2007

JT honored with three FSAJ Media Awards

The Japan Times earned three prestigious honors at the Foreign Sportswriters Association of Japan Media Awards Dinner on Monday night in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2007

Ishihara, Asano are in capital duel

Organizers of the 40th Annual Ome City Marathon were furious when Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara scheduled the first Tokyo Marathon for Feb. 18, the same day as their race.
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2007

Race for Tokyo kicks off

Confident speeches and bold accusations flew Thursday as the campaign to elect the next Tokyo governor got under way, with national attention focused on whether the powerful incumbent, Shintaro Ishihara, can overcome scandal to win a third four-year term.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2007

Bankrupt Yubari embarks on plan to dig itself out of hole

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry designated the city of Yubari, Hokkaido, officially bankrupt Tuesday, canceling its autonomy and paving the way for rehabilitation under central government control.
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2007

Asano enters Tokyo race, hits Ishihara autocracy

Former Miyagi Gov. Shiro Asano officially announced his candidacy Tuesday for the Tokyo gubernatorial election in April, saying the capital's government needs to be cleaned up "before things get out of hand."
Japan Times
JAPAN / WHEN A CITY GOES BUST
Mar 1, 2007

Yubari tries downsizing to solve fiscal crisis

The announcement in June that Yubari, Hokkaido, has effectively gone bankrupt rolled like an earthquake across Japan, jolting numerous local governments suffering their own financial problems. This two-part series examines the situation in Yubari and in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, which also is in dire...
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2007

Rainy Tokyo Marathon draws 30,000 from around the world

time limit of seven hours. I wish I could run." The participants were picked by lot after 95,000 people applied for one of the largest marathons in Asia.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2007

Ishihara defiant, teflon to scandal

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, an ex-transport minister, award-winning writer, Yasukuni Shrine pilgrim known for firing racist and sexist remarks from the lips, has recently drawn flak for taking pricey trips on taxpayer money and nepotism for choosing his son to work on an event he sponsored in Switzerland....
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006

Timeline points to ways ahead

The following are extracts from the mirai nenpyo (future timeline) database prepared by the team led by Masataka Yoshikawa, research director of the Institute of Life and Living at Hakuhodo Inc., Japan's second-largest advertising agency. By collecting vast amounts of published information spanning many...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.