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SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 13, 2012

A day in the life of an Olympic reporter

Woke up, got out of bed. . .
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 12, 2012

Queen Elizabeth engineering prize seeks innovation for easing life's hardships

Nominations are currently open for Britain's first-ever international Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, which has been created to honor individuals for groundbreaking innovation that benefits humanity — and which rewards the winner handsomely with a staggering £1 million (¥123 million).
Reader Mail
Aug 9, 2012

A sign of giving up on pacifism

In his Aug. 4 article, "Why Japan should amend its war-renouncing Article 9," Craig Martin tries to make a case for giving in to the demands of Japan's rightwing by ending 65 years of pacifism. Not only do I think that this is a foolhardy idea but also that it couldn't have come at a worse time.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 9, 2012

Music industry takes baby steps toward digital content

Will it be the "carrot and stick" or just "the stick" that revives flagging digital-music sales in Japan?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 7, 2012

Poisons in the Pacific: Guam, Okinawa and Agent Orange

The day after 19-year-old Sgt. Leroy Foster arrived on Guam's Andersen Air Force Base, one of America's largest Pacific military installations, in 1968, he was assigned to what his superior officers called "vegetation control duties."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2012

Female parley slaps male dominance

Men need to shed their deeply ingrained leadership mentality and tap female innovation, especially in Japan, where women could be the key to regaining competitiveness and igniting the rapid economic growth being experienced in many other parts of Asia.
COMMUNITY
Aug 7, 2012

American photographer recounts childhood in wartime Karuizawa

Hungarian-American photographer Tom Haar, 71, who spent several years of his childhood in wartime Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, says he wants to help promote the resort area once again "as an international cultural community."
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 5, 2012

MLB's trade deadline frenzy has yet to take hold among Japanese teams

One of the potential game-changers in Major League Baseball is the annual late-July trade activity of quality players from teams lower in the standings with little or no chance to make the postseason. Every year, these guys are dealt to playoff-contending clubs for young prospects, supposedly stars of...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 5, 2012

Okinawa: between a rock and a hard place

Resistant Islands: Okinawa Confronts Japan and the U.S., by Gavan McCormack and Satoko Oka Norimatsu. Rowman and Littlefield, 2012, 312 pp., $29.95 (hardcover) T his year marks the 40th anniversary of the U.S. reversion of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty, but the long-standing disputes about the U.S....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 5, 2012

Strong work ethic is no path to better standard of living

Last week I spoke to a non-Japanese economics researcher employed by a Japanese university. He said he was working on a study that compared Spain's current fiscal crisis to Japan's economic situation as a means of determining if the former would suffer the same long-term problems as the latter. I mentioned...
EDITORIALS
Aug 5, 2012

Let them dance!

The police have been cracking down on dance clubs over the past year, arresting operators and shutting clubs by suddenly enforcing a law about dancing and other amusement that goes back to 1948, and related regulations.
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 1, 2012

Hirai's impact on swimmers profound

Valentine's Day is not associated with a passion for one's job, but rather, you know, a different kind of affection.
EDITORIALS
Aug 1, 2012

Useful help to Myanmar

During her recent visits abroad, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has not only expressed her thanks for support from various countries for democratization efforts in Myanmar but also called for increased investment in the country to improve the well-being of Myanmar people.
COMMUNITY / Issues / HAVE YOUR SAY
Jul 31, 2012

Debate rages over value of JET program, assistant language teachers

Some readers' responses to letters published in this column on July 10 ("Readers lament the ever-shrinking eikaiwa salary") regarding Patrick Budmar's July 3 Zeit Gist article, "The curious case of the eroding eikaiwa salary":
EDITORIALS
Jul 30, 2012

Governors' view of revival

At their annual conference held in Takamatsu on July 19 and 20, the governors of Japan's 47 prefectures adopted an interim report on their Japan Resuscitation Plan, which presents their view on Japan's overall direction in future economic development and ways to cope with expected massive disasters....
Reader Mail
Jul 29, 2012

It is democracy, Japanese-style

In his July 19 letter, "As weak as his predecessors," Timothy Bedwell expresses his desire to see U.S. forces exit Japan. I wholeheartedly agree, as the current Japan-U.S. defense pact is quite one-sided regarding who defends whom. In addition, so many overseas bases and commitments are a waste of valuable...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 29, 2012

Who can we vote for to avoid the worst-case scenario?

"Japan's Worst-Case Scenarios" — that's the title of the lead feature in the July issue of the monthly Takarajima. No one writing on such a theme need fear a shortage of material. The magazine easily fills 40 pages analyzing catastrophes and catastrophes-in-waiting: Tokyo leveled by a magnitude 9 quake;...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 29, 2012

'Taisho Democracy' pays the ultimate price

Party politics seems as natural to many of us today as government itself, but imagine how it looked to the uninitiated 150 years ago.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jul 26, 2012

Olympic team well placed to set record straight in London

The odds are stacked against Japan's men winning soccer gold at the London Olympics, but given the talent at manager Takashi Sekizuka's disposal, the possibility of a first medal since 1968 should not be completely discounted.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan