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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 16, 2013

The Sandman and other gift-bearing creatures

Easter is upon us, and you know what that means: chocolate rabbits! Each year on Easter Sunday, a magical rabbit (actually a hare) comes out of the forest and brings baskets full of eggs, candies, toys and chocolate rabbits. The Easter Bunny, as he is called, hides the baskets inside each house, and...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 6, 2013

BofA surge affirms Buffett bet as Moynihan's gaffes fade

Brian Moynihan was impatient. It was August 2011, and the Bank of America Corp. chief executive officer was reviewing plans to impose a $5 monthly fee on debit-card users.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2013

7 JGC workers in Algeria confirmed dead; three still missing

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in an emergency meeting late Monday night, announced that Tokyo has confirmed the deaths of seven Japanese workers, killed during hostage crisis at a natural gas complex in Algeria.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jan 21, 2013

Militants' aim: massacre or money?

As Algerian security forces on Sunday tallied up the bodies at a sprawling natural gas facility in the aftermath of a bloody international hostage crisis, debate was emerging about whether the militant group linked to al-Qaida that seized the plant had been intent on a massacre or whether it had simply...
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 11, 2013

Mori isle 'compromise' flatly denied

Tokyo on Thursday moved quickly to reaffirm official policy calling for the return of four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido, a day after former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori suggested a compromise that would leave one in Moscow's hands.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 9, 2013

'Re-education' labor camp reform revealed, deleted

Beijing AFP-JIJI
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 8, 2013

Abe's U.S. visit this month now appears unlikely

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's hopes of visiting the United States this month to meet President Barack Obama and demonstrate Japan's dedication to bilateral security ties appear likely to be dashed by scheduling conflicts that will push his trip back to February or later, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide...
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 3, 2013

China signals tighter Internet control

Chinese citizens were last year treated to an unaccustomed number of hard-hitting exposes and investigations detailing the private lives and corrupt financial dealings of the most senior Communist Party officials and their family members.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 25, 2012

Sites for J-footy fans; variable service at Softbank

In response to our Oct. 23 column, " 'Prenups' uncommon but doable; aid for avid J. League fans," some of our readers wrote in with their favorite Japan soccer resources.
COMMENTARY
Dec 14, 2012

Press and Internet freedom

The exposure of the scandalous behavior of the popular press in Britain in hacking into the telephones of people in the news caused such anger that the British prime minister set up a judicial inquiry into standards of behavior in the media.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 14, 2012

Why stem-cell science thrives in Japan

It's easy to take for granted the epic scale of what some scientists are attempting these days. When the news broke a couple of weeks ago that Japanese scientists had turned normal cells from a mouse into eggs, and then fertilized them and seen them develop into baby mice, I thought it was pretty cool....
BASKETBALL
Jun 24, 2012

Chiba to quit bj-league

The Chiba Jets, coming off a mediocre 18-34 inaugural season, are jumping ship to the JBL's re-branded top league for the 2013-14 campaign.
Reader Mail
Jun 21, 2012

Anti-nuclear protest buried

Last week's arrest of Katsuya Takahashi, the last remaining fugitive wanted in connection with the 1995 sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway, captured the attention of the Japanese news media. Often during the first 48 hours after Takahashi's arrest, it seemed as if every news camera from every Japanese...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 20, 2012

Time-travelling reporters; celebrity genes; CM of the week: Schick

As if there wasn't enough news to cover now, NHK has started sending reporters back in time on the variety show "Time Scoop Hunter" (NHK-G, Tues., 10:55 p.m.). Journalists use "warp technology" to travel to different eras to collect information about how people really lived in the past.
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2012

Beijing tightens the screws on foreign journalists

In 2001, when it made a successful bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing promised there would be complete freedom for the foreign media to report in China. While this did not occur, more liberal rules were introduced, such as not requiring official permission before conducting interviews.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Mar 21, 2012

How The Man is following you online — and even on the train

Hatena is a Kyoto-based company that has run several web services since 2001. Similar to Digg, Delicious or Reddit, it has grown a web-savvy, tech-oriented community around a Q&A service (from which its name, Japanese for "question mark," is gleaned), free blog-hosting, and so on.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LABOR PAINS
Feb 28, 2012

Oversleeping radio anchor set tough precedent for firing staff

A radio news anchor oversleeps a live broadcast twice, forcing the radio station to cancel the broadcast. Should he be fired?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2011

Noda under tax hike pressure

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda faces escalating pressure to secure support for higher taxes after the budget plan for fiscal 2012 revealed the government's record dependence on borrowing.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 30, 2011

Cyclists piste at Tokyo police crackdown

Last month, comedian Mitsunori Fukuda was stopped and cited for riding a fixed-gear racing bike on a public street in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward. These bicycles, also known as "piste bikes," have become popular in the past few years, not so much as a conveyance but more as a fashion statement. They usually...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 2, 2011

Press miss the point at antinuke demo

Three weeks after Japan's biggest antinuclear demonstration, there is still some dispute over how many people actually attended. The organizers estimate 60,000 and the police say about 30,000. Except for the Yomiuri and Sankei newspapers, which accept the police figure, the mainstream vernacular media...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Oct 2, 2011

Satoshi Kamata: Rebel spirit writ large

Monday, Sept. 19, was Respect for the Aged Day in Japan. But on that sweltering national holiday, it wasn't the heat that that drew tens of thousands of people to Meiji Park in central Tokyo, but their concerns for all the nation's citizens, and others, who may face a threat from nuclear power.
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Sep 20, 2011

Fighters keep focus on PL pennant after Nashida bombshell

Bobby Keppel's translator stood at the ready, but the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters pitcher didn't need him.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2011

Hong Kongers share postdisaster insights

Most Hong Kongers are enthusiastic about Japan — its fashion and pop culture have been popular for years, hundreds of thousands vacation in the country each year, and more of its food is imported there than anywhere else, with fresh sashimi flown in daily from Narita airport.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 28, 2011

Star's exit shows it's not what you know — but who

If you asked anyone in the world with access to any sort of media what last week's big news story was, they would probably say Libya. If you asked the same question of similarly connected people in Japan, they would probably say the retirement of comedian Shinsuke Shimada. The fall of Tripoli didn't...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2011

Maher denies making disparaging remarks

Kevin Maher, a former senior U.S. diplomat sacked in March after allegedly making derogatory remarks about Okinawans, on Wednesday denied ever making the comments and accused the reporter who broke the story of breaching journalistic standards.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Aug 14, 2011

Time for bj-league to make serious push for recognition

In nearly two months, the bj-league will begin its seventh season. The fact that the league still exists is, well, an accomplishment; many upstart circuits don't survive this long.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2011

Symposium fiasco forces reclusive NISA chief to surface

After being harshly criticized for failing to appear before the media to explain an attempt to manipulate a 2007 "pluthermal" symposium, Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency Director General Nobuaki Terasaka held a hastily arranged news conference Friday night.
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2011

Japan must ditch nuclear power: Kan

Japan should gradually become a society that does not have to rely on atomic power, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Wednesday amid the continuing nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.

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