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Reader Mail
Oct 20, 2011

Understanding Occupy Tokyo

It is hard to understand how in the Oct. 16 article "Hundreds turn out to Occupy Tokyo," a reporter could write: "In addition to decrying the widening wealth gap between the nation's haves and have-nots, demonstrators spoke out on a variety of unrelated topics ranging from nuclear power to the Trans-Pacific...
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2011

New foreign firms tax exempt in quake zone

Taxes won't be imposed for five years on foreign companies that set up new operations in areas hit by the March 11 earthquake and nuclear disaster, national strategy minister Motohisa Furukawa said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 18, 2011

The EU's clean-air turbulence

Passengers flying to and from Europe face higher fares from next year, and anyone flying to Japan or Asia will pay sharply more than those staying within Europe or going to the Middle East, thanks to new rules from the European Union in pursuit of an oxymoron, making air travel environmentally friendly....
COMMENTARY
Oct 17, 2011

The ethics of compensation

On the evening of Sept. 10, I watched a NHK "Special" television program titled "The Ultimate Choice: Michael Sandel's global classroom." The theme of the 75-minute program was who should pick up the bill for reconstructing areas devastated by natural calamities like earthquakes and hurricanes, and especially...
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 16, 2011

Unseen fight to save Tokyo from floods

At 2 a.m. on Sept. 21, Typhoon Roke, the 15th and biggest tropical storm yet to assault Japan this year, was over the Pacific 200 km south of Shikoku making its way slowly and ominously westward toward the main island of Honshu.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 16, 2011

Irabu's impact on MLB-NPB relations profound

Hideki Irabu, once considered to be one of the best pitchers in the world, is dead, in what has been adjudged to be a suicide in late July.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 16, 2011

In search of the Holy Grail of mushrooms

The ancients were none too complimentary about their fungi. "Few of them are good, and most produce a choking sensation," wrote Marcus Athenaeus of Naucratis 1,800 years ago in "Deipnosophistae" ("Philosophers at Dinner").
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Oct 16, 2011

Men marrying later, the new Diet building opens, grenade causes plane scare

100 YEARS AGOThursday, Oct. 26, 1911
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 15, 2011

When favors throw you into a vicious circle

The Japanese countryside is a place where the people are so nice, it's well, ridiculous. Actions that wouldn't even register in my mind as "thankable" are commonly thanked for here.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Oct 14, 2011

Say cheers to these limited edition beers

News season, new beers, new marketing campaigns. Always a good reason to say 'Kanpai.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 14, 2011

'Ichimei (Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai)'

The samurai movie has a great and glorious tradition, but Japanese directors have long been of two minds about the samurai themselves. For every "Chushingura" remake that celebrates the samurai ethos of loyalty and self-sacrifice, there is a genre masterpiece that questions it.
Reader Mail
Oct 13, 2011

Cyberspace for telemedicine

Regarding the Sept. 2 editorial "Protection of cyberspace": In order to revive the flagging economy, Japan needs to map out the cyber-security strategies for realizing a system of sophisticated tele-medicine. Effective use of medical information technology will enable Japan to differentiate itself as...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 12, 2011

Politicians hope you don't notice when their pay goes back to normal

The special pay cut for national lawmakers expires this month.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 12, 2011

Public ways and means justify individual ends

Elizabeth Warren, Harvard law professor and former Obama administration regulator (for consumer protection), is modern liberalism incarnate. As she seeks the Senate seat Democrats held for 57 years before 2010, when Scott Brown impertinently won it, she clarifies the liberal project, and the stakes of...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Oct 12, 2011

New toys for retro gamers and wannabe rockers

Nostalgic gaming fans old enough to remember "Space Invaders" no doubt look back on it as one of the most memorable video games of years gone by. Japan's Taito Corporation created the arcade game back in 1978, and it has been a classic ever since.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Oct 12, 2011

Iwate, Niigata coaches look to make imprint on teams

The start of a new season offers fresh optimism for every coach, player and fan. It also presents new challenges and on-the-fly adjustments that will change from week to week.
EDITORIALS
Oct 10, 2011

Beating noncommunicable disease

Why do most people die? That was the question addressed by a special summit meeting of the United Nations in New York City in mid-September. The final report from the first-time summit identified noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) as the leading cause of death worldwide.
EDITORIALS
Oct 8, 2011

Mr. Ozawa pleads not guilty

Former Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiring with his three secretaries to falsify reports of his fund management body Rikuzankai, at the start of his trial at the Tokyo District Court on Thursday. The trial has a special character since it is based...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 7, 2011

'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'

The original "Planet of the Apes" movie of 1968, based on the science-fantasy novel by Pierre Boulle, dropped a couple of astronauts onto an unknown planet where evolution had worked out backwards: Humans were feral and hunted by the ruling species, monkeys. It was only the film's killer reveal at the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 7, 2011

"The Path to Tendai Buddhism: In Search of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha"

Miho Museum is the Shigaraki venue of a three-museum special set of autumn exhibitions, titled "Omi: Spiritual Home of Kami and Hotoke," featuring portrayals of gods and Buddhist iconography originating in the Omi region (present-day Shiga Prefecture). The two other venues are the Museum of Modern Art,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 7, 2011

Helping Japan with a dance

Take any teenager nearly 10,000 km (6,000 miles) from home on their first-ever overseas trip and you are bound to reap wonder. For 16-year-old French ballerina Sylvie Guillem, who came to Tokyo with the Paris Opera Ballet School in 1981, that wonder grew into 30 years of mutual admiration.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 7, 2011

Hosokawa: Weather the fall with an old Edo classic

Now that summer has been blown away, we finally have the appetite not just to eat but to venture further afield. Time to head across the Sumida River into the shitamachi (old downtown) heartland of Ryogoku, home to the national cult of sumo and its central shrine, the mighty Kokugikan stadium.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Oct 7, 2011

Selfless Shimura relishing basketball's return to Sendai

In the immediate aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, Sendai 89ers guard Takehiko Shimura emerged as an encouraging voice and a brave, positive symbol of hope for the Tohoku region. And his tireless efforts involved traditional and contemporary methods.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 6, 2011

Seiji

Dance-music maker Paul Dolby, aka Seiji, has played with many electronic genres since he began DJing in the 1990s. The Seiji coming to Japan this weekend releases club-centric tracks for free on his website while also putting his personal spin on artists such as Erykah Badu and Gorillaz.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 6, 2011

Gamarjobat: Pantomime artists who have plenty to say

Tough-looking with their cockscomb mohawks — the red one topping Ketch!; the yellow one, HIRO-PON — the "silent-comedy" duo Gamarjobat ("Hello" in Georgian) are now well into a 31-stop tour that's filling theaters around the country with whoops and rollicking laughter — as well as their own "language"...
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Oct 6, 2011

Softbank looks to take hit via KDDI's iPhone entry

Ever since June 2008 when Apple Inc.'s iPhone debuted in Japan and sparked a smartphone boom, Softbank Corp., Japan's third-biggest carrier in subscriber numbers, has enjoyed its status as the only carrier providing iPhone services in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 6, 2011

The patron saint of Japanese indie?

Steven Tanaka has a secret. The vibrant live-house scenes of Tokyo's Koenji and Shimokitazawa neighborhoods hold a special place in his heart, and since last year he has been spending vast sums to take some of that energy to Canada — just don't tell his parents.
BUSINESS
Oct 5, 2011

Yen's strength to euro extreme, Azumi says

The euro's weakness against the yen is "extreme" and is hurting local firms, Finance Minister Jun Azumi said, after the 17-nation currency tumbled to a decade-low.
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Oct 4, 2011

Hawks euphoric after triumph, focused on winning Japan Series title

For a few precious hours, the rigors of a demanding season were forgotten as the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks sprayed one another with bottle after bottle of beer.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan