Search - things-to-do

 
 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 3, 2014

Repairing the tripartite ties

Japan's relations with China and South Korea are at their lowest ebb since Japan normalized its diplomatic relations with them. One way to break the jogjam could be a tripartite free trade agreement.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 3, 2014

Loyal to Ukraine, Muslim Tatars in Crimea lie low as Russia seizes region

Only last Wednesday, thousands of Tatars living in the Ukrainian region of Crimea turned out, chanting "Allahu akbar" in a show of loyalty to the new authorities in Kiev and in opposition to separatist demands by the region's Russian ethnic majority.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2014

Who will stop the slaughter?

Who will stand up in the world today for the millions of people whose lives are being savaged by evil men and women in states like Syria and North Korea?
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Mar 2, 2014

Composer Shibuya tests limits of music

One November evening in Paris, Theatre du Chatelet was packed with people who came to see the French premiere of a new opera by a Japanese composer.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Mar 2, 2014

Ryukyu books spot in playoffs for sixth straight season

The Ryukyu Golden Kings clinched their sixth consecutive playoff berth on Saturday, beating the host Shimane Susanoo Magic 79-64.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2014

Doraemon, the robot cat, gets your tongue

An earless blue robotic cat, one pocket bulging with gadgets from the future and a lifelong fear of mice: Who is he? Japan roars the answer — but English readers may be stumped. Because, even though he's a government-appointed "cultural ambassador" and a familiar face in more than 30 countries, with...
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2014

Fukushima's appalling death toll

As the third anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake approaches, new studies show that more people have died of stress and other mental illnesses than from causes directly linked to the triple '3/11' disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant meltdown.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 1, 2014

Going back to the Simien's future

On Saturday, Jan. 18, I set foot in Addis Ababa for the first time since I left Ethiopia in late October 1969.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Feb 28, 2014

The lesson of the long-distance runner: 'There are no impossibles'

Maickel Melamed was born with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, and his parents were told he would not live long. Almost four decades on, Melamed has crossed marathon finishing lines in New York, Berlin and Chicago — and conquered Venezuela's highest mountain.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2014

How long can Putin bask in the glow of Sochi?

Reading all the positive foreign reactions to the Olympics prompts one to try to imagine how a flunky of Russian President Vladimir Putin would put together a selection of quotes to please the boss.
COMMENTARY
Feb 28, 2014

China uses Ukraine unrest as argument for stability

China's Communist Party-controlled media appear to be using the unrest in Ukraine as a teaching moment to point out the pitfalls of clamoring for more rapid reforms in a large, multi-ethnic society — one like China's.
SOCCER / J. League / 2014 J. LEAGUE PREVIEW
Feb 28, 2014

Cerezo looking to end Sanfrecce stranglehold

The following is the second of a two-part preview for the upcoming J. League season. Team-by-team previews of the nine highest-ranking teams competing in the first division are listed.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 28, 2014

Moyes' Manchester United dream rapidly turning sour

Imagine you are Malcolm Glazer, the owner of Manchester United who is the Howard Hughes of sport. Glazer, also the owner of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, never speaks to the media, probably doesn't even read newspapers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Feb 27, 2014

What we can learn from cats and dogs

Chikao Muratani is a veterinarian and owner of Anima Animal Hospital in Tokyo's Chuo Ward. Having worked in the United States for years, Dr. Muratani is fully bilingual and his spotless and beautifully designed clinic is known as a neighborhood hangout. People with pets are encouraged to pop by weekly...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2014

'Oh Boy'

They say that the EU in its current state of capitalism is a mirror of America in the 1990s. (Remember what that was like? It wasn't all bad, really.) This certainly applies to the Berlin-set micro universe of "Oh Boy," whose very title smells like teen spirit — but it's actually set in the present...
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 27, 2014

Mt. Gox bitcoin clients lack options

What can you do if you deposited bitcoins at Mt. Gox, which shuttered with little explanation? Probably not much.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Feb 27, 2014

Status as benefactor and folk hero made 'El Chapo' elusive prey

Alfonso Lara says the only person who could keep him safe from crime was the most notorious drug lord in the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 26, 2014

Flying high, but not quite buzzing

I have vivid childhood memories of two circuses: Ringling Brothers and Shrine. The latter was a delightfully shabby affair held in an old auditorium where audiences sat on concrete bleachers that were occasionally adorned with tacky plastic chairs. There were lots of animals, and the holding areas outside...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2014

'Hero of the Maidan' prompted leader's exit

When the history of the bloody turbulence in Ukraine is written, a 26-year-old who learned combat skills in the army cadets may be recorded as the man who made up President Viktor Yanukovych's mind to cut and run.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Feb 25, 2014

Prize-winning local dishes are the real taste of Japan

With memories of the Winter Olympics still fresh and with the Academy Awards just around the corner, Japanese food lovers are saluting some medalists of their own — prize-winning dishes from cooking competitions, public opinion polls and government surveys around the country. Here's a guide to some...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 25, 2014

Jesus Weekend will keep your family pet from a pit of despair

"Animals don't commit suicide, but this song is so sad that even animals would want to kill themselves."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Feb 25, 2014

Hanakujira: Steamy scenes from the oden pot

Hanakujira is an all-society restaurant. At 5 o'clock on a Monday evening, the air still frigid with cold shock after a recent snowstorm, Osaka's great and ordinary are packed inside (and queuing outside) to get close to the steaming vats of oden. There are families with young ones, friends, office ladies,...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBL NOTEBOOK
Feb 25, 2014

Geary, Jets hoping to overcome NBL turbulence

The Chiba Jets have been hit with a severe reality — that much is certain. But that's something they expected when they defected from the bj-league to the NBL before this season.
MORE SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Feb 25, 2014

Sports world races to make over Mt. Rushmore

Honest Abe, Teddy the Trust Buster, Big Daddy George and Constitutional Penman Tom —whose noble visages grace Mt. Rushmore — all must be spinning in their graves about now.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 23, 2014

Plans don't make the grade

Don't count on the education ministry's plan to hire more foreign teachers and students to have much effect on its goal of getting at least 10 Japanese universities to place among the world's top 100.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 23, 2014

Computers 'to top humans by 2029'

Computers will be cleverer than humans by 2029, according to Ray Kurzweil, Google's director of engineering.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / ICE TIME
Feb 23, 2014

Mao's inflexibility hurt medal chances

"If things continue as they are, it could all end in tears without a silver medal this time. Maybe without any medal."

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person