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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Nov 2, 2013

Hybrid furniture and the working horse

Right from the outset when we started planning what is now our magnificent Afan Nature Centre that opened three years ago here in the Nagano Prefecture hills outside Kurohime, I insisted it should be built in wood — and that all the wood must be Japanese.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 2, 2013

Trust no one: Japan's magazines offer a bleak message

What a bleak picture emerges from the nation's weekly and monthly periodicals: Trust is simple-minded, mistrust paranoid.
Reader Mail
Nov 2, 2013

Decent record in guarding privacy

Regarding the Oct. 27 Kyodo article "NSA asked Japan to tap regionwide fiber-optic cables in 2011": This is not the first time that the Japanese government has backed away from creating a surveillance state.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 2, 2013

Japan and Korea slide down gender-index ranking

The Swiss-based nonprofit World Economic Forum recently released its Gender Gap Report for 2013, in which Japan ranked 105 out of 136 countries — a plunge of 25 places from its ranking when the report was inaugurated in 2006. South Korea rates even worse, coming in at 111 in 2013, down from 92nd place...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 1, 2013

Eagles prepare to unleash Tanaka on Giants with title there for taking

Masahiro Tanaka blew out the candles on his birthday cake in one big breath.
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 1, 2013

Reysol's Cleo seeking Nabisco Cup final tonic after ACL exit

Kashiwa Reysol may have missed out on Asian Champions League glory this season, but on-loan striker Cleo is confident of redemption in Saturday's Nabisco Cup final against Urawa Reds.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2013

'Perfect' winds give Brazil another option for power

Wind is emerging as a prize for energy planners in Brazil who see the howling gusts that arrive from the east as a way to offset the fresh limits imposed on hydropower.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 1, 2013

U.S. evaluates blowback from revelations it spied on allies

Weeks before he was sworn in, President-elect Barack Obama was given an extensive briefing on the secret operations of U.S. spy agencies, as well as a warning: "You need to give up your BlackBerry," Obama was told, according to former officials familiar with the meeting. "If you use that phone, you are...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 31, 2013

Festival/Tokyo pushes a return to storytelling

In 2009, when Festival/Tokyo took over from the annual Tokyo International Arts Festival, it burst forth with the slogan "Towards a New Real" and the resolve to stamp the city's name on the global arts map.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 31, 2013

'Jobs'

The centerpiece of "Jobs" isn't really Steve Jobs but the portrayal of Steve Jobs by Ashton Kutcher — whose fame heretofore had rested largely on the fact that he was married to Demi Moore. Who would have thought the guy who oozes Hollywood charm and toy-boy insincerity from every invisible pore had...
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2013

Not about being labeled or liked

In his Oct. 17 letter, "Tough armchair conservationist," which is a rebuttal to my Oct. 10 letter, "Activists who act like terrorists," Ivor Paul calls me a conservative for my views. It has happened before, in this column and in people's personal blogs as well.
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2013

A liberal arts model in Japan

In reply to Victoria Miroshnik's Oct. 24 letter, "Future of liberal arts education," generally her observations are correct, although a further comment is required. As a tutor in liberal arts studies with 20-plus years as such, I should state that yes, sometimes, when pressed for time or wishing to get...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Oct 30, 2013

Joho, Mito help propel Toyama to best start ever at 6-0

Masashi Joho has an impressive track record of success in the bj-league, playing for four playoff-bound franchises — two-time champion Osaka Evessa, two-time champion runnerup Tokyo Apache, Shiga Lakestars and Toyama Grouses — in the league's first eight seasons.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 30, 2013

Rescues of South Koreans abducted by North come with controversy

In divided Korea, even the homecomings can be bitter.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Oct 29, 2013

Shady loans have long history; laws slow to catch up

Mizuho Bank's loans to yakuza and other shady individuals through its group credit company Orient Corp. may be just the tip of the iceberg as corporate Japan struggles to break off its long-held ties with organized crime.
LIFE / Digital
Oct 29, 2013

Remember past smells with the Madeleine

Next month sees the 100th anniversary of the publication of "Swann's Way," the first volume of Marcel Proust's masterpiece "Remembrance of Things Past" (or, if you prefer D.J. Enright's translation, "In Search of Lost Time"). So stand by for what one expert calls a Proustathon.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 29, 2013

Damo Suzuki sees promise in young artists

"I don't like to make music, I like to make energy. Music is just a way to get energy, so why not just make energy?"
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2013

Competition shakes up Italian rail

In the land where train schedules were once rough estimates and riding a chugging "locale" could feel like traveling by mechanical bull, the hypermodern Italo locomotives aimed to shake up the state-controlled world of Italian rail.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 29, 2013

Camry loses Consumer Reports nod

Consumer Reports pulled its recommendation for Toyota Motor Corp.'s Camry sedan and said post-bankruptcy General Motors Co. is among the automakers cracking Japanese brands' dominance in fielding reliable cars.
BASEBALL
Oct 28, 2013

Flawless Tanaka wins Sawamura Award

Masahiro Tanaka followed up an amazing career first with something even more impressive the second time around.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Oct 28, 2013

Copyright extension opponents ready for new fight

For most of history, a great character or story or song has passed from its original creator into the public domain. Shakespeare and Charles Dickens and Beethoven are long dead, but Macbeth and Oliver Twist and the Fifth Symphony are part of our shared cultural heritage, free to be used or reinvented...
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Oct 28, 2013

It's risky business updating authorities on intelligence

Updating the authorities with knowledge of their Western enemies led to the death by disembowelment of one of the more farsighted Japanese intellects in 1841.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Oct 27, 2013

Nuclear regulators can't win

Criticisms of the biases and capabilities of the Nuclear Regulation Authority — from both the pro- and anti-nuclear power camps — summarize the contradictions of Japan's nuclear power policy.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 27, 2013

Tea party darling Cruz burnishes conservative credentials in Iowa

Sen. Ted Cruz used a series of long-scheduled appearances in Iowa over the weekend to cast himself as the natural leader of a burgeoning conservative movement that nearly derailed the new health care law.
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 26, 2013

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo: Bold direction

Just as Tokyo is synonymous with manga, sushi and cute robotic playmates, so has fashion been a reigning symbol of the city's creative prowess.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 26, 2013

Branding Japan: Not always onward and upward

Branding is not an exact science. Take for example the recent campaign by Fukushima Industries to launch a new consumer-friendly corporate mascot.
WORLD
Oct 26, 2013

Former NSA chief gets a taste of the other side of eavesdropping

He should've taken the Quiet Car.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 25, 2013

Pro-Japan Australia vs. China

Australia's foreign policies are a puzzle. It depends on China to take 35 percent of its exports. Yet its government now wants to cooperate with Japan and U.S. in their anti-China policies.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 25, 2013

Pro-Japan Australia vs. China

Australia's foreign policies are a puzzle. It depends on China to take 35 percent of its exports. Yet its government now wants to cooperate with Japan and U.S. in their anti-China policies.

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