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SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 1, 2012

Man United, Man City in own class

Every season it's the same.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 1, 2012

The best-ever tips on learning Japanese

If you want to learn Japanese the fastest way possible, read on. Notice I did not say the easiest way possible. If you think learning Japanese is easy, well, you can stop reading now. Presuming you want to learn Japanese, I offer the following best-ever tips:
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2012

Hashima Island provides the inspiration for a villain's lair

There are a few things no self-respecting 007 super-villain can do without: an exotic beauty who will eventually betray you, a small army of expendable goons, and a way-cool secret lair in which to hatch your dreams of world domination. Bond villain lairs have ranged from Hugo Drax's orbiting space station...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2012

The gentleman in the tux and what he did for Japan

In 1967, James Bond made his official Japan debut in "You Only Live Twice": The gentleman spy came to Tokyo and Fukuoka, saw some sumo, consorted with ninja and got intimate with two homegrown Bond girls. Directed by Lewis Gilbert, "You Only Live Twice" goes down in Japan's collective memory as the one...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2012

BOJ should cede right to set inflation target: Abe adviser

The government should be the entity that sets the nation's inflation target and should hold the Bank of Japan governor accountable if the goal is missed, according to a former aide and economic adviser to opposition leader Shinzo Abe.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2012

Obama's dream hits reality

It was vintage Barack Obama revived as the newly re-elected U.S. president made a teary-eyed victory speech to his supporters and promised that the best was yet to come and he would fight for all Americans to create the land of their dreams and of the American Dream.
Reader Mail
Nov 29, 2012

Damping workers' discontent

Many Japanese young people are keen on switching workplaces because of dissatisfaction with their jobs. As the number of temporary workers continues to increase, the financial problems of such employees become severe.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Nov 28, 2012

DPJ platform: TPP, end of reactors

The Democratic Party of Japan unveiled on Tuesday its policy platform for the Dec. 16 Lower House election, vowing to end use of nuclear power by the 2030s and promote participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade accord.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Nov 28, 2012

Cerebral Paul a true renaissance man

You don't hear much profound in sports locker room these days, even about sports.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 27, 2012

'Third force' elements scramble for poll position

So far 16 political parties are fielding candidates for the Dec. 16 Lower House election.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Nov 27, 2012

Yoshikawa's MVP award puts pitcher in elite company

Last week, pitcher Mitsuo Yoshikawa became the first Pacific League MVP winner from the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters since 2009.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 25, 2012

Is the whole world worrying about Japan?; "Villain"; CM of the week: Ezaki Glico

Does Japan suffer from an inferiority complex? That's one way of interpreting the title of the variety special "Nakayoshi Terebi: Nihon no Ima wo Sekaiju ga Shimpai Shite Iru zo" ("Friendly TV: The Whole World is Worrying About Japan Now"; Fuji, Tues., 7 p.m.).
BASKETBALL
Nov 25, 2012

Hannaryz extend winning streak to five

David Palmer scored a team-high 19 points and Gyno Pomare poured in 14 as the Kyoto Hannaryz topped the visiting Takamatsu Five Arrows 80-69 on Saturday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / JAPAN-U.S. SEMINAR
Nov 24, 2012

U.S. ties depend on Tokyo's initiative, leadership

Japan-U.S. relations during the second four-year term of U.S. President Barack Obama will depend much on the stability of political leadership in Tokyo, a leading American expert on Japan said during a recent seminar in Tokyo.
BASKETBALL
Nov 24, 2012

Iwate outlasts Yokohama in OT

The Iwate Big Bulls held off the host Yokohama B-Corsairs in overtime on Friday night, winning 89-84 in the bj-league series opener.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 24, 2012

Sri Lankan keen to showcase Japanese innovation

Monte Cassim, 65, slips effortlessly from English to Japanese and back, as befits one of the few non-Japanese to have served as president of a major Japanese university. After heading Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, Oita Prefecture, from 2004 to 2009, the Sri Lankan architect and engineer...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 24, 2012

Age of financial repression

Following his re-election, U.S. President Barack Obama almost immediately turned his attention to reining in America's rising national debt. In fact, almost all Western countries are implementing policies aimed at reducing — or at least arresting the growth of — the volume of public debt.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 24, 2012

America through the eyes of Benjamin Franklin

When he was a young man, Benjamin Franklin wired together a set of batteries he had just invented and used them to shock turkeys slated for a Thanksgiving feast. Thus he added yet another invention to his list: the fried turkey. "The birds killed in this manner eat uncommonly tender," he wrote.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 24, 2012

Ultimate taboo for military spouses: infidelity

Military spouses talk about almost everything. In running groups, prayer groups, writing groups, many spouses say they lean on one another heavily while their partners are overseas on yet another deployment in this decade of war.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 23, 2012

Abe economic policy raises serious questions

Not satisfied with bending Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to its will for a snap election, the Liberal Democratic Party has set its sights on Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa, at No. 36 the highest-ranked Japanese on Forbes magazine's 2011 list of the world's most powerful people. (Noda was ranked...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 23, 2012

Williams says changing Saitama track record not easy

Tracy Williams is the Saitama Broncos' eighth head coach since the team entered the bj-league in 2005. Only ex-NBA forward David Benoit lasted more than one season during his time at the helm — 2006-08 — and the Broncos were 36-48 in those two campaigns.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 23, 2012

New mental approach led to banner season, Yoshikawa admits

Mitsuo Yoshikawa didn't just come out of nowhere this season. That would be putting it too simply. Try nowhere taken to a whole new obscure level, then go even further. Somewhere on the outskirts of that is where you'd find Yoshikawa.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Nov 23, 2012

Fresh soba flour is fall's precious prize

The obsession with fresh, seasonal food in Japan extends to things that you may not even think of as having seasons, such as dried flour. Shin-soba-ko (new fall-harvest buckwheat flour, used in soba noodles) is eagerly anticipated every year by Japanese gourmets. While soba flour has two harvests, one...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 23, 2012

Musician Shugo Tokumaru starts to adjust to the spotlight

Among the many billboards looming over Shibuya Station crossing, one of the busiest and most famous intersections in Tokyo, is one for Tower Records that features musician Shugo Tokumaru. The picture looks slightly awkward. The artist sits on a spiral staircase and clutches a guitar, positioned just...
BUSINESS
Nov 23, 2012

Parts thieves shun 'one-model' Prius

Toyota Motor Corp.'s hybrid Prius is less likely to be stolen in the U.S. compared with cars of a similar age, as thieves target autos with parts that can be used in more-common vehicles, the National Insurance Crime Bureau said Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 22, 2012

The fall and rise of "The Greek"

For an artist, expatriation can be a kind of death — because for an artist, it can mean estrangement from the contexts and locations that secure a place in the annals of history that tend to emphasize centers over peripheries. El Greco (1541-1614), "The Greek," was born Domenico Theotocopoulos and...
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2012

Political hawk, 80, still bent on creating a tough Japan

When Shintaro Ishihara abruptly resigned as governor of Tokyo at the end of last month to form Taiyo no To (The Sunrise Party), it was unclear what his political aims were.

Longform

A mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing on Hiroshima taken from a U.S. military aircraft on Aug. 6, 1945. Copying the photo without permission is prohibited.
80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped