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CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 7, 2012

All-star drama; A male concubine; CM of the week: Wacoal

Nonsatellite TV drama series tend to have the exact same look and sound, regardless of what they're about. That may finally change with the broadcast of "Going My Home" (Fuji TV, Tuesday, 9 p.m.). Written and directed by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda, the series looks and sounds...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 7, 2012

For the young to get on board, Japan's irksome business ways must change

"How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" is a satirical book by American writer Shepherd Mead that was a huge best-seller in 1952 before being made into a musical that premiered on Broadway nine years later. It tells the story of J. Pierrepont Finch, an ambitious young fellow who works his...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 7, 2012

Summer in the city's Todoroki Valley wilderness

Where does an expatriate living in Okinawa go for a two-week summer holiday? Why, to Tokyo, of course — if it's a working holiday — as there's no better place in Japan to make good money than the Big Mikan.
EDITORIALS
Oct 7, 2012

Work remains for consumer safety

A consumer protection commission was launched last month to investigate consumer complaints about appliances, food and commodities. Unfortunately, the seven-member Consumer Safety Investigation Commission might be a case of too little too late.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 6, 2012

Digging for things to do

One of life's little facts: "Every man needs a hobby."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 5, 2012

Cusack delves into the dark with 'The Raven'

"One of the negative things about the Internet," actor John Cusack remarks when asked about rumors surrounding casting in his new film, "The Raven," "is unnecessary information. Stuff that doesn't serve any real purpose and can be detrimental to someone's ego or ... like I say, useless. Hopefully a good...
Reader Mail
Oct 4, 2012

Loss of an art deco landmark

Regarding the Oct. 1 Kyodo article "Photos offer rare aerial views of Tokyo in 1922": I would like to see an article explain why Japan does not preserve historic buildings. I worked in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo in the 1980s and recall what a gem the Maru Biru was. Why did the government and people...
SOCCER / J. League / J. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Oct 4, 2012

Title-chasing pack slims down after weekend purge

There is still much to sort out before the identity of the 2012 J. League champion becomes known, but for perhaps the first time in a season that has consistently refused to produce a clear front-runner, a definitive shape is beginning to crystallize at the top of the table.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Oct 4, 2012

Ex-UCLA QB Craft happy to be in Japan

Even though he fell short of reaching the NFL, former UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft doesn't curse his past, but rather, embraces it.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Oct 2, 2012

Second homes may be cheap, but they are often in disrepair

Atami The ad said the property was 2 km from Ajiro Station on the Ito Line, but it was difficult to tell how far we were traveling in the agent's car. Most of the trip was up a steep, winding road into the hills above Atami on the Izu Peninsula, an area developed in the 1970s by the Tokyu Corporation...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 2, 2012

What it means to be 'Made in Japan'

"Made in Japan" is a such a simple phrase, yet it instantly evokes an image of exceptional design and high-quality production. Japan today is known for creating some of the most stylish, innovative and whimsical products in the world.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 2, 2012

Abuse by Irish priest could be tip of iceberg

It is over three years since it was revealed that an Irish Catholic priest had abused several children in Japan. His victims here are probably still unaware their tormentor was a serial offender.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Oct 2, 2012

Revisionists marching Japan back to a dangerous place

No doubt you've seen the news about the Takeshima and Senkaku disputes: Japan is sparring with China, South Korea and Taiwan over some specks in the ocean.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Oct 2, 2012

Divergent views on Debito; the fate of mixed-nationality kids

Arudou's writing still needed Most of the readers who indignantly criticize the writings of Debito Arudou seem to share the same outlook. Arudou, they say, should shut up and accept the good with the bad.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 30, 2012

Time seems to slow as Joei-ji Garden comes alive

"The whole countryside was full of snakes sunning themselves along the roads and swimming in the ditches and newly flooded rice-fields. ... Out in Sesshu's old garden behind the temple, the pond was starred with tiny twinkling water-lilies." Such was, in part, how Glenn W. Shaw described the rural outskirts...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
Sep 29, 2012

Bagel head trend is a big distortion

Bagel heads as Japanese beauty trend? It's just an ugly distortion.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 29, 2012

Terry's legacy tainted by scandals

Four Games.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2012

'The Bourne Legacy' / 'Haywire'

If going to the movies has taught me anything, it's that being a spy ain't easy. Even if the guy is a graduate of the School of Uber-spies, with perfect abs and hair streaming in the wind as the bad guys in black Mercedes come yelling in Euro accents. In fact, the more uber a spy is, the more tribulations...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Sep 28, 2012

Diversifying Japan's biggest food festival

From its origins as a regional festival in the backwaters of Aomori Prefecture, the B-1 Grand Prix has attained a status of Fuji Rock-like proportions. The seven-year-old event, which attracts enthusiasts of local cooking from around Japan, almost single-handedly kick-started the country's obsession...
Reader Mail
Sep 27, 2012

Why do producers finish last?

In his Sept. 23 letter, "The rationale for redistribution," Joseph Jaworski asks for a valid rationale to justify the redistribution of wealth. After all, no one would expect a burger flipper to make as much money as the CEO of that company.
Reader Mail
Sep 27, 2012

Indulgence that appears to work

In her Sept. 22 Japan Lite column titled "Japanese as a second body language," Amy Chavez devotes four paragraphs to the topic of Movement. It's an interesting and valid point: How do people in different cultures physically occupy and move in the three dimensional space that surrounds them?
COMMENTARY
Sep 27, 2012

Senkaku row reverberates across Southeast Asia

China's recent conduct in its bitter dispute with Japan over the ownership of islands, fisheries and seabed resources in the East China Sea raises some geopolitical storm warnings for Southeast Asia.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Sep 26, 2012

Tokyo Game Show was at least two games short of a win

Each year, the crowds at the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) get bigger and bigger. This year, there were 223,753 attendees over the four days (two press days and two public days), which is the largest turnout ever. Traditional video games for handheld and home consoles are taking up a smaller and smaller portion...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2012

Censorship by riot puts West on slippery slope

Last Wednesday, Charlie Hebdo, a French satire magazine, published cartoons that nastily mock the Prophet Muhammad, and European governments immediately feared more violence like the murder and arson at U.S. diplomatic installations that followed the appearance of a crude video about Muhammad. France...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Sep 25, 2012

Cheers! Wine shop serves as a bridge for couple

Jamie Paquin and Nozomi Mihara, who jointly own an all-Canadian wine shop that opened in Tokyo last year, met by chance at a cafe six years ago.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 23, 2012

Scrutiny of Tohoku reconstruction funds needed

Last December there was a mild eruption of indignation when it was reported that some of the money earmarked for reconstruction of areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 would go to protect research whaling from interventionists like Sea Shepherd. Greenpeace and a few other organizations...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 23, 2012

Evolution revelation sparks MAD inspiration to sucker the (U.S.) soul

Thank god for all things virtual.

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