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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 10, 2012

Stages of assimilation

When you first set foot in Japan, it's hard not to be impressed by the efficiency and social order. The streets are clean, trains run on time, and the people are quiet and polite, yet possess enough of the bizarre to make them interesting. (One of the first Japanese people I met was a woman who always...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Mar 10, 2012

One large step back, a few small steps forward

Last month the sumo association, while supposedly seeing 2012 as the year to move forward and clear their sullied name, took a massive step backward.
EDITORIALS
Mar 8, 2012

The real 'China threat'

Considerable attention has been devoted to the threat seemingly posed by the growth of China's power and influence. It seems like every week the country is marking some new "first" in its military modernization program, all of which are said to be underwritten by a desire to become the pre-eminent power...
Japan Times
JAPAN / QUEST FOR RECOVERY
Mar 7, 2012

Fukushima farmers in two-front war

Both the reality of radiation and the rumors surrounding it continue to plague farmers in Fukushima Prefecture a year into the crisis that started last March 11 when a megaquake and monster tsunami put a local nuclear plant on a path to three reactor meltdowns.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Mar 7, 2012

For fans, 'Metal Gear' without Kojima involved is 'game over'

Gamers know it: Every time Hideo Kojima finishes one of his "Metal Gear" stealth video games, he attempts to wash his hands of the wildly successful franchise and says, "That's it. I'm done."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 6, 2012

Rebuilding lives in shattered Tohoku, one image at a time

As the minibus winds through the foothills of northern Fukushima, the Geiger counter flashes blue and buzzes loud alerts — but it doesn't distract Brian Peterson. The 35-year-old American holds up a boxy Konika Instant Press — what he calls his "magic camera" — then explains how to load it, set...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Mar 5, 2012

Brave Warriors take advantage of Jets' struggles to claim win

Statisticians develop fancy formulas to calculate lots of numbers and to identify patterns in those numbers. Basketball coaches, on the other hand, will often point to one team's domination in certain phases of the game to explain the way things work.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 4, 2012

Reysol capture Xerox Super Cup

J. League champion Kashiwa Reysol handed newly promoted FC Tokyo a reality check ahead of the new season with a 2-1 win in the Xerox Super Cup on Saturday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 4, 2012

Winter kept us warm in Kamikochi's silence

Emerging from the 1.3-km darkness of the Kama Tunnel, our footsteps echoing eerily, we step into the white silence of Kamikochi's upland basin at the heart of the Chubusangaku National Park, which itself marks the center of the Hida Mountains, long ago dubbed the "Japan Alps."
Reader Mail
Mar 4, 2012

Farmer shines a light on Japan

Regarding the Feb. 29 Kyodo article "Fukushima farmer presses Tepco to look after abandoned animals": This person (Naoto Matsumura, 52) is amazing. We lived many years in Japan but have been back in Europe since August.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 3, 2012

Is Japan's enrollment season really a problem?

The University of Tokyo -or Todai as it is locally called — is considering changing its enrollment from spring to autumn to be more in sync with universities around the world, 70 percent of which are said to have enrollments in the fall.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2012

Japan issues wary welcome, awaits concrete action, warns of loopholes

North Korea's surprise promise to freeze its nuclear arms program is a positive development, but there is no guarantee it will live up to its word and the hermit state should take concrete action before resuming the six-party talks, the government and Japanese experts said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2012

Colombian foreign minister voices optimism over inking bilateral EPA

Following a meeting last September with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda referred to the South American country as "a neighbor" of Japan only separated by the Pacific.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2012

Sure winner fails to inspire

Before the scandalous presidential election of 1996, the situation was clear-cut and critical. A victory by Gennady Zyuganov over Boris Yeltsin would have meant an old-style Communists' revenge for their defeat in the August 1991 putsch as well as a strong drive toward renationalization of the economy...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 1, 2012

The varied colors of artistic process

There is a misconception about the avant-garde artist. It is routinely assumed by the general public that they are fountains of creativity, bristling with ideas and inspiration. A couple of major retrospectives at Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art, however, challenge this view.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 1, 2012

The varied colors of artistic process

There is a misconception about the avant-garde artist. It is routinely assumed by the general public that they are fountains of creativity, bristling with ideas and inspiration. A couple of major retrospectives at Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art, however, challenge this view.
COMMENTARY
Feb 29, 2012

Why China resists Western intervention in Syria

Intellectual precision is especially vital in times of geopolitical passion. The full totality of evil of the Syrian government is now on display for the entire world to see. The brutality of President Bashar Assad is beyond immense. And so the blame game has begun.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 28, 2012

Teacher outfoxes board, exposes bid to fleece JETs

English teachers on the JET program are often faced with the bittersweet moment when they realize their contract is ending and they will soon be returning to their home country.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 28, 2012

Threatened Goldman Japan workers unionize

The past year has been anything but business as usual for the financial industry. Faced with a frosty economic climate, financial service companies have been busy chopping dead wood. Last year, 200,000 financial service jobs ended up on the cutting block worldwide.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Feb 28, 2012

Educator, writer, farmer Gregory Clark

Gregory Clark, 75, is the Honorary President of Tama University and Trustee of Akita International University in Japan. A prolific writer, with a background in economics and international politics, his opinionated investigative pieces often spark intensive debates. His 1978 book "The Japanese Tribe:...
BASKETBALL
Feb 27, 2012

Golden Kings' Namizato plays starring role in win over Big Bulls

Twenty-two-year-old Narito Namizato is one of the youngest players in the bj-league. He's also one of the boldest, and quickly becoming one of the league's elite players.
Reader Mail
Feb 26, 2012

Hurdles to ending the recession

The Feb. 21 front-page article "January trade deficit hits new high" is not badly written, but it lacks honest answers to what is on the minds of readers in Japan. Everyone wants to know just when the "high yen" (endaka) recession will end. Most people know it is due to closed markets and may feel from...
LIFE / Longform
Feb 26, 2012

Danger zones: What are Japan's coastal communities doing to avert a disaster like March 11?

Teruo Saito has lived most of his 79 years within a couple of hundred meters of the Pacific, in an area that has been overwhelmed by massive tsunamis twice in the last 600 years.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 26, 2012

Job-seeking comedy avoids real issues

In 2004, novelist Ryu Murakami published "13-sai no Hello Work," a job guide for 13-year-olds, though most of the copies were bought by adults. The book did not offer practical advice, but rather job descriptions in all lines of work, from engineer to prostitute, in order to give readers an idea of what...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 26, 2012

Media continues to despair over Japan's fall

Japan's decline has no historical parallel. It is a current fed by two streams — economic and demographic. Economically, barring an unforeseen upsurge, gross domestic product is forecast to fall 16 percent by 2025, 42 percent by 2050. Demographically, in 50 years there will be 40 million fewer Japanese...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 26, 2012

Venturing into the zone on Showajima

In his "Meditation XVII," the English Metaphysical poet John Donne wrote in 1623 that "no man is an island, entire of itself." Well, yes — but some islands are entirely more manly than others.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear