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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2011

'Gantz'

Films about murder games of various sorts have become a popular Japanese-movie subgenre, beginning with the ultra-violent Kinji Fukasaku hit "Battle Royale" (2000) and continuing with the even more successful "Death Note" trio of films (2006-2008) — though the "game" in the latter was more of a battle...
EDITORIALS
Jan 20, 2011

Moment of truth nears

Former Democratic Party of Japan chief Ichiro Ozawa, on the advice of his attorneys, turned down a request Tuesday to submit to interrogation ahead of his expected indictment on allegations of falsely reporting political funds. The request had come from lawyers appointed by the court to act as prosecutors...
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2011

Key ministers meet to weigh tax hike

Key Cabinet ministers agreed Wednesday to map out comprehensive proposals on social welfare and tax reforms, with an eye to hiking the sales levy, by June as they met for the first time to explore ways to cope with the problems of a rapidly aging society and mounting government debt.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 19, 2011

'Tokyo Control': Sony launches its first 3-D drama into the air

If 2010 was supposed to be 3-D's coming-out party, then in 2011 the party is poised to continue as manufacturers do their best to make this trendy technology truly stick.
EDITORIALS
Jan 18, 2011

Selection of NHK's new chief

NHK's 12-member board of governors on Jan. 15 named Mr. Masayuki Matsumoto, vice chairman of Central Japan Railway (JR Tokai), as the public broadcaster's next president, following sheer confusion in the selection process. The board members, especially board chairman Shigehiro Komaru, shoud feel ashamed...
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jan 17, 2011

Unusual souvenirs deliver Japan in a can

Looking for a one-of-a-kind Japanese souvenir? Good chance you might find it in a can.
COMMENTARY
Jan 17, 2011

Experts worth listening to

Each of the government's ministries and agencies has its own deliberative council. Before the fiscal 2001 ministerial reorganization — on April 27, 2000 — the government adopted the basic plan for abolishing and integrating these councils and the like. (The expression "and the like" was added because...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2011

Blasphemy hardly equates to hate speech

NEW YORK — The assassination of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province in Pakistan and an outspoken critic of religious extremism, has focused attention on his country's Draconian blasphemy law.
EDITORIALS
Jan 17, 2011

Students feel heat of joblessness

Many soon-to-graduate university students have not yet found jobs. According to a survey by the education and labor ministries, as of Oct. 1, 2010, only 57.6 percent of university students scheduled to graduate this spring have secured jobs. The figure is a record low and below the figure of slightly...
Reader Mail
Jan 16, 2011

Japan-China comparison misses

Regarding Roger Pulvers' Jan. 9 article, "Let's hope China doesn't fall into the same traps that Japan once did": I wonder whether Pulvers holds too pessimistic a view of China. True, there seem to be some similarities between China in the early 21st century and Japan in the 1930s, but there is also...
EDITORIALS
Jan 16, 2011

Reshuffle under opposition pressure

The lineup of Prime Minister Naoto Kan's new Cabinet, which emerged Friday after a minor reshuffle, underscores his hope for a smooth start to the Diet's ordinary session later this month and for progress in bringing about Japan's financial reconstruction and its participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 16, 2011

Japan's tribe of lonely people continues to grow

Results from Japan's national census last year are dribbling in and the reaction in the media often focuses on one pair of statistics: The number of households is increasing while population is declining, which means that there are a lot more single-person households than there were 10 years ago and...
EDITORIALS
Jan 15, 2011

No 'Unity' in Beirut

Nearly six years after the horrific attack, reverberations from the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rakif al-Hariri continue to rock Lebanon. As an international tribunal prepared to hand down indictments against the perpetrators, Cabinet ministers from parties aligned with the suspects resigned,...
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2011

Little interest on street for reshuffle

Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet reshuffle Friday was greeted with indifference on the streets of Tokyo, with many expressing hope that the administration will settle down and pursue policies to revive the economy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 14, 2011

Young kabuki talent for the new year

Most know Asakusa in Tokyo for Sensoji Temple and its surrounding souvenir arcades, but during the late Edo Period it was also the show business district of downtown Edo. Three kabuki theaters authorized by the shogunate competed in Saruwaka-cho, not far from Asakusa's Kokaido (public hall), and they...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 14, 2011

'The Social Network' wins friends among film critics

The Japanese tagline for "The Social Network" translates as "Genius, backstabber, dangerous guy, billionaire." Probably not the kind of sentiment a website trying to connect friends wants to be associated with. However, for a film — it's damn sexy.
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jan 13, 2011

Toothless performance shows Zaccheroni flip side of coin

After the euphoria of beating Argentina in his first match as national team manager, Alberto Zaccheroni got a good look at the other face of Japanese soccer on Sunday.
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Jan 12, 2011

2010 was a sizzling-hot year for kanji

From June through August of last year, Japan experienced its highest average temperatures on record. So the overwhelming choice of 暑 (atsu-i, sho, hot weather) as Kanji of the Year for 2010 came as no surprise. Day after sweltering day, the nation collectively moaned, "Atsui, atsui!" (「暑い、暑い!」...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 12, 2011

Kobe Bryant speaks out about his condition, Lakers

NEW YORK — Kobe Bryant "does phone interviews about as often as Osama bin Laden strolls through Central Park," John Black, Lakers VP of public relations, responded by e-mail to my request for an interview. "But I will ask him if he wants to call you."
EDITORIALS
Jan 11, 2011

Boosting Japan, U.S. cooperation

In their Washington meeting last Thursday, Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed to establish new common strategic goals for the Asia-Pacific region and other parts of the world.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past