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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 4, 2011

Exploring Yanagawa's watery world

The boatman sings a low-pitched, wistful air as he poles our craft down the watery freeway. Some of my fellow passengers obviously know the melancholic song, and join in on what passes for a chorus as we're propelled otherwise noiselessly down the wide canal.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Dec 4, 2011

Waxing woody as winter nears

This will be my 32nd winter in Kurohime, way up in the hills of northern Nagano Prefecture. Yesterday I was stacking firewood for the Afan Woodland Trust Centre, which has a fine, baronial-style stone-and-brick fireplace. There really is nothing like a room heated with firewood, and sitting by an open...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 3, 2011

A graceful hand to help elderly Japanese in Holland

In 1941, in the then Dutch East Indies, thousands of people were forced into internment camps by the invading Japanese army. It is a slice of history almost forgotten today, along with so many other wartime atrocities. It is something Chieko van Santen remembers every day, as the Japanese widow of a...
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2011

Toyota logs first gain in U.S. sales since April

Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co., Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. delivered more vehicles in the U.S. than analysts estimated as demand climbed to the highest point this year.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 2, 2011

Annals of cheap: 5manika.com

A new website works a niche and specializes in cheap but decent apartments in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 2, 2011

Tintin gets a little closer to Japan in 3-D movie

"Everyone knows Tintin!" says a street hawker in the film "The Adventures of Tintin" — but 30 years ago director Steven Spielberg had no idea who or what he was.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2011

Former Ozawa aide denies involvement in funds fraud

A former aide to Ichiro Ozawa claimed in court Wednesday that he was never involved in drafting or submitting the political funds statements of the Democratic Party of Japan power broker's political funds management body, despite holding the title of secretary in charge of accounting.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 1, 2011

Issues that covered up Japan's nudes

In his popular anecdotal encyclopedia of Japan, "Things Japanese," the 19th-century British Japanologist, Basil Hall Chamberlain, included the comment that "the nude is seen in Japan but not looked at." This reflected a reality in 1890, when the book was published: Nudity was not a big deal, at least...
COMMENTARY
Nov 30, 2011

Arab Autumn progress report

The Arab Spring was fast and dramatic: Nonviolent revolutions in the streets removed dictators in Tunisia and Egypt in a matter of weeks, and similar revolutions got underway in Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen. The Arab Autumn is a much slower and messier affair, but despite the carnage in Syria and...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2011

Clash of democracy and capitalism

Do capitalism and democracy conflict? Does each weaken the other?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2011

Motor show opens with car firms facing triple whammy

The Tokyo Motor Show kicks off Saturday amid a variety of challenges facing the automobile industry, including intensifying global competition, the yen's historic surge and supply disruptions caused by natural disasters.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 29, 2011

Kamakura: So what's Thanksgiving all about?

Matt PiaggiStudent, 22 (New Zealander)Some American relatives came over and did Thanksgiving for us. My uncle stood up in front of us and said that it was about giving thanks for the family we've got. I loved the turkey we ate.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 29, 2011

Readers' tales: Beginnings, terrifying journeys and terrible ends

We asked readers to share their scariest experience or top spooky tale for a chance to win a Haunted Tokyo Tour or book of short stories. Here are the winning entries:
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 29, 2011

What do you do when the kids think Colonel Sanders is Santa?

Foreign parents in Japan are faced with the task of trying to reconcile their own childhood memories of Christmas with the different take that Japan has on the holiday season.
COMMENTARY
Nov 28, 2011

How to ramrod an American congressman

A widespread perception that members of the U.S. Congress respond increasingly to special interests has received additional support from a person who knows something about it.
BASKETBALL
Nov 28, 2011

Captain Shimizu leads Shining Suns to victory

Taishiro Shimizu played for several forgettable Saitama Broncos teams in the first five years of his bj-league career. But since joining his hometown Miyazaki Shining Suns for their inaugural 2010-11 season, the veteran guard has been reinvigorated.
Reader Mail
Nov 27, 2011

Too much to ask of a convention

At this point, not signing the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction would put Japan out in the cold among the leading nations of the world. And at this point, taking a critical view of it would put a person like me (a foreign-born, noncitizen permanent resident) out...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 27, 2011

Publishers' ties to distribution a barrier for e-books

On Nov. 13, publisher Takarajima took out newspaper advertisements for its magazine-like book "Denshi Shoseki no Shotai" ("The Real Shape of e-Books"), describing it as a polemic "against electronic books." It includes input from Naoki Award winning novelist Miyuki Miyabe, who explains why she isn't...
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 27, 2011

Yoshimoto Kogyo's New Star Creation: Comedy's a funny business in Japan

Downtown, Ninety-Nine, Cream Stew, Neptune, Bananaman, Penalty, Black Mayonnaise, Tutorial, License, King Kong, Peace, Punk Boo Boo, Slim Club, Oriental Radio . . .
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2011

Keeping the eurozone intact

As the economist Mario Monti's new government takes office in Italy, much is at stake — for the country, for Europe and for the global economy.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 25, 2011

Nakase becomes first female head coach in bj-league

It's official: Natalie Nakase is the first female head coach in bj-league history.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 25, 2011

Chad Valley's summer project

Extra incentive, as if any was needed, to get down to the Friendly Fires shows in Osaka and Tokyo comes in the form of opening act Chad Valley, the moniker of British solo artist Hugo Manuel.
Reader Mail
Nov 24, 2011

The myth of an aesthetic sense

Jevon Allen's Nov. 17 letter "Cleaning up after the natives" exposes at least two things about Japanese culture. First, the in-group/out-group thing, which might explain a lax attitude toward littering the beaches, the countryside, woods and mountains — places for which people feel responsibility in...
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Nov 24, 2011

Dressed to impress Tokyo's art crowd

A life-size bucking brown horse, pieced together from old leather jackets. A loom operated by a Noah's Ark collection of polar bears, birds and other beasts. A fashion boutique till that scans barcodes to create a cacophony of musical sounds.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 24, 2011

Beatmakers just wanna have fun

British magazine DJ Mag caused some ripples among critics this month when it released its list of the most popular DJs from around the world and there wasn't one woman among the 100-strong pick. Though the magazine points out that its editors don't decide the list, which is comprised of write-in ballots...
SOCCER / J. League / J. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 24, 2011

Weekend fightback gives Reysol one hand on league title

Nagoya Grampus will fight to the last breath to defend their J. League title, but there can be little doubt now that the 2011 championship is Kashiwa Reysol's to lose.

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