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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BY THE GLASS
Aug 12, 2011

Grape adventures in northern climes

If you're thinking of taking a break from the sweltering heat of Japan's southern and central regions, Hokkaido is the perfect destination. As well as its wonderfully fresh local cuisine, stunning natural scenery and balmy climate, the northern island is also home to a burgeoning wine culture that looks...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2011

Making hay at the Ames straw poll

Being in politics, said Minnesota Democrat Sen. Eugene McCarthy, is like coaching football: You have to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough to think it is important. The game of presidential politics is especially arcane in the cunning weirdness of the Ames straw poll, a quadrennial...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 11, 2011

Summer Sonic prepares for an Asian invasion

Amid all the rivalry between Japanese and South Korean pop groups and the contrived debates about whether the manufactured crap from one country is better than the manufactured crap from the other, fans of independent or alternative music have been left scratching their heads.
SOCCER / J. League / J. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Aug 11, 2011

Full-blooded competition a fitting tribute to Matsuda

Last weekend's J. League fixtures were always going to be difficult so soon after the shock death of former Yokohama F. Marinos and national team defender Naoki Matsuda, but in the event the passion and determination on show were a fitting tribute.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 10, 2011

Disaster housing proves cash cow for general contractors

Local construction companies in Tohoku have been squeezed out of the short-term housing boom.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2011

Tepco posts ¥572 billion loss since April

Tokyo Electric Power Co. posted a group net loss Tuesday of ¥571.7 billion for the three months from April due to costs to stabilize the radiation-emitting Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant and increases in fuel expenses for thermal power generation.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Aug 10, 2011

Keep cool with a cold beverage and a strategically placed fan

Now that we're into August, many of us here in Japan are looking for new ways to beat the summer heat. Some people have purchased "green curtain" kits, growing walls of goya vines to cool their homes or offices. Others are opting for "Super Cool Biz" attire in an effort to stay comfortable in the office....
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Aug 9, 2011

Decent man Kan dealing with LDP's fallout

Dear Prime Minister Naoto Kan,
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 9, 2011

Upcoming legal reforms: a plus for children or plus ca change?

Those focused on the government's stumbling efforts to protect the children of Fukushima from radioactive contamination may find this hard to believe, but Japanese family law just got more child-friendly — maybe. If Japan finally signs the Hague Convention on child abduction, as it appears it will,...
Reader Mail
Aug 7, 2011

Blaming China sets bad example

Regarding Kei Horikawa's July 31 letter, "Where are the rewards for effort?": Although I have sympathy for Horikawa's family as I run my own business here, too, I cannot see why Horikawa has to mention China as a reason why his family cannot make a decent living as woodworkers? Are Chinese people buying...
Reader Mail
Aug 7, 2011

Borderline junk food nation

As the Aug. 3 Kyodo article "High price of watermelons may put favorite fruit beyond reach" rightly points out, very few people can afford to buy watermelons in Japan. But what I'd like to know is, what happens to the watermelons when it becomes clear no one is going to buy them? Do stores wait until...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 7, 2011

Standridge cites Kubo as key factor in success this season

Jason Standridge may have just begun to be recognized by Japanese baseball for his work on the mound, but he's been building toward his success this season for a while now.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 7, 2011

Kuwata on a comeback; wartime drama 'Saigo no Kizuna'; CM of the week: ST Corporation

Keisuke Kuwata, the former leader of rock band the Southern All Stars, continues his recovery from cancer treatment with three successive appearances on "Music Station" (TV Asahi, Fri., 7 p.m.). This week it's appearance number two. On each show he performs one song from his new "three-sided single,"...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 6, 2011

A-bomb survivor looks back on a life lived in N. Ireland

It's a difficult time of year for survivors of the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the August anniversaries inevitably swing around.
COMMENTARY
Aug 6, 2011

The debt deal and Obama's 2012 problem

The story is that as Mark Twain and novelist William Dean Howells stepped outside one morning, a downpour began and Howells asked Twain, "Do you think it will stop?" Twain answered, "It always has." The debt-ceiling impasse has, as things generally do, ended, and a postmortem validates conservatives'...
SOCCER / J. League
Aug 6, 2011

Nakazawa hoping to return to national team

On Tuesday afternoon, Yuji Nakazawa could never have imagined the events that would unfold over the course of the week.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2011

Do we rate state-run companies as heirlooms or dear luxuries?

Conventional wisdom, except in China with its plethora of state-owned enterprises, has become that governments should get out of business. Business knows best how to run things efficiently and to make money, whereas governments tend to tie up enterprise in bureaucratic red tape, or so the thinking goes....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 5, 2011

'Let Me In'

If 12-year-old Owen in the sweetly horrific vampire movie "Let Me In" could travel forward through time three decades to 2011 and meet his own self at 42, what would he say? "Let Me In" is set in the early 1980s, when Ronald Reagan was U.S. President, Russia was the Soviet Union and the Western world...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 5, 2011

'Days of Heaven' / 'Nashville'

It's somewhat depressing to think that the two best films on offer this summer, by far, were made over three decades ago. Robert Altman's epic "Nashville" came out in the torrid summer of 1975, while Terrence Malick's sophomore film, "Days of Heaven," was released in '78 after two years in the editing...
Reader Mail
Aug 4, 2011

Japan's road to justice for all

I was interested in The Japan Times' publication of the news article "Lay judges convict 99%" and the editorial "Reform of prosecution" in the same edition, Aug. 2.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 4, 2011

Rising noh star on mission to broaden audience

Noh, the 600-year-old performing art featuring drummers, chorus singers and masked actors, has survived in the modern world to this day thanks to its loyal, though aging, fan base. But as with many other traditional art forms, it is in dire need of new talent.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Aug 3, 2011

Top game designers going social

They're some of the biggest names in Japanese gaming. And they've developed some of the country's biggest games. Guys like Keiji Inafune of "Mega Man" fame, Yuji Naka ("Sonic the Hedgehog") and Goichi Suda ("No More Heroes"). But last week in Shibuya, Tokyo, they talked about how they're planning to...
Reader Mail
Jul 31, 2011

Kan's escape from nuclear reality

Regarding the July 25 Kyodo article "70% back Kan's nuclear tack, ditto seek his exit": At a time when pragmatic statesmanship and hard-nosed realism are needed, it is extremely disappointing to read that Prime Minister Naoto Kan has decided to promote the unattainable ideal — at least in the foreseeable...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jul 31, 2011

Shooting galleries in Nihonbashi

Summertime, and the living's less easy than queasy as Tokyo's temperatures and humidity soar. It's like that as I exit the Hibiya Line's Kodenmacho Station, in Chuo Ward, headed for Jisshi Koen, the area's sole park.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 30, 2011

The creeping crud on my hands

Recently, I have had this creeping crud on my hands. I get it every year.
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2011

Tepco's cost structure drawing scrutiny by monitoring panel

A government panel said Thursday it will thoroughly check Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s cost structure and how it has been reflected in electricity bills to see if its rates are appropriate.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 29, 2011

Sake sisters are brewing it for themselves

For most of its thousand-year history, sake has been a man's world. Even as recently as 30 years ago, women were forbidden to enter some breweries, but today's pioneering lady brewers and brewery heads are teaching the industry to embrace its feminine side.

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