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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.
Reader Mail
Jan 9, 2011

Relative ranking of 'generosity'

Setsuko Kamiya writes in the Jan. 5 article "(JICA president Sadako) Ogata to Japan: Remember, pay it forward" that, in the 1990s, Japan was the world's most generous donor but that, by 2008, Japan was down to No. 5, after the United States, Germany, Britain and France among the 22 member countries of...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jan 9, 2011

Are Japan's fish lovers eating tuna to extinction?

Pick up a newspaper in Japan these days and you'll almost always find a story in it about the state of bluefin tuna somewhere in the world.
EDITORIALS
Jan 7, 2011

New year Korean tensions

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain high in the wake of the sinking of a South Korean corvette in March and North Korea's artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island of South Korea in November. The North is also enriching uranium and pushing construction of a light-water nuclear reactor. At Gilju, in North...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2011

Penalties pay off for New Year's resolutions

MELBOURNE — Sometimes we know the best thing to do, but fail to do it. New Year's resolutions are often like that. We make resolutions because we know that it would be better for us to lose weight, or get fit, or spend more time with our children. The problem is that a resolution is generally easier...
EDITORIALS
Jan 6, 2011

Rough ride awaiting Mr. Kan

Prime Minister Naoto Kan expressed his political hopes for 2011 at a news conference Tuesday, including his determination to end money-tainted politics and his wish to hold consultations with the opposition forces on reform of the social welfare system and reform of the tax system, which would include...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2011

Ogata to Japan: Remember, pay it forward

The top provider of official development assistance in the 1990s, Japan has since been shrinking its foreign aid budget as the economy stagnates.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2011

EU's instability mechanism

MUNICH — By 2010, Europe was to be "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge- based society in the world." This was the proclamation in 2000 by the European Commission in the "Lisbon Agenda." Now, a decade after that bold pledge, it is official: Europe is the world's growth laggard rather than its...
BUSINESS
Jan 5, 2011

Banks look to invest in debt sales

Prime Minister Naoto Kan's plan to plug the budget gap with record debt sales this year will get some help from banks needing a place to park deposits that are outstripping loans by the widest margin on record.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 4, 2011

The basics of being a lawmaker at the Diet

Diet members are often addressed as "sensei" (teacher) and seem to enjoy privileges ranging from high salaries and chauffeur-driven cars to free first-class flights and luxury "green car" seats in bullet trains.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes