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COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2012

Winds of political change blow through Pakistan

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari abruptly returned to Karachi on the morning of Dec. 19, following a 13-day absence for medical treatment in Dubai, where he lived while in exile. The government did not issue a formal statement about Zadari's health, but his supporters disclosed that he had suffered...
COMMENTARY
Jan 4, 2012

Can China sate its thirst for energy?

Among the sinews of superpower strength in the 21st century, maximum energy self-sufficiency will be critical as nations jostle to secure supplies of oil and natural gas, as well as food, water and minerals.
COMMENTARY
Jan 3, 2012

An Enlightened Awakening?

There are only three valid reasons why the Middle East, the focus of international attention as 2012 begins, is important to the United States and the European nations. These are energy, immigration and Israel.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 1, 2012

For how much longer will Japan's fate remain in the hands of amateurs?

As we enter into a new year in which last year's greatest event is still, dreadfully, uppermost in the mind of everyone in Japan, let's pause to think hard about the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, the tsunami it triggered, and the release into the environment of radioactive substances from...
Reader Mail
Jan 1, 2012

Socially conscious global model

I love Amy Chavez's Dec. 24 Japan Lite column, "" How wonderful it would be if the whole world were to behave like many Japanese as a social norm.
EDITORIALS
Dec 31, 2011

The great unraveling

The last 12 months yielded another humbling year. One event after another confirmed the limits of our ability to predict and shape the future. Blame idle imaginations, selfish societies, pusillanimous politicians or blind bureaucracies. Whatever the cause, 2011 should remind us of the need to be better...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 30, 2011

Films that make you feel it like the first time

My one wish for the New Year would be to wipe my brain clean of all the movies I've ever seen. With a fresh slate, I could sit back and enjoy, say, some new neo-noir without comparing it to "Chinatown." On a bad day I'll think that cinema is most intense at first blush, that the films that imprint themselves...
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Dec 30, 2011

Heian Period 'Godfather' brought to life on NHK

Marlon Brando's title character in the 1972 film "The Godfather" might not be the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of 12th century warlord Taira no Kiyomori, but the comparison has proven particularly effective for public broadcaster NHK, which will air a yearlong Sunday-evening drama about...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2011

A trilateral foundation for Indo-Pacific security

The first ever India-Japan-U.S. trilateral dialogue on Dec. 18 on security issues in the Indo-Pacific region could be the start of a transformation in strategic relations among the major democracies of Asia that has a lasting impact on the peace and prosperity of the region. However, translating mere...
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2011

Water, water, everywhere ...

It is estimated that some 60 million people depend on the 4,900-km-long Mekong River and its tributaries for their lives and livelihoods — food, water and transportation. It is the world's largest inland fishery; an estimated 1,000 species of fish live in the Mekong, making it the second-most biodiverse...
MORE SPORTS
Dec 21, 2011

Nadeshiko Japan takes top sports award

As perhaps much expected, Nadeshiko Japan was the face of the 2011 sports scene in Japan.
COMMENTARY
Dec 20, 2011

Suicide pact at Durban climate-health summit

The Durban climate summit that ended Dec. 11 has been proclaimed a great success. The chair, South Africa's international relations minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, told the delegates: "We have concluded this meeting with (a plan) to save one planet for the future of our children and our grandchildren...
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2011

Toyota Tsusho to supply LNG project

Trading house Toyota Tsusho Corp., part-owned by Japan's biggest automaker, will sell coal-bed methane to the world's first liquefied natural gas project to use the fuel, company officials said.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 18, 2011

Film promotes Japan energy revolution

The known world has already been through three pivotal epochs: the agricultural, industrial and information-technology revolutions. Now, a fourth is taking place: the renewable-energy revolution.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 18, 2011

Education for all from '60s Tokyo tale

J-BOYS: Kazuo's World, Tokyo, 1965, by Shogo Oketani. Stone Bridge Press, 2011, 211 pp., $9.95 (paperback) Like an affliction that allows you to function in an apparently normal manner but seditiously disables the sufferer, the dark legacy of war, never far from the minds of the adults in the story,...
Japan Times
Rugby
Dec 18, 2011

Hong Kong wins big in Airlines Cup final

Playing off the South American continent for the first time, Brazil ended its participation in the Emirates Airlines Cup of Nations with a 37-3 loss Friday to champion Hong Kong.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / JAPAN-U.S. SYMPOSIUM
Dec 18, 2011

U.S. 'quietly' frustrated with ongoing Tokyo inaction on key policy issues

More than any specific policy recommendations, Japan needs to have the capability to make decisions and implement them far more quickly than today — whether on the security or economic policy fronts.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 18, 2011

Lone holdout's first nuclear winter looms in Tohoku

As bitter winds blow around cesium and other radioactive particles spewed from the nearby Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's reactors, Naoto Matsumura lights a cigarette, which he considers relatively good for his health.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 18, 2011

Laughs from the past still hitting the spot

Any well-aimed dart of wit depends upon accurate release. Timing is all, and at first glance a collection of 1990s humor from "The Alien," a popular Nagoya-based ex-pat magazine featuring irreverent satire and visual gags, may seem dated. That the compilation still makes the reader laugh aloud, while...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 16, 2011

'Cut'

A director who makes a film that loudly complains about the sad state of current cinema is setting himself up as a critics' punching bag ("You, sir, are part of the problem ..."). Also, if he inserts his list of 100 all-time best films into his climax he is asking for some impolite comments about his...
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 16, 2011

Barcelona crushes Al Sadd

Barcelona set up a Club World Cup final showdown with Santos after picking a way through the massed ranks of Al Sadd's defense to claim a 4-0 win on Thursday night.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 14, 2011

Barcelona prepares for tough foe in semifinal

Barcelona midfielder Javier Mascherano is expecting a hard physical battle against Qatari side Al Sadd in Thursday's Club World Cup semifinal, but the Argentine insists his team has no plans to deviate from the fast-passing style that has brought it so much success in recent years.
EDITORIALS
Dec 13, 2011

Sport and sexual harassment

The arrest of two-time Olympic judo champion Masato Uchishiba on suspicion of raping a female member of a judo team for which he served as a coach has come as a shock to judo fans and the sports world in general. But sport as a whole needs to examine whether it does not have a culture susceptible to...
COMMENTARY / World / 50 years of ASEAN
Dec 5, 2011

China: soft or crash landing?

Economists who believe that China can come to the rescue of an increasingly troubled global economy are now in a decided minority, with questions increasingly being asked whether China can save itself: Will China's economy achieve a soft landing, a hard landing or even suffer a crash landing?
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 4, 2011

Reysol complete storybook season

Kashiwa Reysol captured their first-ever J. League title just a year after winning the second division with a 3-1 victory over Urawa Reds on the final day of the season on Saturday.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers