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CULTURE / Books
Dec 19, 2010

Final word on the year's best reading

Does Japan have a bright future? The pessimists, including apparently most Japanese, would likely answer in the negative amid widespread gloom over the nation's Heisei Era problems of debt, deflation and demographics. An astute analyst of modern Japan, Tokyo-based academic Jeff Kingston's latest work...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 19, 2010

To students of English, the Spanish Armada has a lot to answer for

Second of two parts
COMMUNITY
Dec 18, 2010

Well-traveled chef gives Kamakura the spice of life

Krishna Murthy Vijayan, 57, has authentic taste — literally. Cooking in the traditions of southern India as head chef for T-Side, a popular Indian restaurant in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, he makes it a priority to keep his tastes authentic.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2010

Preventing a currency war

BERKELEY — Three years into the financial crisis, one might think that the world could put Great Depression analogies behind it. But they are back, and with more force than ever. Now the fear is that currency warfare, leading to tariffs and retaliation, could cause disruptions to the international...
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Dec 15, 2010

Social gaming frenzy sees two Godzillas play rough

On Dec. 8, the Tokyo-based Internet company DeNA received an on-site investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) due to suspected unfair trade practices. DeNA had allegedly interfered with their third-party game providers' development of games for DeNA's competitor, Gree.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Dec 14, 2010

For writer, languages are his 'darling'

Writer Tony Laszlo, 50, has a strong passion for languages. He speaks 10, including English, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Turkish and French. As a writer, he uses both English, his mother tongue, and Japanese.
Reader Mail
Dec 12, 2010

Shortages preserve 'Dear Leader'

Regarding John J. Metzler's Dec. 3 article, "North Korea evokes pity and condemnation": We need to acknowledge that starvation is a means of preserving power for Pyongyang. Our sense of humanity is being manipulated by the Kim Jong Il regime. Kim created the food shortage; he alone has the power to regulate...
COMMENTARY
Dec 12, 2010

Preparing the ground for the Egyptian heir

LONDON — Egyptian elections are always highly predictable affairs, but the second round of this year's parliamentary elections on Dec. 5, was completely pointless. The first round on Nov. 28 showed that the regime was going to suppress even the marginal role permitted to prodemocracy parties in previous...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2010

In the footsteps of modern morality fighters

LONDON — Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned Chinese writer and human-rights campaigner, will receive the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. For the first time in history, however, neither the laureate nor any member of his immediate family will be present in Oslo to accept the award.
COMMENTARY
Dec 9, 2010

No emissions deal at Cancun

LONDON — The U.N. climate summit in Cancun, Mexico, is nearing its end, and while the ending will not be as rancorous as last year's train wreck in Copenhagen, there will be no global deal on cutting greenhouse gas emissions this year either. However, there is some hope for the longer run.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 5, 2010

Catching autumn's glory on camera

At this dazzling time of year, it seems that half of Japan's population turn into photographers journeying to their favorite spots or seeking out new ones around the city as they try to capture the myriad colors of autumn leaves.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 5, 2010

Privacy is losing its very meaning

Words come and words go. Times change, language evolves.
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2010

Penny for your WikiLeak

LONDON — The U.S. government, faced with the publication on the Internet of a quarter-million cables sent by U.S. embassies in recent years, has responded just as it did when WikiLeaks posted similar troves of secret messages about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on the web earlier this year. It has...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 3, 2010

There are no words to describe the mystery of the ancient 'rubber people'

That which we know the least about is often the most interesting. A case in point is the civilization of the Olmecs. This flourished in Mexico between 1500 B.C and 400 B.C., leaving behind much intriguing evidence in its art and archaeological remains but no written record to explain anything. Because...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 3, 2010

Higashi gets melodramatic (but not too much)

Born in Wakayama Prefecture in 1934, Yoichi Higashi graduated from Waseda University's Department of Literature in 1958 and entered Iwanami Film Production, a documentary and educational film company. After making his feature debut with "Okinawa Retto (Okinawa Archipelago)" in 1969, he won the Directors...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 2, 2010

Tomy targets big holiday sales in U.S.

Toy maker Tomy Co. is hoping to score a comeback in the U.S. this Christmas with toy trains and cars that boast a 40-year history in Japan but failed previously to catch on abroad.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2010

Midterm losses hobble Obama on a global scale

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama's political fortunes suffered a devastating blow at the election polls Nov. 2. Since then, whether on domestic policy or in the international arena, nations as well as American politicians have raised their price for cooperating with him.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2010

Japan's leadership test in Sri Lanka

U.S. President Barack Obama's announcement last month that the U.S. would support an Indian bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council may reinvigorate the process of Security Council reform. Japan too has made permanent membership in the Security Council a high priority in its foreign policy....
COMMENTARY
Dec 1, 2010

The N. Korea conundrum

North Korea bombards the South Korean held island of Yeonpyeong in the Yellow Sea, killing and wounding a number of people there. The hawks call for the strongest possible response. The pundits warn of another Korean War.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2010

EU's sweeping defense cuts are shortsighted

COPENHAGEN — All over Europe, budgets are being pared as a new age of austerity takes hold. Defense expenditures are proving to be the easiest of targets. Even Britain under the Tory Prime Minister David Cameron has joined the rush to slash defense spending.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 26, 2010

'The White Ribbon'

As a critic, there's a very particular kind of mid-life crisis that creeps up on you: One day you wake up in a cold sweat and realize that despite having been inspired to write about cinema by such masters as Hitchcock, Truffaut, Scorsese, Kurosawa, Kubrick, et al., you now spend most of your time watching...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2010

China and India exposed

BERKELEY, Calif. — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's forthcoming trip to India, following hard on the heels of President Barack Obama's recent visit, will provide another opportunity for the media to gush about the growing global economic clout of China and India. We can be sure that the soft underbellies...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 24, 2010

Death comes in many written forms

Poet Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933) wrote about himself on the verge of death in his poem "Speaking with the Eyes." Unable to talk due to blood gushing from his lungs, he tried to tell his attending doctor with his eyes that, despite the suffering, he knew that he was departing to a better place. (He didn't...

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