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JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 21, 2010

Tossing our leaders to the lions

In Tokugawa days (1603-1867), criticizing the government was a capital offense. Rulers, not only in Japan but the world over, expected to be — and generally were — not only obeyed but revered, sometimes as gods, sometimes as beings only slightly less exalted. "God," wrote the French bishop and political...
CULTURE / Music
Nov 19, 2010

Japanese pianist touts the sounds of Spain

Japanese pianist Shizuka Shimoyama and Slovakian cellist Ludovit Kanta will bring the culture of Spain to Tokyo next week.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2010

Kawasaki busy cleaning up its act

The sky over Kawasaki once was choked with smoke billowing from factories along its waterfront, giving the city at the center of the Keihin Coastal Industrialized Zone a reputation as one of the country's most polluted areas.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2010

Kyoto doubts prompt Japan to hedge carbon-trading bet

Japan, the world's fifth-biggest producer of greenhouse gases, is building a new emissions market as the widest carbon-trading spreads in four months signal that the 1997 Kyoto climate agreement will be scrapped.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2010

Hundreds decry 'unprincipled' liberalization

YOKOHAMA — Hundreds of people staged a rally Saturday in central Yokohama to voice their opposition to Japan and other Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum members taking steps to accelerate "unprincipled" trade liberalization, saying the measures would destroy people's livelihoods and devastate...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 14, 2010

The swashbuckling Scotsman who helped build modern Japan

A character in J. M. Coetzee's "Summertime" states, "Of course we are all fictioneers. I do not deny that. But which would you rather have: a set of independent reports from a range of independent perspectives, from which you can then try to synthesize a whole; or the massive, unitary self-projection...
COMMUNITY
Nov 13, 2010

Dream becomes reality for Scottish manga creator

It sits in a place of beauty, incongruously bordered between Japanese stone art and a vivid blue ink painting: "2000 A.D.," a classic British comic book from the 1980s. The apocalypse orange cover shrieks "Revenge of the Warlock" but — muted by a plastic overlay to protect its condition — the sci-fi...
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2010

Uniting APEC too tall an order for Kan?

Prime Minister Naoto Kan faces the huge task of forging consensus among the 21 economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and paving the way for a regionwide free-trade zone as chair of the summit that kicks off Saturday in Yokohama.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BY THE GLASS
Nov 12, 2010

Australia bottles a touch of class

A few weeks ago a decadent dinner held at the American Club in Tokyo showcased some top-notch wines from two Australian family-owned wineries. Though the tablecloths were stiff and well starched, the staff — who served up some cracking fusion cuisine that brought out the best in the wine — were not,...
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2010

Steps vowed on region trade goals

YOKOHAMA — Foreign and trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region affirmed Thursday the importance of taking concrete steps toward achieving a regionwide free-trade zone.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2010

Looking back at 'Japan as No. 1'

Since the best-selling book "Japan as Number One" came out in 1979, the country has suffered through a diminished global presence and been beaten out in international business competition, according to experts who gathered to look back and evaluate the intervening decades.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2010

Nobel laureates honor soccer star Baggio

Former Italian soccer star Roberto Baggio is this year's winner of a special award bestowed annually by the world's Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 2010

Gambit to rekindle U.S. economy

One outcome of the U.S. midterm elections is that the results have effectively marginalized the executive branch when it comes to dealing with the economy. The debate over stimulating the economy versus shrinking the deficit has been concluded and the winner is . . . paralysis.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2010

Not so gentle on his mind

HONG KONG — Democracy in America — what a fine show it is, great television, wonderful speeches, some weird and wacky candidates, an opportunity for The People to make their views count.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 7, 2010

Color me upbeat despite the pessimism now sweeping this land

As the year 2010 approaches its end, if I were to express the mood of today's Japanese nation in color it would be gray bordering on charcoal.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 7, 2010

Freedom, friendship and love: a recipe for true happiness

The challenge to which this installment of "Big in Japan" seeks to rise is that of happiness. Is it possible, in these grim, sad, threatening times, to write a happy story without doing violence to journalistic relevance?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 5, 2010

A journey inside the mind of Lafcadio Hearn

One hundred and twenty years ago, Greek-Irish writer Lafcadio Hearn first arrived in Japan; in Matsue, a provincial backwater in Shimane Prefecture, he became Koizumi Yakumo — his adopted Japanese name. Enamored with the city's ancient and enduring culture, he married into a local samurai family: No...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2010

The ultimate nuclear test

NEW YORK — On Monday a team of more than 35 experts launched an exercise to inspect a simulated nuclear test site near the Dead Sea in Jordan — a step forward in completing the global verification system of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
EDITORIALS
Nov 4, 2010

Rare earths even rarer

It has been reported that the Chinese government has ended its embargo on exports of rare earths. That is a relief, although it is confusing since Beijing has denied for weeks that there was an embargo on those products. Whatever the cause of the interruption in trade, this incident raises disturbing...
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2010

Dieting moms' babies underweight

As soon as Keiko Ozaki found out she was pregnant with her second baby, she went on a diet.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 31, 2010

JFW edges into Asia spotlight

Oct. 15 through 24 brought to Tokyo an autumnal shift in the weather — and the latest sartorial flurry known as Japan Fashion Week's spring/summer collections on show for the world to see.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 29, 2010

Modern serving of traditional tea

If you've ever been fortunate enough to attend a tea ceremony, then you know that within the simplicity of movements, the quiet beauty of the room and the refined elegance of the utensils, there is a deep world where the moment becomes living art.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Oct 28, 2010

A decade of trouble draws to a close

The world of sumo has been through a rough few years, but as the first decade of the 21st century draws to a close, few serious fans would doubt that the future is looking brighter. Surely there is a silver lining in the dark clouds that have hovered above the sport since mid-2007.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2010

Big ideas are emerging from small countries

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Two decades ago, many people thought that the lesson of the 1980s was that Japan's variant of capitalism was the best model, and that other countries around the world should and would follow it. The Japanese model quickly lost its luster in the 1990s.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2010

Building Greater Europe

MOSCOW — Greater Europe is at a crossroads. Twenty years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, it remains divided, unable to unify into a global force. Each of the three parts of Greater Europe — Russia, the European Union and the countries between them — is in crisis. The causes and forms of these...

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