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COMMENTARY
Jun 6, 2010

Decks are stacked against China keeping its stake in Korea game

KOREAN DEMILITARIZED ZONE — One of the last Cold War relics, the Demilitarized Zone that cuts the Korean Peninsula in half, is the world's most fortified frontier. Although this division has prevailed for almost six decades, it is unthinkable that it can continue indefinitely, despite renewed inter-Korean...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2010

Exporters keep dreaming of a buyers' wonderland

HONG KONG — It is a measure of the nervous mess of world financial markets that when the Financial Times reported last week that China was reviewing its assets denominated in euros, the markets promptly plummeted. The very next day — when China denied any such euro-review — there was a massive...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 4, 2010

'Survival of the Dead'

Director George A. Romero kicked off the zombie genre in 1968 with his "Night of the Living Dead," and from the outset he used the undead menace to channel contemporary fears.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 4, 2010

Shizuoka festival takes the stage

The annual Spring Arts Festival Shizuoka is keenly anticipated by theater lovers across Japan thanks to its high quality of program selection.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2010

Porn stars in 3-D lure buyers to new TVs

Porn star Mika Kayama is at the frontier of a push to develop videos and content in Japan that Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp. need to lure customers for their new 3-D televisions.
EDITORIALS
Jun 1, 2010

Yet another nuclear success

For the first time in a decade, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference was a success. The 189 nations that met for a month at the United Nations headquarters reconfirmed their commitment to the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons, and to that end agreed to hold a regional conference...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jun 1, 2010

Futenma is undermining Japanese democracy

Times are tough for the Hatoyama Cabinet. It's had to backtrack on several campaign promises. Its approval ratings have plummeted to around 20 percent. And that old bone of contention — what to do about American military bases on Japanese soil — has resurfaced again.
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2010

Healing Thailand's broken spirit

BANGKOK — To pacify a divided nation, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva — blamed for a military crackdown on protesters that left more than 80 dead and 1,500 injured over two months — says Thailand needs to "heal the mind."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
May 30, 2010

Pearl farmers look to satoumi to save their way of life

One bright blue February afternoon, Akira Harajo stood on a concrete pier and surveyed Mie Prefecture's Ago Bay. With dyed black hair, a zippered sports shirt and immaculate V-neck sweater, Harajo, 75, hardly looked the part of the farmer that he is. Then again, his crop isn't exactly ordinary: Harajo...
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2010

Egypt's neighbors press for more Nile water

LONDON — After he signed the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty in 1979, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat said: "The only matter that could take Egypt to war again is water." Well, the world kept turning, and now a potential war over water is creeping onto Egypt's agenda.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
May 28, 2010

Summer dining by a Kyoto river

The Hyatt Regency Kyoto has released a special summer accommodation plan that gives visitors the opportunity to experience the traditional culture of the ancient capital.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 28, 2010

Rainbow 21

Around this time last year, music students at six universities were asked to consider what projects would best suit Suntory concert hall's 2010 "Rainbow 21" educational program. Each year only three projects survive a fierce selection process. This year's winners are Toho Gakuen School of Music with...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 28, 2010

Something new brewing for sake

When Kenji Ichishima, the sixth-generation head of Ichishima Shuzo in Niigata Prefecture, took over his family's sake brewery eight years ago at the age of 34, he immediately started making changes. First, he drastically reduced the number of products. Next, he revamped the brand to project a more artisanal...
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2010

'Self-reliance' no longer an option for China

GUIZHUO, China — The Huangguoshu waterfall in China's southwestern Guizhou Province is a magnificent sight, when there is water. The largest waterfall in Asia, it plunges over a sheer cliff more than 60 meters high in a thundering display of foam, mist and rainbows.
COMMENTARY
May 25, 2010

Afghan kids paying price of opium addiction

NEW YORK — The revelation that the number of opium-addicted Afghan children has reached new highs is a tragic unintended consequence of that war. It dramatically illustrates how adult war games doom generations of children to a miserable life.
COMMENTARY
May 25, 2010

China won't hear suggestions that it's a disarmament slacker

SINGAPORE — As the only country to have been attacked with atomic bombs, Japan has been a leader in the campaign for nuclear disarmament since the end of the Second World War.
COMMENTARY / World
May 24, 2010

India needs to tread cautiously for a bolder nuclear-control deal

LONDON — A monthlong charade commenced early this month at the United Nations with the start of the eighth five-year Review Conference of the 42-year-old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
COMMENTARY
May 23, 2010

Can 'true friends' talk to China about rights?

PARIS — In September 2007, when Chinese President Hu Jintao was visiting Australia, he was pleasantly surprised to encounter the leader of the opposition Labor Party, Kevin Rudd, who upstaged Prime Minister John Howard by delivering a welcoming address at a state lunch in fluent Chinese.
JAPAN
May 21, 2010

Former negotiator lays base woes on Okinawa

Every story has more than one side.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 21, 2010

Directing the flow of theatrical creativity

Any time you go to a theater in Japan you are sure to be handed several colorful flyers for other shows — and among them you will almost certainly find the face of Tetsuya Chiba. At 46, and the father of three boys, Chiba is one of the country's most popular and best-known stage actors, known as much...
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
May 21, 2010

Time for league to adopt real playoff system

Nobody wants their business referred to as a "Mickey Mouse operation," unless, of course, they happen to work for the Walt Disney Company.
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2010

Immigrants can buoy Japan

It is not possible to spend more than a few minutes with a Japanese diplomat or scholar without hearing the "C," namely China. Most of them are convinced that the People's Republic is expanding its global influence while Japan's is shrinking. The entire world, and most worryingly Asia, which used to...
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2010

North Korea gambles once again

SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's recent visit to China has further complicated South Korea's response to the probable culprit — North Korea — in the sinking of its warship, the Cheonan, on March 26. The debate about how to respond is complicated even more by the fact that the Cheonan's...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 15, 2010

Railways' pitches to U.S. differ

The nation's main railways are taking different approaches as they pursue billions in high-speed train contracts in the U.S., reflected in their sales pitches to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood during his recent visit.
MULTIMEDIA
May 14, 2010

Firms battle back to profit on cost cuts

Japanese companies including Toyota Motor Corp. and Panasonic Corp. forecast profit will surge this year as exports and cost-cutting power a recovery from the worst postwar recession.

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