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JAPAN
Jun 18, 2009

Can an Android conquer Japan's finicky mobile phone culture?

Google Inc. is taking aim at Japan's cell phone market, but whether the search giant can win over the nation's notoriously picky consumers is very much an open question.
Reader Mail
Jun 18, 2009

D-Day Americans did their part

Peter Allen's June 11 letter, "British contribution on D-Day," begins fairly enough; he objects to the French government's billing the anniversary of D-Day "as an American-French event." Assuming this is accurate, Allen makes a good point. The British contribution, including providing the necessary rendezvous...
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Jun 17, 2009

The crafty names of Japan's cleverest companies

Fortune magazine's list of the world's top 500 earners for 2008 included 64 Japanese companies. The English names of these global giants are used in both the international and domestic markets. But Japanese versions of each also exist. To cook up these, the enterprises had at hand the sumptuous ingredients...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 14, 2009

Is a national 'Manga Museum' at last set to get off the ground?

When it was announced in April that ¥11.7 billion had been set aside in 2009's supplementary budget to create a new National Center for Media Arts (NCMA) — a museum for manga, anime, video games and technology art — the news was greeted in the same way that most cultural-policy issues are in Japan....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 14, 2009

What lit the fuse of culture?

In this month's column, we solve the mystery of the emergence of modern human culture. As a bonus, there's a bit of good news for Tokyoites — and for those of us who may worry that success is solely down to brainpower.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2009

Emissions goal draws fire from all sides

OSAKA — Prime Minister Taro Aso's announcement Wednesday that Japan will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 appears to have pleased nobody.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2009

Who's who in resetting U.S.-Russia relations

MOSCOW — Germany's ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is a legend in Russia. He serves Gazprom's interests for a measly couple of million euros a year, sits in on sessions of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and writes books about his staunch friendship with "Genosse Wladimir," who, in the not-so-distant...
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jun 8, 2009

Okada deserves credit for strong leadership in qualifying campaign

For a team so often looking threatened by stormy waters, Japan's qualification for a fourth successive World Cup has ultimately been plain sailing.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2009

Refugees having big impact on North society

North Korea may be a hardline communist state, but it hasn't succeeded in eliminating the public's desperate urge for Hollywood entertainment.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 5, 2009

Fermenting dregs of rock 'n' roll for the masses

"I just had a connection with the sound of the words," says singer and bass player Natsuko Miyamoto when she answers my question about the name of her band, Mass of the Fermenting Dregs. Before I can pursue the question further: about the words, about where and when she first put them together, about...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 5, 2009

Discovering an unexpected gem

Skeptic that I am, upon hearing there was an historical exhibition on the lives and art of Japan's Buddhist nuns, I assumed that this would be a drab show of temple artifacts and feminine articles veneered in the dust of incense smoke. As the show is largely curated by Western female academics, I also...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 5, 2009

See a rising ballet star

After staging "Tales of Beatrix Potter," a cheerful program for kids of all ages in February, then the beautiful and tragic love story of classical-dance masterpiece "Giselle" in May, K-Ballet's offering for just four days this month is "Symphony No. 9" by its 37-year-old founder, artistic director and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2009

Tearing down the Iron Curtain

PRAGUE — A quiz for history buffs. Twenty years ago — on June 4, 1989 — three events shaped a fateful year. Which do you remember most vividly, and which most changed the world?: (a) the bloody denouement of the protests on Tiananmen Square; (b) the death of Iran's revolutionary cleric, Ayatollah...
COMMENTARY
Jun 3, 2009

The nuclear nightmare

North Korea and Pakistan present unique nuclear-proliferation risks because they challenge the very premise on which the international anti-proliferation measures have been built.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 1, 2009

Japan routs Belgium in Kirin finale

Japan will leave for Uzbekistan on Tuesday with confidence sky-high after beating Belgium 4-0 to win the Kirin Cup in emphatic style at Tokyo National Stadium on Sunday evening.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 31, 2009

The Missing Vermeer

In this short story by Roger Pulvers, new and distant horizons open up to put a spring in your step as summer approaches. Illustrations by Alice Pulvers
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2009

A first encounter goes well

In retrospect, the first meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was destined to succeed. It was assumed that the two men were deeply divided on two key issues: Israel's relations with the Palestinian Authority, in particular Mr. Netanyahu's opposition...
BUSINESS
May 25, 2009

Subprime crisis was unleashed by bank-shielding policymakers: expert

The global financial crisis is not the result of the failure of markets but of a series of government policy mistakes — prescriptions for which have been circulating for a long time but were largely ignored, a U.S. expert told a recent seminar in Tokyo.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 24, 2009

Students share hopes for nation's future environment

Each year on May 5, Japan celebrates Children's Day with waves of young families flooding local parks, playgrounds and amusement centers.
SOCCER / J. League
May 24, 2009

Maki proves point, but JEF must settle for draw

CHIBA — JEF United Chiba striker Seiichiro Maki had a point to prove — and although he did so with a trademark goal against Yokohama F. Marinos on Saturday night, it was not good enough to secure all three points as the visitors fought back to draw 1-1.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
May 22, 2009

Sea urchin delicacies at Grand Hyatt, budget plans at Swisshotel, and catering from Dazzle

Special kaiseki menu of uni
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2009

Can India's Congress deliver?

LONDON — Yet again, India's voters confounded the pundits and comfortably returned the Congress party alliance to power. Now the question is whether leader Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and their colleagues can return the compliment and get to grips with the immense problems and the enormous...
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2009

Co-opting terror in Saudi Arabia's neighbor

LONDON — In a prominent hadith, the Prophet Muhammad said: "If disorder threatens, take refuge in Yemen." The prophet was referring to the prosperous and civilized Yemen. But today disorder and radicalization in Yemen are beginning to infect Saudi Arabia, and thus the safety of the world's largest...
LIFE / Style & Design / WEEK 3
May 17, 2009

Capital's new rail map is on the right lines

We all depend on them, especially when we are new to a place, but how many subway users realize that their trusty transit maps are the subject of a tug-of-war between the forces of geographical accuracy and graphical distortion in the interests of ease of use?
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 16, 2009

Despite double talk, Tevez likely to stay with Man United

LONDON — It is not always easy being a football reporter. We are sometimes accused of not telling the truth, but knowing who to believe can be more difficult than digging out a world exclusive.

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