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LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Nov 21, 2012

Merumaga: Paid e-mail newsletters make a come-back

Despite the fact that Japan has the world's largest market for digital-manga, which are primarily read on cellphones, and that Amazon has recently brought out its Kindle platform in Japan — after a delay of 5 years — the e-book business here has yet to take off. As such, it's probably no surprise...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 20, 2012

Ishiharas — family ties with a twist

The Ishiharas trail the Hatoyamas 2-0 in prime ministers. But when it comes to the variety, prominence and celebrity of each individual member, not many families in Japan today can compete with the Ishihara bunch.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / OUR MAN IN TOKYO
Nov 20, 2012

Envoy acts as bridge between Japan, Armenia

It didn't come as much of a surprise to Grant Pogosyan when the offer came to him from the Armenian government to become his home country's ambassador to Japan.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 18, 2012

Minor Soseki work gets first English translation

NOWAKI, by Natsume Soseki, translated and with an afterword by William N. Ridgeway. Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, 2011, 120 pp., $15 (paperback) As the translator notes in his afterword, and Donald Keene and Angela Yiu suggest in quotations used as blurbs on the back cover,...
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 17, 2012

Medical interpreters in growing need

As Filipino Anamaria Ogahara can testify, going to a hospital in a country whose language you don't speak fluently can be a highly challenging and unnerving experience.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 10, 2012

Cooking oil's second life: biodiesel

Japan has seen an increase in efforts to recycle used cooking oil — a byproduct of supermarkets and cafeterias — as biodiesel to use as a substitute for light diesel oil fuel for vehicles.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 4, 2012

Finding the Way in art of war

THE DAO OF THE MILITARY: Liu An's Art of War, translated by Andrew Seth Meyer. Columbia University Press, 2012, 157 pp., $19.50 (paperback) There are two ancient Chinese texts titled "The Art of War." Liu An's, the one under review, newly translated by historian Andrew Meyer, is the less famous.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 3, 2012

Antinuclear rallies an eye-opener for university students

Some 300 people joined an Oct. 27 antinuclear rally staged by a citizens' group at Hisaya Odori Park in Nagoya. Observing them were 10 students from Chukyo University.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 1, 2012

Res Artis plots a path for future art residencies

The 1990s saw a tremendous emphasis, continuing through to today, on artist residency programs, run by museums and galleries, educational establishments or independent foundations and organizations.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Oct 22, 2012

No nation can afford to act like an island in Asia's globalized age

Japan is having trouble keeping up a cordial relationship with its next door neighbors. Long dormant territorial disputes have suddenly come to the fore. Who owns what from when and why? Who can claim legal ownership? Who is in actual control? Arcane issues have suddenly become hot topics of the moment...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 14, 2012

Developing a natural aesthetic

JAPAN AND THE CULTURE OF THE FOUR SEASONS: Nature, Literature and the Arts, by Haruo Shirane. Columbia University Press, 2012. 311 pp., $29.50 (hardcover) The starting point for this illuminating study lay in the author's curiosity about the formation of the saijiki, or seasonal almanacs, that have been...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 5, 2012

Pet Expo helps Fido look spot on

As Tokyo prepares for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, in Osaka fashion has gone to the dogs.
EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 2012

A dialogue with North Korea

Japan and North Korea on Aug. 31 ended three days of talks in Beijing and agreed to hold a new round of talks, which will be upgraded with the participation of bureau chiefs of each country's foreign ministry. The Beijing talks were the first held by the two countries in four years and the first since...
ANNOUNCEMENTS / TRAVEL INSIDER
Sep 5, 2012

Is Japan Cool? asks ANA's website; BA special fares until Sept. 7; Cathay meals

ANA's Is Japan Cool? site
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Sep 4, 2012

For nikkei, It doesn't have to be a bug's life: readers bite back

Readers' responses to Debito Arudou's last Just Be Cause column, "For nikkei immigrants in Japan, it doesn't have to be a bug's life" (Aug. 7):
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 26, 2012

Material girls: Japan's preteen model boom

AKB48 has reshaped the landscape of youth culture in modern Japan. The pop-idol group's rapid rise to stardom across a wide array of formats has provided the country's children with a fairly straightforward path to commercial success: fame is ultimately achieved by attracting a broad fan base via popular...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 25, 2012

Forced out 20 years ago, moms return as cops

Donning badges for the first time in more than 20 years has given a new sense of duty to three female officers in the Shiga Prefectural Police who were effectively forced out when they had kids.
Reader Mail
Aug 23, 2012

Give a flicker of respect to fans

Giovanni Fazio's Aug. 17 review of the film "The Avengers" gave me a headache. I was expecting a well-thought-out critique on the movie, but all I remember reading was "the best actors of my generation" are running around acting like children!
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Aug 21, 2012

Meet Loco: blogger, author — and racist?

A glance of distrust on the sidewalk. A seemingly harmless question. An empty seat on an otherwise packed train.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2012

Why do American junk food giants feel the urge to force-feed us tidbit sermons on social issues?

Since when does serving up junk food give someone a license to preach?
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 18, 2012

Chubu sees solid future in sunlight

The Chubu region, which boasts more hours of sunlight than average in Japan, is increasingly being targeted for new solar plants by companies wanting to tap into the new feed-in tariff system that guarantees an attractive price for electricity produced from renewable energy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2012

Abe sings praises of Hashimoto bid to form party but keeps distance

Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka) has sounded out former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as the local political group, founded by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, continues to seek allies and supporters to form a national party.
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 13, 2012

A day in the life of an Olympic reporter

Woke up, got out of bed. . .
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 11, 2012

Since 3/11, fears of Fuji eruption have grown

The Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima nuclear crisis were unparalled disasters, but people in and around Shizuoka Prefecture fear the ultimate catastrophe — the eruption of Mount Fuji — may be looming.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 5, 2012

"Intimate TV"; Reconstructing Tut's death; CM of the week: Morinaga Weider

The variety special "Nakayoshi Terebi" ("Intimate TV"; Fuji TV, Tues., 7 p.m.) brings together commentators from Japan, China and South Korea to argue over current affairs and poke fun at one another's cultures and economies. In the typical variety-show manner, it's all done in good humor.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 4, 2012

Jellyfish swarms in danger of clogging Ise thermal power plants

Large numbers of jellyfish have been swarming near nine thermal power plants on Ise Bay. Chubu Electric Power Co. estimates that there are close to 24,000 tons of the sea creatures swimming around the area, twice the usual level and the second-most recorded in the past decade.
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Jul 27, 2012

London will launch dreams for millions

You can't put a price tag on dreams. And that alone has created worldwide fascination for the Olympics for decades now.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.