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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 10, 2011

Ishihara may just benefit from 'divine retribution'

There are 11 men vying today for the office of Tokyo governor. Four are taken seriously by the media, the eccentric inventor Dr. Yoshiro Nakamatsu is humored as a perennial also-ran, and the remaining six are dismissed as margin-dwellers who are in the game to draw attention to themselves or advocate...
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2011

Tohoku disaster sparks innovative social media responses

As Japan grapples with an unprecedented triple disaster — earthquake, tsunami, nuclear crisis — the Web has spawned creativity and innovation online amid a collective desire to ease suffering.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Mar 25, 2011

Comic's tweets tackle specter of fear

These are hard times for entertainers in Japan. In the face of the March 11 Tohoku-Kanto Earthquake and tsunami, which has killed more than 9,000 and left many more missing, and with radiation still leaking from the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, hard news coverage has taken center stage,...
Reader Mail
Mar 20, 2011

Words of advice for the media

I agree with Ivor Paul's March 6 letter, "TV listings offer little help." Japanese television is absolute garbage, unworthy of viewing by anyone. It is heavily biased with rightwing, conservative viewpoints pushed relentlessly on the viewing public. An example is the debate on whaling.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 15, 2011

HIV/AIDS awareness often too late

More than two decades after the first case of AIDS in a Japanese patient was officially reported by the health ministry's National AIDS Surveillance Committee in 1985, HIV/AIDS seems to have become a disease of the past. With much less media coverage, people have become complacent about the issue, experts...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Mar 12, 2011

Aichi firm unmasks its potential

A venture firm in Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture, has developed technology to produce a mask bearing a shocking resemblance to the person ordering it, and they're taking off as gifts and for stage performances.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Mar 11, 2011

Get ready to switch chairs

Prime Minister Naoto Kan will likely have to decide whether to call a general election or to resign as early as next month as his popularity continues to plummet.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2011

Briton excels at helping foreign women adjust

Japan got a little better last year in gender equality, according to the World Economic Forum: It moved up in the rankings to 94th place out of 134 countries, from 101st in 2009.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 10, 2011

Zen psychology: Daisetz Suzuki remembered

Despite the gloomy global economy, the field of positive psychology is booming. Often described simplistically by journalists as "the science of happiness," it's actually a broad focus on our strengths and talents, virtues and peak experiences in daily living. The name for this specialty originated with...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2011

Entrepreneur: Turbulent times breed innovation

Growing up in California in the 1970s as the child of issei, William H. Saito recalls how his father imported math textbooks from Japan and insisted he study them extra hard to gain an edge over others.
BASKETBALL
Mar 6, 2011

Sojourner says JBL superiority just a myth

The ongoing debate about how to improve Japan's basketball, from the elementary school level to the professional ranks, has produced a number of different viewpoints. The one thing that most people agree on is that the current approach isn't working to create a powerful national team and a number of...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Mar 5, 2011

Refugee hopefuls hold Nagoya feast to reach out to community

Hoping to give the public an opportunity to learn more about people seeking political asylum in Japan, refugee applicants being processed by the Nagoya Regional Immigration Bureau held a community outreach party last weekend.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2011

Kodansha International to close doors

Kodansha International Ltd., a leading English-language publisher of translated books on Japan, is closing down by the end of April, sources said Thursday.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 4, 2011

Playoff battle intense in competitive West

A gripping drama is about to commence in March and April as the bj-league's top seven Western Conference teams vie for six playoff spots. What's more, the seven teams are within seven games of each other in the standings.
Reader Mail
Mar 3, 2011

Teachers should not get alarmed

Regarding Takahiro Fukada's Feb. 26 article "Are schools ready for English?": I have taught Eigo Noto (English Notes) in various elementary schools for three years now, and in my opinion, Japanese teachers do not need to be alarmed. Eigo Noto comes with a CD and a very detailed teacher's guide, written...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2011

U.K. pitch: free trade, Eurofighter and Hague

Japan can deepen ties with the United Kingdom in many areas, including via European free trade, efforts to mitigate climate change and purchase of the European mainstay fighter jet, said David Howell, British minister of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 26, 2011

Car-sharing catching on in Tokai

Car-sharing services that rent vehicles to registered users by the hour have been growing in popularity, mainly in the Tokyo metropolitan area. But three major companies, Orix Auto Co., Park 24 Co. and Meitetsu Kyosho Ltd., are now expanding such services in the Tokai region.
COMMENTARY
Feb 25, 2011

Deciphering Russian aims

The Russian prime minister's surprise visit to the Northern Territories and subsequent Russian hard position on the territorial issue have triggered a series of reactions in Japan, which in turn have hardened the Russian position and thereby spoiled Japan-Russia relations.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 20, 2011

Recollections of an intrepid Meiji traveler

NEW CHRONICLES OF YANAGIBASHI AND DIARY OF A JOURNEY TO THE WEST, by Ryuhoku Narushima. Translated and with a critical introduction and afterword by Matthew Fraleigh. Cornell University East Asia Program, 2010, 392 pp., $49 (paper) The most interesting thing about Ryuhoku Narushima (1837-1884), author...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 19, 2011

Home of pachinko opens arms to China

A Chinese signboard for a pachinko parlor in Nagoya reads: "Pachinko is a popular form of Japanese entertainment that originated in Nagoya. Only ¥100 will get you 100 balls to enjoy pachinko with."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 16, 2011

In Japan the language of rabu is English

Words pertaining to love, romance and sex inhabit a region of the Japanese language fraught with peril.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 12, 2011

English school teams up with famed U.K. soccer academy

An English-language school in Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture, has tied up with the prestigious soccer school in the U.K. that produced David Beckham, aiming to help young Japanese get a grasp of the language so they can play abroad professionally.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 5, 2011

Nagoya condos rising high

Condo towers 20 stories or higher are going up or will in central Nagoya this year as dwindling land prices driven by the 2008 financial collapse revitalize the depressed market.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 4, 2011

Bluesy rock duo oh sunshine set for an early rise

"I grew up watching anime, and I thought, 'Wow, that's a really cool language!' " says Emily Connor, four-year Tokyo resident and singer with new pop duo oh sunshine.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / ICE TIME
Jan 30, 2011

Kozuka striving to improve despite recent success

It is amazing how fast an athlete can go from being overshadowed to casting a shadow.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 29, 2011

Nagoya 'Tokyo Girls Collection' set to target cash-flush women

Young Japanese males may no longer be interested in buying new cars, brand-name clothes or other expensive items, but their female counterparts appear less reluctant to part with their money, and retailers are tuned in.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CAREER-SEARCH CRISIS
Jan 28, 2011

Foreigners solicited, hard-pressed to stay

Despite sending his resume to more than 15 companies, Bryan Cheng, a Taiwanese graduate student at Waseda University in Tokyo, hasn't received any positive replies.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 28, 2011

Kyoto ace Abdul-Rauf staves off Father Time

OSAKA — Kyoto Hannaryz guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf participated in the 3-Point Shootout during Sunday's All-Star festivities, providing a thrill for the enthusiastic crowd at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 22, 2011

Frenchwoman follows pearl of destiny to Japan

A Frenchwoman who was fascinated by the shine of Japanese pearl works has come here all alone to master the skill from an artisan.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?