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COMMENTARY
May 9, 2012

Discontent with politicians

Voters in democratic countries are increasingly disenchanted with traditional party politics and regard most politicians with skepticism at best and as generally untrustworthy.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2012

Somali pirates see their ambitions trimmed

There has been a significant drop in ship seizures and hijackings by Somali pirates in the troubled waters off East Africa.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 8, 2012

Weather's recipe right for twisters

Sunday's devastating tornadoes in Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures were caused by a rare situation attributed in part to a winter that went on for some weeks longer than normal, and a recent sharp rise in surface temperatures, experts said Monday.
COMMUNITY
May 8, 2012

A different story: the most-read Zeit Gist articles on our website

The most-viewed Zeit Gist articles on The Japan Times Online since 2007:
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 8, 2012

Convenience store chains go with flow, grow

The nation's top three convenience store chains last month posted record annual operating profits for the 2011 business year despite the sluggish, disaster-stricken domestic economy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 6, 2012

A postcard from Kauai's 'South Pacific' paradise

Those who know me know I tend to pick up and go quite easily, as the travel bug has never loosened its hold. This time, I've made the ultimate getaway to paradise to escape my regular routine of work and college. I'm talking about Kauai, Hawaii.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
May 6, 2012

Small fry spawn big dreams

The Shinano, at 374 km the country's longest river, empties into the Sea of Japan at Niigata City. Salmon still migrate back from the open ocean to this river of their birth to breed and die, but a few decades ago they would arrive to spawn not only in the main river but also in its many tributaries,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 4, 2012

Tokyo to be treated to rare annular eclipse, Venus transit

If you're in the right place, a couple of rare astronomical events in the coming weeks — an annular eclipse and a transit of Venus — may make it worthwhile to buy a pair of eclipse glasses.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 4, 2012

Sumida River to light up with LED fireflies

Japan isn't a difficult place to live. If you want to eat Mexican food, there are Mexican restaurants. If you want to buy brand-name British clothes, there are shops and websites that deliver. So Tokyo Hotaru Festival asks the question: What does Tokyo, where you can get anything, really need now?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 4, 2012

'Faces in the Crowd'

Here's something you don't see often: Milla Jovovich not battling zombies, and not wielding some impossibly menacing piece of artillery. In "Faces in the Crowd," we see Jovovich in a rare mode of vulnerability and fragility (in spite of those muscular shoulders) — even giving the impression that she...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 4, 2012

Playoffs could provide surprises in both conferences

And now, finally, it's time for the real season to tip off.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 4, 2012

'The Ballad of Mott the Hoople'

The embalming of rock history continues apace, and some days it seems as if every band that had a following in the 1960s or '70s is getting a rockumentary of its own. There's a reason for that, and it's not just boomer nostalgia: Bands back then were mapping out new territory, whereas contemporary rock...
Reader Mail
May 3, 2012

The chance to remake one's life

Nicholas Williams' insists that "prison should only be about rehabilitation" (April 29 letter, "Prison is about rehabilitation"). My biggest argument with "rehabilitation" lies with its confusion of punishment with absolution. After fully serving their sentences, offenders remain guilty. That is irrevocable....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 3, 2012

Takeshi Kitano takes on a different beat

"I want you to have fun. It's the only aim of this exhibition," said Takeshi "Beat" Kitano when "Gosse de peintre" originally opened at Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in Paris two years ago. For an artist, that's quite an unusual goal — but then Kitano is not your usual artist.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 3, 2012

Signed, sealed and delivered: Paul Smith's stamp collection

His creations are more commonly found paraded on fashion catwalks or on hangers in boutiques around the world.
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2012

Curse of not paying a woman what she wants

What happened in Cartagena, Colombia, with U.S. Secret Service seems unsavory to me, but not for the reasons you might think.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 3, 2012

In celebration of the spirited culture of northern Japan

It has been just over a year since the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, and to commemorate the disaster in a show of support for the worst-hit areas, the Japan Folk Crafts Museum's "Tohoku Crafts and Shiko Munakata" is featuring crafts and art from the Tohoku region of northern Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 3, 2012

"EXHIBITION: Tohoku Heartbeat"

The Tohoku region in northern Japan is renowned for its severe winters and uncharacteristically cool summers that make the lifestyle in the area very different to other parts of Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2012

Let grassroots exchange inspire reconstruction

Korean youth culture is all the rage in Southeast Asia. In January, the leading Indonesian newspaper Kompas published a front-page article on Korean culture titled: "Korean Pop Culture Launches Itself on the World."
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 1, 2012

Tax hike small change in senior-care dilemma

The ominous demographics of aging Japan have long been seen by the people as a distant concern, not a present-day one. But that mindset is being called into question by a prime minister who says a crisis requiring immediate sacrifices has already begun.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
May 1, 2012

Blood, beatings and the cage: the bouncer

Before The Japan Times was invited inside Nagoya's iD Cafe to speak to Thomas, the nightclub's security manager, we stopped to chat to a uniformed policeman near the club. He told us there were as many as 50 fights in a nearby park on Friday and Saturday nights. This busy area of the city, Sakae, known...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 30, 2012

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the sakura

Until The New York Times pointed it out earlier this month, I had failed to notice, alas, that Tokyo had given cherry trees to this city as it did to Washington, D.C., 100 years ago ("Gifts From Japan, Less Celebrated in Manhattan," April 12).
COMMENTARY
Apr 30, 2012

The international path toward self-destruction

The latest report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) shows that, after allowing for some data uncertainties, world military spending in 2011 as essentially unchanged from that in 2012. This breaks a 13-year-long run of continuous military spending increases. It might be a...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 30, 2012

Past experiences help Falkenborg thrive in new role

Brian Falkenborg stepped out of the dugout shadows and into the sunlight at QVC Marine Stadium and said he didn't expect it to be as warm as it was.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 30, 2012

Tepco plan to be based on Resona

Japan intends to take control of Tokyo Electric Power Co. in return for bailing out the beleaguered utility, following a model it adopted to rescue the nation's fifth-biggest bank.
Reader Mail
Apr 29, 2012

Know why you dislike Obama

I usually don't talk politics, but with all of the Barack Obama-hating rhetoric flying my way, I just have to say something. What really matters is whether America's president is knowledgeable and wise enough to represent the country in foreign and domestic matters, and can put the utmost effort into...
Japan Times
Features
Apr 29, 2012

Konami staffer's victory not a game-changer

There is no shortage of laws in Japan stating that working women should be given the same employment protection and rights as their male counterparts.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat