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Japan Times
JAPAN
May 18, 2012

Owner OK with metro bid to buy disputed Senkaku Islands

Ever since Hiroyuki Kurihara and his family took title to the Senkaku Islands in the 1970s, they have firmly kept to the will of the previous owner: The islets are not to be sold to anyone but the Japanese government or a public organization.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
May 15, 2012

Supreme Court knocks down discipline of mentally ill employee

Can a company discipline an employee for taking absence without leave if that worker could be suffering from mental illness? Just a few weeks ago, on April 27, the Supreme Court ruled against Hewlett-Packard Japan Ltd. in a case that posed precisely this question. The verdict illustrates the courts'...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 13, 2012

Though spooked by new threats, Japanese accept mass killers

Before March last year, if you'd asked a child in Japan about nuclear radiation you would probably have been told about Godzilla, the monster powered by mutations caused by radiation, or Tetsuwan Atomu, aka the nuclear-powered robot Astro Boy. Not any more.
CULTURE / Books
May 13, 2012

Tokugawa: the art of governing

PERFORMING THE GREAT PEACE: Political Space and Open Secrets in Tokugawa Japan, by Luke S. Roberts. University of Hawai'i Press, 2012, 263 pp., $49.00 (hardcover)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 11, 2012

'Bad Teacher'

Arguably the greatest legacy of Bill Clinton's time in the White House is that fellatio jokes entered the mainstream. It's damn near impossible these days to find an American comedy that doesn't include a sniggering blow-job reference in the first five minutes, and the new Cameron Diaz comedy "Bad Teacher"...
Reader Mail
May 10, 2012

Politically correct 'straw men'

I was delighted to read Nick Wood's May 3 criticism, "Poor joke about liberators," of my April 29 letter ("Dogma gets in the way of joke") because he proved something about so much of modern political discourse. I never wrote that Western males were perfect with regard to their treatment of women. Wood's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
May 8, 2012

Issey Miyake's innovations beat the Brits to win the Design Museum of London fashion award

Colloquially called "The Oscars of Design," the Design Museum of London Design Awards are prestigious accolades given in six categories to the most innovative and inspiring designs of the year — and this year's top honors in the fashion category went to Japan's own Issey Miyake and his team of boundary-pushing...
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
May 1, 2012

Hands behind Sudan's war

Once again Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir waved his walking stick in the air. Once again he spoke of splendid victories over his enemies as thousands of jubilant supporters danced and cheered. But this time around the stakes are too high.
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.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 23, 2012

For a challenge guess unknown kanji

A mastery of written Japanese comes not through rote memorization, but by developing your inductive reasoning so as to nurture a "kanji-oriented thought process."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 22, 2012

Stalin-era Russian writer penned part of his own death sentence in Japan

"I don't think there is another nation of people in the world like the Japanese. In Britain there is coal in Wales, but Japan makes up for the lack of such a place with an abundance of national will and national sensitivity ... a people's most hard-to-come-by resources. (These are) the country's biggest...
EDITORIALS
Apr 21, 2012

Mr. Ishihara's ill-considered plan

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara announced in Washington last Monday that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is in the final stage of negotiations to buy most of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea from the landowner Mr. Kunioki Kurihara, a resident of Saitama. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda reacted...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 19, 2012

Japanese art still struggles in China

Japanese photographer inri was just 27 when she saw RongRong's photographs for the first time. As she wandered between the stalls of a 1999 Tokyo art fair, a series on traditional Chinese wedding dresses caught her eye. One image, with a man and a woman completely hidden in the folds of yellow silk robes,...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 19, 2012

Japanese art still struggles in China

Japanese photographer inri was just 27 when she saw RongRong's photographs for the first time. As she wandered between the stalls of a 1999 Tokyo art fair, a series on traditional Chinese wedding dresses caught her eye. One image, with a man and a woman completely hidden in the folds of yellow silk robes,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 19, 2012

Rustie to bring hyperactive set to SonarSound Tokyo

When Rustie (Russell Whyte, 29) makes his Japan debut at SonarSound Tokyo this weekend, it will mark the culmination of a remarkable few years that has seen the Scottish producer swap house parties in his hometown of Glasgow for headline spots at some of the biggest clubs in the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 13, 2012

'John Carter'

Just in time for the 100th anniversary of its first publication, "Tarzan" author Edgar Rice Burroughs' "A Princess of Mars" gets the 3-D blockbuster treatment from Disney under the revised title "John Carter." This new franchise should have been a sure thing, with a novel that has endured in readers'...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Apr 8, 2012

21st-century schizoid menswear

Never before has the creative schism at the heart of Japanese menswear been more evident than during the recent Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 8, 2012

Procreation begets problems for pandas

Just how cute are giant pandas? The public can't get enough of them. The star attractions at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo are Ri Ri and Shin Shin, a male and female pair who helped attract some 4.4 million visitors last fiscal year — the highest number for 19 years.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 2, 2012

Noda's plan to increase sales tax

There's no such thing as a popular tax increase. Woe betide the leader who sees no other way out of a fiscal impasse.
COMMENTARY
Mar 28, 2012

The inexorable march of creative destruction

In retreat, Sears set to unload stores
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2012

Bizarre logic of America's 'freedom' campaign

The Afghans are a proud people with a long and formidable history of resistance to foreign occupation. The fact that they have always prevailed should not distract from the horror they still routinely experience.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 23, 2012

'Bokutachi Kyuko: A Ressha de Iko (Take the "A" Train)'

Yoshimitsu Morita, who died last December at 61, would seem to be a classic example of a brilliant young independent filmmaker who ends up as a mainstream journeyman, a career path all too common in Japanese films.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 22, 2012

Cutting-edge art in a tight spot

If you're in the mood for an abstruse, slightly puzzling moment, head to Naka-Meguro, one of Tokyo's acknowledged artistic odd spots, and get yourself to The Container: literally a metal cargo container — but one set in the midst of a hair salon. As soon as you arrive, you may be assailed by feelings...

Longform

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