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Reader Mail
Sep 22, 2011

Antagonistic position baffles

In response to Laura Holland's Sept. 11 letter, "Tourists ignoring dolphin culls": First, I never suggested that the barbaric, inhumane dolphin drives in Japan were keeping tourists from coming to Japan. Unfortunately, concerns of radioactive content in foods and surroundings are now a deterrent for...
COMMENTARY
Sep 14, 2011

Ten years on, a demoralized America

On Dec. 8, 1951, the day after the 10th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, The New York Times' front page made a one-paragraph mention of commemorations the day before, when the paper's page had not mentioned the anniversary. The Dec. 8 Washington Post's front page noted no commemorations the previous day....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 9, 2011

Festival/Tokyo rewrites its script after quake

Chiaki Soma, the program director at Festival/Tokyo (F/T), needed to figure out how to proceed with the country's biggest theater festival following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11. She closed her office for 10 days and asked the staff to carefully consider the meaning of the festival in...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2011

Palestinian state must field Israeli concerns

Israelis and Palestinians are preparing for a showdown at the United Nations in September, when the Palestinian leadership will ask for recognition of a Palestinian state within the borders that existed before the Six Day War in 1967 (when Israel seized control of Jordanian-occupied territory).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 26, 2011

"Gomi Taro Exhibition: The Days Of Picture Book"

Tokyo native Taro Gomi (b. 1945) has published some 350 picture books that appeal to a wide range of readers, from babies to adults. This show offers a rare opportunity to learn the process of his picture-book making through its display of original drawings and reference materials. There is also a section...
EDITORIALS
Aug 25, 2011

Back to the rice futures trade

In Japan, futures trading for rice started in 1730 at Dojima, Osaka, with the Tokugawa shogunate's approval. Such trading ended in 1939 as the government's wartime control of the economy was strengthened. On Aug. 8, futures trading for rice resumed in Tokyo and Osaka for the first time in 72 years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 25, 2011

Japanese brothers who championed Korean ceramics

In ancient times, Japanese arts and crafts were greatly influenced by the introduction of techniques and aesthetics from Korea and China. In particular, Japan owes the development of its ceramics to the skilled craftsmen brought over from Korea at the end of 16th century, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Aug 22, 2011

Bureaucrats blame Kan for sapping their initiative

For the past several months since the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, an increasing number of bureaucrats have grown "negligent in their duties" because of what they view as the incompetence of Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
COMMENTARY
Aug 16, 2011

Too much local sovereignty?

Since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in September 2009, the word "chiho bunken" (devolution) has been replaced by the new expression "chiiki shuken" (local sovereignty).
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 14, 2011

Delving into 'white matter'

Last week I watched "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," a new film about superintelligent chimps that bust out of captivity and rampage across San Francisco in a bid for freedom.
BUSINESS
Aug 5, 2011

Finance Ministry intervenes to stem gains in currency

Japan followed Switzerland in seeking to stem appreciating exchange rates that threatened to damage export competitiveness, selling the yen and pledging to inject ¥10 trillion ($126 billion) in funds into the economy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Aug 2, 2011

Once settled in, chances are you'll have to pay to stay

In 1946, Japan was in ruins. The housing shortage was severe and inflation was high, so the government issued a directive to freeze rental fees. To make up for the perceived loss of income, property owners came up with supplemental fees — renewal fees, called koshinryō, and "gift money" or reikin,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 26, 2011

The more things change ... the more they stay the same

Ex-Alien chief picks five phenomena from '90s Japan that are gone but not forgotten
Japan Times
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Jul 21, 2011

Plugging reactors no longer stated goal for Tepco

The government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. are boasting success in achieving the first stage in the road map to stabilize the reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, but experts said big challenges remain as the utility moves to the second phase, the goal of which is to achieve a cold shutdown...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 21, 2011

Looking beyond the landscape view

Most of us understand bridges to be structures that help us keep our feet dry. However, in the latest exhibition at the Mitsui Memorial Museum, "The Bridge in Japanese Art: From Ama-no-Hashidate to Nihonbashi," it turns out that we've only been partly right. The bridge is also a device to help us see...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 20, 2011

The imperfect science of delineating poverty

How informative is the 'relative poverty' index?
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 17, 2011

Four former ballplayers remembered after their deaths

More than 900 foreigners have played in Japanese pro baseball since Wally Yonamine joined the Yomiuri Giants in 1951, and it is always sad to hear when any of them have died. Baseball America and various Internet outlets have reported the recent deaths of four ex-major leaguers who also played in Japan...
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jul 15, 2011

Will heartthrob Mukai shine as the shogun?

This year's NHK Sunday evening drama has already entered the history books for one, perhaps inauspicious, reason. On March 12, a day after the Great East Japan Earthquake, NHK announced that the following day's broadcast of "Go," as the show is titled, would be canceled to make way for news coverage....
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2011

Key to 'East Asian' health

On May 8, 2011, leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations issued a joint statement to reaffirm their commitment toward the development of a common position on global issues.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 3, 2011

Murakami puts a bomb under his compatriots' atomic complacency

"The Japanese will someday outgrow their nuclear allergy." I've never forgotten futurologist and Cold War military strategist Herman Kahn saying this to me on his visit to Japan in 1969, when I was his guide and occasional interpreter.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 29, 2011

Local heroes take Japanese video games to the world

Japan may not be the all-conquering video-game powerhouse it once was, but there are still plenty of gamers in the West who want to get their hands on the latest "Mario," "Final Fantasy" or "Street Fighter" title. And it goes without saying that they want to play them in their own language — not in...

Longform

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