Search - life

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Apr 8, 2010

New hobbies for swinging into spring

With the start of the financial/academic year, April is a time for a fresh start and taking up a new hobby.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Apr 7, 2010

Bōtō chinjutsu: First volleys in courtroom battle

"Kiritsu! (起立! All rise!)" cries the court clerk. The judges — three saibankan (裁判官, professional judges) and six saibanin (裁判員, lay judges), Reiko Keyes among them — take their places. Reiko is surprised at how full the courtroom is. It's manseki (満席, a full house). The case...
EDITORIALS
Apr 6, 2010

Alarm over investigation failures

The Supreme Public Prosecutors Office and the National Police Agency on April 1 made public the results of their separate internal reviews of the investigations that led to the wrongful conviction of Mr. Toshikazu Sugaya. Mr. Sugaya served 17 1/2 years of a life sentence for the May 1990 murder of a...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Apr 6, 2010

Yakushima keeps expat busy as a bee

Long-term residents of Japan might remember the name Rainer Kaminski. In 1985 he made headlines as the first Westerner to become a taxi driver in Tokyo.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 6, 2010

Japan, U.N. share blind spot on 'migrants'

On March 23, I gave a speech to Jorge Bustamante, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, for NGO FRANCA regarding racial discrimination in Japan. Text follows:
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Apr 5, 2010

Japan by the numbers (04.05.10)

Japan shares its thoughts on attractive women, virtual hanami and Hatoyama's inability to solve the Futenma issue.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 5, 2010

The unknown promise of Internet freedom

MELBOURNE, Australia — Google has withdrawn from China, arguing that it is no longer willing to design its search engine to block information that the Chinese government does not wish its citizens to have. In liberal democracies around the world, this decision has generally been greeted with enthusiasm....
COMMENTARY
Apr 5, 2010

No fast-track education in Japan

It's back to school in Japan, and back to the perennial questions:
COMMENTARY
Apr 5, 2010

Governments have duty to aid citizens caught in a nightmare

WATERLOO, Canada — Australian businessman Stern Hu has been convicted of taking bribes and stealing state secrets and sentenced to 10 years jail in China. International standards of a free and fair trial do not seem to have been met.
Reader Mail
Apr 4, 2010

No excuse for wasting food stocks

I agree with the March 24 editorial "Japan must change tune on tuna." A few years ago a sushi bar in Osaka boasted on television about the "freshness" of its sushi. If the sushi was not sold in 40 minutes, it was put on the rotating conveyor. Was it thrown away after that if it didn't sell soon? I felt...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 4, 2010

70 times safer than the roads themselves

NEW YORK — The Toyota saga, though quiet for the moment, will continue. "Lawyers Vie for Lead Roles in Toyota Lawsuits," said a headline in The Wall Street Journal (March 15). The company's "legal bill for unintended-acceleration cases will be in the billions," predicted Jeremy Anwyl of Edmunds.com,...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 4, 2010

Corey out to make most of second chance in Japan

Chiba Lotte Marines right-hander Bryan Corey is back in Japan for a second chance, following a turbulent half-season in 2004 with the Yomiuri Giants, and he is determined to make the most of this opportunity.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 4, 2010

Newspapers, broadcasters not facing facts: Web is here to stay

Nihon Keizai, Japan's main financial newspaper, launched its new Web version on March 23. As with the print version, there will be two editions, morning and evening. There will also be Web-exclusive features like videos. Subscribers who opt for the Web version only pay ¥4,000 a month, while those who...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Apr 4, 2010

Japan, please don't go grabbing Ethiopians' land

On March 15 just gone, this newspaper carried an excellent but disturbing article by John Vidal, environment editor of the London-based Guardian newspaper. He wrote about food shortages and land-grabbing in Africa, and I was particularly troubled to read about deals going on to sell Ethiopian land to...
EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 2010

Freedom of expression for all

The Tokyo High Court on March 29 acquitted a former worker of the now-defunct Social Insurance Agency who was indicted on allegations that he distributed copies of a Japanese Communist Party newspaper. He had been charged with violating Article 102 of the National Public Service Law, which prohibits...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 3, 2010

Patience a virtue in miso making

If miso is part of your daily routine, "you're having a decent life," says Tony Flenley, Japan's only British miso maker. Flenley, who runs a 105-year-old miso company in Osaka, believes the time taken to prepare and eat the soup shows the right priorities have triumphed over a fast food lifestyle.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Apr 2, 2010

The Mujirushi house: Fans finally get total immersion

Fans of Mujirushi can now live in the no-nonsense, customizable house that Muji built. Simple functionality will cost you, though.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2010

Sugaya case truly flubbed: prosecutors

The wrongful conviction of Toshikazu Sugaya for the 1990 murder of a 4-year-old girl in Tochigi Prefecture was the result of prosecutors' failure to follow the basic rules of an investigation, the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office admitted Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 2, 2010

'The Wolfman'

"The Wolfman" stars Benicio Del Toro, which normally means I would readily suffer pain and humiliation and even demonstrate some nonexistent rock- climbing skills if need be, just to see my beloved. It's a lonely quest in Japan, where Del Toro doesn't have quite the following he deserves: He's too craggy,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 2, 2010

Who will bring home the Bacon this year?

Francis Bacon will be participating in Art Fair Tokyo again this year — in spirit. No, not the renowned 16th-century British philosopher, or the famed Irish-born 20th-century figurative painter. But Francis Bacon, the kosher vegetarian, Budapest-born Irish Wolfhound, whose budding career as Tokyo's...
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League / J. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 1, 2010

Just business as usual for league-leading Antlers

If Kashima Antlers' rivals were hoping the champions' thirst for success had been quenched by three straight championships, the first month of the new campaign suggests otherwise.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2010

The pope's Easter mystery

HONG KONG — As more than a billion Roman Catholics prepare to commemorate the most sacred mysteries of their faith culminating at Easter next Sunday, most eyes will be on the small elderly man in the Vatican palace to see whether he can steer the church through the turbulence tearing it apart.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Mar 31, 2010

Onkyo notebook offers up new DIY features

Made to order: Onkyo's latest notebook computer, the DR511, is a built-to-order creation that offers something different. Onkyo highlights its own heritage with the option of an FM/AM tuner, an almost unheard of feature. The other interesting feature, which comes as a standard inclusion, is an actual...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 31, 2010

Take your taimingu when translating loan words

The English translation of the manga "Death Note" by Tsugumi Ōba has sold millions of copies around the world — with barely a mention anywhere of the glaring translation error in the title and throughout the work: "Death Note" should in fact be "Death Notebook."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 30, 2010

Food cooperatives offer peace of mind for a price

Food cooperatives offer guilt-free groceries delivered to your doorstep, but that peace of mind will cost you a pretty penny.
COMMENTARY
Mar 30, 2010

Drone dependency trivializing Afghan war

NEW YORK — Captain Ferguson (a fictitious name) gets up early in the morning, and has breakfast with his wife and children. At the office, he sits in front of a computer off and on for almost eight hours. At the end of the day he heads back home. Ferguson's wife is glad to see him as they discuss the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Mar 30, 2010

A fresh approach to Japanese food

Nicolas Soergel graciously brings two tiny plates to the table. They each contain three pinkish "umeboshi" (salted, dry plums), but those on one of the plates have been preserved for just one year; the ones on the other plate — whose skins are a little more wrinkled — are three years old. "Please...

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