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COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2011

Japan is losing IMF game, and it isn't keeping score

Yoshihiko Noda, Japan's finance minister, is increasingly tipped as the frontrunner to take over from Naoto Kan when the prime minister finally bites the bullet and resigns.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2011

Suicides upping casualties from Tohoku catastrophe

On June 11, a dairy farmer in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, chalked a note on the wall of his cattle shed. "If only there wasn't a nuclear power plant," the message read, in reference to the damaged Fukushima No. 1 plant just 45 km away, which had effectively ended his livelihood.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 23, 2011

A marriage of East and West: something old, something borrowed and something blue

The Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg is showing its collection of Japanese prints for the first time on these shores as part of diplomatic celebrations around the 150th anniversary of Japan-German relations. It is a catholic exhibition that showcases ukiyo-e in its wide array of manifestations,...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 20, 2011

Let one character lead to enlightenment and civilization

Many of Japan's admired historic figures were adulated for being "warrior scholars," since they were equally adept at leading armies and composing poems. This ideal is referred to as 文武両道 (bunbu ryodō). Bun refers to writing and by extension the literary arts. Bu relates to martial or military...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 17, 2011

'Saya Zamurai (Scabbard Samurai)'

of manzai comedy duo Downtown, Hitoshi Matsumoto has sat atop the slippery pole of popularity on Japanese television for nearly two decades. He has also directed two films, 2007's "Dai-Nipponjin (Big Man Japan)" and 2009's "Shinboru (Symbol)," that have screened widely abroad, while occasioning some...
Reader Mail
Jun 16, 2011

Disappointing antinuke coverage

Regarding the June 12 front-page article "Three months marked since killer quake, tsunami": I was very disappointed by The Japan Times so-called coverage of the worldwide demonstrations against nuclear power held June 11.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Jun 14, 2011

A season for accolades, milestones and new frontiers

Florence and Kyoto unite to celebrate Gucci's 90 years Revered luxury brand Gucci is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year with a special traveling exhibition in Japan that highlights its prowess in craftsmanship. Starting at the famed Kinkaku-ji Golden Temple in Kyoto, "Gucci: 90 years" showcases...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 12, 2011

Warp-drive quest for the Big Bang's 'lost' material

What do these three things have in common: a mysterious, donut-shaped belt of plasma wrapped around the Earth; the warp engines on the starship USS Enterprise; and a laboratory at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) outside Geneva, Switzerland?
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 5, 2011

Bodikon girl's remarkable selfmade comeback

One of the more enduring TV formats is the Ano hito wa ima (Where are they now?) variety special, which tracks down celebrities of the past to find out what happened to them in the decades since they vanished from our collective consciousness. The hunt is more interesting than the capture, since the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 2, 2011

Chasing dreams in gold and silver

You've probably heard of Japan's quaint custom of designating some people as Living National Treasures. Usually it's applied to exponents of a traditional art, craft or performing art in their twilight years. Luckily, nobody has ever come up with the idea of "stealing" these national treasures. While...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2011

Radiation-linked cancer an intangible numbers game

With contaminated produce continuing to be detected beyond Fukushima Prefecture, public concern over the health effects of radiation exposure continues to mount.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 29, 2011

Kan government struggles to raise reconstruction funds

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), the British economist who advocated government intervention to regulate financial health, has lately been cited in the Japanese press in reference to the current administration's plan to raise the consumption tax (CT). When he held the post of finance minister for five...
ENVIRONMENT
May 29, 2011

Serendipities at every turn on this island 'pearl'

The sound of Buddhist chanting grew louder as my travel companions and I entered the compound around the "temple," where flickering torches lit the smiling faces of sedately circling monks as the warm tones of their voices carried through the impenetrable darkness on a chilling, flag-fluttering breeze....
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2011

Another Middle East standoff

Rarely have the differences between a U.S. president and an Israeli prime minister been so prominently displayed as they were last week when Mr. Barack Obama hosted Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. Mr. Netanyahu's visit capped a week of activity: Jordan's King Abdullah visited a few days before...
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
May 23, 2011

Opposites attract in these kanji compound words

Some Japanese words are written with a single kanji, but countless others are compounds comprised of two (the majority), three, or more kanji. These compound words (jukugo) are not composed randomly; a limited number of patterns govern their construction, and today we will explore one of these: two-kanji...
BUSINESS
May 21, 2011

Indonesia, Japan eye ¥100 billion floating dock for coal transfers

Japan and Indonesia, the world's second-largest coal exporter, may build a floating dock worth as much as ¥100 billion to enable speedier transfer of the fuel from barges to bigger ships.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 19, 2011

Art in the realm of the sense of smell

In the battle between sight and smell, sight usually comes out on top as the more valued sense. But while our visual sense supplies us with copious and precise information about the world around us and allows us to appreciate images of beauty, our olfactory sense often has a firmer grasp on our moods,...
Reader Mail
May 8, 2011

The Thai-Cambodian border

With reference to the April 27 editorial, "A temple tests ASEAN": I wish to provide Japan Times' readers with facts about the recent situation at the Thai-Cambodian border, which was started by unprovoked armed attacks on April 22 by Cambodian troops on Thai soldiers and civilians.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 29, 2011

Wright, Cera get 1-up in 'Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World'

"Scott in the comics almost reminds me of Homer Simpson; you get to see what's going on in his head, and there's not much going on," says Hollywood indie poster-boy Michael Cera when asked about his role as the title character in the adrenaline-soaked action comedy "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Apr 23, 2011

Coming to proper terms

"You think you've got it rough?" says my wife. "How about me?"
LIFE / Digital / Japan Pulse
Apr 8, 2011

An early warning system in every pocket

Is your cell phone ready for the next quake? And do you want gentle prod or an air siren ringtone?

Longform

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