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Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2009
Aug 13, 2009

Parties wave flag for child-rearing

Child-rearing support is a focal issue in the campaign for the Aug. 30 election as the two main parties fight to woo parents, especially those who both work or have young children.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Aug 13, 2009

Variations on Dynamite Cabarets, Tiger, togas, Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garcons

Aki and Kuzu get smart Cabaret Aki and Jackal Kuzu are known as the designers of scandalously flagrant men's brand Gut's Dynamite Cabarets, but with the launch of their impressive new line, JhonAG, their alter-egos may soon fade as the two are set to be reverently known as just Aki and Kuzu.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2009
Aug 12, 2009

Party platforms offer no quick fix to job woes

Fourth in a series
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2009

Machinery orders rebounded in June

Machinery orders rose for the first time in four months in June and the current-account surplus widened for the latest signs the recession is easing.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
Aug 10, 2009

Recession wedding (bring your own champagne?)

You would think the recession would inspire couples to economize their nuptials, but it appears that the marriage industry and the matchmakers that fuel it are not scaling back.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 9, 2009

Enter a fantasy world of Zen-like bedroom gymnastics

A few weeks ago, BBC News ran a report on how love hotels were one of the few business sectors in Japan doing well in the current recession. The report stressed the unique trappings of these hotels and actually raised more questions than it answered about their socioeconomic significance.
JAPAN / History
Aug 9, 2009

'It is time to discuss this more frankly'

Kazuhiko Togo, Professor of International Politics at Kyoto Sangyo University, is a former Ambassador to the Netherlands and the author of 2005's "Japan's Foreign Policy 1945-2003" and 2008's "Rekishi to Gaiko" ("History and Diplomacy"). He is also a grandson of Shigenori Togo (1882-1950), who, after...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 9, 2009

Contention over the tenno system

This collection of 14 essays by 12 scholars, ranging from academic, journalistic, speculative, to advisory, makes an excellent introduction to the scope of arguments presently made about tenno, Japan's "emperors."
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 9, 2009

'No public discourse' in Pakistan about its nukes

Kamila Shamsie is a Pakistan-born novelist who was educated in the United States and now lives in London, from where she recently gave the interview below. In her 2009 novel "Burnt Shadows," Kamila Shamsie explores the indelible mark that the larger sweep of history leaves on people caught up in its...
EDITORIALS
Aug 9, 2009

Public bikes in Tokyo

Free public bicycles will become available in Tokyo this fall, according to a recent announcement by the Environment Ministry. Following the example of free bike systems in European and American cities, the ministry, in conjunction with the Tokyo metropolitan government and a tour agency, will make several...
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 9, 2009

A-bombings 'were war crimes'

Guilty.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 9, 2009

From flossing to . . . philosophy?

Next time I visit Kyoto, it's not the temples I'll want to see — it's the monkeys.
EDITORIALS
Aug 8, 2009

Stronger case for videotaping

In preparation for the lay judge system, which recently started, public prosecutors and police began partially videotaping the interrogation of suspects on a trial basis in August 2006 and in September 2008. The videotaped scenes are of investigators reading the record of a suspect's oral statement to...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 8, 2009

Everyone knows it's windy

Most people don't find much humor in typhoons. But maybe that's 'cause they don't look.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2009

Lay judges relieved case over but enthusiastic about experience

The first serving lay judges expressed relief Thursday at having completed their duties and encouraged others to step up and benefit from what they called "a valuable experience."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 7, 2009

The 'big bang' at Echigo-Tsumari

It is a picture-book perfect shrine. Tiny and tranquil, it is framed by a red gateway at the top of a winding forest path. But there is one surprising intrusion on the scene: a shiny Coca-Cola bench matching the vermilion hue of the shrine sits under its roof.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 7, 2009

Jenny Lewis

The line between alt-country and just plain country music can be a thin one. And while Jenny Lewis' vocal and guitar duties in ice-cool Las Vegas indie band Rilo Kiley might cause her to be labeled the former, there's really very little difference between the aching sentiment of her two recent solo albums...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 7, 2009

'3:10 to Yuma'

Is the Western past its sell-by date? Sure, they still pop up on our screens every now and then, but when a new Western starring both Christian Bale and Russell Crowe barely limps into limited release in Japan some two years (!) after its U.S. release, well then it's clear the genre is in trouble. Just...
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2009

Citizens stepped up, fulfilled new court duty

With the Thursday close of the first lay judge trial, Japan has joined the ranks of some 80 countries whose citizens participate in criminal trials.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 7, 2009

Art triennial helps revitalize rural Niigata

Visiting Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2009 is a strange and wonderful journey. A satoyama (mountain homeland) adventure replete with rice paddies brimming with bright green shoots, refurbished abandoned houses and closed-down elementary schools, it features 370 contemporary artworks by little-known and...
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2009

BOJ said to see deflation stretching through 2011

The Bank of Japan will probably forecast that declines in consumer prices will extend into 2011 even as the economy recovers, sources said.
Reader Mail
Aug 6, 2009

Good time for a lower legal age

Regarding the Aug. 3 editorial "Lowering the legal age": One couldn't be more expedient in discussing the legal age for a nation at this time, with the recession almost behind us and Japan facing declining birthrates. Setting the legal age could very much change the social demography of Japan. This is...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 6, 2009

Purpose of remembering

ARCATA, Calif. — The time again has come to remember the use of atomic power on Japanese civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Each year at this time, newspapers, books and a variety of media services spend time remembering the events of Aug. 6 and 9, 1945. But why do we remember these...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Aug 6, 2009

Perseverance pays off for Isohata's NBA cheerleading dream

Yoshimi Isohata took a bit of a detour. But she has no regrets and feels blessed to have this Golden opportunity.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Aug 6, 2009

Sorimachi rebuilding reputation after Beijing bust

HIRATSUKA, Kanagawa Pref. — A year has passed since Japan's Beijing Olympic soccer debacle, but for manager Yasuharu Sorimachi, the wounds healed a long time ago.
SOCCER / J. League / J. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Aug 5, 2009

Jofuku's leadership has FC Tokyo poised to be contender soon

A last-minute loss to Kawasaki Frontale may have checked FC Tokyo's charge up the J. League table last weekend, but it will take more than one defeat to wipe out the steady progress the capital city club has made over the past six months.

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