Search - news

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2010

Judgment draws near in whale-meat trial

In 2008, two officials of Greenpeace Japan presented to prosecutors what they described as evidence of a Japanese whaler's embezzlement of whale meat and asked them to investigate.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2010

New Iran sanctions put freeze on assets

Tokyo announced additional sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programs Friday, including freezing assets of individuals and organizations related to the work, and suspending new Japanese investment in oil and gas development there.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2010

Actor's trial to test lay judges' neutrality

A test case for the nascent lay judge system got under way Friday at the Tokyo District Court as a celebrity defendant already crucified in the public realm now faces citizen judges, raising questions of whether they can render a judgment free of media influence.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 4, 2010

Campaigning to save the languages of Okinawa

Two stops on Naha's monorail from the tourist trinket shops of Kokusai-dori lies Sakaemachi, a tightly packed warren of tiny stalls and drinking dens. For outsiders like 40-year-old Byron Fija, it takes a measure of confidence to venture to this part of Okinawa, but as he passes the open-air tables of...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Sep 3, 2010

Hill, Apache set to open training camp in Texas

Before a single shot is taken in the season's first game, every team knows the following:
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2010

Futenma plan OK: Ozawa

Democratic Party of Japan heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa on Thursday backpedaled from his claim the previous day that he had a new, specific plan for relocating U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and basically said the pact reached in May to move the base to Nago, Okinawa, stands.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 3, 2010

From 'Dawn of the Dead' to the live-and-kicking golden 'oldies'

Shu Matsui's innocent smile is familiar. He's always beaming on TV ads, whether he's plugging a washing softener, playing a gentle new father or promoting mobile phones in the guise of a young doctor. But if you were to see any production by Sample, the theater company Matsui founded in 2007, you'd be...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2010

Kan, Ozawa kick off DPJ poll race

Campaigning officially kicked off Wednesday for the Sept. 14 Democratic Party of Japan presidential election, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan trying to keep the helm and DPJ kingpin Ichiro Ozawa seeking to wrest it from him.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2010

'Rakugo' pro crosses borders with humor

Humor, it is said, rarely crosses borders. Culture-specific references and ingrained social norms often mean jokes that leave audiences rolling in the aisles in the country of origin are greeted with puzzlement, incomprehension and even hostility when translated for foreign audiences.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2010

Four fathers picked as role models for child-rearing leave

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has picked four fathers from 131 applicants to serve as standard bearers for the participation of dads in child-rearing.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2010

Race is on: Ozawa to challenge Kan

Democratic Party of Japan heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa confirmed Tuesday he will run for DPJ president and thus prime minister, dashing party hopes that an internal power struggle can be avoided before the Sept. 14 election.
SOCCER
Sep 1, 2010

Teenager Miyaichi to join Arsenal

NAGOYA (Kyodo) Seventeen-year-old striker Ryo Miyaichi is set to join Arsenal after catching the eye in a trial with the Premier League giants this month, Kyodo News learned Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2010

Court gets JAL rehab specifics

Japan Airlines Corp. submitted its rehabilitation plan Tuesday to the Tokyo District Court, including a request for a ¥521.5 billion debt wavier, paring 16,000 jobs, retiring fuel-guzzling airplanes and shedding 49 unprofitable routes.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Aug 31, 2010

Zaccheroni named as new Japan manager

The Japan Football Association on Monday named former AC Milan and Juventus manager Alberto Zaccheroni to lead the national team.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 31, 2010

Does Japan's affair with tuna mean loving it to extinction?

Japan is known as the biggest consumer of tuna. Be it raw for sushi or sashimi or fried, broiled or canned, tuna is an important element of the food culture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 31, 2010

Fingerprint all Japanese, for safety's sake

If you're a noncitizen and have entered or re-entered Japan in the last couple of years, you've undoubtedly been invited to participate in the wonderful, fun-filled world of biometrics. It's safe to say that many of you felt as though you were being treated like criminals — not to mention the humiliation...
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 29, 2010

Anyone for tennis?

If you've ever had a tennis lesson, your coach likely told you to block, rather than swing at your volleys. That knowledge makes it all the more thrilling to watch someone like the athletic 16-year-old Sanae Ota rush in from the back of the court, leap up to a high, floating ball — before it bounces...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 29, 2010

Saved by a few — and a fierce typhoon

In 1993, when large tracts of wilderness on the Kagoshima Prefecture island of Yakushima were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, environmentally minded observers the world over celebrated. But the real battle to save the island's forests had been fought — and won — a decade earlier. One of the...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 29, 2010

Tightened credit rules threaten to spawn 'loan refugees'

Japan may be in the midst of a silent epidemic of kinketsu-byo ("lack of money disease"). The source of the infection is a new statute that bans many borrowers from obtaining unsecured loans.

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