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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Sep 28, 2012

Diversifying Japan's biggest food festival

From its origins as a regional festival in the backwaters of Aomori Prefecture, the B-1 Grand Prix has attained a status of Fuji Rock-like proportions. The seven-year-old event, which attracts enthusiasts of local cooking from around Japan, almost single-handedly kick-started the country's obsession...
EDITORIALS
Sep 26, 2012

Inward-looking DPJ

The retouching of the Democratic Party of Japan leadership, decided Monday by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, shows that he is more interested in avoiding friction within the party than in solving difficult problems the nation is facing.
EDITORIALS
Sep 25, 2012

JAL needs to stand on its own

Japan Airlines was relisted on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Sep. 19 as it has succeeded in strongly improving its business performance during the past two years and seven months of rehabilitation. This is only the first step to full recovery for the airline. JAL achieved its comeback...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 23, 2012

Timely fictional war scenarios that play out in Asian waters

Tiger's Claw, by Dale Brown. William Morrow, 2012, 432 pp., $26.99 (hardcover) Red Cell, by Mark Henshaw. Touchstone, 2012, 336 pp., $24.99 (hardcover) Future war fiction — also known as alternate history or military science fiction — has been around a long time. Occasionally such books have proved...
EDITORIALS
Sep 21, 2012

Delayed recovery moves BOJ

Apparently motivated by the European Central Bank's decision to buy unlimited amounts of government bonds and the U.S. Federal Reserve's third round of quantitative easing, the Bank of Japan announced new steps for monetary easing on Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 14, 2012

Osprey adds to the burden

On Sept. 9, rally organizers say over 100,000 people took part in a protest in Ginowan City, Okinawa Prefecture, to oppose the plan to deploy 24 MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is in Ginowan.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2012

Making the eurozone work

Some economists believe that this summer could mark the moment when some of the eurozone's peripheral members may begin to be forced out; others think that such a scenario is inconceivable. All agree that, at least in the short term, a eurozone breakup would be disastrous for jobs and growth.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Aug 31, 2012

Preseason contests signal start of league's eighth season

After another offseason of major changes, the bj-league is entering year eight of its curious existence.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2012

Ten myths about the U.S. Republican agenda

There are a lot of pundits here in Tampa with no real politics to report on. So I thought now would be a good idea to do some explaining about the odd natives (well, natives for only a few days), whom the punditocracy has ventured out to poke and prod and report back, as if they are 21st-century Margaret...
Reader Mail
Aug 30, 2012

Harbinger of the future is here

Thank you for Stephen Hesse's insightful Aug. 26 article, "If we ruin the air, what will our children breathe?" Here in Missouri the drought of 2012 continues to oppress both farmer and rancher across the state. Rural water wells are going dry! Major cities are asking residents to refrain from watering...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2012

U.S. presidential election needs another Teddy

What America feared above all was the growing concentration of wealth and political power. A Republican alliance with big business had flooded election campaigns with torrents of money, and it threatened to reduce — if not eliminate — whatever influence ordinary Americans had with their elected officials....
EDITORIALS
Aug 30, 2012

London Paralympics starts

The London 2012 Paralympics starts Thursday (Wednesday local time) with some 4,300 physically disabled athletes from 166 countries and regions taking part in 20 sports. From Japan, 135 athletes will participate in 17 sports. It is hoped that the Paralympics, which will continue through Sept. 9, will...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EMBASSY AVENUE
Aug 29, 2012

Philippine festival in Yokohama

The best of Philippine culture will be showcased in Yokohama during the Philippine Festival Barrio Fiesta, which is free and open to all and will be held Sept. 1 and 2 at Yamashita Park.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2012

Middle East buildup refutes critics of Obama

Here are some facts that should be considered by those who criticize the Barack Obama administration for "leading from behind" in the troubled Middle East.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 26, 2012

Should the public trust Japan's leaders when the 'big one' hits Tokyo?

No two calamities are alike, yet the needs of victims vary only in scale, not in kind.
EDITORIALS
Aug 25, 2012

Lawbreaking cops among us

The National Police Agency issued a report Aug. 16 showing that police departments nationwide have been plagued by a series of irregularities involving police officers and workers. When you take into account the nearly 300,000 people working for the police force, the known irregularities are probably...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2012

Yen traders say Shirakawa missed the price target boat

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa, who set the nation's first inflation goal six months ago to halt a decade-long struggle with deflation, has failed to produce the weaker currency craved by exporters.
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 14, 2012

Japan exceeded expectations during London Games

Sixteen action-packed days of competition — plus a few days of soccer that began before the Opening Ceremony on July 27 — delivered a better-than-expected performance for Japan at the 2012 London Olympics.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 13, 2012

Bolt, Farah, Felix win more gold in electric night on track

The two most recognizable stars heading into the 2012 London Olympics were American swimmer Michael Phelps and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Aug 11, 2012

Legislation's OK just start of long, rough road ahead

The countdown to raising the sales tax officially began Friday with the Diet passing the necessary legislation, but the move is just the start of a long road that still lies ahead.
EDITORIALS
Aug 11, 2012

Defense white paper eyes China

The 2012 white paper on defense, endorsed by the Cabinet on July 31, expressed concern over China's rapid defense buildup and muscle-flexing in the Pacific Ocean, noting that it has become common for Chinese naval vessels to enter the Pacific Ocean, and that China appears intent on improving its ability...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 10, 2012

'Total Recall'

This is going to sound crazy, but I have this memory ... It's faded, like so many from the acid-house era, but I can clearly see Arnold Schwarzenegger playing this blue-collar kinda guy who comes home one day and finds his loving and beautiful wife, played by Sharon Stone, suddenly trying to kill him....
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 9, 2012

Coe a great spokesman for sport

What if the Soviet Union didn't invade Afghanistan in 1979?
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / LONDON POSTCARD
Aug 7, 2012

U.K. track success gives games 'signature day'

Looking back at the second evening of athletics at Olympic Stadium, so many images and sounds are flashing through my mind.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 5, 2012

Strange tales emanating from the jungles of Southeast Asia

Border Run, by Simon Lewis. Scribner, 2012, 240 pp., $24.00 (hardcover) Slash and Burn, by Colin Cotterill. Soho Crime, 2012, 290 pp., $25.00 (hardcover) "I've always loved that classic noir staple — of doomed characters trying to get away with a crime and just digging themselves further into a hole,"...
EDITORIALS
Aug 2, 2012

New antismoking drive

The government in early June set a numerical target for reducing the percentage of Japanese adult smokers — the fist attempt of its kind — and incorporated it into a five-year basic program to push countermeasures against cancer from fiscal 2012 to 2016 and into a fiscal 2013-22 program to promote...

Longform

It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?