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Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Dec 14, 2008

Mystery shrouds the ancient Oshoro circle

In 1861 at Oshoro, southwestern Hokkaido, a party of herring fishermen, migrants from Honshu, were laying the foundation for a fishing port when they saw taking shape beneath their shovels a mysterious spectacle — a broad circular arrangement of large rocks, strikingly symmetrical, evidently man-made....
Reader Mail
Dec 14, 2008

Soka Gakkai's position on article

Unfortunately, there were a number of errors in the Dec. 2 FYI article "Soka Gakkai keeps religious, political machine humming." As I was interviewed for this article on Nov. 21, I would like to make several points in response.
LIFE
Dec 14, 2008

Stone Age Japan

This story spans 10,000 years, yet presents few recognizable individuals. Here's one:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / BEST OF BOOKS: 2008
Dec 14, 2008

Ready for a little Yuletide reading?

YOJOKUN: Life Lessons From a Samurai, by Kaibara Ekiken (Kodansha International)
Japan Times
JAPAN / READERS' FUND
Dec 13, 2008

NGO helps improve Afghan females' lives

Second in a series
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2008

Ruling parties force antiterrorism, bank funding bills through Diet

Steamrolling the opposition camp, the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling coalition forced passage of a special antiterrorism bill and a bank recapitalization bill Friday by overriding the Upper House with a second vote.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 13, 2008

Chelsea's air of invincibility a thing of the past

LONDON — By no stretch of the imagination could Luiz Felipe Scolari be called a failure as Chelsea manager.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Dec 13, 2008

Manchester United a near lock to lift Club World Cup

A trip to Japan just before the busiest time of the Premier League season would probably not be on Alex Ferguson's ideal itinerary, but there will never be a better chance for Manchester United to become world champions again.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2008

Japan must offer more than free gas

The Friday extension of the special law to continue the Maritime Self-Defense Force refueling mission in the Indian Ocean will prolong Japan's involvement in global antiterrorism efforts but both supporters and critics of the action agree the nation still has little to show for its efforts on the world...
EDITORIALS
Dec 12, 2008

Responsibility for food safety

A panel of the Cabinet Office on Nov. 25 made public a report on a scandal involving the reselling of contaminated rice for human consumption, which had surfaced in September 2008. The report said officials of the farm ministry lacked a sense of responsibility for their role in ensuring the safety of...
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2008

In-laws raise women's risk of heart disease

While husbands may not stress out their wives, a study in Japan has shown that kids, parents and in-laws do.
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2008

Education loan accountability

The Japan Students Services Organization (JASSO), a student loan provider under the wing of the education ministry, is suffering from a high delinquency rate on loan payments. Starting in fiscal 2010, it will tell all new borrowers that it will report long-term delinquent borrowers to an organization...
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2008

More serious violations out there

Regarding Grant Mahood's Dec. 7 letter, "Fingerprinting law is unjust": Since the new guidelines on fingerprinting foreigners at Japanese ports of entry were issued (November 2007), we have seen discussions for and against them in various forums, including The Japan Times. Some have branded such a practice...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2008

Keanu Reeves boldly goes for box-office biggie

Keanu Reeves is a creature from outer space. More precisely, he is playing Klaatu, a superior being from beyond the stars who takes the form of a human male visiting a planet that, despite millions of years of evolution, remains too fond of violence for its own good.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 10, 2008

'Self' and the macaque mind

One of my favorite locations in Japan is an uninhabited island just off the coast of the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture to the south of Tokyo. Uninhabited by humans, it is, however, inhabited by another primate: a troop of Japanese macaques.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 9, 2008

At the heart of Japan rests the ‘reverent middle'

Elsewhere in the world, the heart lies pretty much in its correct anatomical place. But in Japan, it has traditionally been located mid-torso, or more precisely in the hara(腹, belly). For the Japanese, the belly has always been the vessel of emotions. It's where rage festers, love burns or fades away;...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 9, 2008

'Tokyo Two' fight to clear names

Six months ago Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki were ordinary men looking after young families. But in June they were arrested by a large group of uniformed police, taken to a detention center in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan, and held for 26 days.
Reader Mail
Dec 7, 2008

The burden of assimilation

Regarding the Dec. 2 Zeit Gist article, "Back to the baths: Otaru revisited": Kudos to Paul de Vries for an excellent article. While there will doubtless be a backlash from readers more supportive of the likes of activist Arudou Debito, I applaud The Japan Times for providing a platform to someone who...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 7, 2008

Tadao Ando: Icon and iconoclast

One of the first houses built by Japan's most famous architect, Tadao Ando, is centered around an open atrium. That sounds nice until you realize that the atrium forms the only "corridor" between each of the rooms. Fancy a hot cup of tea before bed on a rainy winter's night? You'll need an umbrella and...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 7, 2008

Past events' bloodstained light casts a long and lasting shadow

On Dec. 7, the day of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 in Hawaii, the thoughts of many turn to wars, how they begin and the course they take.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 7, 2008

Graduates' security goes to pot

Last week, a 25-year-old University of Tokyo graduate was arrested for allegedly posting death threats on his blog. The police say that the man, who has been unemployed since graduating from Japan's most prestigious university, had written that he would kill members of the education ministry for misleading...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Dec 7, 2008

Miura's decision to remain with struggling BayStars admirable

The Yokohama BayStars reached the Nippon Professional Baseball summit in 1998 behind 12-game winner Daisuke Miura.
Reader Mail
Dec 7, 2008

A notion dangerous at the core

Paul de Vries' attempt to defend group accountability behavior is rather bleak and ridiculous. Perhaps de Vries did not read The Japan Times enough, as he surely would've seen that quite a few men, both foreign and domestic, ridicule the women-only train cars. I also stand against the policy, as it hardly...

Longform

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