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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 13, 2011

When criminals bask in the media spotlight

"Before I committed that incident, I was given many opportunities from my parents and others close to me. But I disregarded these. I never gave any consideration to my privileged situation."
JAPAN / Q&A
Feb 4, 2011

Match-throwing final nail in sumo coffin?

The sumo world has had its share of scandals in recent years but the latest one — text messages indicating match-fixing — is rocking the "dohyo" ring hard.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 23, 2011

The countdown: six months and a day till TV goes digital

Quick: what happened in Japan on Sept. 10, 1960? A few people might recall that was the day Japan commenced color TV broadcasting. At the startup, color programs were few in number, but consumers still had four years and one month to buy a color set before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 15, 2010

Marketers bask in the glow of the year's successes

If you can generate profits during a 不景気 (fukeiki, a business recession), you must be doing something right. If you can generate a ヒット (hitto, hit) and sustain it in the face of deflation, imitators and low-cost imports, then you're to be heartily congratulated for your business acumen.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 21, 2010

Tossing our leaders to the lions

In Tokugawa days (1603-1867), criticizing the government was a capital offense. Rulers, not only in Japan but the world over, expected to be — and generally were — not only obeyed but revered, sometimes as gods, sometimes as beings only slightly less exalted. "God," wrote the French bishop and political...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 31, 2010

Hearing China's take on Senkakus

The most recent territorial dispute over the Senkaku (Japanese name)/Diaoyutai (Chinese name) Islands, located southwest of Okinawa (or north of Taiwan if you prefer), was triggered on Sept. 7 when a Chinese trawler attempted to ram two Japanese Coast Guard vessels. The blurry details of the collision...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 17, 2010

Utopia means free money for everyone

Scientifically and technologically, the world is in flux bordering on chaos. Every day brings something new: a new discovery, a new device, a new technique, a new cure. The pace of change is dizzying; we scarcely know where we stand. Yesterday's novelty is today's norm, tomorrow's anachronism.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 3, 2010

Media racism: How unsportsmanlike

Local favoritism is built into organized sports. At the macro level you have whole countries rooting for national teams at the Olympics or the World Cup. At the micro level you have fans cheering a hometown boy who plays for a team far away. By the same token, nationalistic fans denigrate opposing countries'...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 12, 2010

Budget cuts dooming diners to plumpness

"The destiny of a nation depends on the manner in which it feeds itself," wrote French epicure Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) in his famous treatise, "The Physiology of Taste: Or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 12, 2010

Could public polls sway DPJ vote?

According to major media opinion polls, if the choice of who will lead the country was up to the populace, Prime Minister Naoto Kan would retain his position against fellow Democratic Party of Japan member Ichiro Ozawa's challenge to the party presidency and the premiership.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 1, 2010

Depression takes hold as promises of Utopia fade away

Why isn't this Utopia? Why, given material and technological advantages beyond the wildest dreams of our most visionary ancestors, are we floundering in a sea of despair?
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 18, 2010

Youth is wasted on the dwindling young

What's it like to be young in this most elderly, least youthful country on Earth?
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 20, 2010

Government policy of cash gifts to journalists rolls on

In late April, about a month before Naoto Kan took over as prime minister from Yukio Hatoyama, a hand-written note was taped to the intercom outside Kan's home in the Kichijoji district of Tokyo. It read, "No press meetings," and was signed "Kan," but it wasn't written by the current Democratic Party...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 13, 2010

Few TV surfers ride 'Korean wave' series 'Iris'

Two weeks ago, cast members of the South Korean TV drama series "Iris" appeared in concerts at Osaka Castle Hall and Saitama Super Arena. Some 60,000 fans of the star Lee Byung Hun bought tickets, but 1,400 at one of the Saitama events found themselves shut out after the organizers decided that the stage...
JAPAN / Media
Jun 6, 2010

The timing behind yakuza crackdown

The media has been filled with revelations of ties between professional sumo and organized crime. Since late May, the tabloids and gossipy "wide shows" on TV have made a huge flap over Sehei Kimura and one other stable master for allowing senior gang members to obtain box-seat tickets to the Nagoya Grand...
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2010

Tabloid tracks security chief's Diet dorm 'trysts'

Drained by a chain of political money scandals, the Democratic Party of Japan-led coalition came under a fresh attack Thursday by a weekly magazine that accused the chairman of the National Public Safety Commission of shirking his duties by having an "inappropriate tryst" with a woman he is dating.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Jan 24, 2010

Valentine's philosophy brought Marines glory, money

Second in a four-part series
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 11, 2009

Todai still beckons nation's best, brightest but goals diversifying

For more than 130 years, the University of Tokyo has been unrivaled as the gateway to elite careers for thousands of hopeful candidates who pass the exam to get in.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 3, 2009

A freedom that fostered richness

Two exhibitions now showing at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography offer a fascinating contrast in photojournalism.
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2009

Responsibility stops with Mr. Aso

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshitada Konoike resigned Wednesday "for health reasons." Clearly behind his resignation was Shukan Shincho weekly magazine's disclosure, with photos, of his April 28-30 rendezvous with a woman at an Atami resort in Shizuoka Prefecture. For the trip, he used a free JR...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 14, 2009

Cabinet member exits after tryst

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshitada Konoike resigned Wednesday for "personal reasons" after a magazine hit newsstands with a full account of a trip he and a lover took to a hot-spring resort, during which he used a special JR pass that lets Diet members ride shinkansen for free.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 15, 2009

Japan's 'silly couple' reunite despite domestic violence

For the past few weeks, America's showbiz media has lingered over the alleged beating that R&B star Rihanna received at the hands of her boyfriend, the equally popular singer Chris Brown. Below the titillating layer of scandal is the story's more sobering subtext of domestic violence (DV), a social problem...

Longform

Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?