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LIFE
Dec 4, 2012

'Were we marines used as guinea pigs on Okinawa?'

Newly discovered documents reveal that 50 years ago this week, the Pentagon dispatched a chemical weapons platoon to Okinawa under the auspices of its infamous Project 112. Described by the U.S. Department of Defense as "biological and chemical warfare vulnerability tests," the highly classified program...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 4, 2012

'Were we marines used as guinea pigs on Okinawa?'

Newly discovered documents reveal that 50 years ago this week, the Pentagon dispatched a chemical weapons platoon to Okinawa under the auspices of its infamous Project 112. Described by the U.S. Department of Defense as "biological and chemical warfare vulnerability tests," the highly classified program...
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2012

An open road ahead for soaking America's rich

As a practical matter, the debate over higher taxes is finished. If there's an agreement to avoid the "fiscal cliff," it will almost certainly contain large tax increases mostly or entirely on the wealthy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 1, 2012

Transit firms offering themselves up as movie, TV locations

Public transit firms in the Chubu region are getting stars in their eyes as they turn to a new strategy to attract customers.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2012

Ishihara left behind a mixed legacy

Tokyo is about to get its first new governor in almost 14 years, and whoever wins the Dec. 16 election will have to fill the shoes of Shintaro Ishihara, who leaves behind a legacy both positive and negative.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 23, 2012

'Hick'

All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl." So wrote Jean-Luc Godard way back in 1961, and some 50 years later people are still testing that theory. The latest young director to do so is Derick Martini, whose "Hick" stars Chloe Grace Moretz ("Hugo," "Kick-Ass") as a jailbait teen runaway, and a Smith...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 23, 2012

Musician Shugo Tokumaru starts to adjust to the spotlight

Among the many billboards looming over Shibuya Station crossing, one of the busiest and most famous intersections in Tokyo, is one for Tower Records that features musician Shugo Tokumaru. The picture looks slightly awkward. The artist sits on a spiral staircase and clutches a guitar, positioned just...
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2012

Inose declares Tokyo candidacy

Tokyo Vice Gov. Naoki Inose, a noted writer, said Wednesday he will run for governor, emerging as possibly the strongest candidate to succeed his nationalist predecessor, Shintaro Ishihara.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2012

Political hawk, 80, still bent on creating a tough Japan

When Shintaro Ishihara abruptly resigned as governor of Tokyo at the end of last month to form Taiyo no To (The Sunrise Party), it was unclear what his political aims were.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Nov 20, 2012

Disciplinary measures must pass the 'objective, rational' test

"Discipline" (chōkai) — a miserable word if there ever was one. Being scolded as a child is part of growing up, but for us adults, being disciplined can be a particularly humiliating experience. But how much more humiliated would we feel if the grounds for the discipline were arbitrary, unfair or...
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Nov 20, 2012

Quarterback Den still going strong at 46

At age 46, Masamitsu Den is still addicted to the game of football.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 20, 2012

Ishiharas — family ties with a twist

The Ishiharas trail the Hatoyamas 2-0 in prime ministers. But when it comes to the variety, prominence and celebrity of each individual member, not many families in Japan today can compete with the Ishihara bunch.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 18, 2012

The little 'black bird' is a hit, from Liverpool all the way to Asia

It is 50 years this year since the best-selling band in history, The Beatles, released their first single, "Love Me Do." They were set to catapult Britain into the Swinging '60s and launch a global musical phenomenon.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 17, 2012

Time running out for Arsenal's Wenger

Can you imagine Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United — in fact any leading club — going seven years without a trophy yet not sacking the manager?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2012

Resona targeting loans at retiring entrepreneurs

Resona Holdings Inc. is targeting retiring entrepreneurs to boost lending by some ¥600 billion through businesses they sell and rental properties they invest in.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Nov 13, 2012

Print engineer slows down international nomad

Nara native Atsushi Takagi and Mihaela Serbulea from Bucharest met in 2003 when Mihaela gave a lecture on SARS for an international exchange organization in which Atsushi is a member.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 11, 2012

Carp rely on scouting expertise of Schullstrom, McClain

The Hiroshima Carp again failed to make the Central League Climax Series this time, but manager Kenjiro Nomura has been given another year — his fourth at the helm — to try to get the team into the postseason for the first time.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 11, 2012

Japan's live organ donors enjoy better health than 'normal' citizens do

At age 56, Toshinobu Horiuchi was a desperate man. He had suffered kidney failure and needed a transplant. As a doctor, based in Tokyo, he knew better than most that he faced a long wait.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 9, 2012

Jazzing up the industrial city

On one side you have Montreux, a Swiss resort town on the banks of Lake Geneva that has seen many famous residents over the years, and which has been immortalized in the lyrics of the Deep Purple song "Smoke On The Water." On the other you have a Japanese city in the heart of the world's most heavily...
JAPAN
Nov 8, 2012

Tokyo High Court finally exonerates Mainali

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday exonerated Govinda Prasad Mainali, 46, of the 1997 robbery-murder of a 39-year-old Tokyo woman for which he had served 15 years of a life sentence before being freed and deported home to Nepal in June.
EDITORIALS
Nov 5, 2012

BOJ needs bolder approach

The Bank of Japan has taken an additional monetary easing measure, including expanding its asset-purchase fund by ¥11 trillion to a total of ¥91 trillion and keeping its key short-term interest rate at around zero to 0.1 percent. It will loan funds at an annual interest rate of 0.1 percent to financial...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 3, 2012

Free magazines zoom in on all things Japanese

While English-language magazines in Japan are fast becoming a species in danger of extinction, Europe is experiencing a renewed interest in this country thanks to a veteran French journalist who since 2010 has been publishing Zoom Japon (and its English version, Zoom Japan), a free monthly magazine about...
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2012

BOJ ranks say Japan is in 'recessionary phase'

The economy may have entered a "recessionary phase," according to some Bank of Japan policymakers.
EDITORIALS
Nov 2, 2012

Justice for Mr. Mainali

In a Monday retrial of Mr. Govinda Prasad Mainali, a Nepalese man who had been convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the March 1997 robbery-murder of a 39-year-old Tokyo woman, the prosecution reversed its position and stated that he is innocent. The Tokyo High Court will acquit him on Nov. 7....

Longform

Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.
Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick