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EDITORIALS
Apr 21, 2012

Mr. Ishihara's ill-considered plan

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara announced in Washington last Monday that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is in the final stage of negotiations to buy most of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea from the landowner Mr. Kunioki Kurihara, a resident of Saitama. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda reacted...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 20, 2012

'Waga Haha no Ki (Chronicle of My Mother)'

Masato Harada, who once directed Hollywood-style entertainments such as 1989's sci-fi actioner "Ganheddo (Gunhed)" and the America-set 1993 road movie "Painted Desert," has since made a specialty of dramas about Japanese men at work. Based on true events and packed with incident, they made life in a...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Q&A
Apr 19, 2012

Tokyo's intentions for Senkaku islets

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's plan to have the metropolitan government purchase the Senkaku Islands continued to cause ripples Wednesday, with both China and Taiwan quickly issuing statements criticizing the move.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 19, 2012

Japanese art still struggles in China

Japanese photographer inri was just 27 when she saw RongRong's photographs for the first time. As she wandered between the stalls of a 1999 Tokyo art fair, a series on traditional Chinese wedding dresses caught her eye. One image, with a man and a woman completely hidden in the folds of yellow silk robes,...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 19, 2012

Japanese art still struggles in China

Japanese photographer inri was just 27 when she saw RongRong's photographs for the first time. As she wandered between the stalls of a 1999 Tokyo art fair, a series on traditional Chinese wedding dresses caught her eye. One image, with a man and a woman completely hidden in the folds of yellow silk robes,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 14, 2012

Canadian black-belt takes pride in action not words

For Robert Hughes, the shortest answer is doing. From his early determination to procure a traditional Japanese sword to his more recent work with Japanese students in the poverty-stricken streets of the Philippines, Hughes, 54, has spent over 30 years in Japan allowing his actions to speak eloquently...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 10, 2012

Rape victim marks 10 years on lonely crusade for justice

It surely isn't very often that elite Japanese bureaucrats hear the words to the national anthem quoted at them — by a foreigner. Earlier this year, Australian national Catherine Fisher says she pulled the words of "Kimigayo" from her head during a frustrating meeting with officials from the ministries...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ASEAN-JAPAN SYMPOSIUM
Apr 7, 2012

ASEAN members see mixed future; ties with Japan entering new phase

Southeast Asia has emerged from the 2008-2009 global financial crisis with a robust economic expansion that, along with China and India, makes up a new growth center of the world economy. Still, major countries in the region foresee a mixed picture in the years ahead.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 3, 2012

Keene should engage brain before fueling 'flyjin,' foreign crime myths

Congratulations to Donald Keene, who was granted Japanese citizenship last month with great media fanfare. At 89 years young and after a lifetime contributing to world scholarship on Japan, he truly deserves it.
EDITORIALS
Apr 1, 2012

10th anniversary of the ICC

Winston Churchill said, "History is written by the victors," but justice may be decided that way, too. In the 10 years since its inception, the International Criminal Court has found detractors who claim the court is biased. Supporters of the court argue that a permanent international criminal court...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Apr 1, 2012

Woodland therapy yields Tohoku school 'dream'

When our Afan Woodland Trust came into being in 2002 (after 16 years of hard work to purchase the land and begin restoring abandoned forest to healthy biodiversity), we started a program to invite disadvantaged, neglected or abused children into these living woods.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2012

Three hanged in first executions in Japan since 2010

Three inmates were hanged Thursday, in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Fukuoka, in the country's first executions since July 2010.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 30, 2012

Helping Tokyo menus to get found in translation

One of the longtime complaints of English-speaking foreigners visiting restaurants in Japan is that few of them offer menus in English. Well, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is doing what it can to help eateries translate their menus into English and other languages, to help them become more hospitable...
COMMENTARY
Mar 28, 2012

The symmetry of slaughter

After Mohamed Merah died in a hail of French police bullets last Thursday, people who had known him talked about "a polite and courteous boy" who liked "cars, bikes, sports and girls." His friends had trouble believing that he had murdered seven people, including three children, in a 10-day killing spree...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Mar 27, 2012

JET teacher outfoxes board, Dr. Savoie's Hague prescription: readers' responses

Some responses to Patrick Budmar's Feb. 28 Light Gist column, "Teacher outfoxes board, exposes bid to fleece JETs":
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2012

Visa overstayers rally to maintain privileges after immigration revision

Foreigners overstaying their visas took to the streets of Tokyo on Monday, calling for the Justice Ministry to grant them special residency permits before the new immigration law takes effect July 9.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2012

BOJ bond move was 'desperate' act

The Bank of Japan's decision to expand bond purchases and set a 1 percent inflation goal was a step too far that leaves it likely to finance government deficit spending, a former executive said.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 22, 2012

Rich tales of Inka Essenhigh

Inka Essenhigh's earlier body of work fused a personal take on Surrealism with motifs that seem borrowed from animation. Works such as "Mob + Minotaur" (2002), with such strong anime and manga characteristics, had some critics refer to it as a kind of pop-Surrealism or Japanimation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 22, 2012

Rich tales of Inka Essenhigh

Inka Essenhigh's earlier body of work fused a personal take on Surrealism with motifs that seem borrowed from animation. Works such as "Mob + Minotaur" (2002), with such strong anime and manga characteristics, had some critics refer to it as a kind of pop-Surrealism or Japanimation.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 20, 2012

Author sees parallels between prewar, nuclear indoctrination

The March 10, 1945, Great Tokyo Air Raid was the most destructive air attack in history. Nearly 100,000 people lost their lives after approximately 300 B29 bombers attacked Tokyo's present-day Sumida, Koto and Taito wards. Some 1,700 tons of napalm and incendiary bombs created a firestorm that raged...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 20, 2012

Fukushima not just about nuke crisis

The Tohoku region continues to struggle beyond the first anniversary of the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake, particularly Fukushima Prefecture, whose recovery is being greatly hampered by the triple-meltdown crisis at a coastal nuclear plant.
COMMENTARY
Mar 19, 2012

Chief executive falls on Hong Kong's reputation

Chief Executive Donald Tsang, chastened by the disclosure that he had accepted favors from Hong Kong and mainland tycoons, was on the verge of tears when he appeared March 1 before the Legislative Council and pleaded: "No matter whether you still trust me or not, don't lose faith in Hong Kong's institutions."...

Longform

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