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EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 2012

A victory for women

Voters in Otsu, Shiga elected Japan's youngest-ever female mayor last week. Congratulations go out to Ms. Naomi Koshi, who is only 36, almost half the age of the outgoing mayor, Mr. Makoto Mekata, 70. Mr. Mekata held the post for two terms supported by the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito. Ms. Koshi...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 27, 2012

'Arakawa Anda za Burijji (Arakawa Under the Bridge)'

Manga artists have one great advantage over live-action film directors: They can fantasize and satirize and otherwise have fun with their characters without worrying how flesh-and-blood actors will interpret them. As American comic artist R. Crumb once told his readers, "It's only lines on paper, folks!!"...
EDITORIALS
Jan 24, 2012

Akashi policing on trial

The criminal trial of Mr. Kazuaki Sakaki, former deputy police chief of Hyogo Prefecture's Akashi police station, started Jan. 19 at the Kobe District Court. Acting on a January 2010 vote by Kobe's No. 2 prosecution inquest committee (an 11-member citizens' panel), court-appointed lawyers have charged...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 24, 2012

Nadeshiko Japan eyes London Olympic gold

Japan's overtime defeat of the United States in the 2011 women's World Cup soccer finals inspired a nation suffering from the March 11 disaster and ensuing nuclear crisis. This year will see the club dubbed Nadeshiko Japan attempt to repeat their success at the Summer Olympics in London. Following are...
EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 2012

Shaping a human rights panel

The Justice Ministry in mid-December made public an outline of a bill to set up a human rights protection committee. In 2002, the Liberal Democratic Party government submitted an earlier version to the Diet, but it was eventually quashed mainly because it contained a clause to control mass media concerning...
COMMENTARY
Jan 21, 2012

Escaping Afghanistan, the graveyard of empires

Since coming to office, President Barack Obama has pursued an Afghan war strategy summed up in just four words: "surge, bribe and run." The U.S.-led military mission has now entered the "run" part, or what euphemistically is being called the "transition to 2014" — the year Obama arbitrarily chose as...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 21, 2012

Aussie takes slippery slope to Hokkaido

Matt Dening, 44, grew up on sunshine in a small beach town south of Sydney. Like most Australian youths, Dening played "all the regular sports — swimming, cricket, rugby — but not really well."
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 17, 2012

Mariners, A's get set for season-opener in Japan

Ichiro Suzuki is coming home.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 15, 2012

Sealing a connection with nature

The cliff-ringed cape known as Notoro Misaki stands as a massive natural breakwater west of the city of Abashiri in northeastern Hokkaido, sheltering it from some of the might of the ocean.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2012

Does promise or peril await in North Korea?

Two days after Kim Jong Il, North Korea's leader, died in a train in his country, South Korean authorities still knew nothing about it. Meanwhile, American officials seemed at a loss, with the State Department at first merely acknowledging that press reports had mentioned his death.
EDITORIALS
Jan 11, 2012

Pension cuts coming

The government plans to reduce public pensions over three years starting in fiscal 2012, saying that it has overpaid by 2.5 percent. The overpayment has resulted from the Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito government's decision.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jan 10, 2012

Paper artist Gannon cut his own niche

Patrick Gannon admits he loves puzzles. As a literature major and aspiring writer in university, he delighted in deconstructing ideas and consciously pulling together disparate pieces to make a whole. Twenty years later, as a "cut paper" artist in Japan, Gannon, 40, employs the same intellectual techniques,...
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Jan 9, 2012

South Korea's opening leaves wishy-washy Japan farther behind

On July 1, 2011, the European Union-South Korea free-trade agreement took effect, promising to significantly facilitate the exchange of goods and services and give both nations a major economic boost. The conclusion of the deal demonstrated the huge European interest in South Korea's economy and markets....
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 8, 2012

Nine years later, A's and Mariners set for Japan openers

Happy New Year.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 8, 2012

Stories spiked despite journalism's mission to inform

Olympus isn't the only story that has been or is being ignored or squashed by powerful forces in Japan. Here are three more gems from that rich vein.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 4, 2012

Obic Seagulls repeat as Rice Bowl champs

No quitting and no panicking. Those are championship qualities, and the Seagulls proved they have both in Japanese football's annual showcase event.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jan 1, 2012

A breath of fire for nature this new Year of the Dragon

May I wish all our readers, in Japan and abroad, a very happy New Year. After 2011, I think we need one.
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2011

Unprepared for what happened

A third-party panel set up by the government to investigate the accidents at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant issued Monday an interim report based on interviews with 456 people. It emerges from the report that before the March 11 disaster both Tepco and the government had...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 29, 2011

Best of 2011: Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto "Summvs"

Pioneers in their own respective musical fields, Carsten Nicolai (aka Alva Noto) and Ryuichi Sakamoto began their exploration of sound and visual arts, evocatively titled the Virus Series, in 2002. Nine years on and the fifth and final installment of the collection, "Summvs," reaches the apex of their...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2011

Noda under tax hike pressure

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda faces escalating pressure to secure support for higher taxes after the budget plan for fiscal 2012 revealed the government's record dependence on borrowing.
JAPAN / Media
Dec 25, 2011

The aftershocks of 2011 will be felt for many years to come

We made history this year. They'll be writing about 2011 a hundred, maybe a thousand years from now, seeing it more clearly than we can. We're too close for a proper perspective. We know what it feels like — not yet what it means.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 25, 2011

Behold! Christ's grave in Shingo, Aomori Prefecture

One line of text from Wikipedia was all it took to lure me to the town of Shingo, in south-central Aomori Prefecture. It read: "The village promotes itself as the home of the Grave of Christ after a local legend."

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat