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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2012

'Kita no Kanariatachi (A Chorus of Angels)'

Sayuri Yoshinaga has appeared in more than 100 films since winning the hearts of millions in the 1960s playing spunky, pure-spirited teens for the Nikkatsu studio. Her legions of admirers, called "Sayurists," have remained steadfast over the decades, while she herself has overcome personal and professional...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2012

Ishihara leaves office with sights on Diet seat

Shintaro Ishihara officially stepped down Wednesday as governor of Tokyo after the metropolitan assembly accepted his letter of resignation and ended his 13½ years in the office.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Oct 26, 2012

Shangri-La Christmas cakes; taste of fall at Conrad Tokyo; Hyatt Hakone spa plan

Shangri-La Christmas cake orders The Shangri-La Hotel in Tokyo will start accepting preorders for Christmas cakes from Nov. 1.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 23, 2012

Tokyo Station's Marunouchi side restored to 1914 glory

Tokyo Station is a major commuter hub that draws throngs of people who visit every day just to admire the Marunouchi side's century-old red-brick and stone facade or stay in its nostalgic hotel. After undergoing a 5½-year renovation, the historic landmark formally reopened on Oct. 1.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Oct 21, 2012

Payton says NBA players lack will to defend

Gary Payton played point guard as fearlessly and with as much intensity on defense as anyone has ever done. He's equally as bold when it comes to dishing out his opinions about the sport he still loves.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 21, 2012

So, fat cats and a blue caterpillar will save Japan from nuclear hell. OK

If you visit the Alice Pavilion at the Shika nuclear power plant in the town of Shika, Ishikawa Prefecture, you will be happily entertained by Prof. Aomushi (Blue Caterpillar), who, water pipe in mouth, sits in the sun and, together with Alice, "teaches you about radiation."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Oct 16, 2012

Well-traveled Brit wins woman with 'cheeky smile'

Dave Greatbanks of England met his future wife, Mimari, in 2000 when he was teaching English at a language school in Niigata that she attended once a week after work.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2012

Ahead of TIFF appearance, Corman critical of films 'made for festivals'

The high-minded fare of the film festival circuit and the cheap thrills of B-movie pulp couldn't seem farther apart, but the circuit will be closed when king of the B-movies Roger Corman heads the competition jury at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 7, 2012

For the young to get on board, Japan's irksome business ways must change

"How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" is a satirical book by American writer Shepherd Mead that was a huge best-seller in 1952 before being made into a musical that premiered on Broadway nine years later. It tells the story of J. Pierrepont Finch, an ambitious young fellow who works his...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 6, 2012

Video journalist's work takes him to centers of the world's conflicts

Takeharu Watai has spent all of his two-decade career in video journalism as an independent. But he is conscious that public distrust of the mass media, particularly over its coverage of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the nation's nuclear energy policy, has grown so strong that, by default, it extends...
EDITORIALS
Oct 4, 2012

Rethink Osprey deployment

Six of the 12 Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft stationed at U.S. Marine Corps' Air Station Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, were deployed at Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture on Monday, and three more Osprey aircraft flew from Iwakuni to Futenma on Tuesday amid Okinawans' concerns about the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 2, 2012

Abuse by Irish priest could be tip of iceberg

It is over three years since it was revealed that an Irish Catholic priest had abused several children in Japan. His victims here are probably still unaware their tormentor was a serial offender.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 30, 2012

Whatever fanatics say, a nice cup of tea together beats a fight to the death

There is no doubt about it: We humans are, at best, a peculiar species. It seems that we feel obliged to display brazen hostility toward each other, to the point of engaging in violence, before we can reconcile to friendship.
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 30, 2012

Teleworking: Home sweet ... office

On March 13, 2011, just two days after the Great East Japan Earthquake, as massive aftershocks rocked the capital and fears of a radioactive cloud spreading over the country seemed all-too real, Yasuyuki Higuchi, president of a Tokyo-based software company, sat down and typed an email to his 2,200 staff....
EDITORIALS
Sep 29, 2012

Mr. Putin's 'pivot' toward Asia

Russia is a huge country that spans eight time zones, stretching from the borders of Europe to the Pacific Ocean. For centuries it has grappled with its "Eurasian" identity, debating whether its national interest are best served by choosing between one half or the other or offering itself as a bridge...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 27, 2012

Tadanori Yokoo prepares to 'move on' in different ways

Tadanori Yokoo, bad boy of the Japanese art scene since the 1960s, is showing nine works, most of which were made within the last couple of years, at Scai The Bathhouse in the Yanaka district of Tokyo. The small exhibition, titled "Destination the Teshima Art House Project" serves to not only showcase...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 21, 2012

'The Hunger Games'

In 2000, filmmaker Kinji Fukasaku came out with his adaptation of the novel "Battle Royale," a dystopian fable set in a near-future totalitarian Japan where a law called "BR" has been established to keep ninth-graders under strict control in a world of torturous fear and brutal murder. Twelve years later,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 16, 2012

The long tradition of sanitizing history

Ways of Forgetting, Ways of Remembering: Japan in the Modern World, by John W. Dower. New Press, 2012, 336 pp., $26.95 (hardcover) Toru Hashimoto, mayor of Osaka and leader of the Nippon Ishin-no Kai, recently tried to revise the history of comfort women, saying that there is no evidence that the Japanese...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 14, 2012

'This is Not a Film'

I met Iranian director Jafar Panahi back in 1996, shortly before his debut feature film "The White Balloon" picked up the Gold Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival — one of many prizes that film garnered. My interview has been lost to the sands of time (hard to believe, but there was a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 14, 2012

Nice guy actor Ryo Kase plays rough in 'Like Someone in Love'

There are two types of actors: ones who disappear into their roles and ones who make their roles disappear into them, playing versions of themselves in film after film.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / ANALYSIS
Sep 12, 2012

Island disputes could cost Tokyo 2020 Olympics

With the vote to determine the host of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games less than one year away, Tokyo's chances of landing the global extravaganza could slip away in the wake of Japan's ongoing involvement in island disputes with South Korea, China, Russia and Taiwan.
COMMENTARY
Sep 12, 2012

New ships give China's navy a stronger punch

In the latest step in its naval modernization and expansion, China recently announced that it is accelerating serial production of an advanced destroyer. This will tilt the regional balance of power at sea in its favor and put it in a stronger position to enforce its sovereignty claims over Taiwan and...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 10, 2012

Home centers forcing JA to improve its game for farmers

Home center Komeri has become a potent challenge to JA's farm-sector retail dominance.
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 9, 2012

Tohoku fisheries fight back from 3/11

"The facts about much of Japan's social, political, and financial life are hidden so well that the truth is nearly impossible to know," writes Alex Kerr in his acclaimed 2001 study "Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan." He continues, "A lack of reliable data is the single most significant...
COMMENTARY
Sep 8, 2012

Should Bush and Blair be tried for war crimes?

In what is the latest of many calls for the trial of former U.S. President George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner has demanded that both leaders be tried for their role in the Iraq war. Given the tremendous loss of lives and the...
Japan Times
Sep 3, 2012

Explore new horizons in borderless world

The findings of a survey conducted recently by a leading Japanese business daily have come as a great shock for Japanese university officials and others concerned. The survey asked senior personnel managers at major Japanese corporations to name any Japanese universities that they believe are worthy...

Longform

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