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Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 18, 2012

Griffey pitches in to aid Japan

If there was one thing former MLB superstar Ken Griffey Jr. was known for during his playing days — well aside from that oh-so sweet swing and his wall-climbing antics in center field at the Kingdome in Seattle — it was his smile.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 15, 2012

Danger! Nuclear waste! Keep out — forever!

The earliest known cave paintings date from about 30,000 years ago, and the earliest bone tools found so far predate those paintings by another 40,000 years. Go back 100,000 years, and Homo sapiens — us lot — are only just emerging, though the fossil record suggests our ancestors back then had larger...
COMMENTARY
Jan 11, 2012

Are protests loosening Putin's grip on power?

Russia cannot be understood with the mind alone,
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,...
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Jan 9, 2012

The Kanji of the Year for 2011: human ties that bind

Every November, in its Kanji of the Year poll, the Japanese Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation invites the public to vote for the character that best symbolizes the year drawing to a close. It then announces the winner in mid December.
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.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 6, 2012

Big man Holm gives Albirex a powerful presence inside

What was the best offseason pickup by a bj-league team?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 5, 2012

Mahjong parlors go deeper underground to stay in business

Police get wise and crack down on some of the mahjong industry's more creative ideas.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 31, 2011

Year of the dragon — it'll be a hot one

The year of the dragon, (tatsu, ryu or ryo in Japanese) is upon us — and now just hours before the New Year, I can see the dragon peeking out of his lair, counting down the seconds until he is allowed to take over the world for a year. As midnight approaches, he waits . . . 10, 9, 8, 7, ready to pounce...
COMMENTARY
Dec 31, 2011

Year of revolution and crisis

Every year brings changes, but some years really are turning points: 1492, 1789, 1914, and 1989, for example. Does 2011 belong in the august company of such Really Important Years? Probably not, but it definitely qualifies for membership in the second tier of Quite Important Years.
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2011

Euro drops below ¥100 for first time since 2001

The euro weakened for a sixth day against the yen on Friday, dropping below 100 for the first time since June 2001, on concern Europe's debt crisis will weigh on the region's economic growth.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 27, 2011

Many angles to acquiring Japanese citizenship

Nationality has long been a controversial issue in Japan. For most, it is something they are born with; for others, it is something they had to fight for. For some, nationality may be a source of pride, while for others, it may be the cause of discrimination.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Dec 26, 2011

Strange how isolationist stance can ruin a politician's reputation

Perhaps because it's a round number, the 70th anniversary of Japan's assault on Pearl Harbor has given me the impression that more articles on it saw print than in the past, except for, as I recall, the 50th anniversary of the same.
COMMENTARY
Dec 26, 2011

The Korean god that failed and then was gone

Major historic chapter-ending news often seems so terribly sudden. Many North Koreans were said to be sincerely weeping over the demise of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il, but for other people around the world, the end came none too soon. Their eyes are quite dry and will so remain, for as long as there is...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2011

Sapporo battles for Vietnam 'guzzlers' as China beer market slows

Japanese brewers are looking past China's $57 billion beer market to a country with less than one-tenth the population: Vietnam.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 20, 2011

Four years after 'Nova shock,' eikaiwa is down but not out

Ask any ordinary person what significance Oct. 26 holds and you might find them struggling for an answer, but for many involved in Japan's beleaguered English teaching industry, it was the day the nation's premier operator fell into administration and took much of the rest of the industry with it.
COMMENTARY
Dec 19, 2011

Motivation for college study

These days we often hear that there are two signs that the Japanese people, especially youths, have become inward-looking: The number of Japanese students going overseas for study has declined sharply, and far fewer employees in the public and private sectors are willing to take up posts outside the...
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Dec 18, 2011

Don't expect Japanese basketball to embrace a real, workable plan

Every few months a false sense of hope surfaces on the blogosphere and in the mainstream media, where optimists peddle the message that Japan's basketball "leaders" finally have their act together, that a new men's pro league will, ahem, finally replace the outdated, increasingly irrelevant JBL and the...

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