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EDITORIALS
Apr 23, 2011

Bolster disaster assistance fund

The government has started the work to draw up a grand design for reconstruction of Japan from the March 11 quake and tsunami. But it also must focus on helping disaster victims to put their lives back together. The most pressing priority should be the rebuilding of residences. According to the National...
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2011

Gillard pledges assistance, reliable energy supply

Visiting Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard pledged Thurday that Canberra will continue to be a "reliable supplier of energy" to Japan, while expressing her condolences over the March 11 disaster to Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2011

Orchestra made homeless by quake

The earthquake that hit northeastern Japan last month sent ceilings crashing as far away as Muza Symphony Hall in Kawasaki, more than 300 km from its epicenter.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2011

Children's voices soothe Iwate survivors

As survivors from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami sat in evacuation centers across Iwate Prefecture on March 19, support came from a surprising source. Amid the steady flow of information from the radio, a children's choir began singing.
COMMENTARY
Apr 21, 2011

Gas: the rising star of engery

As many countries become wary of nuclear power following Japan's atomic disaster, they are looking to natural gas as the best alternative for generating electricity.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 19, 2011

Students choose failure over uncertainty

"Could you please fail me?" As a university lecturer, it is by no means unusual to have seniors drop by to check if they have sufficient credits to graduate. However, I was flabbergasted by this recent visitor who wanted not reassurance - she was on track to graduate - but rather my cooperation in failing...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2011

More than cocoa at stake in helping out Ivory Coast

Looking at the scenes of bloodshed and looting, and the terrified flight of thousands of people, as Alessane Outtara took over as president, it is hard to imagine that only 25 years ago the Ivory Coast was the sparkling jewel of sub-Saharan Africa.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2011

The only panacea for Indonesia's troubles

Is there any idea of the rule of law in the Indonesian Constitution? What is the notion of the rule of law in the context of Indonesia?
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2011

The enemies of a digital universal library

Scholars have long dreamed of a universal library containing everything that has ever been written. Then, in 2004, Google announced that it would begin digitally scanning all the books held by five major research libraries. Suddenly, the library of utopia seemed within reach.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 12, 2011

Tigers ready to make run at title

The following is the second of a two-part preview for the upcoming NPB season. Team-by-team previews of the six Central League clubs are in order of predicted finish.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 11, 2011

Measuring the revolution wave

NEW YORK — A prediction three months ago that popular protests would soon topple a dictatorship in Tunisia, sweep Hosni Mubarak from power in Egypt, provoke civil war in Moammar Gadhafi's Libya, and rattle regimes from Morocco to Yemen would have drawn serious skepticism. We knew the tinder was dry,...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 10, 2011

Kroon can't make cut with San Francisco

Marc Kroon was cut just prior to opening day after trying to make the San Francisco Giants. The six-year Japan veteran closer with the Yokohama BayStars and Yomiuri Giants was attempting to return to the majors with the defending World Series champions, and he did not make the team — but why not?...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2011

Smiles belie traumatized kids

KARAKUWA, Miyagi Pref. — Zoom in for a snapshot of apparent normalcy: children sitting in a circle, clasping playing cards tightly in their hands. They laugh, chat and occasionally hop up to break into a goofy dance.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Apr 3, 2011

Japan's 'La Gaijine'

On Francoise Morechand's living room table there sits a book once owned by a samurai in the Edo Period (1603-1867) that she says she has been studying.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2011

Quake relief effort highlights a vital U.S. military function

SENDAI — In September 2009, I resigned my tenured faculty position at a Japanese national university to begin working for the U.S. Marine Corps in Okinawa. While at Osaka University, I had the opportunity to teach many talented Japanese and international students over the years both at the undergraduate...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2011

Time for a Japan-U.S. mutual assistance treaty

Immediately following the tragic earthquake and tsunami on March 11 in the Tohoku region, U.S. military forces in Japan began sending supplies, equipment, and personnel to the devastated area to assist in the relief operations known as "Operation Tomodachi."
EDITORIALS
Mar 30, 2011

Portugal's problems

And now, it is Portugal's turn. Last Wednesday, the government in Lisbon was forced to resign when the opposition refused to back a tough economic package designed to tackle the country's fiscal crisis. The result is a political crisis on top of an economic mess, one that threatens — again — to spill...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Mar 29, 2011

Arai plays vital role in helping baseball do right thing

Years from now, when fans look back at the 2011 NPB season, it should be noted somewhere that Hanshin Tigers third baseman Takahiro Arai's biggest hit came before the season, when the Central League finally relented and shifted its season openers to April 12.
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2011

Mitsubishi unit buys buildings from Lone Star

Mitsubishi Estate Co., Japan's second-largest developer, said Monday it has bought two buildings in central Tokyo from Lone Star Funds.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2011

Tsunami survivors face monstrous cleanup task

HIGASHIMATSUSHIMA, Miyagi Pref. — Where do you even start?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 26, 2011

Canadian writer draws on creators' support for Tohoku

News stories around the world reveal a deluge of incomprehensible sameness, the debris of aggregate destruction overshadowing an area known for its rugged beauty and strong individuals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 25, 2011

Dubstep acts Ena, Helixir to play Module

The dubstep sound — characterized by 2-step garage beats and deep, undulating bass lines — that began in London about a decade ago has caught on somewhat in Tokyo and evolved into its own scene. It's still relatively young, but groups of Japanese and foreign artists are injecting their own energy...
COMMENTARY
Mar 24, 2011

Nuclear meltdowns and Japanese culture

Japanese engineers have a much deserved reputation for efficiency. How else could they have created a car industry that could defeat the U.S industry on its home ground? But the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant suggests a partial rethink is needed. When it comes to nuclear affairs, maybe...
COMMENTARY
Mar 23, 2011

Nuclear power no solution

NEW DELHI — Just when nuclear energy had come to be seen as part of the solution to energy and global-warming challenges, the serial reactor incidents in Fukushima have dealt a severe blow to the world nuclear-power industry, a powerful cartel of less than a dozen major state-owned or state-guided...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2011

Disaster analysis you may not hear elsewhere

The seemingly limited information being provided by both the government and the operating company, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), about the ongoing disaster at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is a source of widespread public concern.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 19, 2011

Valentine supports relief efforts

NEW YORK — Bobby Valentine has been working on little sleep since Japan was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami last week, devoting much of his time to tracking down friends and former players and figuring out a way to help from thousands of kilometers away.

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