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COMMENTARY
Nov 4, 2009

Pollution fears don't dent coal's popularity

Asia's rebound from the global economic slump is cheering the world with its promise of more growth, jobs and trade. But the revival is bad news for the environment because it is largely driven by a production and transport system addicted to fossil fuels, especially coal and oil. This helps explain...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Nov 3, 2009

Demography vs. demagoguery: when politics, science collide

Last June, I attended a symposium sponsored by the German Institute of Japanese Studies. Themed "Imploding Populations: Global and Local Challenges of Demographic Change," I took in presentations about health care, international and domestic migration, and life in a geriatric society.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Nov 3, 2009

Demography vs. demagoguery: when politics, science collide

Last June, I attended a symposium sponsored by the German Institute of Japanese Studies. Themed "Imploding Populations: Global and Local Challenges of Demographic Change," I took in presentations about health care, international and domestic migration, and life in a geriatric society.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 1, 2009

Japan Prize awards, documentary on Nara temple, and Beat Takeshi's definition of beauty

On Monday, NHK will broadcast the winners of the 36th annual "Nihon-sho" (Japan Prize; NHK-E, 6-8 p.m.), which awards outstanding domestic and international contributions to educational television.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 30, 2009

'Drag Me to Hell'

Once upon a time Sam Raimi wasn't the boring, franchise-friendly director on display in those anemic "Spiderman" movies. No, Raimi started out as a wild man of excess; his debut film, 1984's "The Evil Dead," was a slavering undead movie that went far, far beyond all previous limits of taste or imagination....
BUSINESS / Q&A
Oct 29, 2009

Japan Post, with new boss, returning to public roots

Bowing to calls to resign, most adamantly by Shizuka Kamei, state minister in charge of postal services, charismatic former banker Yoshifumi Nishikawa officially stepped down Wednesday as president of Japan Post Holdings Co. and was replaced by former Vice Finance Minister Jiro Saito.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 25, 2009

Managerial wheels spinning as NPB teams change bench bosses

Three Japanese teams have already filled managerial vacancies while two others are expected to name their choices sometime soon as the Climax and Japan Series draw to a close, in time for fall camp, the Oct. 29 amateur draft and the printing of the 2010 team calendars.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Oct 24, 2009

Standing army still the prize peace-breaker

NEW YORK — The news that President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize immediately brought to mind comparisons with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who received the same prize back in 1973. In the outpourings of sharply divided reactions that ensued, a great many, it turned...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2009

Yokohama farm event sprouts to spread Slow Food in Japan

YOKOHAMA — A food exhibition featuring local produce and the farmers who grew it opened Friday in Yokohama's Naka Ward to promote the Slow Food movement in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 23, 2009

Tokyo theater scene gets kiss of life

The Edinburgh theater and street-performance festival in Scotland annually sends a buzz round the arts world; France's Avignon invariably features a cordon bleu international menu; and Adelaide and Singapore vie for the Asia-Pacific spotlight.
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2009

Carmaker quandary: shrink but also grow

Japanese carmakers are facing a dilemma. They have to trim their global output capacity amid a stagnant world economy that has weakened their financial health while trying at the same time to gain stronger footholds in emerging markets, experts say.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 20, 2009

Seeking some advice, a lost father, friend

Where is my father? Yovichi (Yoichi?) Perez is "Japinoy," meaning of Filipino-Japanese ancestry. He saw a letter from a Japinoy like himself, also looking for his father, so he thought he would try his luck with us.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 18, 2009

Classic tales of newsprint noir

While a senior at Tokyo's Sophia University, 23-year-old Missouri native Jake Adelstein was heading home from a Shinjuku cinema when, on a whim, he dropped into a game arcade and popped u00a5100 into the slot of a fortunetelling robot for some mystical career advice.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 16, 2009

Crystal Kay is having a ball

"There is still some racial thing going on," claims a mild-mannered Crystal Kay. "Some people can't accept there are a lot of foreigners out there, even in the industry.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2009

Divorced fathers fight for right to see children

On Christmas Eve two years ago, Masahiro Yoshida returned to his home to find it empty. His wife had fled with their 2-year-old daughter and was seeking a divorce.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 9, 2009

The past and present of bands tearing up Japan's underground scene

Old school: Notable for Koichi Makigami's distinctive, Kabuki-influenced vocal style, Hikashu were, alongside P-Model and The Plastics, one of the defining bands of Japanese new wave and technopop, although from their poppy debut they quickly tacked in a more experimental direction. At Drive to 2010...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 9, 2009

All aboard for Drive to 2010

It's Aug. 28, 1979, and the audience dutifully files into the old Shinjuku Loft livehouse to take their places, seated on the floor in preparation for another night of quiet musical appreciation. This time, however, something strange starts to happen. People keep coming in, the audience have to shuffle...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 9, 2009

Tokyo's new space for Chinese photography

In the 1950s American photographer Robert Frank traveled the United States with help from a Guggenheim grant, taking a series of sublime images of people from all walks of life documenting the mediocrity of diners and cocky cowboys to funerals and soulless bus depots.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 6, 2009

Rice — a staple of unstable future, funds?

Rice is an indispensable staple in Japan, but the people who grow it have an average age of 60 and their offspring increasingly are looking to other, more lucrative fields.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Oct 4, 2009

Sharapova takes big step in return

Maria Sharapova made progress in her comeback Saturday even though her first title after a 10-month layoff was cut short by injury to her opponent.

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