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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / IN THE RECORD
May 17, 2012

A Taut Line

Tokyo-based British DJ/producer Matt Lyne, aka A Taut Line, coruns the record label Diskotopia, with Brian Durr, aka BD1982. A Taut Line's melodic broken house, garage and techno productions are just as influenced by the Chicago jazz and postrock scenes as by the 1980s Chicago house scene. Meanwhile,...
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
May 16, 2012

Suzuki aiming higher following best season of career

Coming off the best season of her long career, one might think world bronze medalist Akiko Suzuki could be content to retire from competition and turn to show skating.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2012

Is Europe on a cross of gold?

Increasingly, one hears predictions that the euro will go the way of the gold standard in the 1930s. And, increasingly, the reasoning behind such forecasts seems persuasive. But does that mean that the euro doomsayers are right?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
May 15, 2012

Olympus fiasco was 'lost opportunity'

Waku Miller, a resident of Tokyo for over 30 years and a veteran translator who recently served as a spokesman for Michael C. Woodford — former president and CEO of Olympus Corp. — said he found it odd how indifferent major Japanese shareholders were even after a massive loss coverup by the camera...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 13, 2012

Though spooked by new threats, Japanese accept mass killers

Before March last year, if you'd asked a child in Japan about nuclear radiation you would probably have been told about Godzilla, the monster powered by mutations caused by radiation, or Tetsuwan Atomu, aka the nuclear-powered robot Astro Boy. Not any more.
JAPAN
May 12, 2012

Group dumps Tokyo antinuke plebiscite petition on Ishihara

A citizens' group has submitted a petition to Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara demanding he create an ordinance to allow the capital to hold a local referendum on the abolition of nuclear power.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
May 12, 2012

Overuse could be a factor in Asao's drop in efficiency this season

Chunichi Dragons reliever Takuya Asao gave up an earned run against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows during the eighth inning of Thursday's game at Nagoya Dome.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 6, 2012

Japan's modern haiku master

IKIMONOFUEI: Poetic Composition on Living Things, by Kaneko Tohta. Red Moon Press, 2011, 91 pp., $12.00 (paperback) THE FUTURE OF HAIKU: An Interview with Kaneko Tohta. Red Moon Press 2011, 137 pp., $12.00 (paperback) These two handy pocket-size volumes are the first of four to be issued by the Red Moon...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 4, 2012

Playoffs could provide surprises in both conferences

And now, finally, it's time for the real season to tip off.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
May 1, 2012

Who you buy a home from can make a big difference in price

We met the real estate agent at Honda Station on the Sotobo Line in Chiba Prefecture. As we drove to the property we talked about the area. Though a typically cramped Japanese bedroom community, it's a bit older than most, so the houses were more varied in shape and size, with wider spaces between them,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
May 1, 2012

Yes, I can use chopsticks: the everyday 'microaggressions' that grind us down

Have you ever noticed how many interpersonal interactions in Japan are like "speed dates" of set questions?
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 29, 2012

Reversing Japan's rising sex aversion may depend on a rebirth of hope

"If young people's aversion to sex continues to increase at the present rate, the situation of Japan's low fertility rate and rapid ageing will rapidly worsen. ... The Japanese economy will lose its vitality even more than now. If this happens, this nation might eventually perish into extinction."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 29, 2012

Portraits and memories of those who survived the horrors of war

FROM ABOVE, by Paule Saviano. Contents Factory, 2011, 256 p.p., ¥8,000 (hardcover) The twentieth century had, among other things, the dubious distinction of being one of the bloodiest, deadliest times in world history. Wars, genocide, mass murders, etc, aided by the best technology available at the...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Apr 29, 2012

Yokohama's Burrell the total package

Justin Burrell embodies the best attributes of professional sports.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 27, 2012

Representing Japan at Art Kyoto

In the wake of the recently held Art Fair Tokyo, Kyoto is following up with its own alternative in Art Kyoto. Organizers will, however, eschew the international art fair model seen in Tokyo and do what Kyoto does best — represent Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 27, 2012

Representing Japan at Art Kyoto

In the wake of the recently held Art Fair Tokyo, Kyoto is following up with its own alternative in Art Kyoto. Organizers will, however, eschew the international art fair model seen in Tokyo and do what Kyoto does best — represent Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 27, 2012

'Thermae Romae'

Reading manga can teach you a lot, be the subject wine ("Kami no Shizuku [Drops of God]"), gourmet food ("Oishinbo") or the arcane world of feudal-era concubines ("Sakuran"). But the Japanese bath? Isn't that a subject Japanese are immersed in almost from Day One? Why would they need to read about it...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LIGHT GIST
Apr 24, 2012

Poetic, but maybe not justice: Japan demystified in haiku

One of my goals in writing for The Japan Times over the years has been to try to render the seemingly arcane functioning of the Japanese legal system a bit more comprehensible to non-Japanese, non-legal types. This involves a big assumption that I understand it myself, but I have at least tried to offer...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Apr 24, 2012

Polish journalist-designer-photographers Pawel Musialowski and Malgorzata Gajderowicz

Pawel "Mr. Jedi" Musialowski, 39, and Malgorzata Gajderowicz, 29, are a Polish journalist-designer-photographer, husband-and-wife team who video-blog exclusively about their favorite place on earth: Japan. Pawel created Kawaii, Poland's first magazine dedicated to Japanese manga and anime in 1997, and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 20, 2012

Actress Mizukawa tackles 'violent, turbulent' character

Despite being holed up in a Tokyo hotel room for a press junket, 28-year-old actress Asami Mizukawa is surprisingly upbeat. However, she gives an unusual response when asked about the new TV mini-series she is starring in.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / WEEK 3
Apr 15, 2012

Ballet students poised for giant leap abroad

The moment Birmingham Royal Ballet principal dancer Robert Parker began talking about cartwheels, everything seemed to change.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 13, 2012

Asano goes for an A-1 hit with 'Battleship' film

History often repeats itself in the most interesting ways. In 1945, principal members of the Japanese government signed an agreement for total surrender of the country's armed forces to the United States atop the famed USS Missouri battleship, also known as the "Mighty Mo." Sixty-seven years later, audiences...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Apr 10, 2012

Architect builds bridge to Thai wife

Yoichi Kubota, a scholar in environmental planning and design, met Patmakorn Suntharothok, who was to become his future wife, for the first time when she was studying business management in the United States 12 years ago.
Reader Mail
Apr 8, 2012

Expressions to avoid discomfort

I don't think Jennifer Kim ("Expressions of religious belief," April 5) correctly criticizes Paul Gaysford ("Sentiment that does not console," April 1) when she writes in her letter that he was trying to silence the public expression of religious belief by Megumi Watanabe ("Hope for 3/11 survivors,"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 8, 2012

Buddhist wisdom and questions of science

Meditations of a Buddhist Skeptic: A Manifesto for the Mind Sciences and Contemplative Practice, by B. Alan Wallace. Columbia University Press, 2011, 304 pp., $27.95 (hardcover) This book is a stirring attack on the hubris and blind spots of the scientific establishment, combined with an engaging presentation...
EDITORIALS
Apr 8, 2012

Auditing work conditions in Asia

Recently Apple computer company and one of its main subsidiaries, the Taiwan-based technology provider, Foxconn, agreed to be audited. The auditors from the independent Fair Labor Association did not look into the accounting books, but into the company's working conditions.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 2, 2012

Intelligent urban design that'll let people bloom

Two months ago, I was introduced to a startup called CityMart, a for-profit marketplace dedicated to helping vendors and city managers find one another — and to spreading municipal innovations outside of their home turf.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 2, 2012

Noda's plan to increase sales tax

There's no such thing as a popular tax increase. Woe betide the leader who sees no other way out of a fiscal impasse.
Reader Mail
Apr 1, 2012

Overcoming digital disconnect

Regarding the March 28 editorial "Challenges for electronics makers": Things have only just started to change in Japan, so I'd like to believe that this is just a confusing transition phase that will be overcome after much debate and hard bargaining.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Mar 31, 2012

Sumo returns to Osaka with a bang

For the first time since March of 2010, the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium played host to a sumo tournament.

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