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EDITORIALS
Jul 29, 2012

Billionaire's tax to help the poor

In searching for new sources of funding, the United Nations this month called for a tax on billionaires to raise money for poor countries. According to the assessment in the U.N. World Economic and Social Survey, an annual tax on the world's super-rich would yield almost $400 billion a year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jul 28, 2012

Small lives changed through the power of a photo

For over five years now, The Japan Times has run a weekly photo box featuring a cat or dog in need of a home, as well as success stories of animals that have been adopted.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 27, 2012

'Kazoku no Kuni (Our Homeland)'

Many Japanese directors make family dramas — it's the default setting for serious filmmakers here — but they are usually not telling their own family stories, however fictionalized.
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Jul 27, 2012

London will launch dreams for millions

You can't put a price tag on dreams. And that alone has created worldwide fascination for the Olympics for decades now.
COMMENTARY
Jul 26, 2012

Syria's minority prospects

In war, moral power is to physical as three parts out of four, said Napoleon, and the past few days have seen a sudden and drastic shift in the balance of moral power in Syria.
COMMENTARY
Jul 25, 2012

China, Russia and Syria: the ghost of Gadhafi at the U.N.

China and Russia have cast three vetoes so far on draft U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions aimed at tougher international responses to the Syrian's government's brutal crackdown on protestors and rebels.
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Jul 24, 2012

Abe, Matsuda stand out among NPB players

With another NPB All-Star Series in the books, Japanese baseball shifts its attention back to the pennant races in the Central and Pacific Leagues.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Jul 22, 2012

Summer League needed to help players improve

Summer time shouldn't be a low-key offseason for the bj-league. Instead, there's plenty of work to do — together.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2012

Easing of U.S. beef import curbs mulled

The Food Safety Commission will meet next Tuesday to discuss whether to approve the government's proposal of easing restrictions on U.S. beef imports, said Makato Osone, a commission official.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 19, 2012

Greeen Linez debut revisits Japan's City Pop summer jams of the past

Nostalgia is nothing new in popular music. A disco revival during the 1990s (think Deee-Lite), led to a renewed fascination with the 1980s during the 2000s (think Chromeo and a synth-pop boom) and that decade even started seeing a '90s revival toward the end of it.
Reader Mail
Jul 15, 2012

Why Japan hosts fewer startups

A 2003 study by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor showed that Japan has the lowest entrepreneurship activity among 37 countries surveyed. After reading past studies in this area, I discovered that the best predictor of entrepreneurial activity is population growth.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 15, 2012

Farmers try to fence out nasty nature

I once asked a professor of agriculture in the southwestern United States what sort of fence would keep a goat from escaping.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 15, 2012

Life up in the treetops

Imagine strolling through a forest and coming across a hut supported by four trees 8 meters off the ground. With its triangular roof, stained-glass door panels and timber decking, at first sight it's like something in a fairyland.
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2012

Shipbuilders look for big boost in orders

Japan Ship Investment Facilitation Co., a finance consultancy formed by the nation's shipbuilders, said it may help the yards win ¥100 billion in orders in three years by using government-backed funding.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 12, 2012

Various Artists "Ripple"

It seems that every indie scenester in Japan wants a piece of Nagoya these days. Buzz is growing around the city's bands, and it's fast becoming an essential first stop away from home for Tokyo artists and DJ events. One of the reasons for this new love affair comes from the efforts of the label Knew...
COMMENTARY
Jul 11, 2012

India's American friends and Iranian partners

The United States recently took the Iran-sanctions monkey off India's back: It granted India an exemption from Iran-related financial sanctions in exchange for significant cuts in Indian purchases of Iranian oil. Nevertheless, Iran continues to cast a pall over an otherwise brightening U.S.-India relationship....
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2012

Marubeni to overhaul Myanmar power plant

Kyodo Marubeni Corp. says it has been awarded a contract by the public utility Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise to overhaul a thermal power plant.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 10, 2012

Place your bets: Local governments pray for a jackpot

A lottery win can be a jackpot for the local government where the tickets were sold.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 10, 2012

Osprey deployment heightens safety worry

The United States last month announced that the MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft will be deployed to U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa as scheduled in October.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 6, 2012

Director Nobuhiro Yamashita's commercial film departure

Starting with his first film "Donten Seikatsu (Hazy Life)" from 1999, director Nobuhiro Yamashita explored slackerdom, Japan-style, with a laconically knowing eye and a laidback sense of humor. Rejecting the broad approach of so much local comedy, he developed gags from off-beat, spot-on observations...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 6, 2012

Rokurinsha: A ramen line-up worth dipping into

Even in the middle of the afternoon on a gray, rainy-season Monday, the queue in front of us is the best part of an hour deep and moving at snail's pace. Only to be expected at Tokyo Skytree, you might say. Except we're not lining up for the observation deck: We're there for the new branch of the legendary...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 1, 2012

The land where sex fears to tread

No love, no sex, no marriage, no kids — such, in glum outline, is Japan today. It's too bleak a picture, it can't be true! But it can't be false either. If it were, people would be marrying, making babies and having love affairs. Instead, statistics reflecting everything from marriage and childbirth...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 1, 2012

Kato showed strong leadership in introducing new ball, Mizuno says

Kim Yu Na played a huge role in securing the 2018 Winter Olympics for Pyeongchang, South Korea, last year. Prior to that, David Beckham helped do the same for London, which will host this year's Summer Games.
BASKETBALL
Jun 30, 2012

Kreckovic named new Evessa coach

Veteran Serbian bench boss Zoran Kreckovic has been named the Osaka Evessa's new head coach, the bj-league club announced Friday evening.
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2012

Mexicans ready for a change

There's no point in talking about who's going to win the Mexican presidential election on July 1. Enrique Pena Nieto is going to win it. What's more interesting is why he's going to win it.

Longform

Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo” was released Nov. 23, 1985, and though it wasn’t a hit at the time, it has gained a cult following in the years since.
Eat, slurp, love: 'Tampopo' turns 40