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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 8, 2011

Okinawa comic duo show less is more

On Dec. 26, as the curtain came down on the 10th and final M-1 Grand Prix — an annual comedy competition aired live on TV Asahi — there was a distinct feeling that something special had been witnessed, that the performance of one duo in particular heralded the beginning of something new.
Reader Mail
Apr 7, 2011

Credit for Japan's modern success

Regarding Michael Hoffman's Timeout April 3 article, "Renewed national pride will shape Japan's future": The Japanese never lost their "Japanese spirit" after World War II. Nor did they become "Americanized" and lose their unique culture. We might have whipped them, but all America did was point Japan...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 7, 2011

The best kindergarten lessons are at lunch time

Despite the devastation of the earthquake and tsunami in the northeastern part of Honshu, in most of Japan, life has to go on as usual.
EDITORIALS
Apr 6, 2011

End game in Ivory Coast

In most elections, the person who collects the most votes is declared winner and takes the office that was contested. Not in the Ivory Coast. There, incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has refused to leave office after losing to former Prime Minister Alessane Ouattara.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2011

Paint Thailand yellow and red, with a caveat to compromise

BANGKOK — After three consecutive years of deadly street protests, Thailand has arrived at the point where it will need to hold new elections, as the current term of its national assembly expires next December.
Reader Mail
Apr 3, 2011

Leaders must anticipate disaster

Again, America is witnessing an international crisis, this time the earthquake-tsunami aftermath in Japan. As we have seen so many times in recent years — especially after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans (2005) — our nation's leaders appear to grow wiser by reaction rather than by a proactive approach....
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Apr 2, 2011

Frontale's Soma says being manager no easy task

KAWASAKI — Forty-four-year-old Kazuyoshi Miura may have rolled back the years to score in Tuesday's disaster relief charity match, but for former international teammate Naoki Soma those days are long gone.
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 29, 2011

The false panacea of workforce flexibility

AMSTERDAM — Competitiveness has become one of the economic buzzwords of our time. U.S. President Barack Obama trumpeted it during his State of the Union address in January, while European leaders and Japanese fiscal policy minister Kaoru Yosano have embraced it as a priority.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 29, 2011

From raw emotion to relief: 'Quakebook'

What started as the "Quakebook," now titled "2:46" after the time the earthquake hit, originated in a shower in Abiko, Chiba Prefecture, a week after the earthquake and tsunami devastated the Pacific coast of northern Honshu. A longtime British resident of Japan, who blogs as Our Man in Abiko, trying...
Reader Mail
Mar 27, 2011

Reassurance from New Orleans

We are saddened beyond words at the loss of homes and communities because of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant disaster. We want to reach out to the Japanese people to express our hope and confidence that they will overcome these terrible circumstances. Our hearts ache for them. We want to tell...
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2011

Tsunami survivors face monstrous cleanup task

HIGASHIMATSUSHIMA, Miyagi Pref. — Where do you even start?
COMMENTARY
Mar 25, 2011

'Protect' the Syrians next?

LONDON — March 18 saw the first nationwide protests against the Ba'ath regime in Syria. If these protests develop into a full-scale revolt, the regime's response may dwarf that of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 24, 2011

Koganecho transformed: from sleaze to teas

On a cherry-blossom blessed curve of Yokohama's Ooka River lies Koganecho — the town of gold. For the past 60 years, however, this alluring name has felt like a bad joke to local residents.
EDITORIALS
Mar 24, 2011

Enough, Mr. Gadhafi

Last Friday the United Nations Security Council agreed to impose a no-fly zone in Libya, after weeks of negotiations. There are fears that it may be too late to protect civilians or stop the forces of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi from crushing the armed revolt against him. Nevertheless, it does provide...
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...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 20, 2011

This awful tragedy will show Japan's true character to the world

Some people look for moral lessons in disasters, concentrating on a baby pulled out of the rubble of an earthquake days after it struck and calling it a "miracle." But a tsunami of the scale that crashed against the manmade seawalls along the Pacific Coast of the Tohoku region in northeast Japan left...
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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 18, 2011

'Never let Me Go'/'Away We Go'

The challenge this week is how to convince you to go see "Never Let Me Go" without ruining its surprises for you. The film looks deceptively normal: It's a love triangle with Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan set in 1970s and '80s England. But — and this is a huge but — there's...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 16, 2011

Eagles faced with formidable obstacles in wake of disaster in Tohoku

Heartbreak.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Mar 14, 2011

Hamaguchi's steady hand on tiller steers 89ers in right direction

KASUKABE, Saitama Pref. — It's no shock that the Sendai 89ers are once again one of the most consistent, quality clubs in the bj-league. Above all, it begins with good coaching.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2011

Is the world ready for a China slowdown?

BERKELEY, Calif. — With the world's rich countries still hung over from the financial crisis, the global economy has come to depend on emerging markets to drive growth. Increasingly, machinery exporters, energy suppliers and raw-materials producers alike look to China and other fast-growing developing...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 12, 2011

Tomioka Silk Mill ranks as Meiji Era industrial gem

In his youth, Shinji Takahashi was a featherweight boxer. Today, working with his two younger brothers in a family legal practice based in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, he is a heavyweight lawyer and committed activist.

Longform

It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?