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COMMENTARY
May 25, 2010

Afghan kids paying price of opium addiction

NEW YORK — The revelation that the number of opium-addicted Afghan children has reached new highs is a tragic unintended consequence of that war. It dramatically illustrates how adult war games doom generations of children to a miserable life.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
May 25, 2010

Natsu Batsu signals changing times

Few sports fans in Japan will be unaware that yokozuna Hakuho recently walked away from the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament at the Ryogoku Kokugikan having claimed his 14th career Emperor's Cup with his 6th perfect 15-0 finish. 
COMMENTARY / World
May 24, 2010

India needs to tread cautiously for a bolder nuclear-control deal

LONDON — A monthlong charade commenced early this month at the United Nations with the start of the eighth five-year Review Conference of the 42-year-old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 23, 2010

Niigata hoping to lure an NPB team to new stadium

City officials in Niigata have, at least three times in the past five years, expressed their desire to land a Nippon Professional Baseball franchise to play in a beautiful new ballpark opened in 2009.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 23, 2010

Can celebs cut mustard in rough-and-tumble politics?

TAs the July 11 Upper House election draws near, the parties add more candidates to their slates and, predictably, many turn out to be athletes and showbiz personalities with no political experience. Celebrity candidates have been a fixture of Japanese elections as long as there have been Japanese elections,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 21, 2010

Globally minded director goes native

It's sad but true that Japanese directors with big reputations abroad are often odd men (or women) out back home.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 21, 2010

'Haru tono tabi (Travels with Haru)'

Masahiro Kobayashi is a unique figure in the Japanese film business. His knotty, idiosyncratic films, starting with the 1996 film "Closing Time," have never made much at the box office in Japan, though they have become favorites of foreign festival programmers. Four have screened at Cannes, including...
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2010

West doesn't want a democratic Middle East

CAMBRIDGE, England — The lack of democracy in the Arab world results from an unholy alliance between Western interests and local autocrats, justified by what both sides claim to be the region's "cultural specificity."
EDITORIALS
May 19, 2010

Free speech and public servants

The Tokyo High Court on May 13 upheld a lower court ruling that fined Mr. Shinichi Ujibashi, a former deputy division chief of the health, labor and welfare ministry, ¥100,000 for distributing copies of the Japanese Communist Party newspaper the day before the September 2005 Lower House election. He...
COMMENTARY
May 19, 2010

Coalition off to a good start

Britain's May 6 general election was different from previous elections both in the way the campaigns were conducted and in its final outcome.
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2010

India-China competition dims hopes for regional cooperation

LONDON — Established in 1985, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) had its 16th summit meeting in Thimpu, Bhutan, late last month. Apart from the fact that Bhutan hosted its first SAARC summit, there was hardly anything that inspired confidence in this largely moribund organization...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 16, 2010

Three-time CL batting king Powell relishing chance to coach Mariners

Congratulations are in order to Alonzo Powell on being named batting coach with the Seattle Mariners last week. As one who played seven years with the Chunichi Dragons and Hanshin Tigers, Powell is well remembered in Japan by fans and friends, and it would not be surprising to see him become a major...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 16, 2010

One of a kind

A young Japanese woman in colorful African clothes appeared on the stage at a small club in Tokyo's central Roppongi district on April 25. She sat down on a low chair in front of an eight-stringed wooden instrument.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 16, 2010

'Pig Meat' journeys from cute to cutlets

A series of food-safety scandals in the early and mid 2000s — involving, among other scares, bacteria-infected milk and poisonous Chinese dumplings — have made many more people in Japan aware of the need to know — and the danger of not knowing — the origins of their daily fare.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2010

Don't write Labour Party off

In an ironic twist, just as the Democratic Party of Japan government is considering importing elements of the Westminster model, British politics begins turning Japanese.
EDITORIALS
May 14, 2010

Shape of citizens' justice

Some 20 Diet members, mostly Democratic Party of Japan members, have formed a Diet members' federation to consider the shape of the nation's judicial system. The federation formed on April 28 — one day after the No. 5 Prosecution Inquest Committee in Tokyo, a judicial review panel of 11 citizens, unanimously...
BUSINESS
May 14, 2010

Sony cuts annual loss to ¥41 billion

Sony Corp. stayed in the red last business year but reduced losses through cost cuts and better sales of consumer electronics.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
May 13, 2010

Pierce prepares for playoffs

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with individuals in the bj-league. The league's fifth season began in October. Head coach Bob Pierce of the Shiga Lakestars is the subject of this week's profile.
BUSINESS
May 12, 2010

Toyota logs ¥148 billion 2009 profit despite recall woes

Despite massive recalls that dented its safety image, Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it logged a ¥147.5 billion group operating profit for the business year that ended in March, reversing the ¥461 billion loss recorded a year earlier.
BASKETBALL
May 12, 2010

Bryant named Rera Kamuy coach

It's official: Joe Bryant will be Rera Kamuy Hokkaido's new head coach, the Japan Basketball League team announced on Tuesday.

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?