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COMMENTARY / World
Oct 17, 2010

European middle-class entitlements: R.I.P.

PARIS — It is usually easier to see the beginning of something than the end of it. Born in 1945 in postwar Britain, the welfare state met its end in Britain last week when British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne repudiated the concept of the "universal benefit," the idea that everyone, not...
COMMENTARY
Oct 17, 2010

Time to let the neighbors deal with the North Korean problem

PARIS — North Korea has officially unveiled the youngest son and heir apparent of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il. Yet again the impoverished dictatorship has captured the world's attention. But the United States should leave the problem of dealing with Pyongyang to the North's neighbors. The so-called Democratic...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 17, 2010

Balloon bombs, poisons all in a day's work at Noborito

"Balloon bombs aimed at North America were released by the thousands," says Meiji University professor Akira Yamada, running his hand in an up-and-down motion across a diagram of the Pacific Ocean. He first points to the spots on the coast of Honshu from where these explosive devices were launched, and...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 17, 2010

The wonders and virtues of green tea

This diminutive book is packed as tightly as an obento box with an array of mini-essays.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 17, 2010

Singing the praise of the silent majority

It is a peaceful autumn day here in Hokkaido; a Black-eared Kite banking, wheeling and gliding effortlessly on outspread wings just outside my workroom window tempts me out for a walk in Nopporo Forest near where I live. There, I stroll among trees that now seem somewhat threadbare; the extreme density...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 15, 2010

Rebalancing global growth

WASHINGTON — Finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington at the IMF/World Bank annual meetings ended their discussions last weekend with a whimper of a final communique. There was much talk of currency war and trade war in the hallways and hotels, but in the end the leaders postponed...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2010

Kan must rediscover Japan

HONG KONG — The looming indictment of Ichiro Ozawa for false reporting of political funds leaves Prime Minister Naoto Kan in a tricky spot about what to do about the still powerful shadow shogun of Japanese politics.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Oct 12, 2010

Don't blame JET for Japan's poor English: responses

A selection of readers' views on "Don't blame JET for Japan's poor English" (Just Be Cause, Sept. 7) by Debito Arudou:
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 11, 2010

Internet companies roll over, play dead in defense of liberty

PARIS — All over the world, Internet users entertain romantic delusions about cyberspace. To most of us Web surfers, the Internet provides a false sense of complete freedom, power and anonymity.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 11, 2010

Marines pull together for postseason push

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. — Japanese baseball historian and author Robert Whiting titled his most famous work "You Gotta Have Wa."
COMMENTARY
Oct 10, 2010

Gingrich's military-industrial-terror complex

SEATTLE — Within a space of a few hours on Sept. 30, an accused man confessed to terrorism charges in Germany, the terrorism threat level was raised in Sweden, and former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich lengthily discussed "suicidal jihadists" in a speech given in Denver.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 10, 2010

Of villains and poets

Divided into five sections, the American poet and translator Taylor Mignon's first solo collection of poetry begins with his "Juvenilia."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 8, 2010

Fantastic plastic: Last vinyl presser hosts exam on the record

There are still those for whom the world spins at exactly 33 revolutions per minute. Digital MP3 downloads and YouTube videos may now be the formats of choice in the home and clubs, but the sound of a cartridge needle riding over the groove of a vinyl slab — scratches, skips and all — is quite literally...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 8, 2010

'Le Petit Nicolas'

For the defeated nations of World War II, the 1950s were a time of chaotic struggle, but for the victors, it was a time of stability, growing affluence and general cheerfulness (at least on the surface). Suited dads went to work and returned home for dinner, while moms stayed at home and could be relied...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 8, 2010

What artists see in themselves

Visitors to Florence in Italy have long been awed by the works in two of the city's finest museums: the Uffizi Gallery and the Pitti Palace. But, perhaps preoccupied by prime examples of Raphael, Botticelli and other Renaissance artists, many visitors let their stay come to an end without enjoying the...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2010

The resistance to Russia's political order

MOSCOW — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's decision to fire Moscow's long-entrenched mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, is the most decisive move of his presidency. Is it really part of his drive to modernize Russia, or part of an emerging power play with Moscow's real strong man, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin?...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Oct 3, 2010

India's expanding film industry boasts more than just Bollywood

Everyone knows Bollywood — the film industry centered in Mumbai (formerly called Bombay, hence the "B" in Bollywood) whose singing and dancing entertainments are shown throughout the country — and now the world.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 3, 2010

Why not put a little fun into your funeral?

It's your funeral. What's your pleasure?
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 2, 2010

Whiting to take stock of Nomo's lasting legacy in four-part series

Best-selling author Robert Whiting, who penned an exclusive four-part expose on Bobby Valentine's rise and fall with the Chiba Lotte Marines for The Japan Times this winter, returns with a four-part series on trailblazer Hideo Nomo's legacy on both sides of the Pacific Ocean 15 years after he left Japanese...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 1, 2010

Will Murton get fair shot at hits record?

The single-season home-run record in Japanese baseball has been somewhat of a touchy subject for quite some time. Many associate the record of 55 with legendary Yomiuri Giants slugger Sadaharu Oh.
COMMENTARY
Oct 1, 2010

The center of Asia's divide

NEW DELHI — Japan may have created the impression of having buckled under China's pressure by releasing the Chinese fishing trawler captain. But the Japanese action helps move the spotlight back to China, whose rapid accumulation of power has emboldened it to aggressively assert territorial and maritime...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 1, 2010

Delorean

The Argentinian writer and Nobel laureate Jorge Luis Borges once described the Basques as "a people who throughout history have done little else than milk cows." Although this dismissive comment was from a character narrating a tale rather than the author's own, it could nevertheless be said that Basques...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Sep 28, 2010

'Friendship festival' draws the line at the French: some responses

A selection of readers' views on "U.S. Navy 'Friendship Festival' draws line at the French" (Zeit Gist, Sept. 7) by Blair McBride:
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2010

The Icarus of currencies?

HONG KONG — My old friend Yoh Kurosawa just threw his head back and laughed: "How can you say that the rising yen is a danger. It proves we are strong, the world regards us as best."
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Sep 25, 2010

Ichiro's achievement testament to his drive

Baseball is the ultimate numbers game. Always has been, always will be.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 24, 2010

We all deserve eggplants in fall

There is a famous old Japanese saying about aki nasu or fall eggplants: "Aki nasu yome ni kuwasuna" — "Don't let the daughter-in-law eat fall eggplant."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 19, 2010

Taking up residence uninvited

I could scarcely make out the small songbird moving secretively through the undergrowth in the gloom of the dark forest. Its calls were barely familiar to me and seemed so out of context that I didn't recognize them at all at first.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 19, 2010

Summer's heat is spent, the leaves are about to turn, an equinox nears

"The turning of the leaves in the American autumn is, in its own way, wonderful, but it lacks a poignancy and an elegance suggestive of the passing of time."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 17, 2010

Firth on playing it gay by playing it straight

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Colin Firth was nominated for an Oscar for best actor this year for "A Single Man." As we know, Hollywood insider Jeff Bridges took home the Oscar, but Firth was "genuinely thrilled at the nomination and genuinely relieved when it was over. The stress is something else. So are...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2010

If wild fish could only scream

PRINCETON, N.J. — When I was a child, my father used to take me for walks, often along a river or by the sea. We would pass people fishing, perhaps reeling in their lines with struggling fish hooked at the end of them. Once I saw a man take a small fish out of a bucket and impale it, still wriggling,...

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake